Rights Of Women In Africa Research Articles

Construing “Disability” into Article 14(2)(C) of the Maputo Protocol

This article analyses the possibility of an intersectional understanding of “disability” in relation to Article 14(2)(c) of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol). Adopted in July 2003 and enforced since November 2005, the Maputo Protocol is considered a ground-breaking international human rights instrument (Johnson 2023, 329). It is the first treaty to comprehensively protect the reproductive rights of African women, including the contentious issue of abortion (Maputo Protocol 2003, Article 14(2)(c); Banda 2006, 82).

Deploying the African Union’s Legal Mechanisms for the Effective Protection of Internally Displaced Women from Sexual Violence

The problem of internal displacement is a regional challenge and cannot be left in the hands of only one country. A critical question that this paper will attempt to answer is: Does the adoption of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa and the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa hold the key to the protection and assistance of conflict-induced female IDPs in Nigeria? An attempt is made to provide answers to whether human rights treaties, in fact, make any impact on the lives of people. The conclusion shall examine how African regional human rights treaties and the African Commission’s special mechanisms could be harnessed to provide the basis for systematic and coordinated action in the protection of female conflict-induced IDPs in Nigeria from sexual violence.

Decriminalising vagrancy offences in Africa beyond the African Court’s Advisory Opinion: quo vadis?

The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Court) advisory opinion in Pan African Lawyers Union on the compatibility of vagrancy laws with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other human rights instruments in Africa (PALU opinion) 1/2018 recommends that states amend or repeal vagrancy offences that criminalise the life-sustaining activities of many persons targeted by these laws. The Court’s main opinion is that states’ national laws and by-lawscontaining vagrancy offences are vague, overly broad and ambiguous, conferring broad discretion on the police for their enforcement and targets people in terms of their status, not their conduct. These laws violate articles 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 12 and 18 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights; articles 3 and 17 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of theChild; and article 24 of the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa. The main opinion insufficiently addresses the colonial root of vagrancy. A separate concurring opinion elaborates on the margin of appreciation and good faith principle that allow states to formulate contextspecific answers to amend and repeal vagrancy offences. This article identifies the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on petty offences enforcement and draws lessons from litigation such as Gwanda v The State and interventions from national human rights institutions such as the South African Human Rights Commission; as well as guidance from the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Principles on Decriminalisation of Petty Offences in Africa (2017). It is argued that specific institutional and non-material interventions are needed to bring the systemic change required, in tandem with the banning of vagrancy offences, for cities that promote inclusion and sustainable development for all.

Culture as Tool of Widow’s Plight in Africa: A Study of Bayo Adebowale’s Lonely Days

Prejudices against women in Africa are culturally deep-rooted. Cultural practices in Africa have consistently impinged on the dignity and rights of women in Africa. This paper explores some of the practices presented in Lonely Days by Bayo Adebowale that impinged on the dignity and rights of women in Africa. Some of the practices that make life worst for the widows in Africa are: false accusation, cap-picking ceremony and widows’ path. These practices worsen the condition of widows who deserve compassion not cruel treatment. The paper quotes different instances of widows’ suffering caused by cultural practices from the text where Kufi village is used to symbolize Africa. The paper recommends among other things: cultural practices should be ignored as they are contradictory and widows deserve to be taken care of cpnsidering the life they going into.

Beyond the Universalist and Cultural Relativist Debate

Abstract This article explores how the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (The Protocol or African Women’s Protocol), concerned with realising gender equality in Africa, can guarantee gender equality yet retain African women’s valued cultural identity within customary African marriages. These marriages have certain cultural practices that are fundamental to their existence. This exploration is significant, bearing in mind the tensions raised by the contentious universalist versus cultural relativist debates on how human rights are understood. These tensions are evident where on the one hand, universalists argue that certain cultural practices that usually occur within customary African marriages undermine gender equality. On the other hand, cultural relativists maintain that these customary marriage practices are culturally acceptable and integral to the cultural identity of African women. Based on these contentions, this article identifies the Protocol’s strategies employed to douse these tensions within the customary African marriage context. These strategies are determined by examining the treaty’s marriage-related obligations outlined in Article 6 (a–c).

