Report on the Advocacy Mission to assess the situation of children in Central African Republic I. BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION 1. The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) was adopted at the 26th Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) on July 11, 1990 and entered into force on November 29, 1999. Article 32 of the Charter established the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) whose mandate is, inter alia, to monitor the implementation of the Charter, and promote and protect the rights contained therein. 2. The Committee is deeply concerned about the scale of humanitarian challenges in the Central African Republic, which affect the protection of the rights and welfare of children. The Committee notes that Articles 22, 23 and 25 of the ACRWC explicitly recognize the need to respect international law especially as the impact of armed conflict is more accentuated on children, particularly on those who are displaced and separated from their parents and families. 3. Contrary to the protection accorded through the African Children’s Charter, the Committee realised that children in CAR are 1