Summary: This situational analysis of children in Tigray region has explored major laws and documents of international, federal and regional governmental and non governmental organs. The analysis process has been carried out in seven sample Woredas, six urban Woreda (Mekele, Adigrat, Adwa, Ensaselasie, Humera and Alamata) and one rural i.e. Kilteawlaelo Woreda. It has been conducted during October and November 2006 by Vision Consultancy Services (VCS), a local consulting firm. Background The use of a rights based approach and child rights programming imply a solid knowledge about the situation of children, relevant government institutions and other duty-bearers. There is a need to have an up to date, comprehensive and authoritative situational analysis of the complex situation of child rights in the Tigray region to provide baseline information in order to direct interventions effectively. This can be used both for planning new areas of intervention as well as establishing a more solid basis for identifying advocacy issues, assessing progress and evaluating impact of ongoing projects. It is also envisaged that relevant bodies beyond Save the Children Sweden and Bureau of Labour and Social Affairs may use such a situational analysis. This situational analysis will provide a general updated overview of the rights of children in Tigray. It will also focus in greater detail on the theme of the rights of children under difficult circumstances. This will include a review of advocacy work already undertaken in this thematic area and an analysis of the budget allocated to this sector will be made and recommendations for improvement given. Purpose Activities Carry out an in-depth analysis of the situation of children in Tigray and the challenges and difficulties facing them based on available documentation and opinions. The analysis should be based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, its principles and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. It should include a compilation of available statistics, major rights violations and non-fulfilment of rights and it should discuss underlying causes. It should also discuss and describe to what extent boys and girls and children of different age groups have access to the same resources. It should, furthermore, include information on child poverty and resource allocation to implement children’s rights in Tigray; Focus specifically on the following areas: the regional capital Mekele, and some randomly selected Woredas along the border with Eritrea; Identify and describe the main Regional role players and programs within the sector, focussing on government structures and civil society; Identify gaps in available information as well as additional need for research; Investigate the existence of networks dealing with children’s rights; Investigate and make recommendations on how children to a greater extent could take part in and have their voices heard in on-going and future processes and programs on children’s rights; and Assess and make recommendations on how SCS could be involved and support the sector through funding, co-operation and partnership in the future, including concrete recommendations on possible partners, and how SCS could promote inclusion of children in these processes. The analysis has focused on the major violations and non-fulfilment of children’s rights in the region in light of the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Accordingly, it has been based on the assessment of the regional legal and political framework, the institutional setup, the socio-cultural beliefs and practices among the communities, and the budgetary allocation by the regional government for the promotion and protection of children’s rights. The assessment has been based on a survey and review of relevant materials and documents on child right issues. The survey included individual interviews and FGDs using semi-structured questionnaires with relevant regional government authorities, civil society organizations and selected children (student children, children under difficult circumstances and children in contact with the law) in the study Woredas to assess the knowledge, perceptions and practices on children rights among the major actors and the public at large. The data collected has been analyzed and interpreted using qualitative analysis techniques. Besides, the consultants have used their own observation and professional experience on the actual realities in the region. However, the absence of reliable relevant statistical data on child rights issues, or where available they are found only in patchy form, resulted in a failure to provide a complete picture of the situation. The survey has come out with findings that reveal problems in implementation of child rights in the region. It has indicated that all concerned organs i.e. international and national governmental, and non-governmental, and community based institutions have to pay due attention to tackle these problems. Absence of clear policy on children to guide all efforts aimed at the realization of promotion and protection of child rights and regional action plan that take the regional situation in to account is a major bottleneck in this regard. Absence of a unit specifically designated for the promotion and protection of child rights in the region is also another major setback the survey identified. In terms of the institutional setup in the region, absence of a functioning CRC committee and lack of BoLSA structure at PA levels are major constraints in the realization of the child right protection in the region. Currently, CRCs are available at Woreda levels, with attempts by some of the Woredas to set up structures at PA levels. However, due to the absence of the structure at regional level that can give direction and coordination to the overall system in the region, the level of commitment and performance of the CRCs at the different Woredas have been observed to be varied. Similarly, BoLSA as an important government body in the overall process of implementation of child rights has its structure limited to Woreda levels. Though the child rights convention prescribes child registration at birth as a right of the child, birth registration has not so far been applied and still remains to be one of the problems in the child right protection nationally as well as regionally.  Another area of concern in connection to child rights is the treatment of children who come in contact with the law. The survey made evident that the personnel of relevant law enforcement agencies have only limited awareness on child rights, the procedures, rules and principles that need to be followed in dealing with cases that involve children as victims or offenders. Decayed infrastructure, overcrowded prison cells, mixed treatment of young offenders with adults, poor financing and weak institutional mechanisms such as absence of child units have made protection of child rights under such circumstances difficult. Since protection of child rights presupposes participation of multi-sectoral actors it equally demands the participation of civil society at the region. However, the situation in Tigray in this respect is characterized by presence of few civil society organizations where the level of networking and coordination among them is poor. Another important sector but which exhibits weak involvement in the region is the print and broadcast media. As opposed to the lofty expectation from this institution it has only limited engagement through the means of ad hoc and sponsored programs that focus on child rights matters.    As part of the task of the consultancy service as stated in the contract agreement, the consultant team have suggested appropriate programming options for SCS’s planned programming intervention in Tigray region. The suggested options have been made on the basis of the actual realities of child rights in the region and considering future improvements on the situation of children’s rights and overall situation.
To gain a comprehensive understanding, based on available data, of the situation of children in Tigray region, with a focus on non-fulfilment and violation of child rights, as formulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC). This will have special emphasis on the violation of the rights of children under difficult circumstances, to get an overview of the main actors and their interventions and to receive some strategic recommendations on SCS’s future involvement and support to the sector. Based on the findings, the analysis attempts to provide a broad roadmap of programming options and strategies for development of SCS programming in Tigray; and to identify future areas for mapping and research.
In addition to the general overview above, carry out an in-depth analysis in the area of children under difficult circumstances following the structure highlighted below;
Workshop to review the first draft of a situational analysis study on children in Tigray Region
Countries
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