Defining children's rights and responsibilities in Sub-Saharan Africa: tensions and challenges in policy and practice

Ruth Evans, Morten Skovdal

Publikation: Bidrag til bog/antologi/rapportBidrag til bog/antologiForskningpeer review

126 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This chapter explores the spatialities of children’s rights through a focus on how children’s paid and unpaid work in sub-Saharan Africa intersects with wider debates about child labor, child domestic work, and young caregiving. Several tensions surround the universalist and individualistic nature of the rights discourse in the context of sub-Saharan Africa, and policymakers, practitioners, children, and community members have emphasized children’s responsibilities to their families and communities, as well as their rights. The limitations of ILO definitions of child labor and child domestic work and UNCRC concerns about “hazardous” and “harmful” work are highlighted through examining the situation of children providing unpaid domestic and care support to family members in the private space of their own or a relative’s home. Differing perspectives toward young caregiving have been adopted to date by policymakers and practitioners in East Africa, ranging from a child labor/child protection/abolitionist approach to a “young carer”/child-centered rights perspective. These differing perspectives influence the level and nature of support and resources that children involved in care work may be able to access. A contextual, multi-sectorial approach to young caregiving is needed that seeks to understand children’s, family members’, and community members’ perceptions of what constitutes inappropriate caring responsibilities within particular cultural contexts and how these should best be alleviated.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
TitelPolitics, Citizenship and Rights
RedaktørerKirsi Kallio, Sarah Mills, Tracey Skelton
Antal sider14
UdgivelsesstedSingapore
ForlagSpringer Science+Business Media
Publikationsdato29 maj 2015
Sider1-14
ISBN (Elektronisk)978-981-4585-94-1
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 29 maj 2015
NavnGeographies of Children and Young People
Vol/bind7

Citationsformater