United Nations health experts, legal practitioners and gender rights advocates have called on African governments to reject a proposed Draft African Charter on Family Sovereignty and Values, warning that it could reverse decades of progress on gender equality, reproductive health rights and broader human rights protections across the continent.
The warning came during the June session of SHE & Rights, hosted by the Global Centre for Health Diplomacy and Inclusion (CeHDI), International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), ARROW, APCAT Media and CNS.
Speaking at the event, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, described the proposed charter as a direct threat to established rights frameworks, particularly the Maputo Protocol, a legally binding African Union treaty adopted in 2003 to protect the rights of women and girls.
“The regressive draft African Charter on Family Sovereignty and Values is yet another assault on sexual and reproductive health rights and justice, as well as bodily autonomy and human rights in general,” Mofokeng said.
She argued that the draft charter seeks to persuade African governments to withdraw from progressive agreements, including the Maputo Protocol, which has been ratified by 46 of the African Union’s 55 member states.
“This draft Charter is the first African continent-wide patriarchal push to dislodge human rights and replace rights with so-called moralistic viewpoints,” she said.
“Governments need to disengage with this draft Charter and instead honour and deliver on the promises they have made on gender equality and human rights to health.”
Mofokeng stressed that gender justice and the right to health remain essential foundations for sustainable development, peace and security.
Legal experts also raised concerns about the draft charter’s potential impact on existing human rights protections.
Sibongile Ndashe, Executive Director of the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA), said an analysis by her organization found that the document preserves the language of rights while weakening their practical protections.
“The rights language is retained in form, but the rights protection is weakened in substance,” Ndashe said.
According to her, the proposed charter invokes sovereignty to resist accountability, family protection to justify exclusion and culture to limit equality protections.
She warned that prioritizing family cohesion over individual rights could undermine safeguards for women, children and survivors of abuse.
South African legal practitioner Letlhogonolo Mokgoroane said the charter excludes protections related to gender identity and sexual orientation, recognizing only male and female genders and limiting family recognition to heterosexual marriage and biological parenthood.
“What it does to gender-diverse persons is erasure — legal, political and physical,” Mokgoroane said.
He also criticized the draft’s rejection of comprehensive sexuality education, arguing that evidence links such education to improved health outcomes, reduced HIV transmission, fewer unintended pregnancies and lower levels of gender-based violence.
Concerns were also raised over the charter’s emphasis on state sovereignty.
Famia Nkansa, Communications Lead at the feminist organization Purposeful, said the proposal shifts the focus of rights from individual autonomy and dignity to state authority, parental control and cultural preservation.
“When they portray gender equality as a threat to social stability and sexual and reproductive rights as foreign agendas, it is not accidental,” Nkansa said.
“The draft Charter wants to reframe human rights protections as foreign impositions rather than African aspirations.”
Speakers repeatedly emphasized the importance of preserving the Maputo Protocol, which guarantees protections against discrimination and violence, promotes reproductive health rights and calls for the elimination of harmful practices such as female genital mutilation and forced marriage.
Mokgoroane described the protocol as “one of the most widely accepted and most progressive human rights instruments on the African continent,” while Nkansa said it demonstrates that women’s rights and gender equality are values developed and embraced by Africans themselves.
Participants also warned that the challenge extends beyond Africa.
Dr. Pam Rajput, Professor Emeritus at Panjab University and former chairperson of India’s High-Level Committee on the Status of Women, said anti-rights movements are increasingly coordinated across borders.
“Patriarchy is transnational and so are all anti-rights movements,” Rajput said. “Rollback of rights in one region can become a precedent elsewhere.”
The discussion concluded with calls for African governments to reject the proposed charter, defend the Maputo Protocol and strengthen commitments to gender equality, sexual and reproductive health rights and the broader right to health.
SHE & Rights Coordinator Shobha Shukla warned that only 54 months remain to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on gender equality and health by 2030.
“The world is not on track to deliver on either of these goals,” Shukla said. “Instead of moving forward, in many instances we are slipping backwards.”
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