(2017) 1 African Human Rights Yearbook
145
Two more recent communications titled Dalia Lofty on behalf of
Ahmed Bassiouny v Arab Republic of Egypt108 as well as Dalia Lofty
on behalf of Emad v Arab Republic of Egypt have also been finalised by
the Committee. Both of these communications dealt with the right to
liberty and protection from violence, and were declared inadmissible.
As discussed above,109 while Egypt has entered reservations on article
44 of the Charter, the Committee found such reservations as
incompatible with the object and purpose of the Charter,110 thereby
considering itself as having the mandate to consider the two
communications.
As indicated in the Committee’s website,111 there are at least four
more communications that are currently pending before the
Committee, covering a wide range of child rights issues. The African
Centre of Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) and Peoples’ Legal Aid
Centre (PLACE) v Sudan112 deals with issues related to the right to
acquire a nationality and non-discrimination. The Minority Rights
Group International and SOS-Esclaves on behalf of Said Ould Salem
and Yarg Ould Salem v Mauritania113 raises important questions
related to contemporary forms of slavery, while the Institute for
Human Rights and Development in Africa and Finders Group
Initiative on behalf of TFA (a minor) v Cameroon114 revolves around
issues such as access to justice and right of appeal in a criminal case
involving sexual abuse of a child. Another communication, Etoungou
Nko’o on behalf of Mr and Mrs Elogo Menye and Rev Daniel Ezo’o Ayo
v Cameroon,115 tests the limit of the scope of application of the Charter
in relation to alleged violations of children’s rights committed once the
children have died.
The African Committee has also concluded its first amicable
settlement. In October 2014, the Committee received a communication
Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) v
Malawi.116 The complainant submitted that the Constitution of
Malawi, which provides in section 23(5) that ‘for the purposes of this
section, children shall be persons under sixteen years of age’
constituted a violation of article 2 of the African Children’s Rights
Charter that defines a child as a person below the age of 18.117 The
African Children’s Committee declared the communication admissible.
108
No. 8/Com/001/2016.
See sec 3 above.
110
Available at http://www.acerwc.org/download/ruling-on-admissibility-of-communi
cation-no-0080022016/?wpdmdl=10222 (accessed 30 October 2017).
111
Available at http://www.acerwc.org/communications/table-of-communications/
(accessed 13 October 2017).
112
No. 5/Com/001/2015.
113
No. 7/Com/003/2015.
114
No. 6/Com/002/2015.
115
No. 10/Com/003/2016.
116
No. 4/Com/001/2014.
117
The Constitutional provision was also not aligned with other subsidiary legislation,
such as the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Law that increased the minimum
age of marriage from 15 to 18 years.
109
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