AFRICANEWS

Kenya

Child abuse rampant as Kenya waits for bill

Children's rights

The Children Bill 2001 is before Kenya's Parliament, waiting to be debated and passed. In the meantime, children in all areas of society continue to suffer all kinds of abuse, reports the African Network for the Prevention and Protection Against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN).

As Kenyans wait for the Children Bill 2001 to be debated and passed in Parliament, Kenyan children continue to bear the brunt of abuse and neglect. They die in mysterious fires in school dormitories, lose their lives in road accidents engendered by reckless driving, and are battered to death by their teachers who ostensibly try to instil discipline in them.

Research conducted late last year by the regional office of the African Network for the Prevention and Protection Against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) reveals soaring cases of child abuse and neglect in Kenya.

In its December 2000 report, titled "Awareness and Views Regarding Child Abuse and Child Neglect in Kenya," ANPPCAN defines child abuse as "maltreatment of children by either hurting them (abuse) or by purposely failing to provide for their needs (neglect), thus depriving them of their rights."

Child abuse takes place in families, manifested as neglect, verbal abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and infanticide, says the report. Outside of families, this abuse most commonly takes the forms of child prostitution, displacement, child labour, and marginalisation. Within educational institutions, charitable homes, and government rehabilitation centres, the most common forms of child abuse include rape, sodomy, excessive caning, battering, and verbal abuse.

ANPPCAN conducted its research in Nairobi, Meru, Nyeri, and Kakamega from August to December of 2000. The organisation surveyed 694 adults and 501 children who had been abused.

Of the 501 children surveyed, 43.2 percent said that they were physically abused, 15.7 percent said they were forced to work full-time, 21.7 percent had been neglected by their parents, 7.6 percent had been sexually abused, and 6.1 percent reported that they had been verbally abused. Most children who were sexually abused felt that abusers should be imprisoned.

In terms of location, sexual abuse was found to be more rampant in slums. In Nairobi's Korogocho slums for example, sexual abuse accounted for 46.7 percent of all the cases of abuse, while in the middle-class estate of Buru Buru, it accounted for 13.3 percent. The Eastern province town of Meru had the highest incidence of physical abuse, where it constituted 42.5 percent of all cases. In the same area, child labour was also found to be rampant, making up 44.8 percent of abuse cases. "Miraa" (khat) is known to thrive in this area and many children drop out of school to work in "miraa" plantations.

In homes, incest and sexual abuse of children has become a common occurrence. However, most of the incest cases go unreported because the affected families are afraid of being stigmatised and would rather sweep the issue under the carpet, says Wambui Njuguna, ANNPPCAN'S Director of Programmes. "Moral decadence is to blame for the rising cases of child abuse, especially incest," she says.

"Africans have always believed in inflicting pain on a child as a form of punishment," says Sammy Ole Kwallah, the Director of Children's Services in the Ministry of Home Affairs. "But with the current thinking on juvenile justice, this attitude has got to change"

The research notes that many parents had abandoned their children because the parents were unable to afford their upbringing. Amongst other things, the report recommends that low-income parents be given the necessary supports to raise their children.

Another serious problem that ANPPCAN's research points to is the issue of child labour. The report states that in Kenya today, children as young as six years of age are continuously doing backbreaking work for long hours in employment.

"Children provide 25 percent of labour in agriculture and an unknown number of children are working in domestic situations", says the report. This violates the International Labour Organization (ILO)'s Convention 138, which states that the minimum working age should at least be 15 years. According to UNICEF, about 3.6 million children between six and14 years of age in Kenya are not in school and could be easily working.

The report also says that many children are victims of cultural practices - such as female genital mutilation (FGM), early and forced marriage, and widow inheritance - that provide fertile grounds for abuse.

Street children, however, are the most abused and neglected lot in Kenya. Originally found only on the streets of major towns, these children - who UNICEF estimates number 135,000 - are today a common sight, even in divisional headquarters. Law-enforcement officers often beat the boys, while girls are frequently the victims of rape.

Child abuse has far-reaching repercussions for the victims and society at large by perpetuating a culture of criminality as a result of the abused becoming abusers. "Children are the future leaders of this country and their interests should be put at the centre," says Mathias Keah, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Information, Transport and Communication. "It is therefore a collective responsibility to guard against child abuse." He further laments that the courts are far too lenient on child abusers.

Yet, plans to help these children are lacking in the Kenya government. When asked what the government of Kenya is doing about the situation of street children, Kwallah said only that, "after the special session on children in September, each country will be asked to come up with a specific agenda for the next decade." Keah claims that some of the street children are planted by a cartel of extortionists to extort money from the public but admits the problem is getting out of hand. "This is a problem that not only the government should tackle, but the whole society," he says.

As if the abuses meted out on children are not grave enough, the juvenile justice system in Kenya only provides a fertile breeding ground for child offenders to be abused.

A 1998 report by ANPPCAN Kenya presents a serious indictment on the entire juvenile justice system in Kenya. The report, titled "Children in the Dock: A Situation Analysis of the Juvenile Justice System in Kenya," is based on research analysing court records and interviews with children who have passed through the juvenile justice system.

According to the report, of the 1,864 children who passed through the juvenile court system in 1997, 85 percent were boys. The most common offence with which children were charged was vagrancy, which accounted for more than 70 percent of all the cases.

"The duration of stay in remand homes could not always be determined due to the inadequacy of court records," says the report. "The initial duration after first appearance in court is usually two weeks, but this is often renewed indefinitely until the case is finalised. There appears to be no limit on how long a child can be held in remand."

The evidence collected indicates that officials do not help children in conflict with the law to understand the justice system. "No legal representation is provided, and for many children, there are no parents, guardians, or child-care officers to help." The damning report further adds, "Police officers often act more like child abusers than guardians of the law." In government corrective centres, older inmates sodomise newcomers while the whole lot is subjected to thorough beatings and hard labour.

Conditions in juvenile remand homes are poor. Basic facilities are run-down, water supplies are inadequate, and sanitary facilities are inoperative, says the report. Because of overcrowding, children in remand are not separated according to age or severity of offence, which permits older children to abuse and exploit younger ones and children with serious criminal tendencies to influence those who may have committed no crime except being homeless.

To help stop child abuse, child rights organisations submitted their recommendations to Attorney General Amos Wako last year. It is hoped that the Children Bill 2001, which is now before the House, will be debated soon. The bill calls for:

• FGM and early marriage to be considered forms of child abuse;
• children to be protected from "economic exploitation" and any work that is harmful to their physical, moral, or mental health, or interferes with their education;
• the government and family to be responsible for ensuring a child's survival and development;
• anyone infringing upon the rights of a child to be liable to a prison sentence of one year or a fine of Ksh50,000, or both;
• children in remand homes and corrective centres to be separated according to age;
• the government to provide free legal representation to a child offender; and
• children offenders not to be subjected to corporal punishment.

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