Submitted by crinadmin on
Children's rights have come full circle: at least at the level of rhetoric and principle. It is now eighteen years since the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) came into force, and eight years since African countries adopted the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC, or 'the African Charter'). Thanks to those ground breaking accords, the notion that children have rights is no longer an issue of debate or contention in Africa. However, the critical issue is the extent to which national laws are harmonised with the provisions of the CRC and the African Charter. As the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has emphasised, all countries that have ratified the CRC need to ensure that their legislation is fully compatible with the provisions and principles of the CRC. This report by the African Child Policy Forum reviews and analyses how far 19 Eastern and Southern African countries (Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Comoros, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe) have gone in harmonising and implementing the principles of the CRC and the African Charter. The report is targeted primarily at governments in the countries researched; however, it is hoped that other stakeholders in children's rights will also find it useful. Beyond that, it is hoped that the report will provoke debate on the harmonisation of laws relating to children across the whole of Africa. Further information
pdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/acpf_best_interests.pdf