The year 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of the first mention of Children’s rights at the global level. This first mention was in the 1924 Declaration on the Rights of the Child adopted by the League of Nations (LoN). Though not binding, it is worth noting that the Declaration was critical in identifying children as a human group with rights in need of protection. Thus, setting the scene and tone on which the preceding children’s rights Declarations and Treaties were established. Since the collapse of the LoN, and the formation of the United Nations (UN), after the second world war, so much has happened to elevate the recognition and protection of children as bearers of rights both at the global and the African regional levels. In 1959, to affirm its commitment to children, the UN adopted the 1959 Declaration on the Rights of the Child and later, in 1989, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (uncrc) was adopted.
The uncrc is a renowned UN treaty which includes a great collection of children’s civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights – and establishes a committee to monitor its implementation. Several countries, including all African countries are State parties to the uncrc. Notwithstanding Africa’s commitment to the uncrc, the African Union, in 1990, adopted the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (African Children’s Charter), which, albeit with some salient provisions, is strikingly similar in terms of scope and rights protection with the uncrc. The Charter entered into force in November 1999. Thus, 2024 marks its 25th anniversary since it came into force. Both instruments (the uncrc and the African Children’s Charter) enjoy a complimentary relationship in Africa.
This book is a commemoration of these twin anniversaries of the protection of children’s rights in Africa. The book focuses on the Socio-economic and cultural rights (secrs) of children in Africa, it demonstrates and provides a contextual analysis, including regional case review, of the extent to which selected children’s secrs have been interpreted and protected at the regional level. The book also zooms into contemporary issues such as climate change, covid-19, investing and budgeting to ensure the proper implementation of children’s secrs in Africa. The book is unique and is the first collection of African academic literature which spotlights children’s secrs in the African Children’s Charter. It contributes to and extends the epistemology of existing books and publications on children’s rights in Africa.
The book is an important step in advancing the understanding of how children’s rights in general can be appreciated and applied to achieve real protection and promotion of children’s secrs in particular. It fosters pan-African
Sandra Liebenberg
Distinguished Professor & hf Oppenheimer Chair in Human Rights Law, Faculty of Law, Stellenbosch University; Former Member and Vice Chair of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights