Litigation on sexual and reproductive health unpacked

On 22 and 23 June 2015 the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA) in conjunction with the Community Law Centre (CLC), University of the Western Cape organised a colloquium on Strategic Litigation on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Africa.

The main objectives of the colloquium was to build capacity of lawyers of and personnel of regional human rights bodies and national human rights institutions to adopt strategic litigation as a tool for advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The colloquium was also aimed at educating lawyers, academics and researchers on the continent about the relevance of the article 14 of the African Women’s Protocol and the General Comments adopted by the African Commission explaining this provision.

The event sparked debates and discussions on sexual and reproductive health and rights provisions of the African Women’s Protocol among lawyers and personnel of regional human rights bodies and NHRIs on how these can be put into better use.

The colloquium was attended by academics, members of civil society organizations, representatives from regional human rights bodies including the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Expert Committee of the African Children’s Charter.

Commissioner Pansy Tlakula of the African Commission delivered the Key note address while Lourdes Riviera from Ford Foundation New York delivered the goodwill message. CLC was duly represented at the colloquium by Profs. Ebenezer Durojaye and Benyam Mezmur heads of the Socioeconomic Rights and Children’s Rights Projects respectively as well as Gladys Mirugi-Mukundi of the Socio-economic Rights Project.