PREAMBLE The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Commission), meeting during its 60th Ordinary Session held in Niamey, Niger from May 8 to 22, 2017: Recalling its mandate to promote and protect human and peoples’ rights in Africa under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Charter); Recalling Article 45 (1) (b) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which mandates the African Commission “to formulate and lay down principles and rules aimed at solving legal problems relating to human and peoples’ rights and fundamental freedoms upon which African Governments may base their legislations”; Recalling the mandate granted to the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa to draft the Guidelines on Combating Sexual Violence and its Consequences in Africa (ACHPR/Res.365); Recalling the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights; the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women (Maputo Protocol); and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; Recalling the Resolutions adopted by the Commission on combating sexual violence and its consequences, as well as the General Comments on Article 14 (1) (d) and (e), Article 14.1 (a), (b), (c) and (f) and Article 14. 2 (a) and (c) of the Maputo Protocol; Recalling the Banjul Declaration of the 59th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights under the theme “Women’s Rights: Our Collective Responsibility”; Recalling the initiatives and strategies developed by the African Union to combat sexual violence and its consequences in Africa; Supporting in particular the «Girls Not Brides» campaign of the African Union and the implementation of the Maputo Plan of Action 2016 - 2030 on sexual and reproductive rights; 8 GUIDELINES ON COMBATING SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES IN AFRICA