Banjul, 19 July 2022: IHRDA, 5 July 2022, seeks advisory opinion from the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (the Committee), requesting the Committee to analyse the validity of reservation made by State Parties to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. This was with regard to reservations specifically made by Botswana and Egypt to Article 2 and Articles 44 and 45(1), respectively, of the Charter. Botswana’s reservation to Article 2 of the Charter is incompatible with the object and purpose of the Charter, requiring that all persons below 18 years must enjoy all the rights guaranteed in the Charter; while Egypt’s reservations to Articles 44 and 45(1) deprive the Committee of the ability to fully exercise its mandate, and also undermine the competence of the Committee to receive and consider communications alleging violation of rights sanctioned by the Charter.
