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In Arabic To mark the Day of the African Child, Dr Assefa Bequele, Executive Director of the African Child Policy Forum, gives his thoughts on the relevance of the Day, and on the battle for child rights in the region. Dr Bequele is an Ethiopian national with experience in university teaching (USA and Ethiopia) and a 27-year long service in the International Labour Organisation (Geneva, Asia and Africa). Devoted to the promotion of the rights and welfare of children, specifically the progressive elimination of child labour and the protection of working children, Dr. Bequele was responsible for the design and development of the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). I have always had an interest in child rights. After I retired from the ILO, I had to ask myself “what do I want to do?” I felt I had to continue my work in child rights, and so I thought about what was needed. It seemed to me that what Africa was missing was a pan-African child rights organisation. There are thousands of NGOs in Africa, but the policy and advocacy links between them were missing. We work in three main areas. In terms of child rights advocacy, our broad programme works on the extent to which governments are honouring their commitments. We engage in policy dialogue. We also work on child protection, particularly violence and other issues such as child-headed households. And finally, a major area of our work is on child participation. Africa is too big to generalise as much as people do. But the same could also be said of any region. We can make some general observations, and talk about some common constraints, as well as opportunities. There are firstly considerable political constraints. These are the most important in my view, even more important than poverty. Children are not as important as they should be. In many African countries, 50 per cent of the population is under 18 – as well giving more attention on numerical grounds, there are also socio-economic and development grounds. Yet children’s departments are usually junior in the government, and they have a poor allocation of resources. Secondly, poverty is very important. This has implications for so much – access to food, healthcare and school for example. Thirdly, harmful traditional practices are a huge constraint on the realisation of child rights across Africa. We have to qualify that by recognising the positive cultural practices as well as the negative ones. Considering the obstacles families face, it is incredible that they do as well as they do on behalf of their children. But we cannot ignore the harm too. Violence against children is a particular problem, as it is in many parts of the world. Many consider that children should be seen and not heard, and issues such as FGM and early marriage correspond with the social status of children in the family and in society. Fourthly, the weakness of civil society is also an obstacle to child rights in Africa. Yes, there are thousands of NGOs but they can be ineffective, particularly at the policy level. This may be both because of their limited capacity, and also because governments are unsympathetic towards them, and do not value their survival. One shouldn’t exaggerate the idea that child rights are based on a Western notion of the law. The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) contains about 85 per cent of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, but tries to reflect the African realities such as the impact of FGM and early marriage. It also understands the reciprocity between children and families and the obligations on children, as well as on families and society. I do believe that interpreting the CRC must be nuanced and sensitive to the concerns of local populations. It is about articulating the principles in a way that is acceptable. The ACRWC, if I may say, is even more advanced than the CRC because individuals and groups can lodge complaints against violators. This is yet to be tested, but it is there for when the mechanisms are in place. The CRC has still been used as a basis for when rights have been violated. For example, the CRC has been ratified by Ethiopia, but not explicitly incorporated into the law of the land. However, the constitution says that any treaties ratified by the government form an integral part of the constitution of the country. A case was taken by the Children’s Legal Protection Centre here. A child was abandoned by the father, and the mother then died so they were adopted by the aunty. But the father then claimed a right to the mother’s property. Local courts ruled that the father was the natural provider and would therefore be given the property. But the aunt thought he was only interested in the property, so the Centre took the case to the federal court and argued that the decision of the lower court was not in the best interests of the child according to the CRC – and they won the case. I am often suspicious of these days celebrating various things, but the Day of the African Child is surprisingly well known and successful. There are many events across Africa and it is taken seriously. The Day is one of the things that we can be proud of in this region. The areas of child rights which need more consideration are three-fold. There needs to be more legislative reform – there is little harmonisation of the CRC and ACRWC in too many countries. Enforcement is the second problem. There is a huge gap between law and practice and this may be related to capacity. Finally, budgetary constraints are a big problem. Too few resources are allocation to children, particularly in comparison with, for example, defence and security. If I was not working on child rights, and I was not a man, I would be working on women’s issues. Equality is so important. You do not have to be a woman to work on these issues, but I think it gives you more credibility. Child rights is basic to our development. It should be at the core of our being and our actions as citizens of the country and of the world.