Children’s Rights Project attends the 33rd ACERWC Session

The Children’s Rights Project attended the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 33rd statutory Ordinary Session, at the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa from 18 till 28 March, 2019.

At the session the project welcomed the conversation by the Committee at this session on the need to protect the child from abuse in this digital age. The project said, this is a key aspect that speaks to its mandate with regard to the continued protection of the rights of a child. This reiterates its continued stance in identifying niche areas that can be engaged in offering a conduce environment for the children under the children’s charter. “We hope that the deliberations will yield various options to strengthen the role of the Committee in taking logical steps to minimise and stop the abuse of children in this digital age,” the project said in a statement.

As one of the partner organisations of the ACCP (African Children’s Charter Project) the project shared some of the work they did with the Committee. “Some of the activities that we have and continue to undertake include the preparation of the General Comment on Art 22 on Children and Armed Conflict, Preparation of Concept Notes on the commemoration of the Day of the African Child, and Collaboration with the ACCP partners and other stakeholders involved in the promotion and protection of children rights in Africa. We call on the Committee and partners to create avenues to assess these activities. This will ensure that we develop processes other than events in the promotion and protection of the rights of children.”

The session was attended by Representatives from the Member States of the African Union, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, Representatives from the United Nation Organisations; International Non-Governmental Organisations, Civil Society Organisations; and the Media. During this Session, the Committee will consider States Parties reports on the implementation of the African Children’s Charter from Benin, Eswatini, Rwanda, Nigeria and Senegal. The Committee will also consider complementary reports from Civil Society Organisations of Guinea Bissau and Mauritania.

At Session, the Committee launched the findings of its study on "Mapping children on the move in Africa". In reviewing State Parties report on the implementation of the Charter, the Committee has identified children on the move as an emerging child protection issue in African, and therefore commissioned a study in view of making recommendations to tackle the problem in Member States.

The study presents key drivers of the children on the move, migration routes, challenges faced by children on the move, policy and institutionalised content protecting children on the move and finally the way forward.