CONSIDERING that the promotion and protection of the rights and welfare of the child also implies the performance of duties on the part of everyone, REAFFIRMING ADHERENCE to the principles of the rights and welfare of the child contained in the declaration, conventions and other instruments of the Organization of African Unity and in the United Nations and in particular the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; and the OAU Heads of State and Government’s Declaration on the Rights and Welfare of the African Child. HAVE AGREED as follows: PART I: RIGHTS AND DUTIES CHAPTER ONE RIGHTS AND WELFARE OF THE CHILD Article 1 OBLIGATION OF STATES PARTIES 1. The Member States of the Organization of African Unity Parties to the present Charter shall recognize the rights, freedoms and duties enshrines in this Charter and shall undertake to take the necessary steps, in accordance with their Constitutional processes and with the provisions of the present Charter, to adopt such legislative or other measures as may be necessary to give effect to the provisions of this Charter. 2. Nothing in this Charter shall affect any provisions that are more conductive to the realization of the rights and welfare of the child contained in the law of a State Party or in any other international convention or agreement in force in that State. Any custom, tradition, cultural or religious practice that is inconsistent with the rights, duties and obligations contained in the present Charter shall to the extent of such inconsistency be discouraged. 3. 8 AFRICAN CHARTER on the Rights and Welfare of the Child