A Dissertation Proposal
Overview
The interest of international law includes the improvement of the condition and welfare of orphans around the world. Moreover, religion also emphasized the importance of looking after the less fortunate children apart from the concerns expressed in the international treaties. In fact, the Quran mentioned about the orphans several times more than any other religious texts. The rationale behind it is that the older society encompasses a kind of injustice and oppression towards the vulnerable members of the society such as children, women and elderly. This is because of the mindset of the people in older society, which was highly influenced by colonialism and the insinuation of colonial mentality, brought a different perception on orphan welfare. Different countries and cultures approach orphan welfare in myriad of ways due to the variation of cultural paired with religious attributions.
There is an apparent contradiction to the approach towards orphans in Islam and that of the international charters. The unfortunate relationship that orphans have with Islam is the fact that Islamic laws do not allow Muslims to adopt an orphan child, this is because of the fact that the religion that insinuates peace also despises abortion. However, the Islamic laws do not forbid Muslims to care for orphans as it part of their religious obligation. The Quran stipulates that caretakers of orphans will have the chance of entering paradise of taking care of the less fortunate is part of the Islamic creed (Platt and Shah). On the other hand, the international charters advocates orphan adoption as part of the worldwide organization for children’s initiative. The issue of orphan welfare is associated to the in the concepts of human rights. Therefore, the question here is whether the Islamic faith actually has a clear relationship with orphans and what the international charters have done to established such relationship. Hassan (2013) explored the compatibility of human rights to Islam and compared the traditional Islamic practices to the conceptual approach of human rights advocacy.
Orphan protection encompasses the need for financial assistance in which the international charter is striving to provide. Even the less developed countries are taking the initiative to provide something for the orphans in their respective country through legislative means. Legislation is a major instrument in insinuating protection to wards orphans, but religious factors such as that of Islam encompasses different set of law that for some non-Muslim population see as inappropriate. It is apparent that children that were deprived of a family environment should be given rights, alternative care and assistance. However, in order to measure the projection of orphan protection and to effectively assess the alternative position towards change, the relationship of orphan protection in Islam and international charter should be evaluated to determine the compatibility of protection approach in relation to Islamic practices and international charter initiatives. Orphan protection through education is considered as a long-term approach in alleviating the condition of orphans with the help of the international community. However, cultural and religious laws such as that of Islam create a conflict with international legislation, which hinders the effective implementation of developmental program for orphans.
Background
There are contemporary social issues that emerged from historical roots, which includes child protection particularly the orphans. Child protection is a value shared by all cultures in the world. In the majority of societies, child responsibility and preparing them for adulthood is not limited within the parents, but rather by the members of the community in general. The efforts that the community poured into child welfare is reflective of the cultural mores and the legal frameworks that enables intervention that permits law enforcement into families and or individuals that insinuates harm towards children. Among the harms emphasized by the law is neglect of children, which results to them losing their homes of become orphans. On the other hand, orphan protection requires a different level of care given to abused or neglected child. This is because orphans lack the family environment, which greatly contributes to their development. The level of care towards orphans is also different in each culture particularly in Muslim communities.
The system in which the society responds to the need of orphans is now governmental, although the past system of orphan protection relies on the efforts of private advocacies. During the 18th to 20th century orphanage are operated by private entities with support from local welfare offices under royal decree (Luhning; Schene 25). In today’s contemporary society, orphan welfare is not only shared with the community and the government, but also of the international community through charters. One of the most important developments in orphan protection is the introduction of education programs backed by international legislation. However, but not all countries have similar approach in providing welfare to the orphans. Other countries focus on providing foster care while others create welfare programs toward long-term protection through education.
The number of vulnerable children and orphans throughout the Islamic nations is growing and the need to address the problem is adding to the immediate concerns of the international community. Addressing the rights of orphan children to education presents several opportunities and challenges. Among the viable opportunity is to ensure the long-term future of orphans by providing education. On the other hand, cultural factors affect the success of charter programs because of the religious based laws that contradict with the international legislation for the benefit of vulnerable children. However, in the Islamic setting providing education for orphan children constitutes a different perspective particularly in terms of law. There is an apparent relationship between orphan protection, Islam and international charters, but in order to establish a beneficial relationship, there is a need to explore the prevailing laws pertaining to providing education to orphans.
