Ethno-jurisprudence of childrens rights

Abstract

Abstract provided by author:

This dissertation focuses on the indigenous child law of the Himba, one of the ethnic minority groups in the new state of Namibia. Based on extensive field study, the thesis shows that virtue ethics provide an effective legal context within which Himba children remain protected today. Himbaian virtue ethics rely on shared beliefs and principles of distributive and compensatory justice worked out within a framework of reciprocity between the duolineal transmission system

The backdrop for an analytical ethno-jurisprudence with specific reference to children's rights is provided by a detailed child ethnography, study of legal institutions, an examination of family law, succession, inheritance and concepts of justice

Many children in the rural areas live under the indigenous law. This dissertation argues, therefore, that indigenous law already provides a meaningful framework of reference within which the rights of children are respected and realised, because the ethical principles are meaningful to those who rear the majority of children. For the socio-legal transformation of their societies, and in particular the development of child laws, countries in Africa should, accordingly, adapt some of the child rearing ethics held in high esteem by the majority of their people. Thus, states need not divert valuable resources into cloning foreign child laws that will remain irrelevant to the majority of their child citizens. For rural children, in particular, the group that needs most help, such 'manifesto rights' are diversionary. Children are better off with their parents, or even one of them, with uncles, aunts, great-uncles and grandparents, than with impoverished outside agencies