The impact of poverty on children s rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

In this dissertation, I examine the impact of poverty on the rights of the child in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where, in spite of the country s wealth and resource capacity, the most fundamental rights guaranteed to children remain violated on a daily basis due to extreme levels of poverty. While the DRC is potentially a rich country, it has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world. Basic health care and education are nothing but distant dreams to most children, thereby making realisation of the rights enshrined in legally binding international, regional and national instruments elusive. This poses a huge developmental problem not only to children but importantly to the future of the country as a whole. This necessitates looking at the factors that cause and sustain poverty in the country. Without underestimating the external causes, I figure out a range of internal causes that contribute to draining the country s resources, which incidentally impacts negatively on the realisation of the rights and welfare of the child. I illustrate with evidence from the challenges that poverty poses to the implementation of children s rights that politics in the DRC is not one that is designed with the intention to promote human rights, let alone the rights of the child. Based on these findings, I make a number of recommendations that necessitate more proactive concrete action both from the government of the DRC and other active forces in eliminating poverty and thus consequently ensure effective realisation of children s rights.