Muslims are very particular with ethical practices in consideration to their Islamic roots. Islam thought its people to be keen on taking care of individuals within the community in all stages of life. The Islamic law has instituted a great deal of interest towards orphans in terms of ensuring care for decent living and to become a productive member of the community. However, certain Islamic practices hinder the effective implementation of international charter’s initiatives to educate orphans (Sheibani). This study will focus on the exploration of orphan protection through education and its relationship to the prevailing international and Islamic laws. This encompasses the importance of identifying legislative flaws that hinders the implementation of educational programs insinuated by international charters. Orphans hold the same universal rights just like any other children in the world, but cultural and religious practices constitute hindrances towards the realization of rights of orphans. Education is paramount to having a better future particularly for children deprived of an environment relative to a family.
In the Islamic discourse, orphans or “amanah” are a matter of responsibility. It is the social obligation of the Muslim community. Today, the Islamic community is faced with millions of orphans that are due to the recent armed conflicts. The series of wars ravaged families in the Middle East leaving several children without a home or parents to take care of them. The developments in the Muslim world led to the increased concerns of the international charters to address the needs of orphans. The primary steps undertaken by the international charters in alleviating the issue is to implement programs related to improving the living condition of orphans. However, little emphasis was given to educating the orphans, which the welfare sector believed to be a better way of securing the future of the Muslim orphans. The Islamic community also does believe in the same initiative, but Muslim practices and prevailing Sharia law constitutes practices that will render the international efforts to be ineffective.
A specialist in human resource development and family training named Dr. Khalifa Al Mohrezi mentioned that the reason for such hesitation among the Muslim community is because Muslims have common notions about the negative attitudes of orphan children and unknown parentage. Further, there are people that demonstrate belief that orphans only needed money, thus the help that over 44 million Arab orphans are limited to supplying necessities such as food, clothing and housing. However, the importance of providing education to the orphans is undermined because of the common notions about orphan children. Orphan education is based on the principles of long-term welfare, which encompasses the policy framework that supports its foundation. The trajectory of issues emerging from the social dilemma of orphan welfare concerns the establishment of Islamic relationship and international charters. This includes the myriad of laws affecting the outcomes of the effort in providing orphans with a stronger future through education.
Research Methods
Determining the relationship of orphan protection with Islam and international charter will require detailed profiling of the orphans in the Muslim world and compare their condition with the rest of the orphan population in general. Therefore, synthesizing the existing demographics, economic, sociocultural, political and religious attribution into useful data is the primary step in this study. After determining the relative factors that contribute to the given issue, the subgroup of factors that also affects the condition of orphans in terms of education will also be determined. This subgroup of factors is detrimental in establishing the relationship of prevailing policies both the Islamic and international charters in addressing the right of orphans to education. It will also highlight the legislative statute that imposes the policies regarding orphan welfare. There is also an apparent need for exploring both the Islamic and international statutes in order to determine the policies that both promotes and hinders the educational need of orphans. The Islamic and international policies will be evaluated and compared for its focus towards the insinuation of orphan education and welfare in general.
The gathered data will be complimented by the economic data leading to the structuring of the needed samples for this study in which an anonymous survey will be conducted. Data gathering will start by examining related literatures that will provide the framework of the study. The literature review will also provide substantial background on the academic, familial and social obscurities that orphan children are facing particularly those in the Islamic discourse. Since there are speculations pertaining to the conflict between international and religious statutes on orphan welfare, questions will be embedded directly and tangentially related to the concepts of orphan rights. Moreover, questions regarding the relative satisfaction with the government’s significant measures in ensuring the educational welfare of the orphans in the Muslim community.
