Level one Training
Child Rights, Laws and Policies Regarding Child Protection
Course overview:
The rights of children for obtaining adequate protection from harm and access essential services that help them survive, develop and achieve their full potential has been emphasized by a number of international, regional and child rights treaties and adopted by legislations by national governments. The course intends to familiarize participants with the two principal treaties, i.e., the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) that stipulated the basic rights of children and serve as an instrument for regulating government’s implementation responsibilities. Through outlining the key issues that need to be considered to ensure children’s rights, the training conveys useful message to participants as to how governments harmonize national laws and policies by adopting the standards and principles provided in the Convention and the Charter and ways of putting in place implementation structures, systems and mechanisms to realize the rights of all children.
Major topics to be covered include:
- The context of children and child rights protection (Regional, National context)
- Child rights and child protection frameworks adopted by the UN & AU
- Targets and strategies set in the SGDs to end violence against children
- Prospects and challenges of operationalizing the instruments/framework (Regional and National context)
- Compiling and analyzing data on children for improved services and advocacy
- Framework for monitoring child rights implementation at different levels
- Monitoring and review of progress on the protection of the rights of children: reporting and accountability mechanisms by governments and Civil Society Organizations
By the end of the training, participants will be able to:
- Build awareness and understanding about the basic facts, standards and principles of child rights
- Acquire sufficient knowledge about UNCRC and ACRWC
- Build a better understanding about the prospects and challenges encountered in operationalizing instruments/framework of child rights
- Know the tasks performed by the African Committee of Experts on the rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) and Universal Periodic Review (UPR) performed by the UN Human Rights Council
- Acquire skills for collecting data on the rights of children for advocacy and compiling recommendations in the preparation of reports for the UN and ACERWC
- Identify mechanisms of instituting accountability systems for achieving effective implementation of child rights
- Identify the gaps and ways of strengthening implementation of child rights framework at different levels, especially among marginalized groups
- Have a clearer understanding about the roles of various actors (governmental and non-state) and institutional arrangements for the implementation and monitoring of child rights
- Develop capacity to closely work with duty bearers and hold them responsible in discharging their obligations and commitments for the protection of the rights of children