In this last post as part of the ‘Maputo at 20’ series, we speak with Hon. Commissioner Ramatoulie Janet Sallah-Njie, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa, about the future of the Maputo Protocol, it’s potential for advancing women's rights in Africa, and the challenges that need to be addressed for its full realisation.

At the core of a democratic society, states are to adopt such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to ensure that citizens have an effective opportunity to enjoy the right to vote. In this post, Thuleleni engages in a brief comparative analysis of the right to vote in Africa. In addition, she gives us a 101 on electoral democracy, democracy values, and the electoral institutions that ensure these values.

In spite of the Maputo Protocol's clear prohibition of Violence Against Women (VAW), the ongoing prevalence of violence in Africa has spurred calls for a regional treaty aimed at eradicating such violence. Against this backdrop, Adetokunbo Johnson reflects on the innovation of the Maputo Protocol's explicit VAW prohibition and questions the need for an additional instrument.

Reflecting on the progress made since the inception of the Maputo Protocol, Kerigo Odada interrogates how health financing and resource allocation have affected the realisation of reproductive rights in Africa. The author calls on state parties to bridge the gap between political commitment and legal implementation by directing resources towards bolstering reproductive health initiatives as mandated by the Protocol.

In the wake of a recent military coup in Niger, both the AU and ECOWAS have strongly denounced this unconstitutional power shift. ECOWAS, taking a firmer stance, has also enforced sanctions on Niger. In this blog post, Linda Mushoriwa discusses the effectiveness of measures such as sanctions and military action in response to unconstitutional changes of governments (UCG).

La mise en œuvre du Protocole de Maputo est supervisée par deux institutions des droits de l'homme de l'Union africaine. Dans cet article de blog, Ashwanee Budoo-Scholtz nous guide à travers les étapes entreprises par la Commission africaine et la Cour africaine pour superviser la réalisation du Protocole de Maputo.

The implementation of the Maputo Protocol is overseen by two African Union human rights institutions. In this blog post, Ashwanee Budoo-Scholtz takes us through the steps that have been taken by the African Commission and the African Court as they oversee the realization of the Maputo Protocol.

Last month, the Kenyan Court of Appeal ruled that life imprisonment sentence violates fundamental constitutional rights. Joshua Nyawa explores the Court's reasoning and the decision’s far-reaching implications for Kenyan jurisprudence.

In this week’s blog post, Matilda Lasseko-Phooko explores the implementation of the Maputo Protocol and sheds light on the role played by women leaders in making this possible.

The Maputo Protocol, adopted two decades ago in Maputo, Mozambique, marked a historic moment for women's rights in Africa. In this blog post, Esther Waweru discusses the gaps in the African Charter which necessitated the Protocol’s adoption in so far as gender equality and women’s rights are concerned.

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol), ALM will be running a series reflecting on its progress and challenges. We will bring to you blog posts authored by women’s rights experts from the region providing commentary on various aspects of the Protocol.

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 1.3 billion people experience significant disability. This represents 16% of the world’s population or 1 in 6 of us. Persons with disabilities face discrimination and barriers that restrict them from participating in society on an equal basis with others every day. They are commonly denied amongst others rights, their right to be included in the workplace. In this article, Ann Haret Chepkemoi appraises laws that relate to persons with disability in Kenya.

For a number of years it has been observed that South Africa needs more people to study at vocational schools, including Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges. There has also been a steady increase in the number of learners qualifying for university admission, yet universities are unable to house them all. Thandeka Nokwanda Khoza argues that there is a need to close the gap in the market by destigmatising vocational training so that more learners apply to and attend TVET colleges.

Same-sex unions are currently not performed in Namibia. However, last month, the Namibian Supreme Court held that the Namibian government should recognize same-sex marriages conducted outside Namibian jurisdiction. In this article, Mahima critically analyzes the judgment of the court in Digashu and Others v GRN and Others; Seiler-Lilles v GRN and Others, bringing to the fore human rights issues, and comparativism in judicial reasoning.

Many constitutions in Africa contain what are known as “clawback clauses,” which exempt personal law from their guarantees of nondiscrimination. In this week’s post, the authors posit that a decolonization approach which surfaces the history of colonial involvement in constitution-making can also be helpful in legal cases involving the clawback provisions, and in broader policy advocacy and public awareness-raising about the need to reconsider and revise personal status law regimes.