CONSIDERATION OF THE MERITS Complainant's submissions on the Merits Alleged violations of articles 2 and 18(3) of the African Charter and Article 2 of the Maputo Protocol 104. The Complainants contend that the preclusion of first-born daughters from chieftainship succession as provided for in section 10 of the Chieftainship Act, violates article 2 of the African Charter and artic~e-18(3) of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women (the Maputo Protocol), because it discriminates based on their sex. 105. The Complainants submit that Lesotho's chieftainship succession rules and practices, as stipulated in sectionJ0 _of the Chieftainship Act, are evidently based on the idea that first-born sons are superior to firstborn daughters. According to the Complainant, there is no oth~r conceivable basis upon which such discrimination might rest. It is submitted that such extreme and unjustifiable discriminatory treatment of first-born daughters is thereby in breach of the African Charter and the Maputo Protocol. 106. Referring to decisions in Kenneth Good v Republic of Botswana, the Legal Resources Foundation v Zambia, and Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and Inter-rights v Egypt decisions by the Commission, the Complainants observe that the Commission has asserted that equality and the lack of equality affects one's capacity to enjoy various other rights. 107. The Complainants further submit that Ms. Senate Masupha and other first-born daughters of chiefs, who are precluded from succeeding their parents as chiefs are discriminated against on the basis of their sex. This highly objectionable form of discrimination negatively affects their enjoyment of their rights to dignity, access to public service, property, health, and participation cultural and political life - all rights guaranteed under the African Charter.