Preface
The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of
Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol) is the main legal instrument for the
protection of the rights of women and girls in Africa. Article 14 of the Maputo
Protocol guarantees women’s right to health, including sexual and reproductive
health.
Women’s rights to sexual and reproductive health include: the right to control their
fertility, the right to decide the number of children and the spacing of children, the
right to choose any method of contraception, and the right to have family planning
education.
Under Article 14 (2) (c) of the Maputo Protocol, States Parties are called upon to take
all appropriate measures to “protect the reproductive rights of women by
authorizing medical abortion in cases of sexual assault, rape, incest, and where the
continued pregnancy endangers the mental and physical health of the mother or the
life of the mother or the foetus”.
It should be noted that the Maputo Protocol is the very first treaty to recognize
abortion, under certain conditions, as women’s human right which they should enjoy
without restriction or fear of being prosecuted.
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Commission)
welcomes the ratification of this important instrument by the majority of AU
Member States. However, the African Commission notes that many countries are yet
to undertake the necessary legislative reforms towards domesticating the relevant
provisions, including in the area of women’s sexual and reproductive rights. As such,
in many States Parties, there is still limited access by women and girls to family
planning, criminalization of abortion, and difficulties faced by women in accessing
safe and available abortion services, including in cases where abortion is legalized.
There are several reasons why this situation which is harmful to women’s physical
and mental health still persists, despite the very high daily rate of maternal mortality
in Africa.
It is with the objective of reversing this trend that the African Commission adopted
General Comment No. 2 on Article 14 (1) (a), (b), (c) and (f) and Article 14 (2) (a)
and (c) of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the
Rights of Women in Africa at its 55th Ordinary Session held from 28 April – 12 May
2014 in Luanda, Angola. This General Comment provides interpretive guidance on
the overall and specific obligations of States Parties towards promoting the effective
domestication and implementation of Article 14 of the Maputo Protocol.
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