|
|
Support HRW |
|
|
The Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is nearly universally ratified, provides a comprehensive framework for protection of the human rights of all children.1 Similar protections are enshrined in the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (African Charter), which Guinea has signed but which has not yet entered into force.2 The rights enshrined in the provisions of both treaties apply to refugee children-including the rights to life, physical integrity, adequate food and medical care, education, and to be free of exploitation and abuse. International law and UNHCR policy emphasize that, in accordance with article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the "best interests of the child" should be the key guiding principle in all actions taken with respect to children.
Article 22 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states:
1. States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure that a child who is seeking refugee status or who is considered a refugee in accordance with applicable international or domestic law and procedures shall, whether unaccompanied or accompanied by his or her parents or by any other person, receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance in the enjoyment of applicable rights set forth in the present Convention and in other international human rights or humanitarian instruments to which the said States are Parties.
2. For this purpose, States Parties shall provide, as they consider appropriate, co-operation in any efforts by the United Nations and other competent intergovernmental organizations or non-governmental organizations co-operating with the United Nations to protect and assist such a child and to trace the parents or other members of the family of any refugee child in order to obtain information necessary for reunification with his or her family. In cases where no parents or other members of the family can be found, the child shall be accorded the same protection as any other child permanently or temporarily deprived of his or her family environment for any reason, as set forth in the present Convention.
Article 23 of the African Charter contains similar provisions.3 Articles 38(4) and 39 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Article 22(3) of the African Charter likewise guarantee assistance and protection to Sierra Leonean refugee children, as children who have been affected by armed conflict.
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has elected to apply the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a guiding framework for the agency's activities. The UNHCR Policy on Refugee Children states:
The Convention on the Rights of the Child provides a comprehensive framework for the responsibilities of its States Parties to all children within their borders, including those who are of concern to UNHCR. Moreover, as a United Nations convention, it constitutes a normative frame of reference for UNHCR's action.4
In addition, Sierra Leonean children in Guinea who have fled the ongoing civil war in their home country are entitled to refugee status under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and under the 1974 Organization of African Unity (OAU) Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa. These conventions also provide protection for child refugees in Guinea, including the right to education.5
1 Only the United States and Somalia have failed to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In this report, the word "children" refers to anyone under the age of eighteen. The convention defines a child as "every human being under the age of eighteen unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is obtained earlier." Article 1.
Guinea signed the African Charter on May 22, 1998.
Article 23 of the African Charter declares:
1. States Parties to the present Charter shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that a child who is seeking refugee status or who is considered a refugee in accordance with applicable international or domestic law shall, whether unaccompanied or accompanied by parents, legal guardians or close relatives, receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance in the enjoyment of the rights set out in this Charter and other international human rights and humanitarian instruments to which the States are Parties.
2. States Parties shall undertake to cooperate with existing international organizations which protect and assist refugees in their efforts to protect and assist such a child and to trace the parents or other close relatives or an unaccompanied refugee child in order to obtain information necessary for reunification with the family.
3. Where no parents, legal guardians or close relatives can be found, the child shall be accorded the same protection as any other child permanently or temporarily deprived of his family environment for any reason.
4. The provisions of this Article apply mutatis mutandis to internally displaced children whether through natural disaster, internal armed conflicts, civil strife, breakdown of economic and social order or howsoever caused.
4 UNHCR Policy on Refugee Children, presented to UNHCR Executive Committee, October 1993, as Document EC/SCP/82, Para. 17.
Article 22, 1951 Convention. Guinea ratified the 1951 Convention on December 28, 1965 and the OAU Convention on October 18, 1972.