The Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1999) are human rights instruments that provide a universal framework for connecting the rights and health of children with the duties and responsibilities of states, setting standards in healthcare, social services, and courts of law.
The underlying premise of a human rights approach is that all people, including orphaned and vulnerable children, have the right to the conditions necessary for survival and development. Nations heavily impacted by AIDS carry an extra burden because the AIDS increases the vulnerability of children and families. Nevertheless, states are legally responsible for taking the administrative, legislative, and budgetary actions required to realize the rights of the child and reduce the vulnerabilities that negatively impact human development.
All children, including those who are orphaned, vulnerable, or living in poverty, have a right to the highest attainable standard of health, to adequate healthcare facilities, to special protection when deprived of their parents’ care, and to a standard of living adequate for development.
Ratifying states pledge to deliver adequate services to vulnerable populations, and demonstrate improvements in their actions to realize these rights. States agree to set benchmarks and targets, articulating what services will be provided by when. Governments must reported to the Committee on the Rights of Child to describe the ways in which they are in compliance with the CRC. States are held to these standards when citizens, NGOs, CBOs, the international community, journalists, and human rights bodies put pressure on them.
Additionally, states are legally obligated to develop the systems and monitoring procedures that improve child welfare, using a process that is transparent and allows accountability for actions.
At the same time, the international community, including resource-rich countries, is obligated to support poorer nations in working towards the goals enshrined in human rights instruments in the context of AIDS.
While this list is not exhaustive, the actions that are central to ensuring the survival and development of children affected by AIDS include:
- Adequately coordinating and implementing policies and programmes;
- Sufficiently funding public services; and
- Collecting, monitoring and evaluating child welfare indicators (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2004; UNICEF, 2004; Woll, 2000).
|
