Abstract

BOSHOFF, Elsabé  and  DAMTEW, Samrawit Getaneh. The potential of litigating children's rights in the climate crisis before the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Afr. hum. rights law j. [online]. 2022, vol.22, n.2, pp.328-361. ISSN 1996-2096.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2022/v22n2a1.

While human rights-based climate litigation has globally increased exponentially in the past few years, no cases related to the climate crisis have been filed before the regional African human rights bodies. The aim of this article is to systematically review the requirements for successful litigation before one of the African human rights bodies, namely, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. The article considers the potential for successful climate change litigation before the African Children's Committee based on the possible substantive rights arguments, the procedural challenges that may have to be overcome, and the potential remedies that may be granted by the African Children's Committee. It concludes that the Children's Committee is an important potential forum for child rights-based climate litigation, given that it provides strong substantive rights protection, including for the rights of future generations, broad and adaptable provisions on standing, and has a record of granting strong and transformative remedies.

Keywords : child rights; climate change; litigation; African Children's Committee; jurisprudence.

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