6
- The Role Of NGOs in Defense of the Child's Rights.
Unlike other international conventions on human rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child acquired almost unanimous agreement of member States in the international organization, with 181 States ratifying it in 1989. Following the ratification of the convention, the international community showed a tenacious movement for effective implementation of its stipulations
In this concern, international institutions as well as the NGOs interested in the field of children’ rights played the most significant role to urge States and public institutions to implement the stipulations of the convention. However, in light of the tremendous violations of the children's rights throughout the world - which result from economic, social and/or political conditions - those concerned with the Rights of the Child understand that their mission is a long and arduous one
Thus, as much as this task is risky and difficult to achieve, it needs coordination between national and international efforts by both governmental institutions and the NGOs to guarantee the rights of children
During the 1970s, Egypt witnessed two phenomena concerning the rights of children. The first consisted in the deterioration of the children's conditions because of the new economic policies that affected various strata of the Egyptian society and the various institutions concerned with childcare. The second phenomenon was the early signs for official interest in the child rights. This led to the emergence of a considerable number of organizations that put the issue of children rights on the agenda of their activity
No doubt, the balance between the two phenomena tended tragically to result in the deterioration of the children conditions in view of many other factors. The most important of these was the rising level of impoverishment and marginalization that affected various strata in the Egyptian society. Also the absence of a clear strategy for the protection of children as well as the insignificant role of the then nascent NGOs, placed more pressures on any attempt to improve the children's conditions
This deterioration, as detailed in LCHR report, can partly be ascribed to other negative aspects that characterized civil society organizations in Egypt and obstructed their ability to carry through the task of protecting children's right. Thus, on the one hand, the interest in the conditions of children and childhood grew among several organizations. However, this interest only concentrated on charity and traditional activities that paid no attention to developmental and legal aspects. On the other hand, the agenda of NGOs concerned with the issue of childhood could not relate to the children's activities and interests. Consequently, only few associations were interested in the children's rights and the conditions under which they lived
In the meantime, the great majority of these associations concentrated their activities in urban areas, with none of them showing interest in the rural areas, particularly Upper Egypt
All these issues represented a form of self-constrain that effectively hindered NGOs to tackle with the issue of children, especially the poorest. Furthermore, political and legal restrictions forced most non-government organizations to spend the greatest part of their energy and time defending their independence and dealing with endless bureaucratic problems with the administration
This report, that takes the form of a documented study, sheds the light on these phenomena on the national level. It depends on a case study from the region of Upper Egypt, with another prototype village - Gabal Al-Nour. In this village, child labor is employed in stone quarries where marble crackers live and work under severe conditions. The village, on the other hand, lacks the most basic services and infrastructure. It is a typical case of neglect, by both State authorities and NGOs
The report is divided into three parts.
The first part: examines the approach of the NGOs toward the issue of children in Egypt, as it focuses on the children status in the agenda of Egyptian public associations. The report also deals with the role of NGOs in general and their activities, which explains their partiality against rural population. Finally, it examines the obstacles that hinder the movement of NGOs and prevent them from performing the role assigned to them
The second part:
focuses on the conditions prevailing in Beni- Swaif province as well as the village of Gabal Al- Nour. In this part, we see the extent of the NGOs urban bias, looking at the wide gap between their activities in Cairo and Beni Swaif on the one hand, and between urban areas in Beni Swaif and its country on the other
The case study of this report is the village of Gabal Al-Nour, with the spread of poverty and other related phenomena, such as child labor. At the end of this part Land Center concludes that poverty is a decisive factor in the rise of child labor. Other factors such as the absence of governmental and NGOs role serve to exacerbate the appalling conditions of children
In The third part, LCHR recommendations focus on three dimensions, state policies of restricting public activity, and the necessity of institutional reform; the development of a national agenda for NGOs on the protection and welfare of children; grassroots activities and protection of children in local communities .