1
PROTOCOL TO THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND
PEOPLES' RIGHTS ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA
The States Parties to this Protocol,
CONSIDERING that Article 66 of the African Charter on Human and
Peoples' Rights provides for special protocols or agreements, if
necessary, to supplement the provisions of the African Charter, and
that the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the
Organization of African Unity meeting in its Thirty-first Ordinary
Session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in June 1995, endorsed by
resolution AHG/Res.240 (XXXI) the recommendation of the African
Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights to elaborate a Protocol on
the Rights of Women in Africa;
CONSIDERING that Article 2 of the African Charter on Human and
Peoples' Rights enshrines the principle of non-discrimination on the
grounds of race, ethnic group, colour, sex, language, religion, political
or any other opinion, national and social origin, fortune, birth or other
status;
FURTHER CONSIDERING that Article 18 of the African Charter on
Human and Peoples' Rights calls on all States Parties to eliminate
every discrimination against women and to ensure the protection of
the rights of women as stipulated in international declarations and
conventions;
NOTING that Articles 60 and 61 of the African Charter on Human and
Peoples' Rights recognise regional and international human rights
instruments and African practices consiste nt with international norms
on human and peoples' rights as being important reference points for
the application and interpretation of the African Charter;
RECALLING that women's rights have been recognised and
guaranteed in all international human rights instruments, notably the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women and its Optional Protocol, the