Implementation Of The Right To Alternative Care Of Physically Abandoned Infants In Ethiopia: The Case Of Hawassa City, Hosanna And Wolkite Towns Of Snnp Region.

Abstract

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) oblige the states parties to ensure the provision of alternative care to children deprived of their family environments (CDFE) within their domestic jurisdictions. Physically abandoned infants are among the CDFE. Ethiopia is one of the member states to both CRC and ACRWC. As such, the country is responsible to ensure alternative care to abandoned infants both in law and in practice. After examining the domestic Laws, Policies and Guidelines regulating alternative care to CDFE in Ethiopia, the study came to the conclusion that the existing laws are inadequate to effectively ensure the right to alternative care of physically abandoned infants in the country. Having also examined the practical implementation of alternative care to physically abandoned infants in Hawassa City, Hosanna and Wolkite Towns which are among the top areas where the practice of physical abandoning of infants is highly observable in SNNP Region. The study found several shortcomings affecting the provision of alternative care to the physically abandoned infants mainly due to the reason that the Women, Children and Youths Affairs Bureaus in the City and Towns under investigation don‟t prepare alternative care to such infants in advance. Accordingly, the study recommends several measures which should be taken in order to redress the problems including adoption of comprehensive legislative frameworks required to effectively regulate alternative care services to physically abandoned infants in the region.