S. Sudan parliament adopts African Charter on child rights

October 1, 2014 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s parliament adopted a charter preserving the rights and welfare of children during a sitting on Wednesday in the capital, Juba, becoming the 48th African country to adopt the convention.

The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) was unanimously ratified by MPs after a one-hour-long debate over some of the convention’s articles, with the document eventually passed in its totality.

Central Equatoria MP Ramijo Lemi expressed concern over Article 24 of the charter which allows for child adoption on the grounds it goes against South Sudanese culture to allow children to be adopted by foreigners.

Lemi also requested that Article 9 of the charter, which guarantees child’s right to freedom of thought on religion, to be placed under reservation, saying South Sudan would not be able to honour this item “because children are not mature [enough] to decide on their own”.

Lemi further claimed that giving a special treatment to children of imprisoned women is too risky.

“It is not easy to treat children of imprisoned mothers, so let us leave it to the mother because we don’t have those institutions now in South Sudan,” he said.

However, MP Onyoti Adigo, the leader of the opposition minority group SPLM-DC in parliament, called for the charter to be adopted in its entirety, saying lawmakers should instead focus on educating against “harmful cultural practices.”

“I think it will be useful if we propogate the rights of children because [in] most of our (South Sudanese) culture we are still practicing harmful social and cultural practices,” said Adigo citing scarification and the removal of teeth.

“Most of our children are really suffering despite the fact that we have got these wonderful laws [because] we are not practicing them,” he said.

Adigo said many children are being held in detention centres and prisons, which goes against their constitutional rights.

“Children are together with adults [in prison] which I think is some[thing] serious,” he said.

Alfred Wol Malith, chairperson of the parliamentary committee on gender, child and social welfare, youth and sport, said the charter is the basis for the protection of children’s rights.

“It will protect South Sudanese parents’ rights to raise their children within the positive context of their traditions and cultures in Africa. It will provide a way to comprehensively to access the law on policy on children’s rights and their wellbeing in South Sudan,” said Malith.

Several MPs spoke in support of the ACRWC, leading to the convention to be ratified without reservations.

However, Lakes state MP Daniel Deng Monydit said the main challenge lies in the implementation of the document.

He said police were often under resourced and poorly trained in how to handle investigations into child welfare, saying the parliament will consider depriving such departments of funds in future budgeting if they do not implement the appropriate laws in full.

(ST)