The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is one of the most recent States to join the Maputo Protocol. It also holds the broadest set of reservations among the nine States that still limit the treaty. RFLD’s report Lifting the Reservations: nine country briefs on the Maputo Protocol sets these reservations against the State’s own constitutional commitment to equality.
Key facts
The Sahrawi Republic ratified the Protocol on 19 March 2022 and deposited its instrument in May 2023. Its combined periodic reports, together with its initial report under the Protocol, were before the African Commission at the 87th Ordinary Session in 2026. The State justifies its reservations on the ground that the provisions concerned contravene Islamic law.
The reserved provisions cover a wide field:
- Article 2(c), on integrating a gender perspective in policy and development
- Article 6(a), (b), (c) and (e), on the conditions of marriage and relations between spouses
- Article 7(b) and (d), on rights in divorce
- Article 8(d) and (e), on gender equality in law enforcement and the justice system
- Article 14(1)(a) to (c), on fertility and contraception, together with Article 14(2)(c) on medical abortion
- Article 19(a), on a gender perspective in development planning
- Article 21, on equitable inheritance
What the reservations do
The brief calls this the “broadest set of reservations among the nine States”. Taken together, the reservations reach well beyond family law. They touch access to justice and development planning as well as marriage and reproductive health.
Why they can be lifted
The strongest argument comes from the State’s own law. Article 26 of the Sahrawi Constitution guarantees “complete equality between men and women in rights and duties”. Article 42 provides for the promotion of women’s participation. In its report to the Commission, the State records that women hold 21 of the 51 seats in its parliament, and it adopted a Gender Equality Declaration on 19 March 2022, the same day it ratified the Protocol.
A State that commits to complete equality in its Constitution is well placed to apply a treaty whose purpose is equality for women. The brief asks how the State reconciles the reservations with Article 26.
Regional practice points the same way. The Advocacy Framework notes that at least eight States Parties with majority or significant Muslim populations apply the Protocol without reservations. They are Djibouti, The Gambia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia. The Gambia withdrew its own reservations in 2006.
Some provisions are also easier to start with. Several of the reserved provisions raise no religious question at all. Article 8 deals with equal treatment in law enforcement and the justice system. Article 19 deals with development planning. The brief suggests these as a natural starting point.
Questions for dialogue
- How does the State reconcile its reservations with the equality guarantee in Article 26 of its Constitution?
- Would it consider withdrawing reservations that raise no religious question, such as those on Articles 8 and 19?
- Has it studied the practice of other States Parties with Muslim populations that apply the Protocol in full?
- What role did women’s organisations play in the decision to make the reservations?
The ask
The brief asks the government to review the reservations in light of Article 26 of the Constitution, starting with Articles 8 and 19. It asks the National Council to hold hearings with women’s organisations on each reservation.
Civil society is encouraged to share experiences from other States Parties with Muslim-majority populations that apply the Protocol in full. The African Commission is asked to address the reservations in its concluding observations on the State’s initial report under the Protocol.
A first report, a first opportunity
Because this is the State’s first report under the Protocol, the concluding observations that follow will set the baseline for future dialogue. A clear recommendation on reservations at this stage would give advocates a reference point for the years ahead. RFLD will share the brief with the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa and the Country Rapporteur Commissioner for the Sahrawi Republic. Readers can find more on how the Protocol is reported on in RFLD’s manual on shadow reports.
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.
