Equality Now Africa

Uganda’s approach to addressing violence against women and girls is reflected across several areas of law, from constitutional protections and labour rights to legislation on domestic violence, trafficking, and harmful practices. The Constitution of Uganda (1995) guarantees equality before the law and sets 18 as the minimum age of marriage. The Domestic Violence Act (2010) recognises different forms of abuse, including emotional, economic, and psychological violence, while the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act (2009) outlines protections and support measures for survivors of trafficking. Other laws focus on specific forms of violence and exploitation. The Employment Act (2006) prohibits workplace sexual harassment and sex-based discrimination. The Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act (2010) criminalises all forms of FGM, and the Penal Code Act, as amended in 2024, addresses offences including rape, defilement, and indecent assault. At the same time, national data continues to show the scale of the issue. The 2022 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey found that 44% of women have experienced physical violence since the age of 15, while police reports recorded an average of 40 GBV cases each day in 2023. Some legal and practical gaps remain. Marital rape is not criminalised, enforcement of laws on child marriage remains inconsistent, and resource limitations across healthcare, policing, and legal aid systems continue to affect access to services and justice. Examining both legal protections and implementation challenges is important for strengthening prevention efforts, survivor support, and accountability mechanisms. Learn more through our factsheet and infographics on Uganda: https://lnkd.in/dx2ysBaS The country factsheets and infographics are developed with support from UN Women East and Southern Africa and European Commission. Solidarity for African Women's Rights (SOAWR) Coalition #ActToEndViolence #MaputoProtocol

This #AfricaDay2026, we celebrated the progress Africa has made, but we must also address what still needs to change. In her latest op-ed for IPS Inter Press Service, Deborah Nyokabi writes that the theme for Africa Day 2026, “63 years of unity, integration and development,” highlights the gap between rhetoric and reality. While regional legal frameworks have strengthened protections for millions of women and girls, discriminatory family laws in many African countries continue to entrench inequality in the home. Discriminatory family laws remain one of the biggest barriers to gender equality across the continent. A global anti-rights movement is derailing progress by taking away key legislative and policy protections through the weaponisation of family values. We call on: ➡️ The African Union to strengthen the implementation of the Maputo Protocol. ➡️ Governments to reform discriminatory laws and invest in legal protection. ➡️ Parliamentarians to stop blocking equality reforms. ➡️ Civil society and journalists to continue exposing anti-rights agendas. Equality begins at home, and that includes the law. Read the full article #MaputoProtocol #WomensRights #AfricaRising #WomenRightsAreHumanRights Africa Family Law Network Musawah FEMNET - African Women's Development and Communication Network Solidarity for African Women's Rights (SOAWR) Coalition https://lnkd.in/exTrj-tk

On #AfricaDay, we celebrate a vision of a continent where every woman and girl lives free from violence and discrimination. At the heart of this vision is the Maputo Protocol. Adopted 23 years ago, it remains one of the world’s most progressive legal frameworks for gender equality. Currently, 46 out of 55 AU Member States have ratified the Protocol. But implementation gaps and state reservations continue to stall progress on issues like GBV, child marriage, and reproductive rights. For the Maputo Protocol to be truly transformative, governments must move beyond signatures. We need: - Full Ratification: For the remaining states to join the movement. - Removal of Reservations: To ensure no woman is left behind by legal loopholes. - Accountability: Translating commitments into budgets, policies, and justice. This #AfricaDay, we’ve curated a selection of Equality Now’s expert reports and publications to help advocates, policymakers, and partners leverage the Protocol for real-world change. Join the movement for legal equality. #AfricaDay2026 #MaputoProtocol #GenderEquality #HumanRights #EqualityNow #AfricaRising #WomenRightsAreHumanRights Explore the reports: Advocacy framework for withdrawing reservations to some provisions of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa: https://bit.ly/4wLFW89 Laws and protections on ending violence against women and girls in Eastern & Southern Africa: https://bit.ly/4dY3SxF Enhancing gender justice through jurisprudence: Tools for judicial application of the Maputo Protocol: https://bit.ly/4uyynQU Barriers to justice: Rape in Africa, law, practice and access to justice: https://bit.ly/4dY3W0n Breathing life into the Maputo Protocol: Jurisprudence on the rights of women and girls in Africa - 2nd edition: https://bit.ly/4dWcGUK Gender inequality in family laws in Africa: An overview of key trends in select countries: https://bit.ly/49J7VLO

This decision reinforces the importance of survivor-centred justice and stronger protections for children vulnerable to trafficking and sexual exploitation.👏

Somaliland’s legal framework includes constitutional protections on equality and personal security, alongside criminal provisions addressing sexual violence and harmful practices. National policies such as the National Child Protection Policy (2015) and the National Anti-FGM Policy (2024) also outline commitments to addressing gender-based violence, child marriage, and female genital mutilation. The Penal Code criminalises rape, acts of sexual violence, and abduction linked to rape or forced marriage. Yet, important legal and implementation gaps remain: ❗Reported rape cases rose by 22.8% in 2023, with 752 cases reported, but only 271 cases reached the prosecution office. Many cases were also resolved outside the judicial system.  ❗ The Penal Code does not recognise marital rape or provide a modern definition of consent. ❗ Customary systems continue to influence the handling of rape cases, limiting access to formal justice mechanisms. ❗ Survivor support services and specialised protections remain limited, particularly in rural areas. Understanding how these laws and policies operate in practice is essential for policymakers, legal practitioners, and civil society organisations working to strengthen prevention, survivor protection, and accountability. Learn more through our factsheet and infographics on Somaliland: https://lnkd.in/e697raVc The country factsheets and infographics are developed with support from UN Women East and Southern Africa and European Commission. #ActToEndViolence

