There has been a growing awareness of human rights, specifically children rights, over the past 20 years. Children with intellectual disabilities are often described as a vulnerable group, with limited opportunities to fully participate in society and act as meaningful contributors. Primary caregivers are responsible to act in their child’s best interest and hence their perception of children’s rights is important. The role that they play in their child with disabilities’ life and how they promote their child’s rights, can never be ignored. The main aim of this study was to describe the extent to which Afrikaans-speaking primary caregivers perceive that the basic needs of their children between 8;0 and 14;11 (years;months) with intellectual disabilities are being met, in an attempt to describe their rights as set out by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The UNCRC is a widely accepted body of which South Africa is a signatory. Forty-nine participants who met the selection criteria were asked to complete a questionnaire, consisting of biographical information, the Ten Questions Questionnaire (TQQ), and questions related to needs and rights of children with disabilities as set out by the UNCRC. Participants were mostly older, married mothers who had only a Grade 10 or lower qualification. Either themselves or their spouses were in full-time employment, and they were part of the low to middle socio-economic group. Results revealed that the majority of primary caregivers believed that their children with intellectual disabilities understood them when they told their children to do something and could speak and say recognizable words, whilst less than half of the primary caregivers reported that their children’s speech was different from normal. More than half of the primary caregivers indicated that their children learn to do things in the same way as typically developing peers. With regard to different assistive devices, the majority of primary caregivers felt that their children’s needs were met in respect to different assistive devices. This study revealed that primary caregivers most frequently mentioned intangible rights such as self-esteem rights (which included attitudes, acceptance, respect and equality. The study contributed to an improved understanding of Afrikaans-speaking primary caregivers’ perception of their children with intellectual disabilities’ needs as a starting point for claiming their human rights. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC) / unrestricted

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / Civil registration has not been recognised as a matter of concern or public interest in South Africa. It has not been part of discussion in platforms concerned with children’s rights including the government. Consequently, led to failure in understanding the implications it has on children’s lives, in realising their rights and having access to other significant and essential services (Brito, Corbacho & Osorio, 2013). Birth registration proves to be a global problem and a concern for children. Thus many countries have made it a priority and a matter of urgency as indicated in the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. The objective is for every child to be registered before the year 2030 to ensure that all children are accounted for and prevent invisibility and them having no access to their rightful services.

Uganda is one of the first African countries affected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the early 1980s. The country did not have the resources to provide the required treatments and prevent the spread of the virus. The poor and sometimes non-existent health care services increased the spread of HIV in the country, especially in rural areas where some communities are hard to reach. This study sought to explore the services and support offered to children in different Ugandan communities, as well as to understand their perceptions about these interventions. Structured interviews using a mapping technique with 15 children aged between 13 and 17 years were conducted in five districts in Jinja town. Direct observations were also conducted in five different sub-counties through The AIDS Support Organization (TASO). Content qualitative analysis was used to capture the children’s perceptions. There were 6 themes identified in this study: 1) Children identified family, friends, pastors and teachers as key actors in their social circle as people who are respecting their rights; 2) Chairpersons were crucial to the daily functionality of their communities, where they provide safety and consultation services; 3) Although some children acknowledged the presence of local, national and international organizations for developing and implementing projects, most children were unaware of the presence, specific functionalities, or the operation centres of the organizations. In consort, they were unaware of the services out there designed to help vulnerable children; 4) Children had various sex disaggregated responsibilities, from financial support for their families (girls) to subsistence activities (boys). Work responsibilities and childbearing expectations hindered girls from staying in school after the secondary level; 5) Children felt more comfortable discussing perceived delicate and sensitive topics (e.g. secrets) with friends. Children were least comfortable expressing their opinions with adults to whom they could not relate (e.g. educational aspirations). Children were mainly afraid to openly discuss sensitive and difficult topics with adults due to fears of the negative consequences, such as physical beatings, of disobedience; 6) Unavailability and inaccessibility of secondary and post-secondary schools in remote communities hindered children from receiving education past primary levels. Our findings revealed some key challenges that vulnerable children in Uganda can face, including discomfort and fear about speaking with adults, responsibilities and unavailability or inaccessibility of education, as well as the lack of knowledge and awareness of the available services. Our findings also revealed some central, positive influences in the children’s lives, including friends, some family, teachers, and pastors. These findings can help to reduce the contextual uncertainties in the study communities and to inform targeted interventions that utilize the positive influences to help vulnerable children address and overcome the key challenges. Future studies should be conducted to understand whether the responsibilities of children towards the adults could affect the protection of their rights as they might be limited to some services or simply not aware of them.

