Strengthening the Monitoring of and Compliance with the Rights of the African Child

Abstract

The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child is a progressive human rights instrument by international human rights standards. The provisions of theunConvention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter are contrasted, noting stronger African provisions for the child’s ‘best interests’, stronger safeguards in areas of traditional or ‘cultural’ practices, and provisions concerning the ‘duties’ of the child and its implications for the child’s empowerment. Additionally, the African oversighting Committee holds stronger mandates than exist for theunCommittee on the Rights of the Child. However, reporting and monitoring practice by states parties and the oversight mechanism fall well short of such obligations and mandates. The paper proposes a range of measures to better ensure the rights of the African child, and their importance for the rights of all children and in advancing the international human rights treaty system.