Super Wicked Problems and Super Wicked Failures

Abstract Owing to their innate vulnerabilities as well as their existence in countries marred by abject poverty and socio-economic instability, children in Africa carry with them a heightened risk of exposure to the very worst effects of climate change. In view of this, this paper examines whether the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (the crc Committee), as one of the bodies tasked with protecting and promoting children’s rights in Africa, is doing enough to ensure the respect, protection and fulfilment of children’s rights in Africa in the wake of the climate crisis. As Africa continues to be ravaged by the adverse effects of climate change and as African States continually fail to do more to protect children’s rights in the wake of the climate crisis, it becomes crucial critically to reflect on whether the crc Committee is sufficiently concerned with the climate change crisis and whether it is in turn doing enough to compel the respect, protection and fulfilment of the rights of children in the midst of the crisis.