Children’s Lives in an Era of Children’s Rights: The Progress of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Africa

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which was adopted unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989, marked a turning point in the perception of children in international law and policy. Although it was hoped that the Convention would have a significant and positive impact on the lives of all children, this has not happened in many parts of the world. This edited volume, based on empirical research and Non-Governmental Organisation project data, explores the progress of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and to a lesser extent, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, in nine African countries in the 25 years since it was adopted by the UN General Assembly.

The book considers the implementation of the Convention both in terms of policy and practice, and its impact on the lived experiences of children in societies across the continent, focusing on specific themes such as HIV/AIDS, education and disability, child labour, witchcraft stigmatisation, street children, parent-child relationships and child participation. The book breaks new ground in blending legal and social perspectives of the experiences of children, and identifies concrete ways forward for the better implementation of the CRC treaty in the various political contexts that exist in Africa.

Afua Twum-Danso Imoh is a Lecturer in the Sociology of Childhood at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on constructions of childhood, children’s rights and parent-child relationships in Africa. She is co-editor of Childhoods at the Intersection of the Local and Global (Palgrave, 2012).

Nicola Ansell is Reader in Human Geography at Brunel University. Her research focuses on young people’s experiences of social change in southern Africa. She is the author of Children, Youth and Development (Routledge, 2005) and directs an MA in Children, Youth and International Development.