Women’s Rights Under Threat as ‘Family Values’ Campaigns Gain Ground Across Africa

Women’s rights advocates and human rights experts have raised the alarm over growing efforts to use “family values”, religion, culture, sovereignty and national cohesion to weaken protections for women and girls across Africa.

The warning came during a SHE & Rights session convened ahead of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA81), where experts examined the rising influence of anti-rights movements and the need to protect existing gains on gender equality, health rights and human rights.

The session was jointly hosted by the Global Center for Health Diplomacy and Inclusion (CeHDI) and CNS, in partnership with the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW), and Asia Pacific Media Alliance for Health, Gender and Development Justice (APCAT Media).

Speakers said Africa already has a strong regional human rights framework, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the legally binding Maputo Protocol.

However, they warned that laws and treaties alone would not be sufficient unless governments implemented them and communities became actively involved in defending rights.

African Court Registrar Dismisses Immediate AU Consideration of ‘Family Sovereignty’ Charter

Dr Robert Eno, Registrar of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, said there was currently no indication that the proposed African Charter on “family sovereignty and values” would be presented to the African Union Assembly soon.

Eno stressed that the proposed charter was not an African Union initiative, adding that any eventual submission would have to pass through a lengthy institutional process before reaching the AU Assembly.

He consequently expressed doubt that the document would be considered by the Assembly by February 2027.

But Eno warned that the absence of an immediate threat should not lead to complacency.

He said the controversy surrounding the proposed charter reflected a much wider struggle over the meaning of family, culture, religion, equality and human dignity.

According to him, discriminatory laws and practices continue to affect millions of women and girls, including unequal inheritance rights, restrictions on divorce and failure to recognise marital rape.

He urged human rights advocates to move beyond legal arguments and engage communities through dialogue, persuasion and human stories.

“Gender equality,” he argued, should not be portrayed as an attack on family, culture or religion, but as a principle that can strengthen families and communities.

Eno also warned human rights organisations against limiting their engagement to audiences that already support their position.

He called for conversations in homes, schools, places of worship, traditional institutions, communities and on social media.

While acknowledging the growing anti-rights mobilisation, he said Africa had developed important legal and institutional safeguards through the African Charter, Maputo Protocol, African Children’s Charter, AU gender-parity commitments and regional human rights jurisprudence.

The challenge now, he said, was implementation and accountability.

Activist: ‘Family Values’ Being Weaponised Against Gender Equality

Rehema Namukose, Senior Regional Programme Officer for sub-Saharan Africa at Musawah, said the concept of family was increasingly being used to obstruct reforms aimed at advancing women’s rights.

She said legislation concerning marriage, divorce and child custody can face delays while restrictive laws promoted under the banner of “family protection” gain momentum.

Namukose pointed to developments in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda as examples of legislative and political trends that could affect bodily autonomy and sexual and reproductive rights.

She also said the same arguments can be used to defend harmful practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation.

Women’s economic inequality, she added, is also reinforced through unpaid care work and denial of equal property and inheritance rights.

She noted that in some Muslim family-law systems, concepts such as male guardianship and male authority can be codified in ways that position men as household heads and make women’s rights conditional on obedience.

Namukose said terms such as “family values”, “cultural integrity”, “sovereignty” and “national cohesion” can be deployed to preserve patriarchal power rather than protect families.

She called for stronger cooperation among lawyers, faith leaders, survivors, policymakers and civil society groups.

Musawah Urges Reform From Within Religious Traditions

Samah Hadid, Global Executive Director of Musawah, said anti-rights groups were becoming increasingly organised, better funded and more successful in using religion, culture and tradition to justify discrimination.

She said religious arguments were frequently used to control women’s choices and reinforce patriarchal structures both within families and in public life.

Hadid said Musawah seeks to challenge such narratives by developing egalitarian interpretations of Islamic law that support women’s rights.

The organisation also trains activists, lawyers and judges to use those arguments in advocacy and legal reform.

Hadid urged secular, religious, cultural and human rights organisations to form broader alliances.

She maintained that family, religion and tradition do not have to conflict with gender equality and justice.

African Governments Urged to ‘Pause’ Before Ratifying Violence-Against-Women Treaty

Fatou Bantou Salah of the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA) called for a thorough legal review of the African Union Convention on Eliminating Violence Against Women and Girls (AU CEVAWG) before additional countries ratify the treaty.

The convention was adopted in February 2025.

Salah said nine AU member states had signed the convention, while The Gambia and Ghana had ratified it.

