AU WATCH

ACERWC

A watershed moment for African human rights: Mtikila & Others v Tanzania at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights
by Oliver Windridge

Observations on the Rules of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights
by Gino J Naldi

The Pan-African Parliament and African Union human rights actors, civil society and national human rights institutions: The importance of collaboration
by Bonolo Ramadi Dinokopila

Ten years of the Robben Island Guidelines and prevention of torture in Africa: For what purpose?
by Debra Long and Rachel Murray

Agenda 2020

Summary
In 2016, ACERWC established a 25 year Agenda namely, “Agenda 2040: Fostering an Africa fit for children”. The main objective of the Agenda is to restore the dignity of the African child through assessing the achievements and challenges faced towards the effective implementation of the African Children’s Charter. The Agenda, by further elaborating Paragraph 53 of Agenda 2063, intends to establish long-term strategies that will contribute towards sustaining and protecting children’s rights in Africa. The overall target is to expand significant goals and priority areas to which the respective Member states and the African Union commit to for the upcoming 25 years.

African Human Rights Yearbook 

Summary

African Human Rights Yearbook Volume 1 2017:The three institutions making up the African regional human rights system, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, decided to jointly publish the African Human Rights Yearbook, to spearhead studies on the promotion and protection of human rights, and to provide a forum for constructive engagement about the African human rights system with academics and other human rights commentators on the continent. Volume 1 of the Yearbook, published in 2017, contains fifteen contributions by scholars from Africa and beyond.

African Human Rights Yearbook Volume 2 2018:
The three institutions making up the African regional human rights system, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, decided to jointly publish the African Human Rights Yearbook, to spearhead studies on the promotion and protection of human rights, and to provide a forum for constructive engagement about the African human rights system with academics and other human rights commentators on the continent. Volume 2 of the Yearbook, published in 2018, contains 21 contributions by scholars from Africa and beyond.

African Human Rights Yearbook Volume 3 2019:
This is the third volume of the African Human Rights Yearbook. It includes a focus on the 2019 theme of the African Union Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons: Towards Durable Solutions to Forced Displacement in Africa. The African Children’s Committee has at the same time undertaken and published a study on Children on the Move (2019), focusing not only on refugees, detainees and internally displaced persons, but also drawing inspiration from the protective mandate of the African Children’s Rights Charter to draw the continent’s attention to the protection and promotion of the rights and welfare of children who are on the move.

Mapping Children on the Move within Africa

Summary

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 Committee observed that there were challenges with regard to upholding the rights and welfare of children on the move and that there are gaps on the type of protection measures and treatment that is be accorded to such children within our beloved Continent.

The African Charter Stories

Summary

The African Charters Stories from the Continent: CHILD MARRIAGE
This booklet illustrates an exemplary individual case where a citizen has successfully turned to one of the human rights organs. It is just one of many stories that the AU’s human rights bodies are dealing with.