State party reporting and the realisation of children’s rights in Africa , livre ebook
349
pages
English
Ebooks
2020
YouScribe est heureux de vous offrir cette publication
349
pages
English
Ebooks
2020
YouScribe est heureux de vous offrir cette publication
Publié par
Date de parution
01 janvier 2020
EAN13
9781920538873
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
2 Mo
Human rights norms will largely remain hollow if they are not translated into the lived realities of people on the ground. Given the diversity and complexities of human rights norms, the arrays of institutions, mechanisms and resource required to give full effect to these norms, implementation of human rights norms is a continuous and progressive undertaking. Progress, to be meaningful, should have milestones and mechanisms for tracking it. The reporting mechanisms are human rights’ monitoring and evaluation plans and systems to track progressive implementation. This book provides an assessment of the reporting mechanisms of child rights treaty bodies. It highlights what is working or not working and why, making recommendations for further improvement of the reporting mechanism to better work for children in Africa. The findings and recommendations in the book are based on a study commissioned by the Centre for Human Rights, to assess the effects of reporting to United Nations and African Union child rights treaty bodies on the enjoyment of rights, protection and welfare of children in Africa. It covers 17 African countries, and provides a historical snapshot of the situation as at the end of 2017.
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Publié par
Date de parution
01 janvier 2020
EAN13
9781920538873
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
2 Mo
State party reporting and the realisation of children’s rights in Africa
Edited by Remember Miamingi
2020
State party reporting and the realisation of children’s rights in Africa
Published by: Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) The Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) is a publisher at the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa. PULP endeavours to publish and make available innovative, high-quality scholarly texts on law in Africa. PULP also publishes a series of collections of legal documents related to public law in Africa, as well as text books from African countries other than South Africa. This book was peer reviewed prior to publication.
For more information on PULP, see www.pulp.up.ac.za
Printed and bound by: Pinetown Printers, South Africa
To order, contact: PULP Faculty of Law University of Pretoria South Africa 0002 Tel: +27 12 420 4948 pulp@up.ac.za www.pulp.up.ac.za
Cover design: Marguerite Hartzenberg
ISBN: 978-1-920538-87-3
© The authors and editors, collectively, 2020
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Acknowledgments Foreword Editor’s note Authors
Contents
An introduction to the children’s rights reporting mechanisms R Miamingi & F Viljoen
An overview of the country studies P Eriamiatoe
The effects of reporting on the realisation of children’s rights in Central Africa (Chad, Congo and the DRC) UM Assim
The precariousness and paradox of rights: The impact of reporting on the rights of the child in Kenya, Eritrea and Rwanda P Jones
Children’s rights in North Africa: An assessment of the status of children’s rights through state party reports by Algeria, Egypt and Morocco K Murphy
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The effects of state reporting on the rights of the child in Southern Africa: Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius and Tanzania A Miamingi
The impact of reporting on the realisation of children’s rights in West Africa: Case studies of Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo B Olugbuo
The role of National Human Rights Institutions in enhancing the impact of children’s rights reporting in Africa J Sloth-Nielsen
Bibliography
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ACknowledgments
This book is the product of the efforts of many individuals and institutions. It will be practically very difficult to mention and to thank all of them by name. Allow me, however, to sincerely thank the following individuals: Dr Peris Sean Jones; Dr Karen Murphy; Dr Usang Assim; Dr Benson Chinedu Olugbuo; and Ms Ramona Miamingi for writing the regional chapters. I thank Prof Sloth-Nielson for contributing the chapter on the role of national human rights institutions in the reporting mechanism.
Writing the regional chapters would have not been possible without the hard work of the following country researchers: Dr Romola Adeola, Ms Prisca Ntabanza, Ms Nadèche Andrianasolo, Ms Chisomo Kaufulu-Kumwenda, Dr Ashwanee Budoo, Ms Precious Eriamiatoe, Prof Jegede Ademola Oluborode, Dr Ally Possi; Dr Musavengana WT Chibwana, Mr Dominique Diouf, Dr Azubike Onuoraoguno, Mr Olajide O Akanji, Dr Rofiah Ololade Sarumi, Ms Daphine Agaba, Dr Mwiza Nkhata, Mr Oyono Phil René, and Prof Peris Sean Jones. I sincerely thank all of them.
I cannot thank Prof Viljoen and the staff members of the Centre for Human Rights enough for the invaluable support received in the long process of getting this manuscript to the point of publication.
