Implementing the right to child protection: a challenge for developing countries

Challenges to implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Kenya

By: Onyango P & Lynch M
Published in: The Lancet , 2006
Via: Eldis

This article looks at the processes of, and challenges to, implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The paper focuses on the African context, and in particular, Kenya.
It discusses, that despite efforts to improve legislation and the policy framework to protect children, the resources needed to make a real difference are inadequate and unpredictable, both in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa. Some of the main challenges to implementing the Convention in Kenya include the AIDS pandemic, a poorly performing economy that has seen the proportion of the population living below the poverty line reach 58%, a million children not in school despite the introduction of free primary education in 2003, 2 million children working, and 1.1 million orphans. As such, the full realisation of the noble intentions behind the CRC has proven unattainable to date.

The paper argues that the difficulty in implementation is perhaps the Convention is just one of the many obligations that face African governments, who are bombarded with donor-driven agendas and demands, and that there is no space left for countries to implement self-defined agendas and owned priorities.

The paper conclude that in countries such as Kenya, the reforms instigated after ratification of the CRC provide a sound rights-based framework for the development of services for the protection of children and for promotion of their welfare. However, governments must be encouraged to control the process of implementation. This will require commitment to long term planning by both governments and their international partners. Non-governmental organisations, collaboratively speaking with one voice, can influence this process.