Banjul, 5 December 2023: Within the framework of its aspiration to expand efforts in Lusophone Africa, IHRDA, in collaboration with Plan Mozambique, is organizing a child rights strategic litigation training and case-identification workshop for lawyers and child rights civil society activists in Mozambique, from 5-7 December 2023.
Deliberations touch on human rights and child rights concepts and terminology; problems affecting the enjoyment of children’s rights in Mozambique, the Mozambique 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). The workshop also gives 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 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 discussions culminate in a session to identify suitable cases of child rights violation 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.
The workshop comes in a context where a significant gap remains between policy-making and implementation, with serious implications on the achievement of child rights in Mozambique, as there is continuous widespread prevalence of several harmful practices affecting children, especially girls, in the country.
“This workshop is another important milestone in IHRDA’s aspiration to establish its imprints in Lusophone Africa; it follows a similar action we began in Guinea Bissau in October 2023”, IHRDA’s Senior Legal Officer, Oludayo Fagbemi stated.
The activity falls within the framework of phase II of the Pan-African States Accountability Program (PASAP II) coordinated by Plan International.
