20th May 2025
12 min read
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Must Push for Reforms to Protect Women and Girls, urges Equality Now
The Team
Associate Director, Legal Equality
Africa
Esther Waweru is Associate Director, Legal Equality. She joined Equality Now in November 2017. With nearly two decades of experience, she has established herself as a leading advocate for human rights and social justice across international and regional platforms. A lawyer by training, she has worked with the Center for Reproductive Rights, the Kenya Human Rights Commission, and in private legal practice. Her focus has been on advancing the rights of women, girls, and marginalized communities, including ethnic minorities, sexual and gender minorities, and persons with disabilities. She is a published author on human rights, gender equality and international law. She is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya and holds a Master of Arts in International Studies from the University of Nairobi, a Bachelor of Laws from Moi University, and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law.
Esther is deeply committed to the vision of fully empowered girls and women living in a society where their rights are recognized, respected, and never relegated. One of her guiding inspirations is the wisdom of Wangari Maathai, Kenya’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate: “It’s the little things citizens do. That’s what will make the difference.”
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20th May 2025
12 min read
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Must Push for Reforms to Protect Women and Girls, urges Equality Now
3rd April 2025
10 min read
Women in Sudan: Silenced by War, Abandoned by Law
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30 July 2026
Equality Now and joint civil society organisations submitted recommendations to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) on its Draft Declaration on the Promotion of the Role of Human and Peoples’ Rights Defenders and Their Protection in Africa. The submission calls for stronger protections for human rights defenders, particularly women human rights defenders, and urges the Commission to ensure that the Declaration is grounded in binding human rights standards, refrains from the anti-rights language of vague ‘African values and traditions’, strengthens civic space, p…
11 May 2026
38 pages
A practical advocacy framework by the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa in collaboration with Equality Now and the SOAWR Coalition, raising awareness on and encouraging states to withdraw reservations to the Maputo Protocol and ensure full protection of women’s rights across Africa.
19 March 2026
3 pages
This factsheet and infographic outline Namibia’s laws, protections, implementation and legal gaps, and support systems and mechanisms on ending violence against women and girls, and provide key recommendations to strengthen prevention, accountability, and survivor-centred responses.