Domestication of International Conventions: A Comparative Study of Kenya and Sweden in their Domestication of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)

Abstract

This study focuses on domestication of international conventions as a way of making international instruments applicable at the national level. The study answers questions on how states domesticate international conventions, domestication processes in Kenya and Sweden and how both countries domesticated the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The objectives of the study are to describe the processes of domesticating international conventions and assess the domestication processes in Kenya and Sweden and in particular how the two states domesticated the UNCRC. The findings of the study are intended to give more understanding on the two approaches of domestication; dualism and monism. Domestication brings the whole process of treaty negotiation and conclusion to a successful end because it would be a waste of time and effort for states to come up with international conventions which states do not implement. Domestication makes international conventions applicable at the domestic level thus making it possible to implement them for the benefit of citizens.