No description available.

No description available.

This study examines the ethical balance of children’s autonomy and parents’ responsibility to protect in relation to the digital environment. The balance also relates to the right to privacy which can be limited with the intention to protect the child, but the child’s evolving capacities and autonomy is to be taken into consideration.  The purpose is to search for a plausible understanding of the ethical balance of children’s autonomy and the parental responsibility to protect within the context of the digital sphere. This means I make the case that how the child’s autonomy is viewed is fundamental for determining the balance within this context. Two theoretical perspectives on autonomy of Amy Mullin and Joseph Raz are utilized in the study. Additionally, I offer an analysis of a general comment on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment and other material from UNICEF’s research centre Innocenti.

Studiens syfte är att analysera elevers upplevelser av inflytande. Vårt mål var även att lyfta elevernas rätt till att yttra sina åsikter om fritidsverksamheten. Tidigare forskning visar att fritidshemslärare tar upp vikten av lyssnande och att möta eleverna på deras nivå i sin verksamhet. Tidigare forskare lyfte även en relationell inkluderingstank där elevernas olika förutsättningar ses som tillgångar. Dessutom betonas genom att inkludera eleverna i beslutsfattandet främjar vi deras kunskap om demokrati och ger dem verktyg att utöva demokratiska principer. Maktförhållanden spelar också en viktig roll i hur elevernas inflytande påverkas. Maktförhållanden kan vara både formella och informella och kan existera i skolan, hemmet och andra samhällsmiljön. För att verkligen främja barns rättigheter är det nödvändigt att ta itu med samhälleliga strukturer och maktförhållanden på ett systematiskt sätt.Utifrån ett fenomenologiskt perspektiv försöker vi spegla elevernas åsikter. I studien lyfts öppet förhållningssätt inom fenomenologin som innebär att vuxna är beredd att ifrågasätta och ompröva sina egna uppfattningar. Fenomenologin användes i den analytiska delen av den insamlade empirin. Studiens empiri samlades in genom ett frågeformulär där elever i åk 3 medverkade från två skolor. Resultaten visar att det finns gränser för elevernas deltagande och inflytande i fritidshemmet och effekten varierar. Resultaten visar även likheterna mellan eleverna vad de upplever meningsfullt i verksamheten. De mest intressanta delarna av studien är hur elever uppfattar inflytande, om de känner sig hörda av vuxna och vad som upplevs meningsfullt. Vår studie visar att vara med vännerna var mest meningsfullt, vilket vi även anser är ett av de viktigaste resultaten. / The purpose of the research is to analyze students’ experiences of influence. Our goal was also to emphasize the students' right to express their opinion about the school-age educare centres. Previous studies show that teachers in school-age educare centres pay attention in their activities to the importance of listening to students and meeting them at their own level. Early researchers proposed the idea of relational inclusion, where students' different circumstances are seen as strengths. It is also emphasized that by involving students in decision-making, we promote their knowledge of democracy and give them the tools to practice democratic principles. Power relations also play an important role in how students' influence is affected. Power relationships can be both formal and informal and occur in school, home and other social settings. To truly promote children's rights, it is necessary to systematically address social structures and power relations. From a phenomenological perspective, our goal is to reflect students' opinions. The research emphasizes the open approach of phenomenology, which means that adults are willing to question and rethink their perceptions. Phenomenology was used in the analytical part of the collected empirical data. Empirical data for the study were collected through a questionnaire with third-year students from two schools. The results show that student participation and influence in school-age educare centres has its limits and the influence varies. The results also show similarities of students in what they find meaningful in the activity. The most interesting parts of the research are how students perceive influence, whether they perceive themselves to be heard by adults, and what is perceived as significant. Our research shows that being with friends was the most significant, which we believe is one of the most important outcomes.

