prioritizing the issue of child marriage in line with direction taken by the heads of states. Item 5: Presentations on countries and regional practices on cross boarder issues affecting children’s rights: challenges and opportunities The representatives of the ten Member States in the workshop made brief presentations on the various cross-border issues affecting children in their jurisdictions and measures put in place to address them. Nigeria It was noted that Nigeria has very long borders with no natural barriers. Neighboring countries fear that some of the problems in Nigeria such as terrorism may spill over to their territories. There is an issue of trafficking, Nigeria is a source, transit and destination of girls. The final destination of these girls is mainly Europe. There are centers to rehabilitate girls who are victims of trafficking. The issue of Boko Haram in North East Nigeria is still persistent. They recruit boys to serve as child soldiers and they recruited girls to become suicide bombers. There is a multi-sectorial committee called the Child Protection sub-set, it is active in the Northeast and intervenes in issues that affect children. The other cross-border issue is a refugee issue, Cameroonians from English speaking regions moving to Nigeria due to the political unrest. The children who come as refugees from Cameroon do not have birth registration certificates. There are issues of protection in refugee camps. With regards to the way forward, it was noted that there are arrangements with some countries such as Benin and Nigeria is working with international partners to address these issues. Reviewing the ECOWAS policy will help Nigeria handle cross border issues. Nigeria has protective legislations, proper implementation of these legislations is necessary. For Quranic students that cross from Nigeria to Niger and vice versa, there are special schools provided for them that integrate Quranic education and western education. There is also a national child rights implementation policy, which looks at all these issues holistically and takes measures to address them. Ghana It was stated that Ghana is surrounded by French speaking countries, however the local language across borders is similar, hence movement along the borders is common. It was noted that most of the challenges are similar to the once mentioned by Nigeria. Recently Ghana is having an increasing challenge with cross border issues. Children are among those who are migrating to Europe through Libya. The reasons for movement are mainly economic. The children do not know and do not mind where they go, they simply want to leave their houses, because of economic social or environmental