PART A: Background to the African Regional Human Rights System V. Other African Human Rights Treaties and Treaty Bodies Since the adoption of the African Charter, African States under the auspices of the now defunct OAU83 and its successor, the AU, have negotiated and agreed upon other human rights treaties, the most notable of which include the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC)84 and the African Women’s Rights Protocol.85 The first of these instruments established a separate treaty body, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (‘African Children’s Rights Committee’).86 Its mandate mirrors that of the African Commission. By November 2013, the Committee had received 14 State party reports and provided recommendations on eight. The Committee has only received two communications to date.87 As a protocol that adds to the substance of the African Charter, the African Women’s Rights Protocol did not create a new monitoring body. The African Commission and Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights are mandated to implement its provisions. So far, the African Commission has not considered any complaints alleging violations of the Protocol. African States have accepted as binding numerous UN human rights treaties that are relevant to torture, such as the four 1949 Geneva Conventions,88 the two 1977 Optional Protocols thereto,89 the International Covenant on Civil and 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 See Section I above. ACRWC, supra note 22. African Women’s Rights Protocol, supra note 22. ACRWC, supra note 22, Article 32. African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa and Open Society Justice Initiative (on behalf of children of Nubian descent in Kenya) v. Kenya, Comm. No. 002/2009, 17th Ordinary Session (22 March 2011). Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field, adopted on 12 August 1949 by the Diplomatic Conference for the Establishment of the International Conventions for the Protection of Victims of War, entered into force on 21 October 1950, 75 U.N.T.S. 31; Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea, adopted on 12 August 1949 by the Diplomatic Conference for the Establishment of International Conventions for the Protection of Victims of War, entered into force on 21 October 1950, 75 U.N.T.S. 85; Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War adopted on 12 August 1949 by the Diplomatic Conference for the Establishment of International Conventions for the Protection of Victims of War, entered into force on 21 October 1950, 75 U.N.T.S. 135; Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, adopted on 12 August 1949 by the Diplomatic Conference for the Establishment of International Conventions for the Protection of Victims of War, entered into force 21 October 1950, 75 U.N.T.S. 287. Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), adopted by the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts in Geneva, signed on 12 December 1977, entered into force on 7 December 1979, 1125 U.N.T.S. 3; Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the 33