Child Labour In International Human Rights Law: The Case Of Mathira Constituency, Nyeri County, Kenya, 1979-2015

ABSTRACT

Kenya has ratified and domesticated international human rights instruments on elimination of child labour by enacting local laws, drafting policies and launching programmes to reduce the phenomenon. Empirical data shows that children in Kenya and most countries around the world engage in child labour. This study set out by questioning why child labour continues despite the existence of international human rights instruments, local laws, policies and programmes in Kenya. As such, the study investigated the prevalence of child labour in Kenya and critically analysed the extent to which child labour conventions are effective in Kenya. Further, the study explored the factors influencing the child labour phenomenon in Kenya. The findings of this study contributed to the constructivism theory of international relations, which holds that social reality is socially constructed and that international law's real force is in its ability to reshape the discourse of states’ conceptions about what is possible or desirable in international relations. This was done through collecting perspectives on child labour and child labour laws from the local communities in Kenya and analysing how this affect implementation of international human rights instruments. In total, 148 participants were purposively sampled from the target population in Mathira Constituency within Nyeri County in Kenya to provide the data. The study used questionnaires to collect quantitative data from children with informed consent of the parents. To collect qualitative data, interview guides were used for children with consent from parents, parents, teachers, chiefs and senior public administrators, children’s officers, labour officers, police officers, judicial officers, employers, senior staff of employers organisations, officials of employees’ trade unions, staff of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) dealing with children’s rights in the area, members of parliament, a local area advisory council (AAC) and a local child labour committee(LCLC) individually or in focus group discussions. Data from the two sources was merged for authenticity and validity. The researcher also used her observations. Guided by the research questions and objectives, the research findings were that there was a high prevalence of child labour and that child labour conventions were less effective. The local communities’ views on child labour laws as criminalizing their way of life affected the implementation of conventions, so was children’s independence and dwindling parental control. The academic and policy insights given on harmonization and enactment of child labour laws and implementation of child labour laws using traditional dispute resolution mechanisms (TDRMs) will help reduce exploitative employment and Kenya will fulfil her international human rights obligations. The study recommended that further research be carried out on labour migration of children and how religion fuels child labour.