The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, an Instrument Based on African Socio-Cultural Realities: Truth or Utopia?

Abstract

African states rushed to adopt the International Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, and at the same time set up an African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child in 1990, after justifying the need for an instrument that took account of the social and cultural realities of African children’s rights. Using documentary techniques, the results of our research show that the African Charter is based on the general principles of children’s rights, namely the right to non-discrimination, the right to the best interests of the child, the right to life, survival and development, the right to protection against all forms of exploitation, and the right to participation or the right to be heard. In application of these general principles, the African States wanted a response that kept in mind the historical context of the social realities of children’s rights, especially children under the apartheid regime, but also the situation of children whose mothers are imprisoned, the situation of child begging, the exploitation of children, and so on. In spite of this initiative, African states are reluctant to implement their demands to the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, in addition to the delay in ratifying or acceding to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which has not been the case with ratification of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child and the production of reports to its protection body.