COVID-19, Women’s Rights, and the Rule of Law in Africa: Muddying the Waters

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the global space. African countries and societies have been greatly impacted, economies have been brought to the brink, with already established legal mechanisms designed to ensure the functioning of societies, being tested to the limit. In response, the concepts of ‘national lockdown,’ ‘social distancing,’ ‘travel restrictions’ have become too familiar as governments move to try and protect their populations. These measures have had deleterious effects on law, the rule of law and the protection of rights guaranteed by constitutions and regional instruments. In virtually every aspect of life, human rights have suffered the direct and indirect consequences of governments’ responses to the pandemic. This is particularly more so in African states, and among the vulnerable members of the African population. It is said that women in Africa have borne the brunt of the impact of the pandemic during the measures implemented by States in attempts to curb and control the pandemic. This article examines the impact of these responses on the rights of African women by drawing examples from South Africa. Constitutionalism and the rule of law are affected as rights are limited and at times derogated in an attempt to contain and control the pandemic. These derogations have had the unintended consequence of limiting the guaranteed rights of African women under the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol) and other international, regional and national legislative provisions. The necessary factors that States need to consider before imposing pandemic curtailment measures in future, are discussed and recommended