Beyond Legal Measures: A Review of the DRC's Initial Report under the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa

AbstractThe Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) established a reporting process to monitor compliance. Despite its shortcomings, this process provides an opportunity for states to engage in a frank, constructive and open dialogue with the African Commission on the measures they have adopted to realize women's rights and the challenges they face. The DRC's initial report on implementing the Maputo Protocol provides an opportunity to assess how the country has advanced women's rights. This article notes that the DRC has adopted legislation and policies to comply with some of its obligations under the protocol. However, these have not brought about much transformation in terms of effective enjoyment of rights due to the contested nature of many women's rights and the community's patriarchal mindset. The article argues that states should focus on extra-legal measures that can counteract negative attitudes and beliefs towards women's rights.

The principle of prohibition of violence in the family: implementation of European and international standards in the conditions of martial law in Ukraine

The article carries out a systematic analysis of the principle of prohibition of family violence in terms of the implementation of European and international standards in the conditions of martial law in Ukraine. The essence of the principle of prohibition of violence in the family is analyzed, taking into account the provisions of the UN Declaration on the Eradication of Violence against Women, the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Elimination of Violence against Women, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, adopted in Maputo ( Mozambique) on July 11, 2003 and the Istanbul Convention. The provisions of the EU Strategy on gender equality for 2020-2025 have been studied. Attention was drawn to the need to implement comprehensive measures to prevent and combat gender-based violence. Particular attention is paid to the Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence, proposed for adoption in 2022.
 The consequences of last year's ratification by Ukraine of the Convention of the Council of Europe on the prevention of violence against women and domestic violence and the fight against these phenomena have been established with significant caveats.
 The practice of implementing obligations to implement the mechanism for the prevention of domestic violence has been clarified, including through the analysis of the activities of various services in Ukraine, as well as national and regional statistics on domestic violence.
 It is substantiated that Ukraine is not responsible for the perpetration of domestic violence in the occupied and non-controlled territories. At the same time, it is responsible for the effectiveness of the principle of combating domestic violence in conditions of war in controlled territories. In view of the statistical data, the deterioration of the situation, taking into account the need to implement European approaches, it is proposed to make changes to the Law "On Prevention and Combating Domestic Violence" and to provide for such a form of modern violence as cyber violence and establish responsibility for it.

The Expansion of Women’s Rights in Africa

Twenty years after the African Union adopted the Maputo Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, constitutional and legislative provisions on women’s rights have proliferated across the continent. Sub-Saharan Africa has achieved some of the world’s highest rates of improvement in women’s economic empowerment. African women have also been at the forefront of global efforts to increase female representation in political and business leadership, peacebuilding, and other areas. But progress on women’s rights has been weaker in the domain of family law on issues including inheritance rights and reproductive freedom. Africa also ranks lowest in closing the gender gap in education, despite major gains at the primary school level.

Staying with the Culture Struggle: The African Union and Eliminating Violence Against Women

AbstractAn analysis of the African Union approach to eliminating violence against women shows that while the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol) refined the culture/violence nexus, the subsequent regional frameworks reverted to culture-centered explanations. Tornius’s critical analysis reveals how the relationship between culture and gender discourses has changed over time, entangled with processes of colonialism, decolonization, emergence of African socialisms, the end of the Cold War, and the advent of African feminisms. Articulating gendered violence through undefined ahistorical and apolitical notions of “culture” has real life adverse effects for women through ineffective policy and development interventions.

THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS AND THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT UNDER THE AFRICAN REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM

The promotion and protection of human rights in Africa is underpinned by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (“the African Charter” or “Banjul Charter”) which was adopted by the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) on 27 June 1981. Other key instruments under the African human rights system are the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (which was adopted in July 2003 and addresses a variety of civil, political, economic, cultural and social rights) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (which was adopted in July 1990 and entered into force on 29 November 1999). The former has not yet entered into force (as of August 2005, 12 states had ratified the Protocol which requires 15 ratifications to enter into force) while the latter has its own monitoring body, the Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Consequently, discussion of these two instruments is outside the scope of this note. The Charter entered into force on 21 October 1986 and had been ratified by 53 member states of the African Union (AU) as of July 2004. The African Union is a regional inter-governmental organisation that replaced the OAU. The Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU adopted the Constitutive Act that established the AU in Lome, Togo, on 11 July 2000. The AU was officially launched in Durban, South Africa, on 10 July 2002. The African Charter aims to promote and protect a comprehensive list of rights which includes both individual and collective people’s rights. While its regional counterparts – the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms 1950 and the American Convention on Human Rights 1969 - guarantee only civil and political rights, the African Charter covers civil and political rights (the so-called “first generation” rights); economic, social, and cultural rights (the so-called “second generation” rights); and collective rights of peoples (the so-called “third generation” rights). The Charter also innovatively provides for duties of the individual and the state. This paper discusses the promotion and protection of economic, socialand cultural rights under the African Charter. It does this by first outlining the substantive content of the Charter. Secondly, it provides an overview of the supervisory mechanisms established in terms of the Charter. Next, the paper discusses the methods of promotion and protection of rights under the Charter and the limitations thereto. The paper then presents an overview of the jurisprudence of the African Commission on economic, social and cultural rights. The paper concludes with some comments on the effectiveness of the African human rights system.

