Women, Law and Human Rights in Southern Africa

Bibliographic Data

ID5019622
AuthorsFareda Banda (SOAS University of London, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume32
Issue1
Pages13-27
Publication date2006-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03057070500493720
OpenAlexW2062836020
LanguageEN
Citations received8

This article examines the development of human rights in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).1 1 The SADC comprises thirteen states, not all of which are in the strict geographical sense in southern Africa and not all of which will be discussed in this article. The countries are Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It looks at personal laws and the attempts of parties in postcolonial states to deal with conflicts that arise between the dictates of state customary law, which may be discriminatory towards women, and the move towards embracing human rights with their focus on the removal of sex and gender-based discrimination. While it is clear that there has been enormous progress made in enshrining women's rights, the article urges caution, noting that there are limits to the law's power to change behaviour. Law cannot always provide a solution to discrimination rooted in socio-economic and cultural dispossession. The article is divided into four parts. Part one introduces the legal systems of the region. Part two offers a discussion of the different constitutional models illustrated by case law relating to inheritance. Part three provides an overview of the African engagement with human rights before moving on to consider the two Declarations of the SADC in dealing with gender-based discrimination and violence against women.2 2 Gender and Development: A Declaration by Heads of State or Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), (1997); The Prevention and Eradication of Violence Against Women and Children, An Addendum to the 1997 Declaration on Gender and Development by SADC Heads of State or Government, 1998; SADC, Gender Monitor (1999), p. 33. The Prevention and Eradication of Violence Against Women and Children: An Addendum to the 1997 Declaration on Gender and Development by SADC Heads of State or Government, 1998, SADC, Gender Monitor (1999), p. 37. Part four focuses on the rights contained within the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women, adopted by the African Union in July 2003.3 3 Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, 2003. Assembly/AU/Dec.14(II), Draft Decision on the Draft Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights Relating to the Rights of Women. Available at www.africa.union.org

Declaration · Democracy · Development economics · Economic growth · Human rights · International human rights law · Political science · Politics · Rule of law · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Tanzania · Human Rights and Development · International Human Rights and Reproductive Law · Law · Legal Issues in South Africa

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