Citation

Munongi L, Pillay J. Int. J. Child. Rights 2018; 26(2): 278-294.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Brill Academic Publishers)

DOI

10.1163/15718182-02602003

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Child protection is concerned with the set of policies and services aimed to protect children from violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect both in and outside the home. This study aimed to determine children's experiences of their rights. The sample consisted of 185 Grade 9 pupils (females = 95; males = 90) randomly sampled from 13 secondary schools from Johannesburg, South Africa, from a previous study. The participants were requested to write their responses to an open-ended question: 'What do you think of children's rights in South Africa?' The data were analysed using content analysis since the data from the open-ended question was qualitative in nature.

RESULTS indicated that children were aware that they have rights, and that adults were still violating them. Based on the findings and a human rights-basedframework, several recommendations were made, such as, the need to adopt a more radical approach when dealing with children's rights and the need to encourage schools and families to develop a culture of respecting children's rights.

Language: en