The faith of the orphan population rests upon the efforts made by the international charters and the prevailing laws guide’s welfare agencies in providing protection to the orphans. It is expected that some of the respondents will feel uncomfortable in answering the political and religious aspects of the questions in the survey. Therefore the respondents will be informed that they have the option not to answer the questions they don’t feel comfortable with. For example, since there is an aspect of the study that needs exploring the concepts of Islamic beliefs, some of the Muslim correspondents are likely to express opposition to the concept of the study and will refuse to answer the survey. However, it will difficult to achieve accuracy of the data when a large number of respondents will skip the important questions in the survey. Therefore, the respondents will be first grouped according to their sensitivity on the different aspects of the issue such as political, religious and social context. Most importantly, each group will have the same set of questions, but questions that are considered sensitive to the respondent’s perspective will be marked as optional.
Furthermore, the responses made by the categorized groups will also be grouped according to significance and the important responses will be consolidated for analysis. The survey will be supplemented by identifying the organizations and programs initiated by both the Islamic community and international charter that focus on orphan education. These organizations will be contacted and request for permission to be interviewed. The subject of the interview will be about the organization, its objective and efforts in ensuring the education of orphans within their scope of function. The questions to be asked during the interview with the organization representative will consist of professional and personal opinions about the issue in focus particularly about the issue of orphan rights and the governing policies that drives the organization’s initiatives. It is also important to ask the organization about their perspective on the matters of child welfare as it relates to the cultural attribution of orphan protection.
In addition, the organization’s perception of the potential to impact change, connections and if applicable to identify the stakeholders in political reforms that will potentially strengthen the initiatives towards educating orphans. Since part of this study is to evaluate the policies governing the welfare of orphans, law experts will also be interviewed to get key points on the legal aspects of the issue. Understanding the legislative matters surrounding the issue is detrimental to the findings of this study in which the policies on orphan welfare will be clarified and if possible recommend reformation strategies. The information obtained from the survey and interview will be consolidated for analysis. After concluding the profile of the Muslim orphans, a similar survey will be conducted to the non-Muslim orphans to determine the kind of welfare and protection they are receiving through the legislative and absence of Islamic laws. The importance of obtaining information outside of the Islamic discourse is to compare and contrast the conditions of orphans that are not affected by the conflicting international statutes and religious laws such as Islam. Furthermore, the perceptions and beliefs of non-Muslim respondents will also shed light to issue of differences between the Islamic approach on orphan protection and the international community.
In this survey, the respondents will be asked to describe the hopes they hold for the orphans, the problems and the pressures they perceived that orphans are facing in the society. The importance of getting the perspectives of the non-Muslim community is to determine whether the common notion towards orphans being in need of financial support alone is constant in the general population Muslim or non-Muslim. Having to know that other portion of the society are genuinely concern about the future of orphans will give clarity on the arguments regarding human welfare practices and the differences in approach among cultures. The knowledge to be established in this survey is the level of emphasis that cultures give to orphans particularly in terms of education.
Developing a reasoned analysis of the complementary profiles will enable the study the study to use a variety of statistical methodologies that will point out the connection among several data points. First, a hypothesis will be formulated to provide a direction for the study after which, the subgroups relative influence will be measured and analyzed for their correlation between the gathered opinions on orphan’s right to education regardless of cultural attributions. Lastly, I will illuminate the divergences between legal and cultural opinion from within each demographic and between young and mature political leaders to measure the relative attention devoted to ideas on orphan rights. As the Islamic law guarantee each orphan a right to live, their right for education is not certain particularly on the condition that orphans are not very much desirable for adoption particularly in the Muslim community. The Islamic belief encompasses rules that prevent an orphan from being integrated into a family that he can call his own. This is because the Quran stipulates that one cannot change another’s genealogy and that the association of a child is limited to his father alone. Having said that, the chance for an orphan to be integrated into an adopted family is not certain.
A nurturing environment is detrimental to a child’s growth, but orphans are deprived of such opportunity in which the chance for a better future is also being limited. The other way for orphans to secure and protect themselves is through education, which is part of the international charter’s initiative for orphan welfare. However, challenges of conflicting laws affect the outcome of such initiative. The international laws are clear about the rights of every children orphan or not to proper education, but reality speaks differently for significant number of orphans. Universal rights are often undermined by traditional laws and cultural customs, which largely manifests on the differences in approach when it comes to addressing the needs of orphan children. The basis of policy frameworks are not consistent in all countries in the world and that insinuates the differences in implementing programs for orphans and vulnerable populations in general.
Works Cited
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