CHAPTER 7 CHILDREN’S RIGHTS: SECURING THE FUTURE “The paradox is that even when children are construed as rights holders, it is difficult for them to assert their rights. The reasons are practical, political and legal. Young children are completely and unavoidably dependant on those who have power over their lives” - O’ Donovan, 1983 Zimbabwe has shown commitment to advancing child rights through ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC). Moreover, the Government has made efforts to domesticate the provision of the UNCRC and ARCWC primarily through the Constitution, and through some child protection legislation. However, gaps still exist which the child rights sector. According to Justice for Children (JCT), an NGO providing free legal services to children in difficult circumstances in Zimbabwe, it assisted 15 576 children, in cases ranging from child support, birth registration, custody, domestic violence, denial of the right to education and children in conflict with the law. The top five underlying causes for cases handled by JCT were: seperation of parents, death of parents, vulnerability, disputes and neglect. Children in Conflict with the Law Birth Registration JCT handled several cases of children in conflict with the law. The highest numbers were in sexual offences (rape and sexual intercourse with a minor), theft and assault. However, at least three murder cases were reported, and one culpable homicide case. For a long time, birth registration processes have been unsatisfactory in Zimbabwe. 20 In 2018 several children faced difficulties in getting birth certificates. The most significant challenge was of fathers failing to register their children who would have been abandoned on neglected by their mothers. On 29 March a father of a 6-year old who had tried without success to register his minor daughter by approaching the RegistrarGeneral’s office thrice, and after the mother of the child had abandoned the child as a 12month-old baby, filed an application in the High Court in Harare challenging the practice of the Registrar-General to deny fathers of children born out of wedlock to register their children in the absence of the mothers. The matter is yet to be finalised. Commendably, the RegistrarGeneral’s office reduced from $50 to $2 the administrative charge for the registration of children of Zimbabwean nationality born outside the country. Previously parents of children in this category struggled to raise the required fee to register their children. Child Marriages Three years after Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court declared child marriage unconstitutional, and 6 years after the new Constitution set 18 as the minimum marriage age, the government was yet to amend or repeal all existing marriage laws that still allowed child marriage. Structures were also not put in place to implement the court decision and ensure that girls under 18 were not forced into marriage. There are currently no criminal sanctions to perpetrators of child marriages, despite the practice being declared unconstitutional. (More details on child marriages are in the Women's rights section of this report). 20. The Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey (ZDHS) (Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency) 2015 shows that the percentage of children registered stood at about 44% among children under five years of age; the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (March 2015) states that 43% of children in Zimbabwe are registered; and the Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey (ZDHS) (Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency) 2011 states that the percentage of children registered stood at about 49% among children under five years of age. 34 STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT ZIMBABWE 2018