The African Union (AU) Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) has appointed Professor Ademola Oluborode Jegede of the Ismail Mahomed Centre for Human and Peoples’ Rights (IMCPHR), Faculty of Management, Commerce and Law, University of Venda (UNIVEN) to serve as an external expert to its Working Group on Children and Climate Change with effect from November 2023 to October-2025.
The ACERWC is an AU Organ mandated to monitor the implementation of the African Children Charter and promote and protect children’s rights in Africa. The ACERWC established the Working Group on Children and Climate Change during its 35th Ordinary Session in 2020 and further renewed the mandate of the Working Group during its 41st Ordinary Session held from 28 April to 06 May 2023.
The ACERWC established the Working Group due to the increasing concern of the impact of climate change on children in Africa. While climate change has a devastating impact on all human beings, the ACERWC notes with concern that children, particularly those living in least developed and developing countries bear the most impacts. The ACERWC believes that the Working Group can allow it to closely assess and investigate the impact of climate change on children in Africa and provide guidance on rights-based response to the challenges posed by climate change on children’s rights.
Professor Jegede is an NRF rated researcher with research expertise on the interface of climate change on rights of vulnerable populations. He has widely published on that theme and is expected to use his expertise when called upon to help fulfil the mandates of the ACERWC.
These include to provide support to the activities of the Working Group on Children and Climate Change; to assist the Working Group in facilitating the completion of the ongoing Continental Study on the Impacts of Climate Change on the Rights of Children in Africa and disseminating its findings and recommendations; to assist the Working Group in developing a strategy to mitigate and adapt the impacts of climate change on the rights of children in Africa, as well as in in its dissemination; to assist the Working Group in developing guidelines, policies and standards on matters related to the rights of children in the context of climate change; to undertake extensive research, gather information, and draw experiences from other mechanisms with a related mandate; and to assist the working group engage with governments of states in Africa with a view to establish laws, policies and strategies that protect the rights and welfare of children in the context of climate change, as well as in its efforts to mitigate and adapt to its impacts. The position is a non-remunerative appointment and resonates with the work of the UNIVEN Faculty of Management, Commerce and Law, particularly the IMCPHR that he is leading.
Issued by:
Department of Marketing, Branding and Communication
University of Venda,
Tel: 015 962 8525 /8710
Date: 08 November 2023
