A shadow report usually responds to a State report. But what happens when the State does not report at all? For many African women, this is the reality. RFLD’s manual, Reporting on the Maputo Protocol: a manual for shadow reports, addresses the problem directly and shows that civil society still has a role.
The scale of non-reporting
Under Article 62 of the African Charter, each State Party must report every two years. The Maputo Protocol’s reporting duty, in Article 26, runs through the same procedure. The Commission’s 2023 Guidance Note on State Reporting counts one overdue report for each two-year delay.
The Commission’s own figures show how far many States are behind. At the 87th Ordinary Session in May 2026, only 7 States were up to date with their Charter reports. Another 18 were more than three reports overdue, and 6 had never reported at all.
On the Maputo Protocol specifically, at the 81st Session in October 2024, only 21 of 45 States Parties had submitted at least one report under the Protocol. Equality Now restated this gap at the 83rd Session in April 2025 and asked the remaining 24 States to report.
Why States do not report
An academic analysis published in the African Human Rights Law Journal in 2021 identified seven barriers to reporting under the Maputo Protocol. They range from limited political will to weak follow-up by the Commission itself. The manual uses this to make a practical point: non-reporting is rarely about one obstacle, so pressure needs to come from several directions.
The Commission’s tools
The Commission has several ways to respond. Under Rule 81 of its 2020 Rules of Procedure, it tells non-compliant States their deadlines at the start of each year, and the Chair may send reminders. Under Rule 80, if a State fails to appear twice for the examination of a report it has submitted, the Commission may proceed without the State.
The most important tool for long-term non-reporting is Resolution 566, adopted on 2 August 2023 at the 76th Ordinary Session. Known as the “proactive approach,” it records that some initial reports were overdue by more than 35 years. It allows the Commission to put written questions to a State in a public dialogue and then adopt concluding observations, even without a State report.
Why this matters for civil society
The manual describes Resolution 566 as a real opening for civil society in non-reporting States. Without a State report, the Commission must rely on other sources to prepare its questions. Rule 80(4) already allows the Commission, when it considers a State report, to draw on information from national and international human rights bodies and on NGO statements.
Women’s organisations in a non-reporting State can prepare for this. They can build an evidence base around the eight thematic clusters of the Maputo Protocol reporting guidelines, using the same methods as for a shadow report, including the two-source rule and SMART recommendations. When the Commission considers using the proactive approach, that evidence is ready.
Combined reports: catching up
Some States catch up by submitting a combined report that covers many years. At the 89th Session in Dakar, Guinea-Bissau’s review was scheduled to cover a Charter report covering 1988 to 2025 and a Maputo Protocol report covering 2010 to 2025. A single document can clear decades of missed reporting.
For shadow reporters, a combined report brings a State back to the table after a long silence. It also creates a scoping problem, since 15 pages cannot cover 37 years. The manual advises choosing a small number of priority issues where the evidence is strongest and the stakes for women are highest.
What organisations can do now
The manual suggests several steps for groups in States that are behind:
- check the Commission’s States Reporting Status page to see exactly how many reports are overdue
- raise the reporting gap with national authorities and parliament, citing Article 26 of the Protocol
- build an evidence file on the Protocol’s eight clusters, ready for a future review
- use the Commission’s public sessions to raise the issue, through a partner with observer status if needed
- share information with the Country Rapporteur Commissioner for their State
Silence is also data
A State that does not report is telling the Commission something about its commitment. The manual encourages organisations to document that silence as part of the story: how long the State has gone without reporting and which commitments remain on paper.
RFLD’s member organisations work in many States that are behind on their reporting. The manual is designed so that they can engage now, whatever their government decides. To see how national laws compare while a report is pending, RFLD’s country law profiles offer a useful base.
About the report
This article draws on RFLD’s report Reporting on the Maputo Protocol: a manual for shadow reports, published on 4 October 2026. Read the summary, download the English edition or the French edition.
