Editor’s Note
By Wabia Nganatha Karugu
Welcome to the fifth edition of the ISLA Newsletter, where we share the developments taking place within our organisation, profession and sector.
Issue 5 of the ISLA Newsletter captures our momentum, resolve and drive as we continue to develop feminist jurisprudence that holds states and non-state actors accountable, cultivate a growing network of feminist and movement lawyers, and enhance our partners’ capacities for strategic litigation. Amid a shrinking civic space, growing threats to regional normative frameworks, weakened human rights mechanisms, and increasingly aggressive anti-rights actors across the Continent, ISLA continues to display its resilience in its work and in calling truth to power.
We hope this Issue not only informs you of ISLA’s engagements and reflections, but also energises you to remain vigilant, strategic and resilient in the work of shaping the Africa we want and the Africa we deserve
Violence Against Women Litigation Institute, 2025
By Zinhle Hlatshwayo
This newsletter piece reports on the second year of the Violence Against Women Litigation (VAW) Institute, which brought together Network Lawyers from across Africa for intensive training on feminist strategic litigation addressing obstetric violence and the rights of women with disabilities.
Illumination, Inclusion, and Alignment: Reflections on Our Internal Practice
By Kay Mahonde
We find ourselves in a period of deep reflection about the kind of organisation we are becoming and the feminist institution we continue to build. Over time, the Feminist Litigation Network (FLN) has grown into a continental platform for advancing women’s rights through strategic litigation.
Feminist Roundtable: Reclaiming Space at the Africa Union
By Fatou Bintou-Sallah and Mai Aman
For decades, African feminists have mobilized, lobbied, and shaped continental agendas. From the Pan African Women’s Association (PAWA) in the liberation struggles, to the adoption of the Maputo Protocol, and the ongoing Gender is My Agenda Campaign (GIMAC), feminist actors have been at the heart of Africa’s human rights journey.
CEVAWG: When a Milestone Risks Becoming Regressive
By Fatou Bintou-Sallah and Mai Aman
On 25 February 2025, the African Union adopted the Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (AU‑CEVAWG) at its 38th Ordinary Session. Six countries; Angola, Burundi, Djibouti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, and The Gambia have already signed
ISLA at ACHPR 85th
By Fatou Bintou-Sallah and Mai Aman
For decades, African feminists have mobilized, lobbied, and shaped continental agendas. From the Pan African Women’s Association (PAWA) in the liberation struggles, to the adoption of the Maputo Protocol, and the ongoing Gender is My Agenda Campaign (GIMAC), feminist actors have been at the heart of Africa’s human rights journey.
Dr. Emmah Wabuke:
The Person Behind the Work
By Zinhle Hlatshwayo
1. To start us off, could you tell us a bit about yourself? Who is Dr. Emmah Wabuke, both personally and professionally?
I am a Kenyan human rights lawyer currently serving as Director of Practice and Assistant Professor at the Pozen Center for Human Rights at the University of Chicago. My role requires me to teach human rights fieldwork to undergraduate majors, mentor emerging practitioners, and help build bridges between academic inquiry and lived experience. Teaching has been a constant thread in my life; it is a vocation I have embraced across Kenya, the United Kingdom, and now the United States.
On a personal level, I am a devoted dog mum to two spirited companions who bring equal measures of joy and exasperation. I am also an enthusiastic follower of the WNBA and a fan of The Wendy Williams Show, a habit I consider part of my Roxane Gay “bad feminist” era.
Sexual Harassment – Race and Gender in the Mbenenge Tribunal
By Sibusisiwe Ndlela
The weaponization of the so-called defence of culture by Black men against Black women is not novel. Clarence Thomas, Jacob Zuma, and now Selby Mbenenge. In the most recent instalment of the ISLA Conversations, we explored the Judicial Conduct Tribunal’s (a quasi-judicial body to investigate Judges’ misconduct) investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment against Judge Selby Mbenege, the Judge President of the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court.
AU Reforms Engagements
By Fatou Bintou-Sallah and Mai Aman
From 17 to 19 November 2025, ISLA convened a three-day internal retreat which created space for honest reflection on how the organisation’s strong political analysis and credibility can be better supported by stronger internal systems. Discussions highlighted the need to improve coordination, documentation, and role clarity to match the growing scale and complexity of work across Strengthening Regional Mechanisms spaces.
