The Child’s Rights to Clothes for Children Residing with Their Mothers in Prison: Case of Mpimba Prison, Burundi

The children’s right to clothes is one of the social children’s rights that countries must assist parents in their implementation according to Article 20 §2. A. of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and Article 27 §3 and 4 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The only condition required to have this obligation is the poverty situation of the parents causing them incapable of fulfilling it. Among this category mothers in jail are the most recognized. This is balanced with the provisions of Mandela’s Rules the same as Bangkok Rules defining that an infant is accepted to reside with her/his incarcerated mother in the sense of achieving her/his best interest. This article aims to inquire about the way children’s right to clothes is implemented when the child lives beside her/his incarcerated mother. We used a semi-structured interview with 31 mothers imprisoned at Mpimba Central Prison in Bujumbura Hall City, Burundi. Data was collected with papers on which we marked responses in multiple-choice as we had established them. Data were analyzed with Microsoft Excel, and International Business Machine Corporation-Social Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS) 25, and “Zotero digital research platform” referencing throughout this research. Results show that a maximum of infants have a single kit of clothes, and do not have a kit to wear in leisure moments. Only parents must provide them with clothes or wait for their relatives to do so. No governmental assistance is spoken about in this area of children’s right to clothes.