Editors: Sibongile Ndashe, Emmah Wabuke,
Wabia Nganatha Karugu

Entrenching impunity in the
Convention to end Violence
against Women and Girls

By Sibongile Ndashe

Welcome to the fourth edition of our newsletter, where we analyse the developments taking place within our organisation, profession, and sector. We have a deliberately narrow mandate that enables us to achieve our goals of developing feminist jurisprudence, cultivating a network of feminist and movement lawyers, and enhancing our partners’ capacity for strategic litigation. Our work is complemented by efforts to ensure that the mechanisms we use to seek justice are functional and capable of delivering justice for victims. When we analyse legal developments, we position ourselves as users operating at the intersection of gender justice and litigation. It is in this context that we have formed an unfavourable view of some aspects of the new African Union (AU) Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (the Convention).

Litigation on State Due Diligence Obligation to Prevent Violence against Women in Public Transport and Associated Spaces in Kenya by Enacting Gender-Sensitive Laws and Policies

By Winnie Odali

87% of commuters in Kenya have either witnessed or experienced gender-based violence (GBV) in the public transport sector. This is according to a rapid assessment report published in June 2021 by the Kenya Youth Generation Equality Consortium Report on Sexual Harassment in Kenya Public Transport. There have been instances in the public domain of women being subjected to harassment and other forms of violence and humiliation in the public transport spaces. However, the State only adopts ad-hoc reactions and piecemeal reforms when there is a public outcry. Many other cases of violence in public transport and associated spaces go without any action being taken by the authorities.

The High Court in Nairobi approves the constitutional validity of the legal requirement to prove fault on a party in divorce proceedings

By Carolene Kituku and Senamile Madlala

The Issue before the Court

On 24 April 2025, the High Court at Nairobi upheld the constitutional validity of the legal requirement to prove fault on a party before a divorce can be granted. The Court dismissed a petition that had been filed in Coppler Attorneys & Consultancy v The Attorney General & The National Assembly: Constitutional Petition No E075 of 2022 challenging the Constitution of Kenya’s validity of the legal requirement established in Part X of the Marriage Act, 2014 that sets out the grounds for divorce. This law requires a party to a marriage seeking divorce to prove one or more grounds for divorce such as adultery, cruelty, desertion, exceptional depravity, or irretrievable breakdown of the marriage, before a court can grant the order for dissolution of the marriage.

Defending the Digital Frontline: Feminist Strategy Against Gender-Based Violence

By Senamile Madlala

In South Africa, countless women continue to experience sexual violence in a society where the justice system frequently fails to offer meaningful redress. For many, reporting the violence leads not to justice but to traumatisation, disbelief, and inaction. Faced with these systemic barriers, women have turned to digital platforms to name their experiences and seek solidarity. But speaking out online comes at a cost. Instead of being protected for their courage, women are increasingly met with threats of defamation suits, protection orders, or social backlash. This response exposes a deeper problem: when the legal system fails to protect survivors, it often ends up protecting the reputations of abusers instead. This piece explores how speaking online has become both a tool of survival and a form of protest, and why it is critical to legally protect women’s right to do so. One of the cases that ISLA has intervened in is the Galileo v Mdlekeza matter.

Kenya’s legal obligation to prevent, protect and respond to human trafficking for labour exploitation of Kenyan citizens migrating for domestic work to the Middle East

By Carolene Kituku

On 26 May 2025, the Employment and Labour Relations Court at Nairobi granted leave to ISLA and FIDA-K to intervene as joint amicus curiae in Legal Advice Centre (Kitua Cha Sheria) and 13 Others v The Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Labour and Social Protection & Others Nairobi ELRC Petition E038 of 2023. ISLA is a case challenging Kenya’s legal obligation to respond to human trafficking of Kenyan citizens migrating for domestic workers to the Middle East.

In 2024, ISLA celebrated its tenth anniversary. According to one theory of organisational development life cycles, the tenth year represents the end of the establishment phase. Following this, organisations must either scale up, adapt, or risk failing. In line with our ambitious goal of becoming the legal support arm within the African feminist ecosystem—focused on deploying feminist lawyers to serve various causes—we have expanded our organisation to include three new thematic areas of work: the rights of women with disabilities, countering anti-rights actors, and immigration detention.