Strengthening Access to Justice: A Strategic Blueprint For SOGIE Cases Before African Regional Mechanisms
By Lakshita Kanhiya
In a moment where sexual rights are relentlessly policed, negotiated, and denied, ISLA’s sexual rights initiative refuses silence. Instead, it intervenes boldly and deliberately into the terrain of strategic litigation within the African human rights system. Through a series of charged and cross-movement convenings and consultations, litigators, activists, scholars, and defenders have come together not simply to reflect, but to reimagine power.
An integral part of the work that ISLA does is the strategic litigation. Beyond the mobilization and the advocacy, we seek to make jurisprudential impact real time in court. The following are some of the judgements we received, and some of the cases we are pursuing to continue to move the feminist legal needle on the continent.
Violence Against Women
Case: Communication 734/19 – J v Republic of Namibia
Forum: African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
Issue: State Due Diligence to Prevent, Investigate and Prosecute Trafficking in Persons
In a landmark decision adopted during the Commission’s 78th Ordinary Session (8 March 2024) and communicated to parties on 20 June 2025, the African Commission found Namibia in violation of Articles 2, 5 and 18(3) of the African Charter and Articles 2 and 4(2)(g) of the Maputo Protocol. ISLA and KELIN filed the complaint on behalf of J, a 24-year-old victim of trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Women’s Socio-Economic Rights
Case: FIDA-K v Attorney General (Civil Appeal No. 238 of 2018)
Forum: Court of Appeal of Kenya.
Issue: Division of matrimonial property upon dissolution of marriage at divorce or separation
At divorce or separation, spouses must determine how to divide matrimonial property acquired during the marriage. This process is often contentious and disproportionately affects women, whose non-financial contributions such as caregiving and domestic work are undervalued. In Kenya, section 7 of the Matrimonial Property Act (2013) entitles each spouse to property according to their monetary or non-monetary contribution.
In FIDA-K v Attorney General (Civil Appeal No. 238 of 2018), FIDA-Kenya challenged the constitutionality of section 7, arguing that requiring proof of contribution violates Articles 27 and 45(3) of The Constitution of Kenya on equality in marriage.
The Attorney General argued that the law is gender-neutral and already recognises non-financial contributions. ISLA appeared as amicus curiae, submitting that despite its neutral wording, the law’s application is gendered.
Case: Eliza Steven and The Registered Trustees of Domestic and Vulnerable Workers Association vs. Attorney General and Registrar of Financial Institutions (Constitutional Case No. 4 of 2025)
Forum: High Court of Malawi at Blantyre sitting as Constitutional Court
Issue: Exclusion of domestic workers from mandatory pension schemes in Malawi
The Petitioners in this case, a female domestic worker and Registered Trustees of Domestic and Vulnerable Workers Association (DOVWA) in Malawi have challenged the constitutional validity of excluding domestic workers from mandatory contributory pension, in the implementation of section 11 of the Pensions Act and the exclusion of private-sector employees with less than 5 employees from mandatory contributory pension scheme under section 27(4) of the Employment Act. The petitioners claim that this exclusion is discriminatory and thus unconstitutional.
ISLA, Women Lawyers Association Malawi, Center for Human Rights and Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa sought leave to intervene in the case as joint amici. The joint amici in this matter, will address the court on first, the relevant historical context of the exclusion of domestic work from social protection and the gendered nature of domestic work.
Case: Kituo cha Sheria & Another v Attorney General (ELC Petition No. E002 of 2022)
Forum: Environmental and Land Court at Iten, Kenya
Issue: State’s legal obligation to develop measures to adapt to the effects of climate change and mitigate impacts of climate change
The Court on 14 November 2025 heard a landmark case challenging the Kenyan Government’s failure to meet its legal obligations to develop and implement measures that respond to the impacts of climate change in the Rift Valley Basin.
KELIN and ISLA, appearing as joint amici curiae, presented submissions underscoring the disproportionate and gendered impacts of climate change.
Their brief centred on the State’s duty to develop gender-responsive climate measures that acknowledge and address the distinct vulnerabilities experienced by women, particularly those who are rural, older, indigenous, living with disabilities, or experiencing poverty.
