An Examination of the Implementation of the Legal Provisions for the Protection of Children in Situations of Armed Conflicts in Wau, Western Bahr el Ghazal State, South Sudan

Abstract

The study mainly looked at an examination of the implementation of the legal provisions for the protection of children’s rights in Wau, Western Bahr el Ghazal State and it proposed strategies for effective implementation of children’s rights in Wau, Western Bahr el Ghazal State. Purposive sampling was used to select the study sample of 120 respondents (who included 104 local community members and 16 key informants). Quantitative data analysis was based on 104 questionnaires for the local community members. Qualitative data was gathered from the key informant responses. Quantitative data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. The findings revealed that most of the works on child protection is done by International and local organizations. The government is not very visible in working hand in hand with these organizations to implement laws on the protection of the rights of children. The findings also revealed that the government has got limited capacity in implementing provisions on child protection. There is a gap in drafting and enforcing laws to protect children in armed conflicts. It is true as well that protection procedures have not been observed at the grassroots level, despite the positive finding that there are standard operating procedures on how to deal with children affected by armed conflicts, although more emphasis is required on the protection of child rights in general. Generally, the results showed that protection of children’s rights in Wau is poor and Government efforts to implement child protection policies and programs at state levels remain low although protection by NGOs and International Organizations like the UN and its agencies was comparatively acknowledged. The proposed strategies for effective implementation of children’s rights in Wau, Western Bahr el Ghazal state included; the need for more collaborations between the International organizations, NGOs, and government agencies which was suggested by the majority of the study respondents. Other strategies included: the promotion of community-based child protection mechanisms, introduction and establishment of child protection desk offices at all administrative levels in Wau, and practically implement binding South Sudanese laws and updating the penal code on protection of children urging that laws were enacted but their level of implementation is still poor. The paper recommends greater collaboration among all relevant stakeholders in the country on children's affairs to ensure that legal provisions on children's protection are effectively implemented and adhered to. Child Protection resources should be diversified to cover the different areas of child protection.