Kenya’s Implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: a Critical Analysis

Abstract

The International Law on the Rights of the Child is a fairly recent development in the field of international human rights law. This development signifies that the child is today regarded as a bearer of rights and is no longer to be viewed as an object of sympathy and charity. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is an international instrument which protects the rights of the child. However this instrument is of little use if states do not implement it. The CRC becomes meaningful in the protection of children’s rights only when it is implemented. Kenya in its vision to protect and ensure the survival and development of its young citizens ratified the CRC in 1990. Despite having shown a lot of enthusiasm during the ratification, almost a decade after, the Convention has not yet been fully implemented. This study therefore seeks to find out the impediments making the implementation of the CRC difficult. In its investigations, the study found out the state of implementation of the CRC is wanting. For one, child law in Kenya is scattered in various statutes. Secondly the legal and policy frameworks do not reflect the CRC. The study found out that the slow implementation of the CRC is due to a combination of factors from the present constitution, gaps in legal and policy frameworks, corruption poverty and socio-cultural.