From 13- 16 April 2026, the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty og Law, University of Pretoria, participated in the 28th meeting of the Civil Society Organisations Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (CSO Forum), held in Maseru, Kingdom of Lesotho. The Forum took place ahead of the 47th Ordinary Session of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), taking place on 17 to 25 April 2026.
Held under the theme of inclusion for every child: building equitable futures across Africa, the CSO Forum created a platform for civil society organisations to highlight their advocacy efforts in advancing children’s rights in Africa. CHR hosted a side event on enhancing capacity to litigate and implement jurisprudence on the ACRWC: the role of CSO’s, emphasising the need for the establishment of a Litigant Group for the ACERWC which will serve as a peer support platform for CSOs’ capacity building, experience sharing and continued engagement on how to litigate before the ACERWC and collaborate towards ultimately ensuring the full implementation of decisions of the Committee.
On 17 April 2026, on the sidelines of the 47th Ordinary Session of the ACERWC, the CHR also participated in a panel discussion convened by the Centre for Reproductive Rights on access to reproductive health services for adolescent girls in Africa: law, accountability and practice. Professor Nkatha Murungi, who was on the panel, shared contributions on litigation of adolescents sexual and reproductive health rights, emphasising that cases on SRHR have forced communities and societies at large to talk about issues that are deemed uncomfortable and how these conversations are a pathway for strategic litigation which acts as a tool for accelerated change.
On 18 April 2026, the CHR delivered its statement at the 47th Ordinary Session of the ACERWC. In its statement, the Centre congratulated the newly elected and re-elected members and welcomed the appointment of the Special Envoy on Children Affected by Armed Conflict. The Centre welcomed the theme of the 2026 Day of the African Child focusing on universal access to water, sanitation, and hygiene, and highlighted the need for particular attention to the gendered impacts that access to water, sanitation and hygiene has on girls and disadvantaged groups.
The Centre highlighted a number of its initiatives to advance the implementation of the decisions of the Committee, including the 2025 conference on the implementation of the decisions of the ACERWC, and an upcoming further conference in September 2026 to synergise the findings across the Committee, Commission and Court. The Centre urged the Committee to adopt the recommendations of that conference and to use them as a basis for an informed engagement with states. The Centre also highlighted the ongoing process of the development of a Model Law by the Pan African Parliament to improve adherence to African Union human rights decisions and urged the Committee and other stakeholders to proactively engage with that process. Recognising the impactful potential of litigation to promote accountability for the implementation of the obligations under the ACRWC, and the limited complaints filed before the ACERWC, the Centre highlighted its initiative to form a Litigants Group for the ACERWC as a forum to support child rights litigation and implementation.
Also on 18 April 2026, the Centre hosted a side event on the sidelines of the 47th Ordinary Session of the ACERWC. The aim of the event was to establish a Litigants Group for the ACERWC, with a view to respond to the critical structural gaps in the current litigation and implementation initiatives, particularly in civil society. The event started with a panel discussion where Professor Nkatha Murungi discussed the role of CSOs in litigation and implementation since the first communication was filed before the ACERWC. Ms Aouatef Mahjoub, a legal researcher at the ACERWC Secretariat, highlighted the status and trends of litigation and implementation at ACERWC so far, while Prof. Robert Nanima, a Member of the Committee and chair of the Working Group on Implementation of Decisions, discussed the practices and gaps in communications filed by CSO’s at the ACERWC. The panel was followed by an interactive session, where participants were informed about the different categories of CSO’s that can participate in the Group, and officially invited participants to sign up to be a part of the Group. With the Litigants Group for the ACERWC now up and running, and the Centre invites all interested organisations and individuals to register to be part of the group.
The Centre’s participation in these meetings advances advocacy for the protection of children’s rights through an effective African Human Rights system and ultimately aims to contribute among other peers to a robust regional jurisprudence on children’s rights.
For more information, please contact:
Childrens Rights Unit
Tel +27 (0)12 420 6209
rotondwa.mashige@up.ac.za
