Center for Reproductive Rights

This document examines the innovations of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, a protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights. The document addresses how the Protocol advances the rights of African women, specifically focusing on the issues of reproductive health and autonomy. The Protocol is described as a successful attempt at remedying the African Charters shortfall in addressing womens rights, by enunciating various rights already included in other international documents, while also including previously unrecognized rights.

This paper begins with a discussion of the extent to which the reproductive health of women refugees and internally displaced persons is threatened by their vulnerable situation, including the risk of sexual coercion and the lack of access to reproductive health care. The paper then moves to consider the relevant legal and policy framework for the protection of these populations. The paper explicitly identifies the relevant human rights provisions and provides the text from international and regional treaties and conventions which protect these rights.

The Center for Reproductive Rights has produced or co-produced many shadow reports for international human rights treaty monitoring bodies such as the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (which monitors the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) and the Human Rights Committee (which monitors the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights). These reports are intended to "supplement or shadow" the reports of national governments when treaty monitoring bodies review government compliance with treaty obligations.