Without the financial support of Plan International, it would have been impossible to conduct this continental study. Allow me to thank Mr Chikezie Anyanwu, Pan-African Advocacy Director, Plan International for assiduously ensuring that the funding for the study was released, and timely so.
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oreword
The reporting mechanism is a cardinal pillar of the promotion and realisation of human rights. It works as a partnership between treaty bodies and state parties to improve the implementation of treaty provisions. In this partnership, each party has a role to play. State parties’ roles include regular, timely, honest reporting and meaningful implementation of concluding observations. The treaty bodies’ roles include timely and competent consideration of reports, and providing concrete, realistic, context-specific, time-bound and implementable concluding observations to state parties.
The ultimate goal of this partnership is to ensure an effective reporting mechanism that enables full compliance by states as a prerequisite for the full realisation of the rights of children. The extent to which this partnership is working in Africa has not been sufficiently assessed. This book contributes to filling this gap by providing an assessment of the extent to which reporting mechanisms are effectively working to better the lives of children in Africa. The findings and recommendations provided in the book are based on a continental study commissioned by the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, to assess the effects of reporting to international and regional child rights treaty bodies on the enjoyment of rights, protection and welfare of children in Africa between 2014 and 2017. The book therefore provides a historical snapshot, which has to be compared with subsequent practice.
The study that is documented in this book provides for a number of interesting findings. The study finds, for example, that there is actually a weak correlation between frequent reporting, improved quality of reports and the issuing of concluding observations, on the one hand; and overall effect on the realisation of children’s rights, on the other hand. The reasons for these disparities are many and some of them are beyond the scope of this study. However, the study highlights two important factors that could contribute to this weak correlation rate. First, the integrity of some of the reports submitted to treaty bodies could be questioned. Second, the capacity deficit of treaty bodies to provide precise and clear recommendations to states may have impacted the quality of recommendations, which could, in turn, have adverse effects on the extent of their implementation.
But there were also positive findings. The study finds, for instance, that the frequency and quality of reporting have improved from one reporting cycle to the other. In addition, in a number of cases, the
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quality representation of state parties before the treaty bodies has equally improved over time. Furthermore, the study finds a correlation between the concluding observations of treaty bodies and actions of governments resulting in improved implementation of some provisions of child rights treaties. Examples of such include policy reforms, establishment of new structures, enhanced interagency coordination and increased resource allocation. This improved implementation of children’s rights is traced in the study to good faith, political will and commitment on the part of state parties, and concrete, realistic, context-specific, time-bound and implementable concluding observations by the treaty bodies.
This book makes a number of recommendations that could contribute to making the reporting mechanism to work better for children in Africa. First, it is important for governments to see or be made to see the reporting mechanism as a support mechanism. Such a change in perception could make it easier for governments to approach their reporting obligations with more honesty. Second, there is an acute need for capacity strengthening in a manner that enables state parties to collect, collate, analyse and report accurately on the status of the implementation of child rights treaties across the entire country. Third, treaty bodies must improve on their collective expertise, competence and capacity to provide clear guidance and support to state parties.
I am convinced that if these recommendations and others made throughout this book are implemented, the quality of the reporting mechanism could further be enhanced.
I recommend this book to policy makers, implementers and influencers of policy on child rights in Africa.
Prof Frans Viljoen Director, Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa
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editor’snote
This book intends to highlight the importance of the proper functioning of the reporting mechanism to the realisation of children’s rights in Africa. The reporting mechanism is the bedrock for tracking the implementation of human rights obligations by duty bearers. The effectiveness of the reporting mechanism depends on the honesty and good faith of state parties, the expertise and thoroughness of treaty bodies, and the meaningful involvement of non-state actors in the reporting process. As an integral part of the promotional mandate of human rights treaty bodies, the reporting mechanism provides an opportunity for meeting of the minds between the duty bearers and the oversight mechanisms on what state parties can do to improve implementation.
Usually, the promotional mandate of a human rights treaty body includes ‘information and education functions, a quasi-legislative function, an institutional co-operation function, and a function in the examination 1 of state reports.’ The examination of state party reports takes the bulk of the promotional mandate of human rights treaty bodies. Reporting is at the core of the promotion of compliance with human rights norms. It has been said that the reporting process ‘is a lecture in the anatomy of [the 2 implementation of] human rights’. The reporting mechanism, ‘through 3 the interrelated process of introspection and inspection’, enables and provides state parties with an opportunity ‘to take stock of its achievements 4 and failures’ in implementing the provisions of a human rights treaty.
