Promote Child Rights Research Articles

Evaluation of Child’s Right Portrayal in Select Nollywood Films

This study examines the role of Nollywood films in promoting child rights in Nigeria. Using Development Media and Social Representation Theories, the study analyzed five locally produced movies and 663 respondents. The findings revealed that Nigerian films depict various issues of child rights, including neglect, child labor, emotional abuse, child battering, sexual abuse, gender discrimination, child kidnapping, child trafficking, and moral abuse. The study concluded that Nigerian movies provide a country perspective for deepening moral and social consciousness and advancing attitudinal change in child rights. The authors recommend that filmmakers continue producing films that address child rights issues to further advance justice against children.

Prevalence and factors associated with multidimensional child deprivation: Findings from the Future of Families and Child Well-Being Study

Despite the growing importance of the multidimensional methods of assessing child poverty, few studies in the U.S. have applied a rights-based approach to examining child deprivation. This study examines multidimensional child deprivation using eight dimensions and twelve indicators based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Using a sample of children at age nine from the fifth wave of the Future of Families and Child Well-being Study, this study applied the multiple overlapping deprivation analysis (MODA), a comprehensive analytic method to assess the multidimensionality of child deprivation and to provide a detailed picture of material and social forms of deprivation among the U.S. children. This study found that the overall child deprivation rate was 8.89%; environmental safety (20.36%), information (15.94%), and housing security (14.23%) dimensions contributed the highest to the overall child deprivation; the overlap between deprivation and income poverty was 12.83%. Results suggest that understanding multifaceted and interrelated contexts of child deprivation is crucial to promote child rights.

Provision of child protection services in Zimbabwe: review of the human rights perspective

The article reviews child protection services in Zimbabwe and its interface with the changing social and economic environment. Within the qualitative research design, the study deployed the documentary analysis and the interview of six key informants only, which created an epistemological front for knowledge production. The study was guided by the Human Rights Perspective and established that the Child Protection Services in Zimbabwe have been marred with a plethora of socioeconomic encounters which stretch from policy inconsistency, corruption, brain drain, lack of operational research, lack of capacity of Department of Social Development and the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these issues are global concerns. Drawing from Human Rights Perspective, the study concludes that the socio-economic challenges associated with child protection services in Zimbabwe demonstrate the violation of children’s as enshrined in provisions of Convention on the Rights of the Child. The research concludes by arguing for provision of more investment towards child service programmes in Zimbabwe. The study respectfully recommends that key stakeholders can improve this state of affairs by promoting child rights.

Embedding Child Rights Principles and Practises in Mega Sport Event Planning.

Recently, there has been growing concern about the lack of intentionality of mega sport event (MSE) organisers in ensuring that child rights are adequately respected, protected and promoted before, during, and after the events take place. In the context of the summer Olympic Games, reported child rights infringements have been on the rise, both in relation to abuse in sport itself and the negative consequences associated with planning and delivering the Games. In response to reports of child rights infringements, a coalition of actors, including non-governmental and civil society organisations have sought to pressure event owners and organisers to strengthen protections in the planning and delivery of their events. To date, however, child rights commitments have not been fully embedded in policies and principles guiding the planning and delivery of the Olympic Games. In this article, we explore the field of child rights in the context of the Olympic Games, focusing on a case study of the Tokyo 2020 edition. Drawing on documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews with Tokyo 2020 stakeholders and affiliates, detailed appraisal of the planning process was undertaken. Findings show that while the Japanese authorities have signed up to international child rights conventions and embedded some child participation strategies in Games-related activity, there was little evidence that Tokyo 2020 organisers had developed or implemented robust policies, principles or practises to respect, protect and promote child rights in Games planning. This absence, we argue, is because there was no requirement to embed child rights commitments during the bidding or planning phases, as the IOC had yet to enshrine human rights in its host city contract when the Games were first awarded to Tokyo. In conclusion, we argue that it is imperative the IOC embeds child rights principles and protocols in the bidding and planning processes to ensure that the risks to children are foregrounded and acted upon by host cities and their partners, elevating human rights to a position equal to other Games requirements. This study is of international significance as the evidence will aid future host city bidders to ensure children's rights are embedded in MSE policies for each nation.

