Children Right's Being Violated in Kenya

Introduction

In Kenya there are many children’s rights which are being abused by their parents or other citizens around them. It has been stated in the proposed constitution that all children have the right to be protected from abuse, neglect, harmful cultural practices, all forms of violence, inhuman treatment and punishment, and hazardous or exploitative labor. Since many people are not informed about the right of the children they end up going against these rights of the children in the constitution.This blogspot has been created to aware people of children's rights being abused in Kenya. 

Child Abuse in Kenya

There are 4 main types of child abuse which are:

— physical abuse
— sexual abuse
— emotional abuse
— neglect.

Physical abuse of a child is defined as those acts of order by a caregiver that cause actual physical harm or have the potential for harm.

Sexual abuse is defined as those acts where a caregiver uses a child for sexual gratification.

In kenya there are many children mostly girls who go through sexual abuse just in order for them to get money to survive.
Below is a link that lead to an article from the standar newspaper on sexual abuse faced by a 14 year old by her stepfather.

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000010477&catid=4&a=1

 In the video below it talks about girls who are being sexually molested in kenya and then getting HIV.



Emotional abuse includes the failure of a caregiver to provide an appropriate and supportive environment, and includes acts that have an bad effect on the emotional health and development of a child. Such acts include restricting a child’s movements, threats and intimidation, discrimination, rejection and other nonphysical forms of unsympathetic treatment.

Neglect refers to the failure of a parent to provide for the development of the child or where the parent is in a position to do so in one or more of the following areas such as health, education, emotional development, nutrition, shelter and safe living conditions. Neglect is thus notable from circumstances of poverty in that neglect can occur only in cases where reasonable resources are available to the family or caregiver.

In Kenya there are many ways in which children are neglected. some children are neglected due to the state of their family for example in the video below the mothers have to sell their daughters as prostitutes in order for them to get money to keep the family stable.



Comparing the Right of Children to that of u.k and south africa

I looked at the children’s rights in the United Kingdom and I looked at the rights of the children in South Africa. In the United Kingdom the rights related to the topic I am doing are:

1. Every child has the right to -

• health and welfare rights, including rights for disabled children, the right to health and health care, and social security

• special protection for refugee children, children in the juvenile justice system, children deprived of their liberty and children suffering economic, sexual or other forms of exploitation

And the rights of the children in South Africa related to my topic are:

2. Every child has the right to -

a. have a legal practitioner assigned to the child by the state, and at state expense, in civil proceedings affecting the child, if substantial injustice would otherwise result; and

b. Not be used directly in armed conflict, and to be protected in times of armed conflict.

Compared to the right of the children in Kenya to the ones in united kingdom in Kenya there is no social security, special right for children and also the is no special protection for the children. Compared to the rights in Kenya to the one’s of south Africa is in south Africa the children have a legal practitioner assigned to the child by the state, and at state expense, in civil proceedings affecting the child and also the children are not allowed to be used when there is war.



The opinion of the Citizens on Children' s Rights Being Violated

Interviews

I first interviewed a parent “Mr. Mehmood Jagani” of a child to see his perspective on children’s right being abused:

1)      What is your opinion on child abuse?

My opinion child abuse is that it is increasing in many areas and there are different types of abuse which need to be seriously controlled.

2)      What are the challenges you as a citizen is facing due to the problem of child abuse?

I as a citizen feel that the problems are of various types. For a start the laws of the country should do not given much by way of protection and neither have the authorities come out boldly to express their willingness to counter this problem. For that matter it is difficult for anyone to report cases of child abuse.

3)      What action do you think you can take to stop children’s right are abused?

The action I can take is to develop or create a forum whereby likeminded parents are able to come together and formulate various methods of sensitizing the public and the government as a body

4)      How do you think the government should help?

The government should be able to create a separate department in the parliament like the tourism body is able to take care or look at issues relating to tourism there has to be a body to look into cases of child abuse and even take action by way of prosecution or even stiffer penalties as the case may be.

5)      Do you know of any cases of a child’s right being abused and how it has been dealt with?

