personhood of our children. By 2015, four States had entered reservations in respect of the African Children’s Charter. Botswana does not consider itself bound by article 2, which defines the child with an inflexible upper age limit of 18, differing from the more flexible approach of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Sudan does not consider itself bound by article 21(2), which calls for the abolition of child marriage, and further made reservations in respect of the right to education of pregnant girls (article 11(6)) and to privacy (article 10). Egypt entered reservations in respect of adoption and the rights of the children of imprisoned mothers (articles 24 and 30 respectively). Mauritania entered a reservation in respect of freedom of religion (article 9). On matters related to procedure, Egypt entered a reservation concerning the competence of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (African Children’s Committee) under article 44 to receive communications, and to conduct investigations under article 45(1). Of these four States, all of whom State parties to both the African Children’s Charter and the CRC, three (Botswana, Egypt and Mauritania) made reservations under both treaties, reiterating their reservations under the CRC when becoming party to the African Children’s Charter. Egypt has subsequently withdrawn its reservation under the CRC. While a greater number of African States initially entered reservations under the CRC, by 2015, Djibouti, Egypt, Mauritius and Tunisia (to a large extent) had withdrawn these, leaving only the following States with reservations under the CRC: Botswana, Mali, Mauritania, Somalia and Tunisia (albeit only in limited form). In terms of the African Children’s Charter, the African Children’s Committee, consisting of 11 members, has been created as supervisory body to monitor States’ implementation of its provisions. Reflecting the mandate of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission), the Children’s Committee performs its supervisory function by examining State reports, by considering individual communications and by undertaking investigations. In this respect, the African pendant provides for more intrusive monitoring, compared to 3