Maternal and Child Mortality in Africa (CARMMA) – to take decisive action to reduce maternal and child mortality. The GoSL has further, as a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), committed to realization of the goals and objectives of the regional Policy and Plan of Action for Child Protection and Child Trafficking to address the challenges relating to the protection of women and children in the region. 22. Over and above its legal undertakings, the GoSL has committed to a number of global human development initiatives which have a particular bearing on the rights of children. These include the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and UNESCO’s Dakar Framework of Action for Attaining Education for All (EFA) (2000). 23. The Constitution of Sierra Leone requires that all treaties, conventions and agreements entered into by the President on behalf of the country be approved and domesticated by Parliament. Both the CRC and the ACRWC have been duly approved and subsequently domesticated through the enactment of the Child Rights Act (2007). The Act was passed to “provide for the promotion of the rights of the child compatible with the Convention on the Rights of the Child … its Optional Protocols … and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, and other related matters.” 24. Whilst the Child Rights Act was only enacted into law in 2007, the GoSL commenced a process of law reform and programme development well before this date. The process was accelerated in the years immediately after the cessation of the civil war given the urgent need to counteract the negative impact it had on the lives of thousands of children in the country. The post-war years were marked by a number of interim programmes and processes aimed at providing immediate succour to children who had been involved in and/or affected by the war. However, over time, a more systemic reform agenda has evolved to provide a stronger and more sustainable foundation for an effective child protection and development system founded on measures aimed at addressing the structural determinants of child survival, development and well-being. 25. This process recently gained renewed impetus. The advancement of children’s rights has been recognized as a national developmental priority and integrated into the Agenda for Prosperity: Road to Middle Income Status (2013-2018), Sierra Leone’s latest national development and poverty reduction strategy paper (hereinafter referred to as the Agenda for Prosperity). The development of human capital is central to realization of the Agenda’s goals of reduced poverty and inequality. To this end, it commits to the development and adequate funding of strengthened systems and programmes for the advancement of children’s early development, health, education and protection, especially for the most marginalized and vulnerable children. 26. Upon ratification of ACRWC the GoSL had a legal framework in place governing the situation of children made up of a combination of the common law, statutory laws, a number of which were a legacy of the British colonial legal system and customary laws. The GoSL has a dual legal system which recognizes customary laws, subject to their compliance with the dictates of the Constitution of Sierra Leone and makes provision for a dual justice system for the administration, on the one hand of statutory and common laws (through the formal justice system) and for the administration of customary laws (through the traditional and local court structures). 8  Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone Initial Report on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 2002-2014