Introducing the Countering Anti-Rights Actors work: Law as a tool of resistance

By Dr Seun Bakare, Sibusisiwe Ndlela, Lakshita Kanhaiya

Across Africa and globally, we are facing a dangerous rise in attacks on human rights, democratic values, and constitutionalism. These are not accidental developments. They are driven by coordinated, well-funded, and ideologically motivated groups that are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their operations. In recent years, we have seen how anti-rights actors have become adept at using the law itself to suppress dissent, silence marginalised communities, and erode long-standing protections. We believe it is no longer enough to simply assert our rights in the face of this. We must also understand and confront the full architecture of repression that is emerging. This is what has led to the creation of a new thematic area: Countering Anti-Rights Actors (CARA).

A New Chapter: Building Power with Women with Disabilities in Access to Justice

By Esther Akua Gyamfi

The launch of the Rights of Women and Disabilities (RWD) Thematic Area, is a step forward in the fight for equality and inclusion. This is more than just a new project. It is a powerful commitment to stand with women with disabilities across Africa and to open new doors to justice where they have long been closed.

New Chapter: Advancing and Centering Women’s Rights in Immigration Detention

By Zekhethelo Cele

The establishment of the Women in Immigration Detention (WID) thematic area is a bold and affirmative step of ISLA’s commitment to advancing justice for migrant, asylum seeker and refugee women. A collaboration between ISLA and LHR has birthed a strategic intervention that recognises that immigration detention is not just a neutral criminal or administrative tool, but is also a deeply gendered site of harm where migrant women bear the brunt of punitive state policies that criminalise migration and perpetuate a culture of violence against women in Africa.

Webinar on Out of Court Settlement Agreements for Violence Against Women (VAW) in Kenya

By Winifred Odali

While the law provides for the option to use alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, this provision has been serially abused by victim support systems and actors in the criminal justice system, such as the police. One of the ways in which the police abuse this system is by coercing victims of violence against women to enter into out-of-court settlements with their abusers. The effect of such “agreements” is that perpetrators of violence against women are allowed to manipulate and escape the criminal justice system. This cultivates a culture of rape and impunity in a society where perpetrators get away with acts of violence against women without any form of punishment

ISLA Conversations – The AU CEVAWG has an Implementation Gap (Article 14)

In February 2024, the African Union adopted a Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (CEVAWG). This should be a moment of celebration and an opportunity to amplify campaigns for ratification. However, we have identified an implementation gap in the Convention. It would be irresponsible to celebrate new human rights standards without clarity on how rights-holders can hold states accountable for failing to prevent and protect women and girls from violence.
 
During this conversation held on 31 July 2025, we explained why Article 14 undermines the struggle to end violence against women and girls.

Strategy Consultation on Litigating SOGIE before the African Regional Human Rights Mechanisms

CARA organised a 2-day Strategy Consultation on Litigating SOGIE before the African Regional Human Rights Mechanisms in Nairobi, from 8-9 August 2025. The Strategy Consultation transitioned ISLA and its partners from the conceptual design of a litigation roadmap to the real-world implementation of activities, including the identification of legal entry points, development of litigation support ecosystems, and prioritisation of case strategies. This Consultation built upon earlier convenings, most notably the Expert Advisory Meeting held in Johannesburg in September 2024. At that meeting, ISLA convened leading litigators, scholars, and activists to interrogate the viability of litigating SOGIE cases before African regional courts and developed early recommendations that now require refining and implementation.
 
The Consultation brought together legal experts, movement actors, litigators, academics, and regional mechanism insiders to engage with the SOGIE Advocacy Strategy and map pathways for implementation.

CSO Strategy Consultation

Between 11-13 August, ISLA alongside its Co-conveners convened a three-day strategy consultation with a diverse group of stakeholders, including civil society organisations, academics, feminist advocates, sexual minority activists, and AU member state representatives, to reflect on two years of engagement with the AU reforms process.

