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17 Afr. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 1 (2009)

handle is hein.journals/afjincol17 and id is 1 raw text is: 'LISTEN TO US': ARGUING THE CASE FOR CHILD PARTICIPATION IN NEPAD BENYAM D. MEZMUR* AND JULIA SLOTH-NIELSEN** I. INTRODUCTION Skeptics might aver that all is doom in Africa. In his book What went wrong with Africa, Van der Veen writes: The last fifty years have seen unprecedented changes in people's standards of life all over the world .... Though poverty was the norm throughout human history, for many people a degree of prosperity came within reach.... except in Africa.' However, two major developments that have led commentators2 to claim that Africa is poised for positive regeneration in this millennium are the adoption of the Constitutive Act of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) which established the African Union (AU), and the launch, on 23 October 2001, in Nigeria, of 'a development strategy' known as the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). Thus, the 'African renaissance' (as it has been termed) and AU have become 'beacons of hope' for Africa, and NEPAD is seen by some as a historical development that meshes well with the African renaissance idea. Given its recent origin, there is already a relatively vast literature that is written on the subject matter of NEPAD.3 Supporting this conclusion, in 2004, Msoti • LLB (Addis Ababa University), LLM (University of Pretoria), PG Diploma on International Protection of Human Rights (Abo Akademi University), Researcher and PhD Candidate, Community Law Centre, University of the Western Cape. E-mail: benyamdawit@yahoo.com. We acknowledge that this work is based on a report commissioned by the African Child Policy Forum (ACPF), based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We thank the ACPF for granting permission to publish the revised paper. This work is also based upon research supported by the National Research Foundation. •* BA LLB (Stel), LLM (Cape Town), LLD (Western Cape), Professor of Law, University of the Western Cape. 1 R. van der Veen, What went wrong with Africa, (2004), KIT Publishers, p. 13. 2 See, for instance, N. Udombana (a), 'A Harmony or a Cacophony? The Music of Integration in the African Union Treaty and the New Partnership for Africa's Development', 13 Indiana International and Comparative Law Review (2002): pp. 185-236 (examining the prospects of economic and political integration in Africa in the context of the African Union Treaty and NEPAD and pointing to ways towards making integration a reality in the continent); N. Udombana (b), 'How should we then live? Globalization and the New Partnership for Africa's Development' 20 Boston University International Law Journal (2002): 293. 3 See, for instance, V. Nmehielle, 'The African Union and African Renaissance: A New Era for Human Rights Protection in Africa?' 7 Singapore Journal of International and Comparative Law (2003): 412; V. Mosoti 'The New Partnership for Africa's Development: Institutional and 17 RADIC (2009) DOI: 10.3366/E0954889009000267