32 Boshoff/Protecting the African child in a changing climate achieve, substantive and transformative equality may be more elusive, since the root causes of inequality is often deep-seated in the values of society.39 To the extent that this principle must be understood in the context of other rights, it will be further discussed below. The second principle is the inherent right to life, which under the African Children’s Rights Charter is protected under article 5 dealing with survival and development. The right to life is relevant in the context of nutrition, as identified above, where food security is often threatened by climate induced circumstances and also relates to the right to health protected under article 14 of the African Children’s Rights Charter, specifically subsections (c) and (d) which relate to nutrition. The right to life is also relevant in the context of conflict, and will be discussed as such below. The further two bedrock principles are both found in article 5 of the African Children’s Rights Charter and are ‘the best interest of the child’, which must be the primary consideration in all decisions related to the child and the right of the child to participate and express their own views, to the full extent of their capabilities. The right to express their views will be returned to below in the section related to participation. The best interest of the child is an interesting principle which has often been used as a standard to measure the protection of children’s rights, particularly, where there are no specific rights dealing with a specific aspect, as in the current case, climate change.40 In terms of UN Committee on the Rights of the Child General Comment 14 on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration (GC14), the best interest of the child must be understood as a substantive right of all children, as an interpretive principle when read together with other rights and as a rule of procedure. Furthermore, in the interpretation of the best interest of the child the state must ensure that the dignity of all children is respected (a negative duty) as well as ensure the ‘holistic development of every child’, which implies a positive duty.41 In an attempt to formulate the best interest of the child principle clearly, Mauras states that the best interest implies that all policies and distribution of resources must ‘be used in a progressive 39 Fredman (n 38 above). Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) and Open Society Justice Initiative on behalf of Children of Nubian Descent in Kenya v Kenya, Communication 2/2009 of the African Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, delivered on 22 March 2011; Decision on the communication Centre for Human Rights (University of Pretoria) and La Recontre Africaine pour la defense des droits de l’homme (Senegal) v Senegal Decision 3/Com/001/2012 on 15 April 2014 at the 23rd Ordinary Session of the Children’s Committee; JB Kelly ‘The best interests of the child a concept in search of meaning’ (1997) 35 Family and Conciliation Courts Review 377; M Freeman ‘Article 3 the best interest of the child’ in A Alen et al (2007) A Commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1-2. 41 United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) General Comment 14 ‘On the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration’ adopted on 29 May 2013 at the 62nd session of the CRC (GC14) para 42. 40