RFLD has published Reporting on the Maputo Protocol: a manual for shadow reports, a practical guide for organisations that want to tell the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights what is really happening to women’s rights in their country. The manual assumes no prior experience. It is written for women’s rights organisations, community-based groups, networks, lawyers and national human rights institutions.
Why the manual exists
The Maputo Protocol, adopted on 11 July 2003, is Africa’s main treaty on the rights of women. According to the African Commission, 46 of the 55 African Union Member States are now party to it. Each of those States must report on what it has done to give effect to the Protocol. Many do not. At the Commission’s 81st Session in October 2024, only 21 of 45 States Parties had submitted at least one report under the Protocol.
When a State does report, its report describes laws and policies from the government’s point of view. Women’s organisations often hold the evidence that the State report leaves out: what happens in clinics, courts, police stations and villages. A shadow report puts that evidence in front of the Commissioners before they question the State. The manual’s foreword makes the point plainly: turning that knowledge into a shadow report that Commissioners can use requires specific skills.
Nine modules, from law to follow-up
The manual is organised in nine modules. Each one can be taught on its own or as part of a workshop.
- Module 1 covers the Maputo Protocol and the duty to report under Article 26.
- Module 2 explains the African Commission and its Rules of Procedure, then walks through the reporting cycle and the status available to NGOs and national human rights institutions.
- Module 3 helps a group decide whether to write a shadow report and plan the work.
- Module 4 covers evidence: reliable sources, indicators, triangulation and sources for each thematic cluster.
- Module 5 deals with ethics and safety, built on the principle of do no harm.
- Module 6 is about writing: format rules, structure, questions and SMART recommendations.
- Module 7 covers submission and advocacy around the session.
- Module 8 covers follow-up after the Commission adopts its concluding observations.
- Module 9 shows how one evidence base can serve the African Commission as well as two United Nations processes, the CEDAW Committee and the Universal Periodic Review.
Tools you can use straight away
The manual is built for practice. It contains templates for a coalition agreement, an evidence matrix, an informed consent record, a shadow report outline, a two-page briefing note for Commissioners, an oral statement of about 350 words and a follow-up plan. Planning calendars help teams count back from the date of a State’s examination.
Two checklists close the writing process. The first is an eight-point final check covering format, sources, recommendations and consent. The second is a short risk check that asks whether anyone named in the report could face retaliation and whether evidence is stored securely.
The annexes add a three-day workshop agenda, a self-assessment rubric, a fictional model report extract, key legal texts, a glossary, useful links and sample questions organised by article of the Protocol.
Grounded in the Commission’s own rules
Everything in the manual is anchored in the texts that govern the African Commission. Rule 79(3) of the Commission’s 2020 Rules of Procedure invites organisations and any other interested party to send shadow reports at least 30 days before the examination of a State report. The Commission’s Guidelines on Shadow Reports, adopted at its 72nd Ordinary Session in 2022, set the format: no more than 15 pages, an executive summary of one page or less, and a clear response to the passages of the State report.
The manual also draws on the Guidelines for State Reporting under the Maputo Protocol, adopted in 2009. These organise State reports into eight thematic clusters, from equality and non-discrimination to specially protected groups of women. RFLD advises shadow report authors to mirror those clusters so that Commissioners can read the two documents side by side.
A method, in a few rules
Several working rules run through the manual. Every major claim should rest on at least two independent types of source. Each State claim is tested from the law on paper down to the actual change in women’s lives, with implementation and funding checked on the way. Recommendations must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. And no piece of evidence is worth putting a woman at risk.
Who should read it
The manual speaks first to RFLD’s 1,143 member organisations across more than 35 African countries. It is also meant for any group that wants to use the African Commission more effectively, whether it is preparing its first submission or refining a long-standing practice. National human rights institutions with affiliate status at the Commission will find specific guidance, as will coalitions that also report to the CEDAW Committee.
The timing matters. The Commission’s 89th Ordinary Session holds its public segment in Dakar from 12 to 21 October 2026, with four State reports on the agenda. Only one of them, from Mauritius, does not include a report under the Maputo Protocol. Many more States are overdue. Each overdue report is a gap that well-prepared civil society evidence can help to fill.
Readers who want the headline points first can start with the summary of the manual. Those working on reservations to the Protocol may also find RFLD’s country briefs on lifting the reservations useful.
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.