She said 15 ratifications are required before the convention can enter into force, meaning 13 additional ratifications are still needed.

According to Salah, the period before the treaty becomes binding provides an opportunity for governments and civil society to examine its provisions in detail.

She cited concerns over limited civil society consultation during drafting, the absence of published preparatory documents, conceptual and substantive gaps and weaknesses concerning states’ due-diligence obligations.

She also raised concerns about the lack of explicit references to female genital mutilation, child marriage and conflict-related sexual violence.

ISLA’s “Pause for Purpose” campaign, she explained, is not calling for the convention to be abandoned.

Instead, it is demanding a temporary pause in ratification to allow for an independent article-by-article legal review.

The campaign also calls for comparison of the convention with existing African human rights instruments, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Maputo Protocol and African Children’s Charter.

Salah urged governments to consult survivors, women’s rights organisations, lawyers, service providers and affected communities.

She also warned that the proposed African Charter on family sovereignty and values could weaken existing protections through its definitions of family and emphasis on sovereignty and cultural values.

Her position was summed up in four words: “Pause, listen, review, strengthen, then ratify.”

Eswatini Shows Progress, but Rural Girls Still Face Barriers

Vimbai Kapurura, Executive Director of Girls Not Brides and Founder Executive Director of Women Unlimited Eswatini, highlighted progress in adolescent health and education while pointing to persistent gaps.

She said Eswatini’s adolescent birth rate had dropped from 87 births per 1,000 girls aged 15–19 to 78.

Early childbearing before age 18 also declined from 17 per cent to 12 per cent between 2022 and 2025.

Despite expanded health infrastructure and sexual and reproductive health services, Kapurura said significant challenges remain.

Among sexually active unmarried girls aged 15–19, modern contraceptive use is about 51 per cent, while unmet need for family planning stands at 46 per cent.

She questioned whether services were actually reaching girls in rural and poor communities.

“Access to health infrastructure does not automatically guarantee quality, dignity and stigma-free care,” she said.

Kapurura urged policymakers to address the wider factors contributing to adolescent pregnancy, including poverty, lack of information, education, family circumstances and social expectations.

“We also have to look at the family, the school, and the community and the systems around her, and ask whether they are creating opportunities or creating barriers for her,” she said.

She added that adolescent girls and young women remain particularly vulnerable to HIV because of factors including poverty, adolescent pregnancy, gender-based violence, early sexual debut and intergenerational relationships.

Kapurura said Eswatini’s Universal Periodic Review in November 2026 should assess whether government commitments are translating into services and improvements for rural and underserved communities.

Older Women’s Rights Must Be Reflected in UN Treaty, Experts Say

The SHE & Rights session also turned attention to the rights of older persons and the ongoing UN process to develop a legally binding international treaty on their rights.

Khalid Hassine, Secretary of the UN Inter-Governmental Working Group on the Human Rights of Older Persons, said civil society participation would be critical to the treaty process.

He highlighted written submissions, research, evidence, litigation, treaty engagement and coalition-building as important avenues through which civil society can influence negotiations.

Hassine said more than 200 stakeholder submissions were received during the July session.

Shobha Shukla, Chairperson of Development Justice for Older Persons (DJ4OP) and a participant in previous meetings of the UN working group, called for the lived experiences of older people to be placed at the centre of the proposed treaty.

“We, the older people, have to make sure that the lived realities of old age are adequately reflected in the proposed human rights framework,” Shukla said.

She specifically called for attention to older women, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and other marginalised groups.

“Ageism and gender inequality must end with us,” she added.

Shukla said older people should not be treated as objects of charity but recognised as rights holders and contributors to families, communities, economies and public life.

Hassine also acknowledged the gender dimension of ageing, stressing that older women require particular attention in addressing discrimination, violence and ageism.

He urged civil society organisations to engage directly with their national governments and delegations, saying that influencing a country’s negotiating position can have greater impact than simply making statements at international meetings.

The next meeting of the UN Inter-Governmental Working Group on the proposed treaty is scheduled for October 26–30, 2026, while the International Day of Older Persons on October 1 is expected to provide another opportunity to build public awareness and political momentum.

With UNGA81 approaching, participants stressed that protecting women’s rights will require more than defending existing treaties.

They called for sustained community engagement, stronger accountability, effective implementation and broader alliances capable of challenging discriminatory narratives wherever they emerge from national parliaments to homes, schools, religious institutions and online spaces.