4th Май 2022

Statements to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights — 71st Session, May 2022

Equality Now’s statement during the 71st Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights made note of important trends and developments on women’s and girls’ rights on the continent.

Key recommendations

These include the need for proper funding and political goodwill towards efforts to domesticate and implement the Maputo Protocol; the need for adoption and enforcement of specific laws prohibiting FGM; and the growing prevalence of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse in Africa.

Additionally, Equality Now’s statement addressed Kenya’s state report, which was considered during the 71st Ordinary Session of the ACHPR, covering its implementation of the Maputo Protocol. While we commend Kenya for issuing its first report on the Protocol, we remain concerned that many of the policies, laws, and institutions in place have not been as effective in upholding women’s rights as intended.

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Equality Now joins coalition submission to the ECtHR on proposed amendments to Rules 36 and 44 of the Rules of Court

Equality Now joined partners in urging the ECtHR not to adopt draft rule changes that could weaken protection for applicants in situations of vulnerability.

Backlash on addressing inequality in Georgia: Submission to GREVIO for the first  round of thematic evaluation, 6 February 2026

Equality Now’s GREVIO submission on Georgia highlights backsliding on gender equality, shrinking space for human rights NGOs and remaining gaps in sexual violence response: non-consent-based rape laws, insufficient services for survivors and retraumatising practices.

Joint Eastern and Southern Africa Civil Society Forum Declaration Communiqué to End Child Marriage

Equality Now, together with civil society organisations from across Eastern and Southern Africa, issued a joint declaration on International Human Rights Day, reaffirming child marriage as a human rights violation and calling for coordinated, rights-based action to translate laws and commitments into protection, justice, and dignity for girls across the region.

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