Mapping Children on the Move within Africa Based on these definitions, this study adopts the following definition of children on the move: Children who have moved from their habitual place of residence to another place within or outside their country, or have been entrusted by their parents to guardians (enfant confié), voluntarily or involuntarily, accompanied or unaccompanied by their parents, caregivers or families either as internally displaced persons, refugees, asylum-seekers, economic migrants or trafficked persons and who may suffer or may be at risk of suffering exploitation, abuse, neglect or violence. In line with the scope and objectives of the study, the primary focus within this definition is on children moving within countries in Africa and across the borders of African countries. 1.2 Scope and Guiding Framework The situation of children on the move revolves around the extent to which Member States respect and uphold the fundamental rights of the child, their protection and welfare as provided for under international and regional human rights treaties. The cardinal principles of child rights and other core rights that are mostly at risk while children are on the move include the best interest of the child, the right to life, survival and development, non-discrimination and child participation, right to food, shelter, health and health services, education, name and nationality, access to justice and the right to family. The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC/the African Children’s Charter) as the principal norm-setting instrument for child rights and welfare in Africa (which provides for these principles and rights in addition to others), forms the primary guiding framework for this study and the analyses of the information to be gathered. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which has been ratified by all African countries (recognized by the UN) and which has comparable similar rights to those provided in the ACRWC, also forms part of the normative foundations of this study. The standards provided for in the specific rights protected in the ACRWC and other relevant instruments will be the key indicators against which the mechanisms established by States are evaluated. The ACRWC also establishes the general obligations of f States, which is succinctly captured in article 1(1) as follows: Member States of the Organization of African Unity, Parties to the present Charter shall recognise the rights, freedoms and duties enshrined in this Charter and shall undertake the necessary steps, in accordance with their constitutional processes and with the provisions of the present Charter, to adopt such legislative or other measures as may be necessary to give effect to the provisions of this Charter’. This obligation prescribed under the ACRWC is similar to the obligation of the State under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) –which has been interpreted to be an allencompassing one at four levels of duty, namely to protect, promote, respect and fulfil11, through the adoption of legislative and other measures to give effect to the rights enshrined in the African Children’s Charter. 11 Communication 155/96 Social and Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC) and Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) v Nigeria para 44. 11