PART B: Substantive Norms on Torture in the African Regional Human Rights System Similarly, the ACRWC requires States to take ‘legislative, administrative, social and educational measures’ to protect children from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment.280 The ACRWC emphasises the prohibition of ‘physical or mental injury or abuse, neglect or maltreatment, including sexual abuse’ of children.281 Measures of protection for the purposes of the Charter include:282 effective procedures for the establishment of special monitoring units to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have the care of the child, as well as other forms of prevention and for identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment, and follow-up of instances of child abuse and neglect. Turning to due process protections related to torture and abuse of children, the ACRWC prohibits the application of capital punishment to children283 and the torture or ill-treatment of children deprived of their liberty.284 The ACRWC specifically requires that children deprived of their liberty are separated from adults in their place of detention or imprisonment285 and requires States Parties to establish a minimum age below which children shall be presumed to lack the capacity to violate the domestic penal laws.286 In situations of armed conflict, including internal armed conflict,287 States Parties to the ACRWC agree to respect international humanitarian law norms affecting the child, including the prohibition of the use of children in direct hostilities or the recruitment of children as soldiers.288 The Charter also extends the protection of all international refugee conventions to child refugees and, with necessary modifications, to children living in situations of internal displacement.289 This means, for instance, that children cannot be returned or transferred to foreign territories, or to internal regions, where they may suffer or be exposed to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, punishment, abuse or neglect. The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (‘African Children’s Rights Committee’) is established by Article 32 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. The Committee is mandated to promote and ensure the protection of the rights of the child under the Charter. The Committee is made 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 Ibid., Article 16(1) Ibid. Ibid., Article 16(2). Ibid., Article 5(3). Ibid., Article 17(2). Ibid., Article 17(2)(b). Ibid., Article 17(4). Ibid., Article 22(3). Ibid., Article 22(1)-(2). Ibid., Article 23(1) and (4). 69