By Fatima Saka
Rights advocates and human rights experts have called for stronger action to protect the rights of women and girls amid growing attempts to use “family values,” culture, religion and national sovereignty narratives to weaken gender-equality gains.
The call was made during a recent SHE & Rights session on gender equality, health rights and human rights accountability, held ahead of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA81).
The session was jointly hosted by the Global Center for Health Diplomacy and Inclusion (CeHDI) and CNS, in collaboration with the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW), and Asia Pacific Media Alliance for Health, Gender and Development Justice (APCAT Media).
Speaking at the session, Dr Robert Eno, Registrar of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, said there was currently no indication that the proposed African Charter on “family sovereignty and values” would be considered by the African Union Assembly.
Eno clarified that the draft charter was not proposed by the African Union and would have to undergo a lengthy institutional process if eventually submitted for consideration. He therefore expressed doubt that it would reach the AU Assembly by February 2027.
He, however, cautioned against complacency, stressing that the challenge went beyond the proposed charter to a broader struggle over how family, culture, religion, equality and human dignity are understood.
According to him, discriminatory laws and practices continue to affect women and girls globally, including unequal inheritance rights, restrictions on divorce and the failure in some jurisdictions to recognise marital rape.
Eno urged rights advocates to complement legal arguments with human stories, dialogue and persuasion, saying gender equality should be presented as something that strengthens families and communities rather than as a threat to religion, culture or family values.
He also warned that human-rights campaigns could amount to “preaching to the converted” if they failed to engage people who disagreed with or feared the human-rights agenda.
He called for engagement in homes, schools, places of worship, traditional institutions, communities and social media, while stressing the need for governments to implement treaties and court judgments.
Rehema Namukose, Senior Regional Programme Officer for sub-Saharan Africa at Musawah, said anti-rights actors were increasingly using the language of family protection to obstruct reforms aimed at advancing women’s rights.
She cited developments in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda, where legislative and political campaigns around “family protection” have raised concerns about bodily autonomy and sexual and reproductive rights, while reforms relating to marriage, divorce, custody and women’s equal rights face delays.
Namukose said similar narratives were also being used to justify child marriage, female genital mutilation, unpaid care burdens and denial of equal property and inheritance rights.
She argued that terms such as “family values,” “cultural integrity,” “sovereignty” and “national cohesion” were sometimes deployed to preserve patriarchal power rather than protect families.
Samah Hadid, Global Executive Director of Musawah, said the anti-rights movement was becoming increasingly coordinated and well-resourced, particularly in its use of religion, culture and tradition to justify discrimination against women.
Hadid advocated reclaiming religious and cultural narratives for gender justice, noting that Musawah works to develop egalitarian Islamic arguments supporting women’s rights and trains activists, lawyers and judges to challenge discrimination from within Muslim legal and religious traditions.
Fatou Bantou Salah of the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA) called for a pause in the ratification process of the African Union Convention on Eliminating Violence Against Women and Girls (AU CEVAWG) to allow for a comprehensive legal review.
She said nine AU member states had signed the convention, while The Gambia and Ghana had ratified it. A total of 15 ratifications are required for the convention to enter into force.
Salah said ISLA’s “Pause for Purpose” campaign was not seeking to abandon the convention but to ensure that its legal framework was thoroughly examined before it became binding.
She called for an independent article-by-article review and wider consultations involving survivors, women’s rights organisations, lawyers, service providers and affected communities.
She also raised concerns about the absence of express references to issues including female genital mutilation, child marriage and conflict-related sexual violence, as well as questions surrounding state due-diligence obligations.
Vimbai Kapurura, Executive Director of Girls Not Brides and Founder Executive Director of Women Unlimited Eswatini, said progress in adolescent health and education must be measured by whether policies and services actually reach vulnerable girls.
She cited improvements in Eswatini, where the adolescent birth rate declined from 87 births per 1,000 girls aged 15–19 to 78, while early childbearing before age 18 dropped from 17 per cent to 12 per cent between 2022 and 2025.
However, she said significant gaps remained, noting that modern contraceptive use among sexually active unmarried girls aged 15–19 was about 51 per cent, with an unmet need for family planning of 46 per cent.
Kapurura said access to health infrastructure alone was insufficient, stressing the need to address poverty, education, family circumstances, social expectations, stigma and community barriers.
She said Eswatini’s Universal Periodic Review scheduled for November 2026 should provide an opportunity to assess whether policy commitments were translating into budgets, services and tangible improvements for rural and underserved girls.
The session also examined the ongoing UN process to develop a legally binding international instrument on the human rights of older persons.
Khaled Hassine, Secretary of the UN Inter-Governmental Working Group on the Human Rights of Older Persons, urged civil society organisations to engage directly with their governments and national delegations, arguing that influencing national positions could have greater impact than simply making formal statements.
Shobha Shukla, Chairperson of Development Justice for Older Persons and a participant with lived experience, called for the proposed treaty to reflect the realities of older women and other marginalised groups.
She stressed that older persons should be recognised as rights holders and contributors to families, communities, economies and public life rather than treated as recipients of charity.
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Hassine also highlighted the gender dimensions of ageing, saying older women require particular attention in addressing ageism, violence and discrimination.
The next meeting of the UN Inter-Governmental Working Group on the proposed treaty is scheduled for October 26–30, 2026, while the International Day of Older Persons on October 1 is expected to provide another opportunity to build political momentum around the process.
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