TRANSNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS REVIEW

The Maputo Protocol represents an Africa-focused and -driven framework for comprehensive human rights and is widely celebrated as the most progressive international treaty on women's rights. A comparison between Africa's ratification history with those of so-called advanced economies and mature democracies illustrates the value placed on human rights in Africa. Reflecting on the genesis, opportunities, and challenges of the Protocol, the authors analyze the generative gains of demonstrating "what is right with Africa" in the pursuit of gender justice.

After fifty years of independence from British colonial rule, Ghana made history by passing into law a bill aimed at combating domestic violence. This bill was met with vehement opposition by those who claimed that the women's movement it embodied was not in line with Ghanaian culture and that it borrowed uncritically from Western feminism. Using the rights concerns of women and minorities in Ghana as an entry point, the author discusses the interconnected nature of first and second generation rights and cultural relativism in universal rights discourses.