Vol. 9 No. 11 (November 1999) pp. 530-533.

LAW, CULTURE, TRADITION AND CHILDREN'S RIGHTS IN EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICA by Welshman Ncube (Editor), Brookfield, VT: Ashgate Publishing Co., 1998. 343 pp. Cloth $76.95. Paper $24.95.

LEGAL PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AGAINST SEXUAL EXPLOITATION IN TAIWAN: A SOCIO-LEGAL PERSPECTIVE by Amy H. L. Shee, Brookfield, VT: Ashgate Publishing Co.,1998. 280 pp. Cloth. $67.95. .

Reviewed by Kendall Stiles, Department of Political Science, Loyola University Chicago.

Of central importance to academics and practitioners interested in making the world more humane and healthy is the question of how progressive international norms can be translated into day-to-day reform at the local level. Whether in the area of environmental protection, human rights or economic justice, recent developments have demonstrated that standard setting is only the first step in effecting global change.

These two books address this fundamental issue with respect to two aspects of social policy that, by their very nature, are particularly resistant to reform. On the one hand, Professor Ncube's collection of original articles deals with how African parents, communities, and state actors approach the problem of defining the child's place in society. On the other hand, Professor Shee records how Taiwan has approached the issue of child sexual exploitation, with an emphasis on recent legislative reforms. Unlike such once-and-for-all reforms as monitoring a presidential election or cleaning up a toxic waste site, which generally require only elite cooperation, changes in the treatment of children require changes in the attitudes of parents, local law enforcement, community leaders, local businesses and an assortment of underworld characters not known for their deference to international law. In a variety of ways, the authors show that legal reform, even the drafting of new constitutions, is only the first step in what is usually a long, drawn-out effort requiring vigilance and persistence on the part of NGOs and other advocates of reform. The authors are sometimes so convincing in making this point that the reader may come away thoroughly discouraged.

Ncube's collection brings together, under the auspices of a grant from Norway's development agency, a variety of academics from across Sub-Saharan Africa. Each of the authors acknowledges that to date international norms are primarily hortatory and have a long way to go before being implemented at the local level. Generally speaking, the authors adopt a Western point of view, embracing as they do a liberal interpretation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). They challenge traditional African conceptions of childhood and child rights and explore efforts to reverse authoritarian, patriarchal social structures. They share a belief in the malleability of social identities. This is not to say that they all speak with one voice.

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Some authors take a fairly cautious, legalistic approach and see hope in legislative reform. Others stress a post-materialist view and emphasize the need for a thorough reconsideration of the social construct of "childhood". The book is organized in a logical, coherent fashion, clearly written and well documented. It therefore will serve as a useful introduction to the subject and reference work for scholars and practitioners in not only the field of child protection in developing societies but also international and comparative law and politics generally. This said, it would be a mistake to look for rigorous testing of hypotheses or systematic theorizing. Rather, the book lays out well-reasoned and interested interpretations of a considerable volume of material that can serve as a starting point both for
further academic analysis and high-level policy discussions.

Ncube begins the book with a useful overview of the themes that will be explored by the various authors along with a brief road map of things to come. It is, however, in the second chapter, one of three theoretical chapters, that Ncube begins to lay out his perspective on child rights. He not only embraces the CRC principles of child protection and defense, but he also stresses the need for children to emancipate themselves from the repressive structure of the modern African family. Although he acknowledges that it is in the context of family life that children learn to be adults, he criticizes the overpowering dominance of fathers over all decisions. We can see later in the text that the authors often emphasize the rights of adolescents, at least implicitly, and condemn their widespread disempowerment. Progress must be achieved through the "democratization of the family" - a process in which state actors are pivotal. As he points out, "the idea that the family always offered its members security, safety, comfort and protection is largely a myth. The family has been demonstrated to be a potentially dangerous environment for both children and women towards whom violence and sexual abuse has been directed from within the family itself" (p. 25). Not only must the state intervene to prevent abuse, but also it must create avenues whereby children can articulate their concerns and defend themselves.

