From Kenya to Tanzania through Mauritania, Cameroon and Sudan: the approach of the African Children’s Committee to the principle of non-discrimination in selected communications

The effectiveness of a human rights monitoring body lies in the seamless fusion of its normative and institutional framework that leads to the development of jurisprudence. Out of seven concluded communications, five concern the violation of the principle of non-discrimination. Using a conceptual desktop research approach, this article argues that the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (African Children’s Committee) can do more in realigning the normative under-pinnings to the jurisprudential developments regarding the principle of non-discrimination. This article looks at the normative understanding of the principle of non-discrimination under the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and evaluates five selected communications that deal with discrimination. Finally, a reflection on the Committee’s approach paves the way for proposals in the application of the principle of non-discrimination.