A reservation to the Maputo Protocol is made by the executive, but parliaments have more influence over it than is often assumed. They can ask ministers to explain it. They can change the domestic laws that a reservation protects. They can hold hearings with women’s organisations. They can support withdrawal publicly. RFLD’s report Lifting the Reservations: nine country briefs on the Maputo Protocol gives a specific ask to the parliament of each State concerned.
Parliament in the Advocacy Framework
The African Commission’s Advocacy Framework, adopted in 2026, asks States to set up a withdrawal process involving parliament and the public alongside the executive. The framework also contains a chapter on the Pan-African Parliament. RFLD’s briefs focus on national parliaments, where most of the legal reforms behind withdrawal would take place.
Asking the question
The simplest step is a parliamentary question. The report’s toolkit includes a model question addressed to the relevant minister. It can be adapted to any of the nine States. Its first question asks what steps the government has taken to review the reservation to Article [X], “as recommended by the African Commission in [year]”. A second asks whether the government considers that the reservation remains necessary in view of a named constitutional provision or law. The model closes by asking when the government intends to notify the withdrawal to the African Union.
In the report’s twelve-month advocacy plan, this step comes in months five and six, when advocates also meet ministries and send a letter to the minister.
Changing the law behind a reservation
Many reservations protect a gap in domestic law. When parliament closes the gap, the reservation loses its purpose. The briefs identify several such reforms:
- Ethiopia: amend the Criminal Code to criminalise marital rape, and remove the dispensation from the minimum age of marriage.
- Uganda: adopt the law envisaged by Article 22(2) of the Constitution, which would allow alignment with Article 14(2)(c).
- Cameroon: align the minimum age of marriage at 18 for both sexes.
- Namibia: make sure that regulations under the Marriage Act and the civil registration law cover customary marriages.
Holding government to account
Other briefs ask parliaments to use their oversight role. In Algeria, Parliament is asked to request a written explanation of the reasons for the reservation, which the State has never given. In South Africa, Parliament is asked to request a report from the Department of Justice on the African Commission’s 2016 recommendation to lift all reservations and domesticate the Protocol. Domestication is a task that falls to Parliament itself.
Supporting withdrawal directly
Some briefs ask parliament to take a position. In Kenya, the brief asks Parliament to pass a resolution supporting withdrawal of the reservation to Article 14(2)(c), in line with Article 26(4) of the Constitution. The African Commission asked Kenya to withdraw that reservation in its 2022 concluding observations. In Mauritius, the brief asks Parliament to examine temporary special measures for women’s political representation, which relate to the reservation on Article 9.
In the Sahrawi Republic, the brief addresses the National Council, asking it to hold hearings with women’s organisations on each reservation. Hearings of this kind give women’s organisations a formal space to explain the effect of a reservation on their members.
Why a parliamentary voice matters
The report’s toolkit lists common objections to withdrawal. One of them is “This is a matter of national sovereignty.” The answer it gives is that “the State exercised its sovereignty when it ratified. Withdrawal is also a sovereign act, done by a simple notification.” Parliamentarians, as elected representatives, are well placed to make that point at home.
Another objection is “Nobody asks us to withdraw.” A parliamentary question puts the issue on the public record and obliges the government to respond.
Getting started
Parliamentarians and their staff can begin with the brief for their country, which sets out the reservation and the latest recommendation of the African Commission. The report summary links to all nine briefs. For the wider legal context in each country, RFLD’s country profiles on women’s rights laws are a useful companion.
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.