Centering survivors is essential to achieving justice. Across the African continent, restrictions on sexual and reproductive health and rights are not abstract legal debates. They are lived realities that shape whether women and girls can access care, exercise autonomy, and seek justice. Each year, millions of women face unsafe abortion, preventable complications, and violations such as obstetric violence. Too often, their voices are missing from the very spaces where decisions are made. At the Centering Survivors side event convened at the 87th Ordinary Session of the African Commission in Banjul, Gambia by Equality Now and Ipas, some truths rang clear: Systems should protect women and girls by enabling access to sexual health and reproductive services, eliminating loss of lives in avoidable circumstances. Survivors must be at the centre of policy and decision-making processes, as their lived experiences provide critical evidence on the barriers, gaps, and harms, and governments must invest in healthcare systems that ensure accessible, quality, and rights-based care for all women and girls. Speaking at the event, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of Women in Africa (SRRWA) highlighted that advocacy cannot be detached from lived realities: “We do not believe in advocacy from a distance alone. Sometimes, we must sit, listen, hear, and witness. Survivor testimonies are not simply personal narratives, but powerful acts of resistance that expose the gap between legal protections and the daily realities faced by women and girls across Africa.” By elevating lived experiences, we strengthen accountability and ensure that laws and policies respond to reality. Legal frameworks must work for those most affected. Survivor voices are not optional. They are essential to meaningful change. Read our statement to learn more about our focus:https://lnkd.in/ewDDbaKR #SRHR #LegalEquality #MaputoProtocol #WomensRights #Africa

Watch our statement at #ACHPR87OS The SOAWR Coalition makes key demands regarding: 1. A Call for the Universal Ratification of the Maputo Protocol 2. Strengthening Implementation of the Maputo Protocol through the Withdrawal of Reservations on Some Provisions of the Maputo Protocol 3. Persistent Non-Compliance with the Two-Thirds Gender Principle in Kenya 4. Nigeria’s Compliance with the Maputo Protocol on Women’s and Girls’ Rights 5. Concerns Over Senegal’s Amended Article 319 and Human Rights Compliance 6. Ending Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls in Africa Thanks to Esther Waweru from Equality Now Africa for representing the Coalition in Banjul. https://lnkd.in/eFF4uT98 You can also read the full statement here: https://lnkd.in/eZzuTRB3 #MaputoProtocol #Kenya #Nigeria #Senegal #ACHPR #AfricanUnion

Did you know? May 15 is International Day of Families. 1️⃣ This is to recognise the central role families play in our societies and to reflect on whether laws, policies, and practices protect the rights of everyone within them. The 2026 theme, "Families, Inequalities and Child Wellbeing," reminds us that widening inequalities are not only shaping family life, they are determining children's futures. 2️⃣Family law governs some of the most personal and pivotal aspects of life including marriage, divorce, child custody, and inheritance rights. 3️⃣ For many women and girls, discriminatory family laws mean the home is where inequality is first experienced and most deeply enforced. Across Africa, the coexistence of statutory, customary, and religious laws creates contradictions that entrench discrimination in the family. 4️⃣ When women can work, own property, inherit, move freely, access education, and make decisions on an equal basis, families, communities, and economies benefit. 5️⃣ Equality Now is working to end sex discrimination in family law, because there can be no equality in the society, without equality in the family. Our 2024 Report on gender inequality in family laws in Africa demonstrates a mix of progress, stagnation, and regress. Explore the findings https://lnkd.in/d2paxAip We reviewed 20 countries across all regions of the African continent. 📄 Open the PDF map attached to this post to interact with and click on the country summaries. ⤵️ #IDoF26 #InternationalDayOfFamilies #FreeOurFamilyLaws

👏🏽We’ve launched! We are excited to announce the milestone launch of the Advocacy Framework for the Withdrawal of Reservations to some Provisions of the Maputo Protocol. Download the Framework in English, French and Portuguese:  https://lnkd.in/eBAh4QPK A beacon of hope, the Maputo Protocol remains one of the most progressive women’s rights instruments. However, we must confront the reality that reservations to provisions on marriage, reproductive health, inheritance, and equality continue to weaken protections guaranteed under the Maputo Protocol and limit access to justice for women and girls. Reservations are not mere technical footnotes and are not abstract. They shape whether women and girls can fully access their rights to health, equality, dignity, and protection under the law. This Framework offers practical pathways for States, parliaments, national human rights institutions, civil society, and regional bodies to advance accountability and move towards full implementation of the Maputo Protocol. The experiences of countries such as The Gambia, Rwanda, and Mauritius demonstrate that withdrawal is possible and that national laws can align with regional commitments to strengthen protections for women and girls across Africa. After 23 years of the Maputo Protocol, African women and girls deserve full rights, not partial protections. Access the Framework in English, French and Portuguese: https://lnkd.in/eBAh4QPK We wish to congratulate the AU Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa for the development of the Framework and thank African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), African Union and Solidarity for African Women's Rights (SOAWR) Coalition for the collaboration. #legalequality #withdrawreservations #MaputoProtocol