Sexual violence against children (SVAC) is a complex, global challenge that negatively impacts the health and human rights of hundreds of millions of children. Over the last 50 years, SVAC has increasingly been viewed as a public health problem, and significant progress has been made in understanding its prevalence, identifying risk factors, and developing prevention approaches. While practitioners recognize that children’s experiences of sexual violence are diverse, there is an absence of evidence on different forms of SVAC. In this dissertation, I introduce the construct of “SVAC subtype,” which aims to capture the heterogeneity in children’s experiences of sexual violence. SVAC subtype refers to the characteristics associated with an SVAC experience, including the survivor’s characteristics (age, gender, etc.), the perpetrator’s characteristics (age, relationship to survivor, etc.), and the event’s characteristics (the location, the specific acts, etc.). Greater insight into SVAC subtypes provides policymakers, implementers, and researchers with information they can use to assess how well existing SVAC interventions prevent the identified subtypes, to tailor and target prevention interventions to better reach and meet the needs of children, and to improve research on SVAC and evaluations of prevention programs. In this dissertation, I describe how to identify and apply SVAC subtypes to ensure that no children are left behind in SVAC primary prevention efforts. I developed Chapters 1 and 2 in partnership with the AfriChild Centre, a Uganda-based research institute that promotes the well-being of African children. In Chapter 1, I describe the application of the Latent Class Analysis (LCA) methodology to identify subtypes of children’s first SVAC incidents across five Eastern and Southern African countries (Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda, and Zambia). This analysis used nationally representative Violence Against Children Survey (VACS) data to identify eight subtypes of first SVAC incidents, four among boys and four among girls. Among boys, the identified subtypes were Boys’ SVAC subtype 1: Peer-perpetrated sexual touching at school; Boys’ SVAC subtype 2: Preadolescent survivors, known perpetrator; Boys’ SVAC subtype 3: Partner-perpetrated, forced or pressured sex at survivor’s home; and Boys’ SVAC subtype 4: Older adolescent survivors, attempted forced sex on a road, estimated to represent 25%, 29%, 14% and 32% of boys’ first SVAC incidents, respectively. Among girls, the identified subtypes were Girls’ SVAC subtype 1: Peer-perpetrated sexual touching at school; Girls’ SVAC subtype 2: Preadolescent survivors in their own home, known perpetrator; Girls’ SVAC subtype 3: Partner-perpetrated forced or pressured sex at perpetrator’s home; and Girls’ SVAC subtype 4: Adolescent survivors, attempted forced sex on a road, estimated to represent 13%, 15%, 31% and 40% of girls’ first SVAC incidents, respectively. Experiencing emotional violence, physical violence, or parental absence prior to SV was predictive of experiencing certain SVAC subtypes compared to others. In Chapter 2, the same approach was applied to understand SVAC subtypes in Uganda using VACS data. Among boys, the identified subtypes were: Boys’ SVAC subtype 1: Peer-perpetrated sexual touching at school; Boys’ SVAC subtype 2: Preadolescent survivors, forced or pressured sex, family member perpetrator; Boys’ SVAC subtype 3: Older adolescent survivors, repeated, partner-perpetrated SV, outdoors; and Boys’ SVAC subtype 4: Young adolescent survivors, attempted forced sex, neighbor perpetrator, estimated to represent 27%, 14%, 24% and 34% of boys’ first SVAC incidents, respectively. Among girls, four subtypes were identified: Girls’ SVAC subtype 1: Peer-perpetrated sexual touching at school; Girls’ SVAC subtype 2: Preadolescent survivors, attempted or forced sex, neighbor or family member perpetrator; Girls’ SVAC subtype 3: Older adolescent survivors, repeated, partner-perpetrated SV; and Girls’ SVAC subtype 4: Stranger-perpetrated SV, outdoors, estimated to represent 21%, 12%, 26% and 41% of girls’ first SVAC incidents, respectively. Among boys and girls reporting SVAC, physical violence or parental absence prior to SV significantly increased the odds of reporting SVAC subtype 2, compared to SVAC subtype 1. Stakeholders in Eastern and Southern Africa can use the findings of Chapters 1 and 2 to assess how well existing SVAC interventions are expected to prevent the identified subtypes and take corrective actions to ensure any overlooked SVAC subtypes are prevented. In both chapters, I present brief, non-exhaustive assessments of this issue, which revealed misalignment between prevention programs and prevalent SVAC subtypes. Practitioners can also use the identified SVAC subtypes to target and tailor SVAC primary prevention programs in the region to increase their effectiveness and sustainability. Finally, researchers can use the findings to design surveys that better capture the heterogeneity of survivors’ experiences, allowing them to ascertain the prevalence of SVAC subtypes across time and settings and to determine which programs are effective in preventing specific subtypes. In Chapter 3, I present additional recommendations for how identified SVAC subtypes can be utilized, introducing the Plan2Prevent roadmap, which provides guidance to implementers on how to consider SVAC subtypes and other contextual factors to design or refine SVAC prevention approaches. This chapter describes a partnership with Pathfinder Tanzania to pilot the Plan2Prevent roadmap to refine an SVAC prevention program in Zanzibar. Plan2Prevent has the potential to support practitioners to use data to design or refine SVAC prevention programs that are informed by evidence and aligned with the local context, with the aim of more effectively and sustainably preventing SVAC. Analyzing data to better understand the heterogeneity of children’s experiences of sexual violence by identifying SVAC subtypes can support stakeholders to move away from viewing SVAC as a one-dimensional issue. Chapters 1 and 2 demonstrate the utility of LCA as a means of identifying SVAC subtypes, and all three chapters provide guidance on how SVAC subtypes can be used to improve SVAC primary prevention efforts. A deeper understanding of SVAC subtypes can help policymakers, implementers, and researchers to assess the state of SVAC prevention programming and improve SVAC prevention interventions, research, and evaluation. Overall, this dissertation posits that the application of more nuanced, data-based understanding of SVAC can improve prevention programs so that more children can live free from sexual violence.

