Reclaiming (WO)Manity: The Merits and Demerits of the African Protocol on Women's Rights

This article offers a critical analysis of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, adopted by the African Union in 2003. It begins by providing an overview of international and regional instruments that protect women's rights, including the African Charter, and provides background to the Protocol. The author scrutinizes the Protocols main features including: equality and non- discrimination, dignity and personal security, marriage and family rights, political, economic, social and cultural rights, and third generation rights. The author argues that, while the Protocol generally enhances the rights of women, it cannot be viewed as an "African instrument" because it fails to recognize fundamental family rights and the idea of individual duties, as well as group and cultural rights which are at the core of traditional conceptions of human rights in Africa.