The consultation aimed to:

The consultation was structured as a combination of plenary sessions and strategy mapping exercises. The consultation resulted in a shared advocacy roadmap to guide CSOs’ engagement with the AU reform. This will guide CSOs in engaging with AU member states, organs, and institutions, ensuring reform processes strengthen, rather than weaken, the African Human Rights System.

Feminist Roundtable on Engagement with the African Union

Between 14-15 August, ISLA convened a reflective two-day roundtable on AU engagement that provided a dedicated space for feminist activists and advocates to:

Participants identified barriers to feminist advocacy within AU structures, explored new models for collaboration and mutual accountability, and co-created a Feminist AU Engagement Statement to guide collective action going forward.

Webinar: No-Fault Divorce and the right to family life in Africa: a conversation about the High Court of Kenya judgment in Coppler Attorneys’ and another v Attorney General of the Republic of Kenya and Another

Date: 12 September 2025

On 12 September 2025, ISLA hosted a webinar exploring the implications of the legal requirement to prove fault on a party to a marriage before a court can grant an order for divorce on the right to found a family and the right to equality within a marriage and at divorce.
 
The webinar reflected on:

The conversation was led by a panel of legal experts and gender justice advocates who provided different perspectives on the inherent problems embedded in a fault-based divorce law, and provided possible avenues for legal reform and advocacy.

The Public Reading of the African Union Convention on Ending Violence against Women and Girls (CEVAWG) (formerly- The Public Reading of the African Union Convention on Ending Violence against Women and Girls (CEVAWG)

Date: 15 – 17 September 2025

Between 15 to 17 September, co-conveners Akina Mama wa Afrika, Fòs Feminista, and ISLA, brought together feminist legal scholars, practitioners, and activists to examine the Convention in detail, reviewing it line by line and article by article to evaluate its progress and identify any gaps.

The Strategy Consultation:

Expected outcomes include:

This Strategy Consultation is part of ISLA’s efforts to strengthen the African Human Rights System through influencing the AU reform process, strengthening feminist advocacy, and ensuring that regional instruments like CEVAWG are not only adopted but are truly fit for purpose in delivering justice for African women and girls.

ISLA Conversations: Race and Gender in the Mbenenge Tribunal

Date: 03 October 2025
Time: 13h00 – 15h00 SAST

ISLA is hosting a conversation to discuss the intersection of race and gender in relation to of the Judicial Conduct Tribunal’s investigation into the conduct of Mbenenge Judge President, Eastern Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa.

The Tribunal has highlighted the persistent issue of sexual harassment and its impact on women’s right to exist in the workplace. The Tribunal has also demonstrated how race and gender intersect in the portrayal of Black Women in courts, in legal proceedings, and in law. Misogyny has become normalized, permeating the Tribunal and in the commentary surrounding it.

We invite you to join us for a discussion to explore these critical themes and more.

A feminist look at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Decision in Communication 564 /15: Community Law Centre and three Others (on behalf of the Five Victims) v. The Federal Republic of Nigeria

By Achieng Orero

The African Commission on People’s and Human Rights (the Commission) in late 2024 published its decision in Communication 564 /15: Community Law Centre and three Others (on behalf of the Five Victims) v. The Federal Republic of Nigeria. In summary, the case was brought on behalf of five women in Nigeria who suffer from lifelong injuries such as obstetric fistulas, haemorrhage, and those who have died because of complications related to pregnancy or childbirth. The Complaint was filed against the Federal Republic of Nigeria, arguing that the State had failed to provide adequate access to comprehensive maternal services, leading to widespread numbers of preventable negative maternal health outcomes and deaths. The Complaint alleged violations of the right to life, the right to health, the right to dignity, the right to equality and non-discrimination, the right to information, and the right to remedy. The Commission interrogated each of the alleged violation of rights and came to a finding that there was no evidence before it that linked the State directly to the violation of rights. Ultimately in its findings, the Commission rejects all the arguments made in the Complaint and dismisses the complaint entirely.

ISLA’s work pervades the courtroom. In a bid to contribute to the public narrative on the rights and the causes that we advocate for, reach new audiences, attract new constituents to the work that, our Team and Partners author books and articles, engage in media interviews, and produce reports.