Children’s Rights Litigation in the African Region: Lessons from the Communications Procedure Under the ACRWC

This chapter describes and assesses the experiences to date of litigating children’s rights under the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1990). The communications procedure under the African Children’s Charter is explained with reference to the Charter itself as well as the rules of procedure developed in 2006 by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. The finding of the Committee in the first communication in which a finding was made, namely the so-called Nubian Children case, is discussed; so too is the decision in the second matter, which involved the government of Uganda. The chapter highlights a number of challenges and procedural issues; at the same time, it identifies good practice that can be used to inform children’s rights litigation at the international and domestic level before national courts and other treaty bodies.