AFRICAN COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS ON THE RIGHTS AND WELFARE OF THE CHILD: POLICY BRIEF ON ACCESS TO REMEDIES FOR VICTIMS OF CORPORATE INDUCED CHILD RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

February 2026

Introduction and Background

Children in Africa are increasingly exposed to overlapping risks of climate change and armed conflict. These crises disrupt access to education, nutrition, health care, and child protection services which further expose them to heightened risks and vulnerability.

Africa is warming faster than the global average and is witnessing a troubling rise in climate-related extremes. Prolonged droughts parch croplands from the Sahel to the Cape, while torrential rains and storm surges inundate river basins and coastlines. In 2024 alone, an El Niño‑driven drought left nearly 50 million people in Southern Africa facing acute food insecurity, just four years after Cyclone Idai’s floods claimed over 1,300 lives in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Resolution N0 41/2025 of the Working Group on Children with Disabilities of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) on the Protection, Promotion, and Fulfilment of the Rights of Children with Intellectual and Psychosocial Disabilities in Africa

The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child submits its observations to the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, on the ongoing Advisory Opinion proceedings on climate change. The observations of the Committee were led by its Working Group on Children's Rights and Climate Change and incorporate comprehensive analysis on the rights of children and obligation of States in the context of the climate crisis.

The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (the Charter/ ACRWC), was adopted on 11 July 1990 and came into force on 29 November 1999. The adoption of the Charter enhances child protection by addressing key issues unique to the African context while complementing broader international child rights frameworks, particularly the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Every child in Africa has the fundamental right to quality, inclusive, and accessible education without any discrimination.

Advocacy Factsheet:  The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and Children on the move

The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) has published an Advocacy Factsheet highlighting the critical protections provided by the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) for Children on the Move. This includes refugee, asylum-seeking, internally displaced, migrant, unaccompanied, and separated children—among the most vulnerable groups on the continent.

The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child launched the Continental Study On Climate Change and Children Rights in Africa during the 45th Ordinary Session.

The study is available here:

https://www.acerwc.africa/en/resources/studies-research