ENHANCING LEGAL AND POLICY FRAMEWORKS FOR CLIMATE RESPONSIVE CHILD PROTECTION

Children in Kenya are increasingly exposed to climate-related threats. Although the country has relatively strong frameworks for child rights and climate governance, these systems mainly operate separately and have not been fully integrated. This study explores ways of enhancing legal and policy frameworks for climate responsive child protection. The study was guided by two objectives: assessing the international, regional, and national legal and policy frameworks for the protection of children in climate change response, and evaluating the effectiveness and potential enhancements of these frameworks. The study was grounded in the Rights-Based Approach Theory. The study employed a desktop review design. The desktop review consisted of gathering and analyzing already available information from written sources. The study focused on the policy and legal frameworks in Kenya. Data collection involved database searches and entailed systematically identifying, retrieving, assessing, and organizing existing secondary data sourced from credible materials such as academic works, policy documents, legal texts, and institutional reports to meet the research objectives. The findings reveal that while there are strong international frameworks acknowledging children’s rights and vulnerabilities concerning climate change, their execution is inconsistent due to differing levels of state commitment and resources. Regionally, instruments such as the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and Agenda 2063 highlight the importance of shielding children from environmental hazards, but their practical incorporation into climate policies is limited, with most tending to broadly address sustainability without considering children’s specific vulnerabilities. On a national level, Kenya has child protection and climate-related policies, yet these remain fragmented and poorly coordinated, with climate strategies emphasizing environmental protection instead of child-focused approaches, leading to deficiencies in adequately addressing threats such as displacement, health challenges, and disruptions in education brought on by climate change. The study concludes that there is a need for a roadmap for implementation that transforms the current framing of vulnerability into actionable and monitored rights-based protection for the children of Kenya. By employing a Rights-Based Approach, the study goes beyond merely assessing policies in theory to evaluating their real-world effects on children’s rights.