Celebrating 20 Years of the Maputo Protocol and Women’s Rights

18-07-2023

Jessica Schwarz

Women’s Rights Researcher, 

Global Human Rights Defence.

On July 11 2003, numerous African heads of state and government representatives gathered in Maputo, Mozambique, to adopt the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, better known as the Maputo Protocol. It has been hailed as a ground breaking women’s rights treaty and one of the most important, comprehensive and progressive legal frameworks for women’s rights. 2023 marks twenty years of the protocol’s adoption and the significant gains made in its name since. A total of 44 African countries have signed and ratified the protocol which encompasses the right to health and reproduction, inheritance, economic and social welfare, education and training, access to justice and equal protection before the law and the elimination of harmful practices. Unlike any other women’s rights instrument, it details wide-ranging and substantive human rights for women covering the entire spectrum of civil and political, economic, social and cultural as well as environmental rights.

Since its adoption, the protocol has helped advocacy efforts to end child marriage and female genital cutting, resulting in 43 African countries now having laws that have a minimum age of marriage at 18 and 22 of 29 African countries previously practicing female genital cutting now having national laws banning the practice (Equality Now, 2023, p.13). Many African countries have also been able to reduce maternal deaths by removing user fees for maternal health services in government-owned health facilities. In addition, more countries have broadened their laws around safe abortion access, especially in cases of sexual assault, dangerous pregnancies and life-threatening foetal anomalies. Economic and social welfare rights have improved considerably in African Union Member States, with more than 50% of African countries enacting laws mandating equal pay for work of equal value and providing paid maternity leave of 98 days or longer (Equality Now, 2023, p.12). Many African Union Member States have established special national bodies to promote and protect the rights of women. These are all remarkable gains in women’s rights, not only for girls and women in Africa, but for the women’s rights movement globally.

Certainly, there remain areas for improvement, especially as some African countries have not ratified the protocol and others have not fulfilled their reporting obligations. Sexual and gender-based violence, child marriage and female genital mutilation remain high across the African continent. Despite maternal deaths and new HIV transmissions declining, incidences remain relatively high in several countries. However, this should not take away from the success of the Maputo Protocol in protecting and guaranteeing the rights of women and eliminating gender-based discriminations.

Sources and further readings:

Equality Now (2023, 15 July) Twenty Years of the Maputo Protocol: Where Are We Now?. reliefweb. Retrieved on 18 July 2023 from https://reliefweb.int/report/world/twenty-years-maputo-protocol-where-are-we-now