Designing a Novel Robot Activist Model for Interactive Child Rights Education

The paper presents an original research titled, ‘SUHAKAM Going Digital with Monash’, a two years Human Right Education initiatives in Malaysia. SUHAKAM is the National Human Rights Institution established by the Malaysia Parliament and is actively finding innovative approach for Human Rights public awareness, especially child rights education in Malaysia. Monash University Malaysia is a prominent University in Malaysia that have the latest educational technologies with effective pedagogy. The synergy between SUHAKAM and Monash for child rights education innovation aimed to bring the ground breaking Robot Activist across schools in Malaysia. The research seeks to understand the educational barriers that SUHAKAM are currently facing in meeting their obligations, to assist SUHAKAM in promoting child rights agenda across Malaysia in an innovative approach. A Robot Activist is thoughtfully designed, developed and deployed to introduce what SUHAKAM is, the Child Rights Conventions (in both Malay and English) with smart Q&A; followed by an interactive game session, “Simon Says” with pupils. This paper discusses the Robot Activist design research, operation and fun interactions. The finding shows that the educational robot acts as a catalyst to formalise the international human rights education in Malaysia, with the inter-disciplinary synergies of educational sessions using humanities aspects of advanced robotics for next generation engagement. The key constraints, reflections and recommendations are critically discussed on how an educational robot, the Robot Activist can engage children with the heavy-weighted topic such as child rights conventions. Recommendations to the next phase of the model design is proposed.

Understanding youth participation to volunteer for child rights

BackgroundToday, Pakistan has the highest percentage of young people in its history, who can become champions of child rights through channelizing their energy. Voices for Children’s Aspirations and Needs (VCAN) student society at the University of Lahore is one such student body, working to promote child rights and eliminate violence against children. ObjectivesThe study identifies factors contributing to young people’s motivation to join VCAN student society working for children's rights and influence their participation in activities, along with attitudinal shift. The current study also attempts to find out effective mediums to engage youth in volunteering activities for the prevention of violence against children. ParticipantsSample (N = 40) was selected through purposive sampling from the VCAN Student Society at the University of Lahore. MethodThe data were collected through a questionnaire developed by the researchers (α = 0.86). Collected data were analyzed by finding descriptive statistics (mean, percentage and frequency) and paired samplet-test using statistics software, SPSS, version 21.0. ResultsMotivation for joining student society included wanting to work for the betterment of children (57.5 %) and to volunteer for the prevention of violence against children (47.5 %). There was a statistically significant difference (t=−4.16, p < .001) in the perception of participants about child rights before and after joining the society. Factors such as lack of required knowledge, unclear roles, and contrast between expected role and skillset (45.0 %, 42.5 %, and 40.0 % respectively) discouraged youth participation. 37.5 % of the participants considered WhatsApp as an extremely effective way to engage youth whereas 32.5 % reported Facebook as an extremely effective medium for the same purpose. ConclusionStudent societies provide a great platform for students to be active for a social cause. Educational institutions should encourage and facilitate youth participation for such causes.

Participatory youth-led community development: A child-centered visual SWOT analysis in India

In India, 27.5% of the population is youth in the age group of 15–29 years and 67.5% of the Indian population lives in rural and semi-urban areas. Youth civic engagements and youth-led initiatives are crucial for community development. The purpose of this paper is to examine how well youth-led initiatives are creating a positive impact in the community, as well as how these initiatives are recognized by their own community members and key stakeholders. This paper describes how youth-led visual technology and media-based community development processes transformed a nomadic tribal community in India with a focus on promoting child rights. The project “INaGi: A Child-Centered Visual SWOT” (Ilaingargaludan Nagaramum Giramamum, Tamil for “Youth with Urban and Rural Areas”) was executed by Trust for Youth and Child Leadership (TYCL), a youth-led organization based in Pondicherry, India. The project offered visual technology and media tools to local youth to capture the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the tribal community and provided space for them to reflect, connect, and act for mutual social transformation. This process recognizes indigenous knowledge, co-creation, and the power of young people and new age technology, and it enables local people to innovate local solutions for local problems. Furthermore, this paper discusses a youth-led bottom-up approach for the planning and execution of child-centered community development, as particularly distinct from a donor-driven project approach. Visual-based participatory action research methods were adopted to engage youth, community members, and other key stakeholders of the project. This paper captures the participatory youth-led community development process, its positive outcomes, and lessons learned from the process and put forth recommendations for key stakeholders.

