While explaining the work of the Committee in ECOWAS regions, she stated that all ECOWAS Member States have ratified the Charter and among them all but two have submitted their initial report on the implementation of the charter while 3 have submitted initial and periodic report. Burkina Faso has submitted initial report, 1st Periodic report and 2nd Periodic report on the implementation of the Charter. Furthermore the Committee has considered a Communication from the region. Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria (South Africa) and La Rencontre Africaine pour la Defense des Droits de I'Homme (RADDHO) (Senegal) Vs Senegal, 2002. The Communication was related to the talibes children who are sent away by their parents to live in Qur'anic schools known as daaras in the urban centers of the Republic of Senegal to attend religious education. The talibes are forced by their instructors (known as marabouts) to work on the streets as beggars. The Committee found the Government of Senegal in violation of various provisions of the charter, including the right to education and issued recommendations. Accordingly, the Government of Senegal has been implementing the recommendations of the Committee. After the presentation, representatives of Member States posed questions and comments. It was stated that the Committee should emphasize strengthening coordination of the various actors working on child rights. It was also mentioned that there is a need to have more of a learning session about the Charter and the Committee. It was explained that maternal mortality has shown a reduction in Liberia, while in Sierra Leone has set up a national committee for child protection and a child welfare policy. In Guinea, laws relating to the child are not being implemented properly due to cultural barriers and lack of resources. Item 3: Presentation on Agenda 2040 Mr. Sekone Wendyam Philippe, Senior child rights officer at the Secretariat of the ACERWC, presented on Agenda2040. He explained the background of the Agenda by recalling that at the celebration of the 25 Years of the adoption of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, in 2015, the ACERWC decided to develop a 25 year Agenda for children’s rights in Africa. The Agenda was adopted by the Committee at its 28th Ordinary Session which was held in November 2016 in Banjul, the Gambia. The agenda is adopted to supplement para 53 of Agenda 2063 which states ‘African children shall be empowered through the full implementation of the African Charter on the Rights of the Child’. And to establish long-term strategies that will contribute towards sustaining and protecting children’s rights in Africa. The Agenda sets the following ten aspirations.

Select target paragraph3