The Interplay Between International and Regional Human Rights Instruments on the Rights of Women: Reflections on the Maputo Protocol at 18

Abstract

This article examines the increasingly tense relationship between CEDAW and regional human rights instruments on women's rights. It argues that although CEDAW has been beset by a number of challenges, including a high number of reservations and implementation deficits, it remains a key pillar in the struggle to achieve women's equality. It contends, however, that the rise of a dense web regional human rights instruments, while offering a range of positive developments for women and girls, threaten to subvert the primacy of CEDAW, particularly in areas where these instruments conflict. It hones in on the Maputo Protocol in this context, and offers reflections on treating CEDAW and regional human rights instruments as mutually reinforcing, and not oppositional.