The Centre for Human Rights (CHR), in partnership with the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), hosted a Judicial Colloquium on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) of women and girls in Nairobi, Kenya, on the 2nd and 3rd of July 2024. The event brought together judicial officers from Southern and Eastern African Countries.
The judicial colloquium aimed to strengthen the understanding and application of SRHR norms enshrined in the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), with the overarching goal of the protection and promotion of SRHR of women and girls in Africa.
The colloquium’s objectives included facilitating the sharing of SRHR jurisprudence and best practices, the promotion of the application of a gender perspective in judicial decision-making and the focus on the SRHR of marginalised and vulnerable groups. These groups include older women, women and girls with disabilities, migrant women and girls, refugee women and girls, and women and girls in conflict situations. The colloquium also sought to provide judges and judicial officers with the necessary platform to share experiences on how to effectively handle SRHR cases, ensuring fair and just outcomes that align with International and African human rights standards, especially the Maputo Protocol.
The method of the colloquium, included sessions facilitated by Profs - : Nkatha Murungi, Ebenezer Durojaye and Lillian Artz and a series of panel discussions that provided in-depth analysis and perspectives from judicial officers. The panels focused on the experiences from Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia. Judicial officers shared insights from landmark cases and discussed the progression and challenges in SRHR jurisprudence.
Overall the judicial colloquium emphasised the importance of ongoing collaboration among judicial officers to influence the interpretation of SRHR norms of women and girls in Africa.
For more information, please contact:
Tel: +27 (0) 12 420 4197
Fax: +27 (0) 86 580 5743
Elvis.Fokalai@up.ac.za
Tel: +27 (0) 12 420 4306
Fax: +27 (0) 86 580 5743
matilda.lasseko-phooko@up.ac.za
