After health, family life is the area of the Maputo Protocol most limited by reservations. Articles 6 and 7, on marriage and its dissolution, appear again and again in the lists of the nine States that still restrict the treaty. Inheritance under Article 21 is also affected. RFLD’s report Lifting the Reservations: nine country briefs on the Maputo Protocol allows a comparison across the continent.
What the provisions cover
According to the report’s annex, Article 6 sets the conditions of marriage. They include free consent, a minimum age of 18 for women, monogamy as the preferred form, and the recording and registration of every marriage. Further paragraphs deal with relations between spouses and the nationality of children. Article 7 guarantees equal rights when a marriage ends, including the sharing of property. Article 21 guarantees an equitable share in inheritance.
Who reserves what on marriage
- Algeria reserved Article 6 and Article 7 in full.
- Ethiopia reserved Articles 6(c), 6(d), 6(f) and 7(a), with interpretive declarations on Articles 6(b), 6(j) and 7(d).
- Mauritius reserved Article 6(c) on monogamy, and withdrew its reservation to Article 6(b) on the minimum age of marriage in 2023.
- Namibia reserved Article 6(d) on registration, pending a law on customary marriages.
- The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic reserved Articles 6(a), (b), (c) and (e), and Articles 7(b) and (d).
- South Africa reserved Articles 6(d) and 6(h).
On inheritance, Ethiopia reserved Article 21(1) and the Sahrawi Republic reserved Article 21. The African Commission’s 2024 concluding observations on Uganda also refer to a reservation on Article 21, a point the report asks advocates to verify against the depositary text.
Two different concerns about registration
Article 6(d), on the registration of marriages, attracts reservations for opposite reasons. Namibia’s reservation is temporary: it will be withdrawn once a system for registering customary marriages is in place. South Africa and Ethiopia worry about the reverse problem, that “a marriage should not be deemed invalid simply because it has not been recorded”. In each case the underlying goal is the same: protecting women’s rights to property and inheritance when a marriage ends.
Age of marriage
The minimum age of marriage is a recurring theme in the briefs. Ethiopia’s Revised Family Code of 2000 sets the age at 18 but allows a “dispensation of up to two years”, and Ethiopia’s declaration on Article 6(b) preserves that dispensation. In Cameroon, which made no specific reservation on Article 6, the brief notes that “30 per cent of girls are married before 18” and asks when a minimum age of 18 will apply to girls and boys alike. Namibia’s Marriage Act of 2024 sets the minimum age at 18.
Mauritius shows what progress looks like. On 10 April 2023 it withdrew its reservation to Article 6(b). The brief on Mauritius calls this a sign of “leadership”.
Polygamy and guardianship
Article 6(c) encourages monogamy as the preferred form of marriage. Mauritius reserved it where incompatible with domestic law. Algeria’s Family Code, as amended in 2005, still permits polygamy and a matrimonial guardian, which the brief links to Algeria’s reservation on Article 6 as a whole. The brief also relies on the Advocacy Framework’s finding that at least eight States Parties with majority or significant Muslim populations apply the Protocol without reservations.
Inheritance and the end of a marriage
The briefs ask practical questions about what happens when a marriage ends. The brief on Ethiopia asks how inheritance rules protect surviving spouses when there is no will. The briefs on Algeria and Namibia ask how women are protected when a marriage is dissolved or a spouse dies, including women in unregistered customary marriages. These questions bring the legal debate back to women’s daily lives.
The way forward
The Gambia withdrew its reservations to Articles 6 and 7 in 2006, along with others. The African Commission’s Advocacy Framework asks the Commission to consider thematic resolutions on the articles most often reserved, including Articles 6 and 7. For advocates, the briefs suggest starting where domestic reform is already under way, as in Namibia. RFLD’s country profiles on women’s rights laws offer a comparison of national family law across the continent.
About the report
This article draws on RFLD’s report Lifting the Reservations: nine country briefs on the Maputo Protocol, published on 4 October 2026. Read the summary, download the English edition or the French edition.
