At the African regional level, the African Children's Charter marks 34 years in July 2024 since it was adopted and 25 years in November 2024 since it came into force. This book therefore is a recognition of these milestones as it spotlights selected Social, Economic and Cultural Rights of Children protected in the African Children's Charter.
This collection is anchored in an African conception of children's rights and the law, and reflects contemporary discourses taking place in the region of the children's rights sphere. The majority of contributors are African and adopt an individual approach to their topic which reflects their first-hand experience. The book focuses on child rights issues which have particular resonance on the continent and the chapters span themes which are both broad and narrow, containing subject matter which is both theoretical and illuminated by practice. The book profiles recent developments and experiences in furthering children's legal rights in the African context, and distils from these future trends the specific role that the law can play in the African children's rights environment.
The United Nations 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) constitutes a landmark in the development of international human rights law and reflects an historic turn in universal thinking about children and their rights. Many children in Africa today face the future with a deep sense of uncertainty and foreboding. Many have no hope of education and the issues of child trafficking, sexual exploitation and child labour reflect a profound crisis of the family. The current socio-economic situation has radically changed the world views and the life expectations of the African child. This book attempts to respond to some of the questions that could be asked: to what extent have the provisions of the CRC been implemented in the national legislations of African States? What effect have they had on children in Africa? What mechanisms exist to prevent and sanction rights abusers? Are children's rights in Africa reality, or simply rhetoric?
The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child: A socio-legal perspectiveby Thoko Kaime2009ISBN: 978-0-9814420-4-4Pages: xii 247Print version: AvailableElectronic version: Free PDF available.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which was adopted unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989, marked a turning point in the perception of children in international law and policy. Although it was hoped that the Convention would have a significant and positive impact on the lives of all children, this has not happened in many parts of the world. This edited volume, based on empirical research and Non-Governmental Organisation project data, explores the progress of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and to a lesser extent, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, in nine African countries in the 25 years since it was adopted by the UN General Assembly. The book considers the implementation of the Convention both in terms of policy and practice, and its impact on the lived experiences of children in societies across the continent, focusing on specific themes such as HIV/AIDS, education and disability, child labour, witchcraft stigmatisation, street children, parent-child relationships and child participation. The book breaks new ground in blending legal and social perspectives of the experiences of children, and identifies concrete ways forward for the better implementation of the CRC treaty in the various political contexts that exist in Africa.
Social rights are a pivotal concern for all of society, including today’s population of children. The study of the rights, or lack thereof, that children have must be undertaken to ensure that future generations are thriving members of their communities. Global Ideologies Surrounding Children's Rights and Social Justice highlights the trials and tribulations that children have often had to overcome to be considered true citizens of their communities. Featuring comprehensive coverage on a wide range of applicable topics such as child abuse, socio-economic rights, social injustice, and welfare issues, this is a critical reference source for educators, academicians, students, and researchers interested in studying new approaches for the social advancement of children.
The Protection of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Africa critiques the three main models of constitutionally protecting economic, social and cultural rights in Africa - direct, indirect and hybrid models. It examines the choices that states have made, how the models have worked, whether they have been tested in litigation and the jurisprudence that has arisen. The book analyses the protection of the economic, social and cultural rights in a range of African countries: Angola, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda. Leading legal academics explore how these rights feature at the regional and sub-regional levels, as well as the link between domestic and international mechanisms of enforcement.
The first edition of this text was a textbook on internationally recognized economic, social and cultural rights. While focusing on this category of rights, it also analyzed their relationships to other human rights, civil and political in particular. This revised edition updates the information.
This book is concerned with children's economic and social rights (sometimes referred to simply as children's social rights). Despite increased academic interest in both children's rights and socio-economic rights over the last two decades, children's social and economic rights remain a comparatively neglected area. This is particularly true with regard to the role of the courts in the enforcement of such social rights. Aoife Nolan's book remedies this omission, focussing on the circumstances in which the courts can and should give effect to the social and economic rights of children. The arguments put forward are located within the context of, and develop, long-standing debates in constitutional law, democratic theory and human rights. The claims made by the author are supported and illustrated by concrete examples of judicial enforcement of children's social and economic rights from a variety of jurisdictions. The work is thus rooted in both theory and practice. The author brings together and addresses a wide range of issues that have never previously been considered together in book form. These include children's socio-economic rights; children as citizens and their position in relation to democratic decision-making processes; the implications of children and their rights for democratic and constitutional theory; the role of the courts in ensuring the enforcement of children's rights; and the debates surrounding the litigation and adjudication of social and economic rights. This book thus represents a major original contribution to the existing scholarship in a range of areas including human (and specifically social) rights, legal and political theory and constitutional law. 'Children's rights were often thought to be synonymous with economic and social welfare prior to the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. Ironically, since that time, remarkably little scholarship has been devoted to the vitally important economic and social rights dimensions of children's rights. Nolan's book singlehandedly remedies that neglect and does so in a sophisticated, nuanced and balanced way. It provides a superb account of the pros and cons of judicial activism in promoting these rights.' Philip Alston, John Norton Pomeroy Professor, NYU Law School 'Thus far the burgeoning literature on the judicial enforcement of socio-economic rights has failed to engage in a sustained, systemic manner with this topic from the perspective of children and the complexity of their status as citizens within contemporary democracies. This book fills this gap and makes a major contribution to the literature in the three interrelated areas of the judicial review of socio-economic rights claims, children's rights, and democratic theory. Nolan navigates skilfully through the dense, but rich literature in these areas as well as relevant international and comparative law. In so doing she illuminates both the pitfalls and potential of resorting to courts in a partial response to the multifaceted and deeply entrenched global phenomenon of child poverty.' Professor Sandra Liebenberg, HF Oppenheimer Professor of Human Rights Law, University of Stellenbosch Law Faculty. Winner of the Kevin Boyle Book Prize 2012, awarded by the Irish Association of Law Teachers to a book that is deemed to have made an outstanding contribution to the understanding of law.
