Decolonisation of knowledge production on Children’s Rights in Africa

Abstract

This paper provides a critical perspective on the decolonisation of children's rights. The research is a comparative analysis between the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) and the United Nations, Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). It explores the progress and challenges on addressing children's rights within the context of Africa. The paper explores the limitations faced by African scholars to promote research on children's rights. These limitations include lack of funding and imposed conditions on research projects. Subsequently, without addressing such barriers studies on children's rights remain dominated by an imperialist approach anchored on colonialism. An important point to draw from this paper is the need to promote African research, which does not seek to re-write history, but offers an alternative view which contextualises the realities faced by children in Africa. The paper recommends the need to reframe hegemonic epistemologies on children's rights to accommodate the needs and challenges of children in the Global South