No description available.

De förhållanden som många filippinska barn lever under stämmer inte överens med de rättigheter de har under barnkonventionen. Extrem fattigdom och utbredd korruption gör att människor lever under svåra livsförhållanden och de värst utsatta är barnen. Den filippinska staten varken respekterar, skyddar eller uppfyller dess skyldigheter under internationell lag. Därför måste andra aktörer, som olika NGOs, ta på sig ansvaret för att barnens behov ska bli uppfyllda. Många barn från försummande och utnyttjande situationer är i behov av rehabilitering.Denna uppsats är baserad på en fältstudie med fokus på det arbete som två NGOs på Filippinerna utför för att ge barn tillbaka deras förlorade barndom. Syftet är att väcka uppmärksamhet kring de behov som barn har för deras utveckling och välbefinnande, speciellt behovet av lek och kreativitet, två behov som tenderar att komma i skymundan i arbetet för barnets bästa. / The situation of children in the Philippines is not in accordance with the rights stipulated under the CRC. The extreme poverty and widespread corruption in the country creates an abusive and neglectful environment for people, with children being the most severely affected. The Philippine state does not appear to respect, protect and fulfil its obligations under international law. Other agents, such as NGOs therefore assume responsibility to fulfil the needs of children. Many children are maltreated and in need of rehabilitation.This thesis is based on a field study focusing on the work performed by two NGOs in the Philippines that help children renew their lost childhood. The aim is to draw attention to the needs the child has in their development and wellbeing, especially the need for play and creativity. Two needs that tend to get overlooked in the assessment of the best interest of the child.