ACERWC/GC/02 (2014) GENERAL COMMENT ON ARTICLE 6 OF THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON THE RIGHTS AND WELFARE OF THE CHILD 1. Introduction 1.1. Legal and contextual basis 1. The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (the Committee) was established with a mandate to promote and protect the rights enshrined in the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (African Children’s Charter). In particular, under Article 42 (a) (ii), the Committee is expected to formulate and lay down principles and rules aimed at protecting the rights and welfare of children in Africa. 2. Through the Reporting procedure provided for under Article 43 of the African Children’s Charter, the Committee interacts with States parties by reviewing their reports and issuing observations and recommendations aimed at improving the implementation of the rights of the child where the desired standard of implementation is deemed not to have been achieved. 3. The right to birth registration is one of the rights that consistently appears not to be fully implemented by States parties. In its observations and recommendations to the states that have so far submitted at least one report, the Committee has been concerned about the low rate of birth registration.1 Millions of children go unregistered every year. According to the UN News Centre, a 2013 UNICEF Report reveals that 230 million children under the age of five had not had their birth registered, and the lowest rate of birth registration is in South Asia and in Sub-Saharan Africa.2 It is 1 See Recommendations and Observations sent to the Governments of Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Libya, Kenya, Mali, Tanzania and Uganda available at http://acerwc.org/state-reports/ accessed 3 October 2013. 2 UN News Centre ‘One in three children do not officially exist, UNICEF reports’ (11 December 2013) 3