Teachers Roles in Promoting Child Rights Practices among Children Studying in Rural Schools

Teachers Roles in Promoting Child Rights Practices among Children Studying in Rural Schools

Child Labour Laws in South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe: A Comparative Analysis

This article reports on a study that investigated the effectiveness of child labour laws intended to promote child rights and the protection of children from unfair and forced labour. Legal scholars distinguish between child work and child labour: forced child labour manifests itself in abusing children sexually, forcing children to work on farms, and compromising children’s rights to education. Although South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia have laws in place to protect children from child labour, the abuse of children continues in these countries. Furthermore, although these three countries are signatories to conventions of the International Labour Organisation that seek to eliminate child labour, they have been unable to stem the tide of child labour. This article argues that there is a need for the three countries to work closely together to implement policies that reverse or fight against child labour. The researchers used a qualitative methodology to interpret the variations in the application of child labour laws. They found there are no harmonised laws to deal with child labour in South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Hence, this article recommends that an independent supranational organisation be established in Southern Africa to monitor, evaluate, and implement progressive laws to eradicate child labour in line with internationally recognised best practices as set out in child labour laws.

Global Human Trafficking and Child Victimization.

Trafficking of children for labor and sexual exploitation violates basic human rights and constitutes a major global public health problem. Pediatricians and other health care professionals may encounter victims who present with infections, injuries, posttraumatic stress disorder, suicidality, or a variety of other physical or behavioral health conditions. Preventing child trafficking, recognizing victimization, and intervening appropriately require a public health approach that incorporates rigorous research on the risk factors, health impact, and effective treatment options for child exploitation as well as implementation and evaluation of primary prevention programs. Health care professionals need training to recognize possible signs of exploitation and to intervene appropriately. They need to adopt a multidisciplinary, outward-focused approach to service provision, working with nonmedical professionals in the community to assist victims. Pediatricians also need to advocate for legislation and policies that promote child rights and victim services as well as those that address the social determinants of health, which influence the vulnerability to human trafficking. This policy statement outlines major issues regarding public policy, medical education, research, and collaboration in the area of child labor and sex trafficking and provides recommendations for future work.

Gifted and talented education: Some social work implications in emerging approaches for children’s rights in Kenya

This article analyses the social work implications in programmes and initiatives that address the rights of children in Kenya. The analysis is drawn from three case studies of organizations that promote child rights in Kenya, namely Compassion International (Kenya), Chosen Children of Promise (CCP) and Equity Group Foundation of the Equity Bank. These agencies are making notable efforts to identify needy children and assist them to access education in appropriate institutions through the provision of scholarships and other forms of assistance. The research notes the lack of clear government policy for gifted and talented children’s education and the positive role that social workers could play in the promotion of child rights in Kenya. This article makes a contribution to the awareness of policies for gifted and talented children in Kenya.

A comparative study of policy approach for child protection in Goa and Singapore

This article makes a comparison between a progressive state of India, Goa, and Singapore with reference to their policy approach for child protection with reference to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Comparisons are made for the overall measures for promoting child rights, legislation for child protection, role of the nodal ministry/department and alternative childcare. Efforts are made to identify the similarities and differences between the two. In conclusion, recommendations are drawn for child protection measures in both the places and for the methodology of comparative reviews. The article is based on a larger exploratory comparative study of child protection situation and measures that was carried out between Goa and Singapore. The two were found to be comparable as they are similar with reference to the Asian cultural context and comparable historical, economic and demographic profiles. The sources of information for the project were literature review and visits to institutions and meetings with the key personnel.