The reporting mechanism was envisaged to function as a periodic and comprehensive review and exchange of information on the legislation, policies and programmes, administrative rules and procedures, as well as practices that the state party has put in place to facilitate the actual enjoyment of rights provided for in a human rights treaty. In addition, the reporting mechanism is intended to ascertain any progress made, and to foster a better understanding of the challenges and shortcomings encountered in the implementation of human rights obligations. It is expected that
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SA Yeshanew ‘Utilising the promotional mandate of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to promote human rights education in Africa’ (2007) 7 African Human Rights Law Journal191. Joaquim Fonseca quoted by A Devereux & C Anderson ‘Reporting under international human rights treaties: Perspectives from Timor Leste’s experience of the reformed process’ (2008) 8Human Rights Law Review69. F ViljoenInternational human rights in Africa(2012) 349. As above.
reporting will facilitate principled and targeted policymaking as well as public scrutiny and involvement in the formulation, implementation and 5 review of the relevant human rights policies of government.
The study covered in this book examines the manner in which the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child have undertaken their oversight functions through the reporting mechanism in 17 African countries, as at the end of 2017. This study is the first comprehensive and systematic study of the impact of regular reporting on the realisation of children’s rights on the African continent covering so many countries. Readers are encouraged to compare the data in this book with subsequent state reporting practice.
The book is mainly based on the reports emerging from primary research commissioned by the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, in 17 African countries. Each country was assigned a country researcher and the countries were clustered into five regions. Each region had a regional coordinator who reviewed and provided guidance to the work of the country researchers in that particular region. In addition, the regional coordinators drafted the five regional chapters. The country reports and the regional chapters were then reviewed by subject matter experts at the Centre for Human Rights, followed by external peer reviewer before the manuscript was submitted for publication.
One of the findings of this study is that while regular reporting may lead to an improved level of implementation of children’s rights on the ground, the regularity of reporting does not necessarily translate into improved realisation of rights. The capacity and willingness of state parties to involve a broader sector of their society in the reporting process, the willingness of state parties to report in good faith, the quality of the reports, the capacity and technical expertise of human rights treaty bodies to provide concrete, clear and implementable recommendations as well as effective follow up mechanisms are some of the factors that make the reporting mechanism work for children.
This book is the result of the hard work of the country researchers, the regional coordinators, the peer reviewers, and the relentless commitment of staff members of the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria to providing support towards research, advocacy and capacity
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See generally General Comment 1 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Report on the 3rd session E/1989/22 E/C.12/1989/5.
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strengthening in areas of child protection, child rights and child wellbeing in Africa. To all these people, I am greatly indebted.
Dr Remember Miamingi Child Protection Adviser, Peace and Security Department, African Union Commission
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Authors
Usang Maria Assima Senior Researcher on Children’s Rights at the is Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance and Human Rights, at the Law Faculty of the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. She also teaches a number of law modules at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels. These include Constitutional Law, Children’s Rights and the Law, International Family Law and the International Protection of Human Rights, among others. Assim has written and published on various aspects of human and children’s rights law, including the right to alternative care, civil rights and freedoms of the child, education, and children’s socio-economic rights. Assim’s educational background includes an LLD (University of the Western Cape) and an LLM (University of Pretoria). She also holds an LLB (Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria) and has been admitted to the Nigerian Bar as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
Precious Eriamiatoe serves as Legal Adviser to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) where she provides legal and policy advice to the ICRC’s operations in Nigeria. Her areas of expertise span across Nigerian law, international humanitarian law and international human rights law particularly, the rights of children and internally displaced persons. She holds a LLB (Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife) and a an LLM (University of Pretoria). She is currently completing a Master’s programme in international human rights law at the University of Oxford.
Peris Jones is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo. He has a multi-disciplinary background in development studies and a PhD in human geography. He has taught, researched and worked on human rights for over fifteen years within the University, applied research institute sector and within the NGO sector. He is a human geographer who has worked on different aspects of human rights, not least their impact and transformative potential, especially in Southern and Eastern Africa. He is the author of AIDS treatment and human rights in context(Palgrave Macmillan), and alsosocio-economicDemocratising development: The politics of rights in South Africa (with K Stokke); as well as articles in international journal, includingUrban Studies,Third World Quarterly,AfricanReview of
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