NEWS
November 2005
In 2003, the African Union adopted a Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa to supplement the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The Protocol, which entered into force in November 2005, provides broad protection for African women’s human rights, including sexual and reproductive rights. The Center's briefing paper explains how the Protocol can be used to protect and enforce reproductive rights in Africa.
PUBLICATIONS
Reports
Female Genital Mutilation: A Guide to Laws and Policies Worldwide
This is the most extensive report currently available on the use of law and policy to address the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM). In encouraging a pro-active governmental response to the practice, the book places it firmly in a human rights and legal framework. The result of a major research report in 41 countries, both North and South, it covers not only the prevalence of FGM but the various laws and other measures in place to prevent it.
The book describes FGM, its history, its consequences for health and the movement now working to combat it. It then reports on each country - its prevalence and governmental measures for its eradication.
Legal Grounds: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in African Commonwealth Courts
Read the report online (PDF) > >
Order from our online bookstore > >
Reproductive and sexual rights, which are guaranteed in international and regional human rights treaties, mean nothing if they are not recognized and enforced by national-level courts. Legal Grounds: Sexual and Reproductive Rights in African Commonwealth Courts is an attempt to provide much-needed information about decisions and gender-relevant jurisprudence of national courts throughout African Commonwealth countries. It offers a crucial starting point for women’s rights advocates who are seeking to further develop their litigation and grassroots strategies.
Women of the World: Anglophone Africa Progress Report 2001
- Order from the online bookstore
- Purchase of Women of the World: Laws and Polices Affecting Their Reproductive Lives, Anglophone Africa (©1997, $20) includes a free copy of the Progress Report.
- Read the South Africa chapter (PDF) from Women of the World: Anglophone Africa
- Women of the World: Anglophone Africa Progress Report 2001 is available online in PDF format.
Women of the World: Laws and Policies Affecting Their Reproductive Lives – Anglophone Africa
Read the chapter on South Africa from our report, Women of the World: Laws and Policies Affecting Their Reproductive Lives – Francophone Africa > >
Women of the World: Laws and Policies Affecting Their Reproductive Lives - Francophone Africa, is the result of an in-depth examination of laws and policies affecting women's reproductive health and rights in seven countries of Francophone Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, and Senegal.
The report makes clear that although these countries have adopted policies to address many of the reproductive health problems common to the region, including high levels of maternal and infant mortality and high prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS, these policies have not had the desired effect. Women continue to suffer in the face of discriminatory customary laws and practices that undermine their social and economic autonomy. It is recommended that governments should resolve the contradictions between customary laws and statutory laws, and between laws and policies. In the absence of a commitment on the part of national governments to resolve these contradictions or to ensure that those laws already in place are respected and applied, women will continue to face discrimination in those areas that most directly affect their public and private lives.
Briefing Papers
Reporting to Treaty Monitoring Bodies
Organizations like the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners play an essential role in providing credible and reliable independent information to international human rights treaty monitoring bodies regarding the legal status and real-life situation of women and the efforts being made by governments to comply with human rights treaties. Shadow reports work to supplement, or "shadow," governments' reports on human rights issues by calling attention to their strides, as well as their setbacks.
Regional Partner Organizations
