Hearing Whisper of the Child within the Law’s Earshot: An Assessment Made on the Legal Bedrocks and International Obligations of Ethiopia toward Article 12 of UNCRC

摘要

Being vulnerable groups of the society, children need specific protection under international as well as national legal instruments. In a country like Ethiopia where the culture has no room for the children, it is expected from the legislature to incorporate and domesticate the UNCRC into its domestic laws. Article 12 of the CRC is a new concept in international law, and posed a challenge to most countries throughout the world, where a culture of listening to children was not widespread or even acceptable. Hearing from the children is not a favor and program; rather it is a right which is grated to them internationally under the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Thus, children must be considered as knowing subjects to speak out what is going on in their own lives1. Moreover, when heard their whisper, children can develop positive self-esteem, easily manage stressful experiences, and less prone to depression, hopelessness and suicide. Therefore, Article advocate that Ethiopia has to incorporate the CRC directly into domestic laws to hear the child’s whisper within the laws earshot.