One of the cases that I know of is where funds are granted for children’s education or educational material. These grants are specifically for the children and they have full right over it however such rights are even abused by the authorities when they siphon funds for their personal gain.

6)      How do you think Kenya should improve the rights of children?

Kenya can improve the rights of children by looking at various aspects relating to the rights of the children, enacting laws to safeguard the right of the children.

7)      What harmful cultural practice is there that can be harmful to children?

There are some tribes whereby children of very young age are married off due to cultural traditions which could be harmful to the child by depriving the child of its childhood and health.

8)      What would you do if your child’s rights were being abused?

I would report the matter to the authorities and seek help from any groups locally or internationally.

9)      Why do you think children should not be neglected or be exposed to violence?

Children are children and need to and need to enjoy their childhood as a natural stage in life which only comes once and if they are able to enjoy their childhood without violence then they are likely to bring up a more civilized and they are likely to grow up as better adults and bring up a better future generation.

10)  What is your opinion on child labour?

Child labour again deprives the child of enjoying his childhood. It also creates a level of stress which the child does not need. This eventually takes a toll on their health both mentally and physically, thus reducing the life expectancy.

The second person I interviewed was a child (Masuma Fazel) as a citizen in Kenya:

1)   What is your opinion on child abuse?

I think child abuse is not a very fair act and all children should have the right to be treated nicely, with care and love.

2)   What are the challenges you as a citizen is facing due to the problem of child abuse?

The challenges I as a citizen face is the environment around me I fell is no safe and I don’t feel secured where I go and there are some places where I can’t go due to security.

3)   What action do you think you can take to stop children’s right being abused?

I can write a letter to the major people concerned about child abuse asking them to take action of the issues going on.

4)   How do you think the government should help?

I think the government should help by creating a society for awareness, and they should set up phone line for people to report their issues.

5)   Do you know of any cases of a child’s right being abused and how it has been dealt with?

I know about a case where many girls were abused in Nairobi for the reason of rising levels in poverty. This was stopped by a special police sexual crime unit which was formed.

6)   How do you think Kenya should improve the right of children?

Kenya can improve rights of children by letting them have their say about how they feel, maybe then people will understand and realize what harm they are causing to an innocent child.

7)   What harmful cultural practice is there that can be harmful to children?

Harmful practices in Kenya include that when a girl is born they tend to take less interest than a boy as they feel the girl would not be of much use in their lives which is not true. Girls also do have a right to live. Another thing is early forced marriages, young girls as young as seven are being forced to marry just because the families need money, and the girls need to have a proper education and lifestyle first.

8)   What would you do if your right were being abused?

I would not let my rights be violated like this and would definitely try and stop it. If I wouldn’t have the courage to do it I would call someone who could me of good help and stand against the violators,

9)   Why do you think children should not be neglected or be exposed to violence?

Children have a right to live in this world and have an education, they need to learn and not be used like this. Most children are exposed to such things and it leads them to being violent themselves which is not very good.

10) What is your opinion on child labour?

Child labour is another big problem, children shouldn’t be working as they have to be free and enjoy their young life, when they get older they work and not at such early stages

People should put a stop to this immediately

My own Opinion on Childrens Rights being Violated

My opinion on children’s rights being abused or violated is that it is a very bad act and it needs to be put a stop to immediately. As a child myself, I am lucky to be under the protection of my parents and get all the necessities I need. But when I position myself into another child whose rights are abused’s shoes and I sit and imagine if my rights were violated or abused. I would feel depressed and hurt which is why I feel that these children need a voice which is why I created the BlogSpot.


what the Government is doing about Childrens Right's being Abused

In the video below it show on the efforts and what the government and foundations are doing to help children's rights from being violated:

Acknowledgements and Bibliography

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/ParentsRights/DG_4003313

http://www.constitutionalcourt.org.za/text/rights/know/children.html#28

The Kenyan Constitution

The Standard Newspaper

The search engine you tube ( link of video is hyperlinked on video)
The google search engine for images( links of images is hyperlinked on the picture)
The interviewers which are Mr Mehmood Jagani
                                             Ms Masuma Fazel