Browsing by Author "Nhenga, Tendai Charity"

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    Application of the international prohibition on child labour in an African context : Lesotho, Zimbabwe and South Africa
    (2008) Nhenga, Tendai Charity; Bennett, Thomas W
    The international community's overwhelming support for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1990 and the International Labour Organisation's Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour of 1999, implies a high degree of international concern for the welfare of the child. This backing is based on an assumption that the institutionalisation of children's rights and the abolition of child labour at a global level will result in the improvement of the lives of all children. Despite this display of concern, there are considerable differences between the North and the South on the child rearing methods and attitudes towards the work of children. With this in mind, can a world that is so diverse socially and culturally effectively implement the international law on child labour? This research therefore set out to examine the efficacy and appropriateness of the universal standards on child labour in the context of the indigenous societies of Lesotho, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
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    Who does the law seek to protect and from what? The application of international law on child labour in an African context
    (2010) Nhenga, Tendai Charity
    Since time immemorial, African indigenous societies have viewed childhood in terms of intergenerational obligations of support and reciprocity, and deemed the period of childhood as that for acquiring the social and technical skills necessary to perform the future roles of adulthood. Children represent lineage continuity and, most importantly, the material survival of their families and the communities at large. International human rights instruments embody a contemporary approach to childhood which views it as a distinct and separate stage of innocence, physical weakness, mental immaturity and general vulnerability - a period ideologically excluded from the production of value. With these differences in the approaches to child development, the potential for discordance between African customary laws and practices on the one hand and the objectives of the international children's rights instruments, on the other hand, is real. Can a world of such social and cultural diversity possibly attain universal interpretation, application and acceptance of the international norms of children's rights? The article highlights the challenges involved in applying the international prohibition on child labour to traditional societies of Southern Africa and offers a few compromises for a relevant regime for the region.