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SEARCHING FOR THE MIDDLE GROUND IN CHILDREN’S RIGHTS: IMPLEMENTING THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD IN GHANA By Afua Oppong Twum-Danso A Thesis Submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Centre of West African Studies, School of Historical Studies, The University of Birmingham January 2008 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989, is the world‟s most widely and rapidly ratified international convention. Although it was hoped that the Convention would have an enormously positive impact on all children, this has not happened in many parts of the world for a variety of reasons, including its western bias, which has, hitherto, dominated the debate on children‟s rights. However, this universality vs. relativity dichotomy does not help us to protect children on the ground. Hence, it is necessary to move beyond the binary debate relating to the universality and relativity of children‟s rights and engage with children‟s local realities, which illustrate that there is, indeed, a middle ground in which people live their lives that may facilitate dialogue on children‟s rights with local communities. In order to identify this middle ground the thesis focused on eliciting the perceptions of adults and children in two local communities in Accra, Ghana, the first country to ratify the Convention in February 1990, on children‟s rights, constructing childhood and the socialization of children and their implications for the implementation of the Convention. Special attention is given to Article 12, which has caused controversy in countries around the world. 1 Dedicated to my son, Chinua, who has had to share his life so far with a thesis that has sometimes been all too consuming. 2 Acknowledgments A wide range of people have contributed to making this thesis a reality. Firstly, I would like to thank the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), without whom, this research would not have been possible. Secondly, I would like to thank Drs. Lynne Brydon and Insa Nolte at the Centre of West African Studies, the University of Birmingham who have been very supportive and encouraging in the last few years. I especially appreciated their support in the last year when the time came to turn ideas and data collected during my fieldwork into a „proper‟ thesis. During my period of fieldwork between May 2005 and March 2006 in Ghana, I received support from a number of people who helped me to achieve different components of my research. In particular, I would like to thank Professor Ellen Bortei-Doku Aryeetey and the Centre for Social Policy Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon for hosting me during my 10-month stay. I would also like to thank Susan Sabaa, formerly of the Ghana NGO Coalition on the Rights of the Child, for welcoming me into her fold and exposing me to key children‟s rights issues from a more programmatic and practical perspective, which was invaluable and deepened my understanding of the state of children‟s welfare and rights in Ghana. In order to collect the views and experiences of children and adults in the two focus communities, Ga Mashie and Nima, I relied on a number of people to assist me in facilitating focus group discussions (FGDs) and interviews. In particular, I would like to thank Samira Seidu, Edmund Acquaye, William Akpali and Doreen Oteng-Manka, all 3 formerly of the Social Work Department at the University of Ghana, Legon. I would also like to thank the following institutions and people for facilitating my access to adults and children in these two communities. In Nima, these included: Nima I and II Primary and Junior Secondary School, the Kardo Community Mosque, the Islamic Charity Centre for Women‟s Orientation, Street Girls‟ Aid, 441 Social Welfare (Vocational Training Centre), Sheik Hidr, the Director of Islamic Institute School, Hon. Ebenezer Kojo Boyetey, Assemblyman for Nima West, Hon. Shareau Tajudeen, Assemblyman for Nima East and Mohammed Tinash, local businessman. In Ga Mashie, I owe a debt of gratitude to the Accra Royal Junior Secondary School, Bishop Mixed Junior Secondary School, Independence Avenue I Junior Secondary School, Independence Avenue II Junior Secondary School, Freeman‟s Stop Child Labour Club, the Catholic Action for Street Children, Street Academy, Dr. Acquaye of the Sempe Mantse Palace and Ebenezer Mettle, community facilitator for CENCOSAD (Centre for Community Studies, Action and Development). Elsewhere, I must also show my appreciation to Curious Minds: Children and Youth in Broadcasting, Englebert‟s International School, Mary Mother of Good Counsel School and Christ the King International School. Finally, I would like to thank my family for all their support and encouragement in the years since I embarked on my PhD research at the Centre of West African Studies. 4 Contents ABSTRACT.............................................................................................................................1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ....................................................................................................3 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ................................................................................................9 LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................ 11 LIST OF ACRONYMS ........................................................................................................ 13 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................. 15 AIM AND SCOPE ........................................................................................................................ 24 METHODOLOGY........................................................................................................................ 26 SITUATING THE RESEARCH WITHIN A FRAMEWORK .................................................................. 26 THE PROCESS OF UNDERTAKING FIELDWORK IN GHANA ......................................................... 30 ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS ............................................................................................................. 44 STRUCTURE OF THESIS ............................................................................................................. 53 CHAPTER I ........................................................................................................................... 55 ENSURING A PARTICULAR CHILDHOOD FOR ALL: THE MOVEMENT TOWARDS A UNIVERSAL CHILD RIGHTS CONVENTION .................................................................................................... 55 1.0. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 55 1.1. TRACING THE HISTORY OF CHILDREN’S RIGHTS .......................................................... 56 1.2 TRACING THE GLOBAL UNIVERSALISATION OF CHILDREN’S RIGHTS ............................... 65 1.2.1 THE 1924 DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD ................................................ 65 1.2.2. THE 1959 DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD ............................................... 67 1.3. THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD ........................................................... 70 1.3.1. THE EMERGING CONTEXT .............................................................................................. 70 1.3.2. A VERY WESTERN CONVENTION: AN OVERVIEW OF ITS PROVISIONS ........................... 75 1.4. THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON THE RIGHTS AND WELFARE OF THE CHILD: FACILITATING THE SPREAD OF A GLOBAL CHILDHOOD? ................................................................................ 81 1.5. ASSESSING THE CONVENTION’S PROGRESS ....................................................................... 85 1.5.1 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE CONVENTION ..................................................................... 85 1.5.2. CHALLENGES TO THE GLOBAL UNIVERSALIZATION OF CHILDHOOD ............................... 87 1.6. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 90 CHAPTER II ......................................................................................................................... 91 A CULTURAL BRIDGE, NOT AN IMPOSITION: LEGITIMISING CHILDREN’S RIGHTS IN THE EYES OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES .......................................................................................................... 91 2.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 91 5 2.1 OUTLINING THE UNIVERSALITY POSITION ON CHILDREN’S RIGHTS ................................. 92 2.1.1. PUTTING FORWARD THE CASE FOR UNIVERSALITY .......................................................

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