Continental assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on the rights and welfare of Children by African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child instant download

Continental assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on the rights and welfare of Children by African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child instant download

Governments across the continent have committed to ensuring that, in ordinary as well as extraordinary times, the best interests of children are taken as paramount when making decisions.
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Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, progress had slowed down, and the continent was not on track to achieving its developmental aims. With the outbreak of the pandemic, however, this state of affairs was exacerbated by the fact that governments had to take extraordinary decisions and measures to protect citizens and to balance competing interests in a context of declining resources.
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The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), concerned by the absence of consideration of children’s best interests and reports that emerged about transgressions of children’s developmentally critical rights in the wake of COVID-19 decision-making, issued a Guiding Note in April 2020 to AU Member States emphasizing the need to guarantee protection of children’s rights in these extraordinary times and providing guidance on the measures necessary in this regard.