Henrietta Wolayo

Promoting Rights of the Child in Uganda: Integrating Customary Norms in the Formal Legal System Henrietta Wolayo

The Children?s Act of Uganda recognizes social arrangements for upbringing of children yet actors in these arrangements, in coping with the dynamics of social change, have the capacity to respond differently to new and old values and ideas , sometimes in conformity with the best interests of the child principle and sometimes against it. The book is based on an empirical study that starts with the author?s personal experience of the custom under inquiry, and documents experiences of different generations. It is this custom that is recognized by conferring duties on de facto guardians and rights on children in their custody. A case is thereby made out for an integrated approach to legal reform in promoting rights of the child. This book will benefit scholars of Law and Society in socio-legal research studies, positive customary practices and their role in legal reform and implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child . Civil society organizations can use information in the book to popularize rights of the child in Africa.