The next two chapters by Bart Rwezaura and Janet Kabeberi-Macharia relate to the status of children generally across the area. Rwezaura provides a methodical and thoughtful review of the efforts by courts in Africa to begin implementing CRC standards in anticipation of legal reform. Where implementation is critical, such initiatives by forward-thinking jurists can not only compensate for inadequate law, but also make some legal reforms superfluous. Kabeberi-Macharia's brief commentary about the status of the girl-child across the region shows that there exists double exploitation of girl-children in many parts of Africa. Although minors, they are generally more deprived of their rights than boys, and by marrying young they attain majority before they can understand and exercise their new rights. They swap one form of domination for another. This is particularly apparent with respect to their sexuality, where an emerging trend in African society has men seeking young virgins as sexual partners in the belief that intercourse with a minor will cure them of AIDS. We will see that this superstition is prevalent in Taiwan and across Asia as well, and it has directly contributed to the spread of child prostitution.

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The remaining chapters address country studies fairly narrowly. Of particular interest are pieces by Rwezauru on the standing of children in Tanzanian courts, Alice Armstrong on community protection of sexually exploited girls in Zimbabwe, and Jennifer Okumu-Wengi on adoption in Uganda. Each adopts a nuanced and multi-faceted analysis of the interplay between international norms and local practice. Okumu-Wengi, for example, shows how formal rules and procedures are modified and informed by local traditions, customs, and interpretations. The two interact symbiotically to produce a new practice. The same point emerges in the piece by Armstrong.

The studies in this volume help to illustrate the difficulty inherent in analyzing such normatively charged topics as child abuse and family structures. In most cases, the author's bias is easily detected although it is not always explicitly stated. The piece by Puleng Letuka on child labor in Lesotho, for example, isolates domineering fathers and oppressive family structures generally as the key factors, while leaving aside structural issues of wealth distribution and globalization. It is too much to ask that the authors adopt a neutral stance, but their assumptions ought to always be made clear. Perhaps this would have been addressed by asking the authors to
be more theoretical and systematic in their approach. Overall, the volume is illuminating, useful, and an interesting contribution to the literature.

Professor Shee's study of child sexual exploitation in Taiwan is an exhaustive look at the subject. Although the result is sometimes a bit repetitive and certainly disquieting, the author provides a timely and persuasive study of the links between international norms and local reform. In a number of historical chapters, Shee demonstrates that Taiwan -- particularly since it came under the United States orbit after World War II - - has been quick to embrace Western notions of child protection. It has generally enacted laws that give considerable protection to children, set clear sanctions on those involved in the sex trade of children, and give a
very favorable impression of the country's commitment. Although various changes in the law have strengthened sanctions against pimps, sex traders and consumers, Shee's discussion makes it abundantly clear that these legislative reforms are not only insufficient to change practices but may actually be counterproductive.

Shee, more so than authors in the Ncube volume, makes a concerted effort to lay out the root causes of the social problem she addresses, with an emphasis on the structural forces at work, including modernization, globalization and economic dislocation. She makes it clear that child sexploitation grew from a long history in the country (based in part on the superstition that sex with a virgin makes a man more healthy and virile), only to go underground in recent years in the face of sporadic attempts at enforcement. The collaboration and collusion of pimps, consumers, law enforcement officials, and government leaders has resulted in the entrenchment of the trade deep in Taiwanese society. This was exacerbated by the tendency in recent years for Taiwanese officials to deal with the problem by focusing primarily on apprehending child prostitutes, severing their ties to family and labeling them delinquents. With almost no social services to support a transition to productive life, these children slipped back into the trade.

Shee also points out the pivotal role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in identifying, drawing attention to and

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bringing about policy reforms on the issue. Most of the NGOs that became active in the issue had close ties to Western society -- as either Christian or foreign agencies themselves. Eventually, indigenous groups, of which Prof. Shee was herself a part, took up the issue by pressing for improved legislation and law enforcement as well as providing social services to the children. Ultimately, these efforts were conjoined as the state embraced the role of NGOs in solving the problem. Recent legislation mandates the use of NGO-sponsored halfway houses as a means of rehabilitating former prostitutes, for example.

The book carries a rather discouraging tone, in that the author makes the case, perhaps too well, that the legislative reforms she analyzes in detail will avail very little unless police and political corruption are rooted out, economic justice is provided to the families that place their children in the sex trade, and consumers and traders are made to pay for their abusive practices. The likelihood of this, however, is dim.

In general, then, these two books take us in a direction that is long overdue in that they address the micro-level of humanitarian reform. Human rights organizations and academics would be well advised to draw important insights from this and other similar studies in the hope of developing generalized principles of social reform.

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