After the presentations, the participants wanted to know why there should be two reports (State Party and Complementary (CSO) reports) instead of one report per State Party to the Committee. They were informed that the CSO report was a check and balance on what the State Party reported on the status of children in the Country. Some participants were of the view that there was need for a third report by National Human Rights Institutions to be included in the reporting on the implementation of the Charter by the State Party and CSO reports. Further to this, the Forum was informed that after the Committee receives the State Party report, it awaits the CSOs to send their Complementary report which they consider and come up with a list of issues for the State Party to clarify prior to consideration of the State Party report. However, in instances where the CSO report is not forthcoming, the Committee goes ahead to consider the State Party report. On the issue of reservations, the understanding was that amending the Constitution was a long and difficult process but it was possible with the political will of the Countries. A case in point was the amendment of the definition of the child in Malawi from 16 to 18 years where the State complied with the requirements of the amicable settlement by adopting a bill which amends the Constitution of Malawi. The amendment was done in less than 3 months after the Government appeared before the Committee in November 2016.The participants also wanted to know the relation between the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Member States. In response to this, it was indicated that the AUC is the Secretariat of the African Union hence serves Africa. 8. Guidelines on State Party reporting to the ACERWC Mrs Goitseone Nanikie Nkwe, member of the ACERWC, presented about the Guidelines of the ACERWC on State Party Reporting. Mrs. Nkwe started her presentation by indicating that ratification of and reporting on the Charter is a reaffirmation and confirmation of States’ commitment to protect children’s rights. She highlighted that reporting brings various relevant opportunities to State Parties, among others, to evaluate how far States have gone in domesticating the charter; to assess how far they have aligned their laws & policies to the Charter, to examine measures taken to respect, protect & fulfil children's rights, to challenges in the implementation of the Charter, and to get insights and recommendations from the ACERWC on measures to reinforce implementation of the Charter. Mrs. Nkwe introduced that the State Party reporting mechanism is organized along 9 clusters namely general measures of implementation, definition of the child, general principles, civil rights and freedoms, family environment and alternative care, health and welfare, education and leisure, special protection measures, and responsibilities of the child. Mrs. Nkwe explained the information that should be provided in each cluster while preparing and compiling state party reports. 10 | P a g e