virtue of this provision, States Parties have a fundamental duty to respect, protect and fulfil the rights set forth in the Charter, including the civil and political rights expressly recognized by the Charter, such as the right to life. The right to life constitutes one of the most fundamental provisions of the Charter and is universally acknowledged as a foundational human right. The prohibition of arbitrary deprivation of the right to life is a jus cogens norm, reflecting its imperative and non-derogable character. 33 59. Furthermore, the right to life rests upon a set of core legal principles that shape both its scope and its implementation, including the inviolability of the human person, which affirms the inviolability of every individual’s life and establishes that that no one has the right to violate or threaten the life of another. Closely linked to this is the prohibition of the use of violence which likewise affirms that any use of violence or threat thereof is deemed incompatible with the right to life and therefore constitutes a violation of the right to life. Therefore, State Parties are required to adopt legislative, administrative, judicial and other measures needed to safeguard the right to life of all children and to prevent foreseeable threats to the physical and psychological integrity of all children within their jurisdiction. 60. In the present case, the Respondent State argues that there is no evidence of children that were buried on the account of witchcraft allegations based on the findings of the Commission of Inquiry which noted that it did not find any credible evidence of ‘shallow graves’ of children killed of witchcraft accusation. However, the Committee notes that the Complainants have submitted several incidents of killings and maiming of children linked with accusations of witchcraft. Some of these cases are reported recently which fall beyond the temporal and geographical scope of the Commission’s findings. Moreover, the Committee notes that the investigation and findings of the Commission of inquiry are limited to Akwa Ibom State, and do not cover other affected states. Notably, the report of the Commission of Inquiry contains several testimonies of cases of killings of children through poison or torture. Even if there is no evidence of shallow grave to prove that children are being massively buried alive, statements given to the Committee during its fact-finding mission, cases submitted by the Complainants, and the statements found in the report of the Commission of Inquiry provide evidence that there are killings of children on accounts of witchcraft accusation. 61. In further determining the alleged violation of the right to life, the Committee notes that the right to life encompasses the right to live with dignity and imposes positive obligations on States to protect life and avert reasonably foreseeable and real risks. Such risks include the deliberate pattern of violence and harm. Where a State knew or ought to have known of these threats and failed to take appropriate measures to prevent them, it is in breach of its obligation under the right to life.34 This approach was affirmed by the Human Rights Committee (HRC) in its General Comment No. 36 in which it states that “The obligation of States parties to respect and ensure the right to life extends to reasonably foreseeable threats and life33 ACHPR, General Comment No. 3 on the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights: The Right to Life (Article 4), para 5, available at : https://achpr.au.int/en/node/851 34 As above, para 38. 18