African Union Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa

Introduction to the NPWJ booklet on the Protocol

No Peace Without Justice in collaboration with AIDOS (Associazione Italiana Donne per lo Sviluppo) and seven African organisations began the first phase of the international “Stop FGM!” campaign on 10 December 2002. The campaign was launched in Brussels with the public presentation of an international appeal against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) signed by over one hundred international personalities. The first phase of the campaign was designed to sensitise African and Arab public opinion in favour of the abandonment of FGM, in part through the deepening and strengthening of an ongoing collaboration between African and International organisations on the fight against FGM. the turning point of these first two years’ of work came in June 2003 at the Cairo Afro-Arab Expert Consultation on Legal Tools for the Prevention of Female Genital Mutilation. Participating government and civil society representatives from the African and Arab countries most affected by the practice, as well as representatives of the three major religions, reached strong agreement on the need to stop immediately this dangerous practice, voicing this agreement and a series of recommendations in the “Cairo Declaration”. Shortly after the Cairo Expert Consultation, on 11 July 2003, the African Union adopted a Protocol to the African Charter on People’s and Human Rights in Maputo, Mozambique.
The Maputo Protocol covers a broad range of women’s rights, including the elimination of discrimination against women, the right to dignity, the right to life, the integrity and security of the person, the protection of women in armed conflicts, the right to education and training, economic and social welfare rights and health and reproductive rights.  Article 5 of the Protocol requires that all forms of female genital mutilation be condemned and prohibited. The adoption of this important document and the positive benefits it could have for the African Continent has convinced us to work closely with our partners and friends in Africa and the Arab region to create the greatest possible consensus around the Protocol, which requires ratification by 15 countries to enter into force. Thanks to the generous financial contribution of UNICEF and the Italian Government, we have now begun the second phase of the “Stop FGM!” campaign, aimed at the creation of a political, legal and social framework for the abandonment of FGM, including the early entry into force of the Maputo Protocol.
This second phase was launched in September 2004 at the Nairobi International Conference on FGM, organised by No Peace Without Justice together with the Government of Kenya and the Kenyan NGO Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK), with the support of many international organisations and institutions. As in Cairo, several hundred participants representing regional governments and civil society issued a final declaration at the conclusion of the conference, in which they confirm their commitment to the abandonment of FGM and to promote the role and participation of awomen in all sectors of civil and political life. We are convinced that this political work, in which governments and citizens publicly engage in developing programs and strategies for the abandonment of FGM, is a valid and effective instrument. Together with the early entry into force of the Maputo Protocol, it can help create an action plan for Africa and the Middle East, where it is increasingly recognised that human rights – particularly women’s rights – and the rule of law are necessities, not luxuries. We are continuing to look for travelling companions on this journey towards a world where the human rights of all people are respected and protected equally. It is therefore with extreme pleasure that we make our contribution of this booklet on the Maputo Protocol, containing the text of the Protocol itself and a supplementary, explanatory document. We believe it will be a useful working instrument, particularly for those who are convinced, as we are, that there is no harmful tradition – no matter how old it is – that cannot be abandoned, so that a new generation of women, equal to everyone else in rights and in dignity, will be born.
January 2005 No Peace Without Justice 
 

• Text of the Protocol from Africa Union website

Check the status of ratifications of the Protocol on Africa Union website. 
 
Other documents:

• The Maputo Protocol and Commentary By Anthony Kuria Njoroge
• NPWJ's briefing on ratification of the Maputo Protocol