legislative, administrative and other appropriate measures in order to bring to an end the current situation children of Nubian descent in Kenya find themselves in. 30. Furthermore, with some stretch of imagination, it could also be argued that the Complainants should have exhausted extra-judicial remedies such as administrative procedures within the relevant government offices or by lodging an official claim at the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. However, what is envisaged under the Guidelines for the Consideration of Communications, and also supported by the jurisprudence from the African Commission, is that extraordinary remedies of a non-judicial nature do not fall within the notion of “local remedies” and need not necessarily be exhausted for a communication to be declared admissible. 31. The African Committee is of the view that the Complainants can be exempted from exhausting local remedies if such an attempt would be or is unduly prolonged, which is an explicitly mentioned exception under Article 56(7) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. 32. In fact, an unduly prolonged domestic remedy cannot be considered to fall within the ambit of “available, effective, and sufficient” local remedy. Therefore, while the African Committee notes that in Civil Liberties Organization v. Nigeria,8 the African Commission declined to consider a Communication with respect to which a claim had been filed but not yet settled by the courts of the Respondent State, it is our view that the unduly prolonged court process in the present Communication is not in the best interests of the child principle (Article 4 of the Charter), and warrants an exception to the rule on exhaustion of local remedies. 33. To conclude, a year in the life of a child is almost six percent of his or her childhood. It is in the spirit and purpose of the African Children’s Charter, the Africa Call for Accelerated Action (Cairo Plus 5), the Millennium Development Goals and other similar commitments, that States need to adopt a “children first” approach with some sense of urgency. This is one of the messages that the drafters of the African Children’s Charter wanted to communicate in its Preamble when they recognized that “the child occupies a unique and privileged position in the African society”. The implementation and realization of children’s rights in Africa is not a matter to be relegated for tomorrow, but an issue that is in need of proactive immediate attention and action. 34. As a result of the above, the African Committee decides that the six years that lapsed without a consideration of the merits of the case before the High Court in Nairobi is unduly and unreasonably prolonged, and qualifies for an exception to the requirement imposed on Complainants to exhaust local remedies. In connection to this, the Committee is also of the view that this Communication is brought within a reasonable period of time, after waiting for a sufficient period of time attempting to see if local remedies would offer any prospect of success and adequate remedies. 35. In view of the preceding reasoning, the Communication is declared admissible. Consideration of the Merits 8 Communication No. 45/90. 7