On 30 April 2018, at the 62nd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission), the Joint General Comment to Ending Child Marriage and the Report on Child Marriage in Africa were officially launched.

Speaking at the launch event, Chairperson of the African Commission, Commissioner Maiga noted the tremendous strides that the African Commission has made in advancing a framework for the protection of children from child marriage. This has been achieved through the development of legal norms including the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (African Children’s Charter) and now, the Joint General Comment on Ending Child Marriage.  However, despite these developments, child marriage remains a common practice in many countries. She urged both state and non-state actors to work together to end child marriage.

She highlighted the importance of the Report on Child Marriage in raising awareness of the problem of child marriage and the critical role it played in the development of the Joint General Comment. She also spoke of the transformative value of the Joint General Comment, in that it goes beyond providing states with guidance on how to comply with treaty obligations and that it is also relevant to stakeholders in holding States accountable for failure to implement their treaty obligations.

Commissioner Maiga concluded that the Joint General Comment will go a long way in protecting girls from child marriage and that this is very critical to not only harnessing Africa’s demographic dividend, but also to the achievement of the sustainable development objectives of the AU’s Agenda 2063 and the UN’s Agenda 2030.

The Centre for Human Rights was represented by Prof Frans Viljoen and Satang Nabaneh, who sat on the panel to launch the Joint General Comment and was joined by Mr Johndson Bien- Aime from Plan International.