 the interests of juveniles or the protection of the parties’ private life. Protocol No. 7 to the ECHR provides that while spouses enjoy equality of rights and responsibilities in their relations with their children, this does not prevent States “from taking such measures as are necessary in the interests of the children” (article 5).
African Charter on Human and People’s Rights 1981 (Banjul Charter) and Protocol
The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (hereinafter ACHPR) (also known as the Banjul Charter) encompasses civil and political as well as economic, social, and cultural rights. In regard to children, it emphasizes the rights of the family and of duties towards the family rather than the rights and duties of individual family members, which can be viewed as a reflection of African customary law. Thus, the ACHPR makes it incumbent on the individual “[t]o preserve the harmonious development of the family and to work for the cohesion and respect of the family; to respect his parents at all times, to maintain them in case of need” (article 29(1)). The ACHPR does not set forth any additional specific rights for children, relying instead on existing international protections regarding children’s rights (in article 18(3)). As in other international human rights documents, however, rights in the ACHPR are mentioned in connection with “the individual” or “every individual.”
The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa makes numerous specific references to children, and to girls in particular. The Preamble calls for the condemnation and elimination of “any practice that hinders or endangers the normal growth and affects the physical, emotional and psychological development of women and girls.” States Parties are to enact and implement legislative measures to prohibit all forms of such harmful practices (article 2(1)(b)); protect women and girls against rape and all other forms of violence, including trafficking; and “ensure that in times of conflict and/or war, such acts are considered war crimes and are punished as such” (article 4(c) and (d)). States Parties should also condemn harmful practices such as medicalization of female genital mutilation and scarification that affect the fundamental human rights of women and girls and are contrary to recognized international standards, and take measures against them, such as rehabilitation of the victims and granting of asylum to those at risk (article 6(b-d)). States Parties should afford effective protection to women and children in emergency and conflict situations (article 11(4)) as well. In furtherance of the right to education and training, “all appropriate measures” should be taken to eliminate discrimination against women and girls, with specific positive action to be taken to promote girls’ education and training “at all levels and in all disciplines” as well as their retention in schools and other training institutions (article 12).
American Convention on Human Rights (Pact of San José, Costa Rica)
The American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR) obliges States Parties to respect the rights and freedoms recognized in its provisions and “to ensure to all persons subject to their jurisdiction the free and full exercise of those rights and freedoms, without any discrimination for reasons of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, economic status, birth, or any other social condition. The term “person” used in the ACHR means “every human being” (article 1). Thus, every person has the right to a legal personality, to life, to humane treatment, to personal liberty, and to a fair trial, among many other rights set forth. However, parents or guardians “have the right to provide for the religious and moral education of their children or wards that is in accord with their own convictions” (article 12(4)), and “public entertainments may be subject by law to prior censorship for the sole purpose of regulating access to them for the moral protection of childhood and adol