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MINPROFF'S PRATICAL LIVE:THE MAPUTO PROTOCOL
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PROTOCOL TO THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND
PEOPLES' RIGHTS ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA
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PROTOCOL TO THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND
PEOPLES' RIGHTS ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA
The States Parties to this Protocol,
CONSIDERING that Article 66 of the African Charter on Human and
Peoples' Rights provides for special protocols or agreements, if
necessary, to supplement the provisions of the African Charter, and
that the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the
Organization of African Unity meeting in its Thirty-first Ordinary
Session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in June 1995, endorsed by
resolution AHG/Res.240 (XXXI) the recommendation of the African
Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights to elaborate a Protocol on
the Rights of Women in Africa;
CONSIDERING that Article 2 of the African Charter on Human and
Peoples' Rights enshrines the principle of non-discrimination on the
grounds of race, ethnic group, colour, sex, language, religion, political
or any other opinion, national and social origin, fortune, birth or other
status;
FURTHER CONSIDERING that Article 18 of the African Charter on
Human and Peoples' Rights calls on all States Parties to eliminate
every discrimination against women and to ensure the protection of
the rights of women as stipulated in international declarations and
conventions;
NOTING that Articles 60 and 61 of the African Charter on Human and
Peoples' Rights recognise regional and international human rights
instruments and African practices consistent with international norms
on human and peoples' rights as being important reference points for
the application and interpretation of the African Charter;
RECALLING that women's rights have been recognised and
guaranteed in all international human rights instruments, notably the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women and its Optional Protocol, the
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African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, and all other
international and regional conventions and covenants relating to the
rights of women as being inalienable, interdependent and indivisible
human rights;
NOTING that women's rights and women's essential role in
development, have been reaffirmed in the United Nations Plans of
Action on the Environment and Development in 1992, on Human
Rights in 1993, on Population and Development in 1994 and on Social
Development in 1995;
RECALLING ALSO United Nations Security Council’s Resolution 1325
(2000) on the role of Women in promoting peace and security;
REAFFIRMING the principle of promoting gender equality as
enshrined in the Constitutive Act of the African Union as well as the
New Partnership for Africa’s Development, relevant Declarations,
Resolutions and Decisions, which underline the commitment of the
African States to ensure the full participation of African women as
equal partners in Africa’s development;
FURTHER NOTING that the African Platform for Action and the Dakar
Declaration of 1994 and the Beijing Platform for Action of 1995 call on
all Member States of the United Nations, which have made a solemn
commitment to implement them, to take concrete steps to give greater
attention to the human rights of women in order to eliminate all forms
of discrimination and of gender-based violence against women;
RECOGNISING the crucial role of women in the preservation of African
values based on the principles of equality, peace, freedom, dignity,
justice, solidarity and democracy;
BEARING IN MIND related Resolutions, Declarations,
Recommendations, Decisions, Conventions and other Regional and
Sub-Regional Instruments aimed at eliminating all forms of
discrimination and at promoting equality between women and men;
CONCERNED that despite the ratification of the African Charter on
Human and Peoples' Rights and other international human rights
instruments by the majority of States Parties, and their solemnRead more
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