8. Children are under the Constitution entitled to protection from economic exploitation or treatment, work or punishment that is or is likely to be hazardous, interfere with their education or be harmful to their health or physical, mental, spiritual or social development. 9. One of the most glaring challenges under the constitutional protection of children is the age of the child which is fixed to the provisions of section 23 only. It remains a challenge therefore for the State to offer protection to the girl child who in section 22 of the Constitution is allowed to marry and found a family. An attempt to revise the age of marriage under section 22 from 15 years to 16 years in line with section 23 failed during the enactment of Bill No. 11 of 2010 [Constitution (Amendment) Act] as the President refused to assent to the provision when Parliament had enacted the change. 10. At the time of adopting there were several statutes in place to regulate matters affecting children and these include the Adoption of Children Act; the Children and Young Persons Act; the Births and Deaths Registration Act; the Maintenance Orders (Enforcement) Act; the Affiliation Act; and the Penal Code. The current status of these laws is that the Adoption of Children Act is currently undergoing review by the Law Commission while the Children and Young Persons Act was repealed by the Child Care, Protection and Justice Act (CCPJA) of 2010 which is currently in force. The Births and Deaths Registration Act was repealed by the National Registration Act of 1999 while the Maintenance Orders (Enforcement) Act and the Affiliation Act were also repealed by the CCPJA. 11. The CCPJA is the most comprehensive statute on child rights and has also embraced the principle of the best interests of the child. While borne of the review process of the Children and young Persons Act which primarily provided for child justice, the CCPJA provides for care and protection of children. 12. In 2006, Parliament passed the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act (PDVA) which provides for mechanisms of preventing and punishing acts of domestic violence. The PDVA provides for special protection of children undergoing violence within the domestic relationship and is also undergoing review by the Law Commission. 6|Page