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

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

The Right to Participate in Political and Decision-Making Process under the Maputo Protocol: Normative Masculinity and Nigerian Women

The birth of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa otherwise known as Maputo Protocol was meant to overcome the shortcomings of the African Charter on Human Rights. Despite Nigeria’s ratification of the protocol, little concrete achievements have been recorded. This study situates the right of Nigerian women to participate in political and decision-making process under the Maputo Protocol in the context of normative and hegemonic barriers in the country. Using analytical methodology, the paper argues that the underrepresentation of Nigerian women in public governance is a negation of human rights. The domestication of the Protocol is recommended.

A Comparative Juridical Analysis of the Constitutional Advancement of Women’s Matrimonial Property Rights in Swaziland and Kenya

The equalisation of women’s and men’s marital rights is still a challenge for certain countries on the African continent. Although most African countries have adopted supreme constitutions guaranteeing a host of justiciable human rights, the marginalisation and subjugation of women persists. In this article, we engage in a critical review and assessment of two divergent court decisions (one from Swaziland and the other from Kenya) which concern the matrimonial property rights of women. Those cases will be used as the foundation for investigating and evaluating the degree to which Swaziland and Kenya are either enhancing or constraining women’s matrimonial rights. In this article, we also assess the extent to which national constitutional law is being harmonised with existing and recently promulgated legislation and whether the purported synthesis of enacted marriage laws has affected constitutional equality in those specific countries. Additionally, we contend that the promulgation of new legislation and/or the amendment or repeal of unconstitutional legislation is insufficient to advance true equality. The courts or the judiciary, must also perform their remedial and pre-emptive role in the protection, enforcement and promotion of constitutional rights and the facilitation of equality reform. In our opinion, the matrimonial property rights of women in Africa can be equalised and enhanced even in systems of law that remain rooted in traditionalism and which habitually treat women as inferior to men. Such a mammoth undertaking requires a dual commitment and concerted action from both the legislature and the judiciary.

The African Regional Human and Peoples’ Rights System: 40 years of progress and challenges

The purpose of this paper is to provide a global and detailed analysis of the African regional human rights system; although this system did not start functioning until the decade of the eighties of the 20th century, it has evolved considerably once the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights was adopted. Thus, several other treaties followed it, of which the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa can be pointed out, and all of them with their own specificities and weaknesses, which will also be pointed out. And even though initially only the creation of protection and control mechanisms was foreseen – the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child – after 1998, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights was added, which has progressively adopted a protectionist and growing jurisprudence; but also that, as its predecessors, will face different challenges, among which the reform process of the judicial bodies of the African Union themselves.

The responsivity of the mechanism of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa in combating violence against women

By using the mechanism of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa (SRRWA) as a matrix, this article assesses the responsivity of the mechanism of the SRRWA in combating violence against women (“VAW”). The article argues that the mechanism of the SRRWA has taken up the challenge of contributing, in a substantive manner, to norms development relating to VAW. It finds that although VAW is not an explicit thematic area in the mandate of the SRRWA, compared to the United Nations Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, in practice it features quite distinctly in the work of the mechanism. This is indicative of the modest focus, response and contribution of the mechanism to this intractable human rights issue.

An analysis of the contribution of the African human rights system to the understanding of the right to health

The right to health is one of the important rights guaranteed in international and regional human rights instruments. Over the years the content and nature of this right have evolved through the works of scholars and clarifications provided by human rights treaty bodies. Focusing on the work of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, this article assesses the contributions of the African human rights system towards the advancement of the right to health. It outlines some of the major achievements in terms of normative framework as exemplified by the provisions of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, the African Youth Charter and the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Older Persons. In addition, it highlights the clarifications provided by the African Commission charged with interpreting the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and the African Women's Protocol. These include the adoption of resolutions, General Comments, guidelines and important decisions which provide a nuanced understanding of the right to health in the African context. The article identifies challenges militating against the full enjoyment of the right to health, including sexual and reproductive health in the region, such as the slow ratification of important human rights instruments, the lack of political will for law reforms, the failure to timeously submit state reports and interference with the work of the African Commission. The article concludes by calling on African governments to exhibit political will in ensuring the effective implementation of the right to health at the national level.

