Child Rights Protection in Emergencies: The Ethiopian Context
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Date
2018-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Child rights protection in emergencies are efforts to prevent and respond to abuse neglect, exploitation and violence against children in calamity. Governments have the primary responsibility of ensuring that, children are protected at all times, especially through giving due consideration during emergencies. In disaster, so many factors increase a child’s vulnerability. Displacement, separation from family and community, losing a parent or a loved one and losing home and possessions are all factors that can endanger a child’s life. Conflict and IDP are some of manmade emergency. The main focus of this thesis is the protection of children rights in the case of internal conflict at the border between oromia and Somali regional state causes displacement of484,934 people from the border and arbitrary displacement of Oromo people by liyu police of Somali regional state which causes the displacement of 246,282 Oromo people from Somali regional state. Children rights protected by the instruments like UNCRC, UDHR, ICCPR, and ECESCR, GC IV and AP II, AU IDP convention, UN IDP guideline and other declaration made in different time. In time of disaster children rights mainly given attention were rights to life and survival, right to education, Right to non-separation from family and protection from sexual violence and right to health and food. However during arbitrary displacement of Oromo people from Somali those rights were completely violated by the government organ. The present effort, evaluate the status of the protection of those rights and the status of their violation both during the border conflict and arbitrary displacement. In doing so, the writer has analyzed various international, regional, and domestic legal instruments, and the roles of institutional frame work. Continually, the writer has assessed the data related to displacement and border conflict from different organs. The data collection stage of the work has employed through interview with government officials, IDP, receiving data registered from government organs and field observation with IDP peoples, Committee of rehabilitation in which more than 100 peoples were consulted. After conducting serious analysis, the writer has, eventually, reached to the following findings; Except for some measurements to minimize the risky after displacement the federal government didn’t fulfill its obligation for protection. Children were raped, they were slaughtered by police, they were psychologically distressed as a result of death of their family or any other thing indicated in the conflict; many children were separated from their parent and interrupt their education. The work has, finally, recommended plausible solutions to strengthen the protection of children rights in such emergency.
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Child Rights Protection