The realisation of children’s survival rights in South Africa, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo: a comparative analysis
The thesis involved a comparative analysis of compliance with international conventions dealing with the application of children’s rights in three Sub-Saharan jurisdictions, namely, South Africa, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). All the three countries selected for comparative analysis signed and ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). In this way they committed themselves to work towards the fulfillment of children’s rights at domestic level respectively. However, for many years realising full compliance with regard to children‘s rights still presents a challenge for each of these countries selected. The purpose of the investigation is to explore the extent to which children’s survival rights were fulfilled, and to identify ways to overcome the challenges that the three countries face. The concept of children’s survival rights in this study denotes rights to basic nutrition, basic health care services and social security. To answer the question the study relied on a qualitative evaluative approach based on desktop and library research. The researcher used primary and secondary sources. Although the investigation revealed that the three countries have domesticated children’s rights norms within their laws, certain gaps in implementation present a cause for concern. As a result the findings from the study confirm that despite the gaps highlighted herein, South Africa has made significant progress towards realising children’s rights. Kenya as well is following in the foot prints evident in the South African example provided it tightens its law enforcement and adopts relevant legislative and other measures to realize its international obligation. The country where children’s survival rights are yet to be realised is the DRC. The study recommends that the South African department of social development should expedite the implementation of child support grants to include distributing equal benefits to every child throughout all communities without discriminating for whatsoever reason. The findings relevant to the scenario in Kenya suggest that Kenya has a duty to consider embarking on a vigorous programme to train its professional service to comprehend laws, policies, regulations and guidelines to maximize service delivery. With regard to social protection in Kenya, and given the fact that forty percent of the population consists of children from poor families, the study recommends that the cash transfers purporting to benefit orphans and other vulnerable children in Kenya needs to be extended beyond orphans and vulnerable child-beneficiaries to include children throughout all communities regardless of financial or other status. Deviating from better placed child-rights centres in South Africa and Kenya, by contrast the DRC needs to design, implement, monitor and evaluate child support grant programmes primarily targeting ultra-poor families. Furthermore, the study finds that the DRC can learn a lesson from South Africa if its government is to succeed to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights in the Bill of Rights as envisaged in the Constitution. In view of the findings, the study produced a model guideline for effective realisation of children’s rights. This study potentially contributes to a growing body of international and regional research about children’s rights with a particular focus on children’ survival rights in South Africa, Kenya and the DRC.
children --survival rights --South Africa --Kenya --Democratic Republic Of Congo
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