Advisory Opinion on the Request by the Pan African Lawyers Union Regarding the Compatibility of Vagrancy Laws with the African Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights and other Human Rights Instruments Applicable in Africa (Afr. Ct. H.P.R.)

On December 4, 2020, the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Court) issued an advisory opinion on the compatibility of vagrancy laws with the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (African Charter), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (Children's Rights Charter), and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Protocol on Women's Rights). In this landmark advisory opinion, the Court considered an important social issue on the African continent.

The Human Rights Impact of COVID-19 on African Women: Focus on Nigeria and South Africa

The impact of the coronavirus epidemic will inevitably remain with people and societies, particularly vulnerable sectors, like women and children who have always been worst hit by negative occurrences like global health crises. Government response to salvage such situations is usually expressed through regulations. Most times, the response has a reverberating effect that would reflect on the rights of citizens. In the case of the Covid-19 pandemic, the regulation put in place was the lockdown which affected some human rights. Apart from the direct impact of the lockdown on the rights of citizens, one major effect of the lockdown was the forced use of technology by everybody, including the government. This too was not without its impact on the human rights of citizens. This paper seeks to analyse the impact of Covid-19 on some specific rights of women in Africa and the intersection with technology. It discusses the challenges of the state of technology in Africa and the gender divide as a development problem that needs to be prioritised through gender mainstreaming. With a focus on South Africa and Nigeria, it compares with government attempts in developed countries to mitigate the impact of the covid on its women. The paper presents from a desktop methodology of literature review of papers, analysis of reports, laws, and policies. It contributes to the increasing existing literature on the topic of Covid-19. The paper will be useful for policymaking and public enlightenment.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE FOR PERSONS WITH ALBINISM IN AFRICA

Discrimination and stigma relating to persons with albinism remain the norm in many African countries. There are documented reports of how persons with albinism have been subjected to gross human-rights violations owing to their colour. While attention has been given to the killings of persons with albinism worldwide, little attention has been given to other human-rights violations they encounter while seeking social services, particularly healthcare services. Discrimination against persons with albinism can lead to deleterious health consequences and at the same time hinder access to care for them. Women are generally historically disadvantaged and continue to encounter challenges with regard to their sexual and reproductive health. Being a woman with albinism can aggravate the situation as these women may encounter multiple forms of discrimination in healthcare settings. Thus, this paper examines the human-rights challenges relating to the health of persons with albinism with a focus on women with albinism in Africa. It draws on the intersectionality approach to argue that women with albinism suffer from multiple forms of discrimination, which further compound access to healthcare services for them. It discusses the relevance of regional human-rights instruments in addressing the right to healthcare of women with albinism. In particular, the paper discusses the potential of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa and the norms developed by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights as well as its counterparts at the international level in advancing the right to health of women with albinism in the region. Furthermore, the paper recommends to the African Commission and African governments measures and steps to adopt in order to safeguard the right to health of women with albinism in the region.

The 'Africa we want' in the African Union's Agenda 2063 on the realisation of women's human rights to access justice

SUMMARY This article examines the envisioned design of the 'Africa we want' through the lens and intersection of the principles of the rule of law and access to justice in the elimination of the barriers that compromise the promotion of the rights of women in contemporary Africa as envisaged in Agenda 2063. The objective is to affirm the language of rights as an enabling environment that will advance the promotion of the rights of women in the regulation of state authority. The purpose of the article is grounded by many of the challenges faced by women of Africa in the enjoyment and fulfilment of their rights. The article raises questions on the improvement of access to justice by women, capacitation of the enforcement agencies and their contribution to socio-legal change. These questions are limited to the rights of women within the interrelationship that exists between the rule of law and access to justice. The article starts by setting the tone on the intersection of the two principles and their potential to advance the rights of women in Africa. It then focuses on the significance of the people-centred approach within the framework of the two principles in the advancement of the rights of women of Africa as envisaged in Agenda 2063. Key words: rule of law; justice; women; contemporary Africa; human rights; Agenda 2063; social change