Of the nine States that still limit the Maputo Protocol, Namibia’s position is the simplest. It holds only one reservation, and it said from the start that the reservation would last only until a specific law was in place. RFLD’s report Lifting the Reservations: nine country briefs on the Maputo Protocol looks at what remains to be done.
Key facts
Namibia ratified the Protocol on 11 August 2004. Its only reservation concerns Article 6(d), which provides that every marriage shall be recorded in writing and registered in accordance with national law, in order to be legally recognised.
According to the African Commission’s Advocacy Framework, withdrawal of the reservation is contingent on the enactment of legislation on the recording and registration of customary marriages. Namibia’s 7th periodic report was examined at the 69th Ordinary Session, with concluding observations in 2022.
An interim reservation
The report’s glossary defines an interim reservation as “a reservation that the State itself presents as temporary, linked to a reform”. Namibia’s reservation is the clearest example among the nine. The brief describes it as “openly temporary”.
The Advocacy Framework encourages this approach. It asks States that consider a reservation unavoidable to make it explicitly interim, with participatory measures to bring it to an end. For advocates, the strategy is straightforward: focus on meeting the condition the State has set for itself.
Why it can be lifted
Namibia has made progress. The brief notes that Namibia “adopted a new Marriage Act in 2024, which sets the minimum age of marriage at 18 and refers to subsisting customary marriages”. The remaining step, according to the brief, “is a clear system for recording and registering customary marriages, which protects women’s rights to property and inheritance when a marriage ends”.
Registration matters most when a marriage ends through divorce or death. Without a record of the marriage, a woman may find it hard to prove her claim to shared property or to an inheritance. That is the protection Article 6(d) is designed to secure.
What the Commission said
In its 2022 concluding observations on Namibia, the African Commission did not call on Namibia to withdraw its reservation. The Advocacy Framework, adopted in 2026, now asks the Commission to call for withdrawal in its concluding observations as a regular practice. Namibia’s next periodic report will be the first opportunity to apply that approach.
Questions for dialogue
- When will regulations on the registration of customary marriages be adopted?
- What date has Namibia set for withdrawal once the legislation is in force?
- How are women in unregistered customary marriages protected on divorce or on the death of a spouse?
- What resources are planned for registration in rural areas?
The ask
The brief asks the government to complete the legal framework for the registration of customary marriages and to set a date for withdrawal. It asks Parliament to make sure that regulations under the Marriage Act and the civil registration law cover customary marriages.
In Namibia’s case, the brief addresses the Ombudsman, asking it to monitor registration in rural areas. Civil society is encouraged to run awareness campaigns on registration and its benefits, so that women in customary marriages know how to secure their rights once the system is in place.
The final step is a letter
Once the condition is met, withdrawal is simple. The Minister of Foreign Affairs notifies the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, as depositary of the Protocol, and the withdrawal takes effect on the date of receipt. No consent from other States is required. The report’s toolkit includes a model notification that Namibia could use as it stands.
Namibia would become the fourth State to withdraw a reservation to the Protocol. Its example would show other States that an interim reservation can work as intended. RFLD is sharing the brief with the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa and the Country Rapporteur Commissioner for Namibia, and will track any withdrawal on the Maputo Protocol Hub of its DƆNÙESÈ Data Center. For an overview of national laws on marriage and inheritance across the continent, see RFLD’s country profiles on women’s rights laws.
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.
