The Media
Network on Child Rights and Development hosted a discussion forum looking at
the Draft Constitution and its provisions for children today, 5 June. The event
was held at the Taj Pamodzi Hotel in Lusaka and was attended by various players
including children.
The different
speakers presented their views on the provisions of the draft constitution,
identified gaps, proposed amendments in
some areas and identified new issues that have been omitted. The speaker from
the Human Rights Commission of Zambia noted that Article 55 of the draft constitution
(which looks at children) falls short in a number of areas. He pointed out that
it proposes that education should be free but there are user fees for pupils –
that is not free. He emphasized that education must be easily accessible to children
and proper infrastructure must be in place. There are health facilities but
there is a need for services dedicated to children above five years. These
could be allocated within existing facilities.
The draft
constitution talks about the abolishment of corporal punishment. The feeling
was that this needs to be strengthened by other clauses within the constitution
and legislation e.g. how is assault dealt with. There was a concern with the
clause that talks about the protection of children who come in contact with the
law. The current situation is that children stay in prison with their mothers who
committed offenses. The welfare of these children is not provided for under
laws guiding prisons. The recommendation was that these children should not be
exposed to these environments beyond 48 hours.
At the moment
Zambia is in the process of amending its legislation regarding refugees which
leans towards repatriation of people most of which have been staying in Zambia
for over 60 years in the case of one man. Most refugees do not have access to
many services as they are not citizens. The current draft constitution is
silent on the rights of refugee children. It does not make any pronouncements
about their protection or rights. A recommendation was made that children born
before the draft constitution is effective or those who are already in the
country on refugee status should be made residents if they so wish and or
should have full access to all services like any other child in the country.
There were also concerns raised about the ‘age
girls can marry’. The majority of the participants felt that the constitution
should encourage children to stay at school. Some people felt that when certain
things are discussed and legislation developed, customary law is not taken into
consideration. In rural areas children are married off at a young age and that
is considered normal. Its good to have a progressive constitution, but the
state needs to find ways of enforcing the law and make sure that society at
large implements its provisions. The general view was that the draft
constitution makes provisions for the protection of children. There are however
concerns that this is too general and not substantiated e.g. it notes that
children on the streets are entitled to state protection (while it should be
addressing that they should not be in the streets I the first place).
It was
pointed out that there are a number of international conventions and protocols
that Zambia is party to. The government needs to find a way of domesticating
the tools that are available like the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC). Some of
the children felt that there has been no involvement of children in the review
of the constitution. They felt that the draft constitution should be available
in local languages not just English. The provisions on children should be
linked to the UNCRC and the ACRWC. They pointed out that the protection of
children is very vague especially the re-entry into school of girls who got
pregnant. The protection of children from harmful content is not mentioned in
the document. It is actually silent on asking the media to provide content for
children.
MNCRD is
planning more similar events on various issues affecting children.
