African children are increasingly facing abuse and neglect; on the streets, in their communities and even in their homes. It is not only carried out by strangers but by the very people who are meant to protect them – their family and friends. In these cases, children have nowhere to turn. The high cost of litigation and fear of endangering links with the community mean that abuse and neglect are often left unchecked.

One Forum response to this dire need has been the establishment of the Children’s Legal Protection Centre in Addis Ababa in 2004, the only one of its kind in the country. The overall objective of this Centre is to improve the protection and access to justice of children whose human rights have been violated.

The specific objectives of the project are to:

• Provide individualized and customized legal counseling to children, their families and other organizations;
  
• Provide judicial representation to high priority cases involving violations of children’s rights;
  
  
• Improve the access of abused children to other complementary supports (temporary shelter, medical and/or psycho-social assistance) through networking with other organizations;
  
  
• Provide legal education and training programs to various target groups (police, public prosecutors, judges, media, etc.); and
  
• Collect data on child rights violations and available redress for further research and advocacy.

The Children’s Legal Protection Centre provides free legal services to children whose rights are violated be it in private or public spheres or both.  The type of legal service includes, but is not limited to, oral legal advice, providing legal information to children and their families, preparing pleadings or affidavits for and on behalf of children, writing letters to the different executive bodies, or institutions that provide support for the child’s case. The Ministry of Justice has installed a child-friendly court for both victim and perpetrators, and has assigned the Centre’s Legal Counsellors as the choice-representatives of child-offenders, and has given the Centre an observatory role in court for child victims.

The Children’s Legal Protection Centre has also been disseminating information on child rights using television and radio, newspaper articles, workshops and trainings. The Centre’s legal services and information campaigns are the milestones to identify the gaps in policies, laws and practices and advocate for child friendly laws and practices in Ethiopia. The African Child Policy Forum intends to support organizations that want to open similar Children’s Legal Protection Centres in other countries in Africa.