Banjul, 13 April 2021: IHRDA, in collaboration with Action des Chrétiens pour l’Abolition de la Torture section du Tchad (ACAT/TCHAD), is organizing from 13 – 15 April 2021 a child rights litigation training and case-identification workshop for lawyers and child rights civil society activists in Chad.
Topics to be covered include an understanding of human rights and child rights concepts and terminology; problems affecting the enjoyment of children’s rights in Chad, the Chadian legal and judicial framework for the protection of children’s rights, the normative content of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and procedure before the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC). Discussions will also give insights on other African regional mechanisms for child rights protection, notably the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Facilitators will equally do an overview of strategic litigation of child rights in Africa and the ACERWC litigation toolkit, and enlighten participants on State party and shadow reporting before the ACERWC.
The workshop will end in a session to identify suitable cases with potential for high impact, which IHRDA will eventually assist domestic child rights defenders to follow up and file for litigation before the relevant regional mechanism.
A representative of the Chad Minister for Women and Protection of Children opened the workshop, which comes in a context where a significant gap remains between policymaking and policy implementation, with serious implications on the achievement of child rights in Chad, as there is continuous widespread prevalence of several harmful traditional practices affecting children, especially girls, in the country.
This activity falls within the framework of phase II of the Pan-African States Accountability Program (PASAP II) coordinated by Plan International.
