Background The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC/the African children’s Charter) is the only comprehensive regionally focused child right instrument in the world. It was in 1990, shortly after the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), that the OAU Assembly adopted the Children’s Charter. Currently, it is ratified by 47 African Countries. The African Children’s Charter is crafted in a manner that enables it to address the challenges that children in Africa face. To monitor the implementation of this instrument, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) was established in 2001 in accordance with article 32 of the African Children’s Charter. Drawing its mandate from article 42 of the African Children’s Charter, the Committee undertakes a number of activities with a view to promoting and protecting the rights and welfare of the child in Africa. In light of its mandate to monitor the implementation of the Charter and pursuant to Article 45 of the African Children’s Charter,1 the Committee undertakes missions to investigate violations of children’s rights. With a view of adequately explaining the communication and investigation provisions of the Charter, the Committee also developed the guidelines on the conduct of investigations under article 45 of the African charter and article 74 of the rules of procedure guidelines to provide regulations that will enable the Committee of Experts to conduct investigations within the framework of the Charter. In line with the Committee’s investigation mandate, in November 2013, Under the Same Sun (UTSS), a non-governmental organisation based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, approached the ACERWC, calling upon the Committee to investigate the situation of children with albinism hosted in Temporary Holding Shelters (THS) in the Lake Zone of Tanzania. The application was made in accordance article 45 of the African Children’s Charter and article 3 (1) (a) of the Guidelines on the Conduct of Investigations by the ACERWC (the Investigation Guidelines). In accordance with article 45 of the ACRWC, the Committee may resort to any appropriate method of investigating any matter falling within the ambit of the present Charter, may request from the States Parties any information relevant to the implementation of the Charter 1 Article 45 states that Article 45 (i) of the African Charter provides that “The Committee may, resort to any appropriate method of investigating any matter falling within the ambit of the present Charter, request from the States Parties any information relevant to the implementation of the Charter and may also resort to any appropriate method of investigating the measures a State Party has adopted to implement the Charter”. 1