The amici emphasised that climate change is not gender neutral. It deepens structural inequalities and exposes women to heightened risks relating to health, food security, water, housing, and personal safety.
IPE Strategy Consultation
Rolling basis: May – August 2026, dates TBD
ISLA seeks to convene a Strategy Consultation with the ISLA Panel of Experts (IPE) to re-connect and re-commit with IPE. IPE is an opportunity for ISLA to enter into strategic collaborations with lawyers, researchers and academics who share its ways of working and are interested in assisting ISLA’s theory of change to travel to, and be influenced by, various disciplines. IPE seeks to surface the intellectual contributions of African feminists by rendering visibility to their intellectual and scholarly contributions on the law as a tool for social change.
FLN Alumni Strategy Consultation
25 May – 27 May 2026
ISLA seeks to convene the Feminist Litigation Network (FLN) Alumni Strategy Consultation, which will establish greater clarity and a shared understanding of the purpose, structure, and long-term vision for FLN alumni engagement. The purpose of the FLN is to build a pool of effective African feminist litigators within civil society organisations who are embedded in movements and the communities whose rights they seek to defend and who have a sophisticated understanding of the issues that they litigate on.
Implementation of Decisions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights: Communications 688/18; 788/18; and 734/19
19 April 2026
ISLA, under its Litigation for Social Change (LSC) priority area, in collaboration with Equality Now and the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA), hosted a webinar examining the implementation of decisions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, with a focus on Communications 688/18; 788/18; and 734/19.
When Gender Neutral Laws Aren’t Neutral: Division of Matrimonial Property Based on Proven Contribution
5 March 2026
ISLA hosted a webinar that explored the legal implications of the legal requirement to prove contribution made towards the acquisition of matrimonial property as a basis for sharing matrimonial property upon divorce. The webinar focused on gender neutrality and the State’s duty to remedy systemic discrimination against women.
ISLA Build Strengthening Retreat
16 – 20 February 2026
From 16–20 February 2026, ISLA convened the BUILD: ISLA Strengthening Retreat in Johannesburg, a conscious act of feminist pause. In a political moment marked by shrinking civic space, sustained attacks on regional human rights systems, and coordinated anti-rights mobilisation targeting women, bodily autonomy, and sexual and gender minorities, ISLA chose to turn inward in order to strengthen its outward resistance.
Strategy Consultation: Feminist Strategic Litigation in Francophone West Africa: The Role of Private Practice
10 – 14 November 2025
ISLA convened a Strategy Consultation on Feminist Strategic Litigation in Francophone West Africa, aimed at exploring how feminist legal principles can be effectively integrated and applied within civil law systems.
NewzRoom Interviews
Concourt to Hear Arguments on “Consent” In Sexual Offences
Before the South African Constitutional Court is a landmark case on the definition of “consent” in sexual offense laws, including rape. The case stems from a challenge brought by a rape survivor, supported by the Embrace Project and the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS). Sibongile Ndashe weighs in on the discussion.
Constitutional Court on Section 10(2) of the Recognition Act
On 21 January 2026, Sibongile Ndashe joined NewzRoom Afrika to discuss a landmark Constitutional Court ruling. The Court found that Section 10(2) of the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act (the Recognition Act) requires judicial oversight to change a matrimonial property regime.
Difference She Makes Podcast
In the finale of #DifferenceSheMakes, a new docu-series exploring how African women are transforming justice, institutions and power, Sibongile Ndashe speaks to host Adelle Onyango about the importance of not treating shambolic laws as sacred, and start asking who they were built for and whether they adequately protect these people.
FENCE Africa 24 Interview
Kholekile Mnisi from Fence Africa 24 interviewed our Dr. Lesline Kouity to learn more about our work in Francophone West Africa. We appreciate the attention to detail and the background research that he brought to the interview. It allowed Dr. Kouity to discuss our work, enabling her to draw linkages to other continental processes that indirectly benefit from it.
15th NANHRI Biennial Conference
The Network of African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRI) held its 15th Biennial Conference in Yaoundé on the 5th and 6th of February
Our Executive Director joined Honourable Idrissa Sow, Chairperson of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), and Dr Tony Ojukwu, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Human Rights Commission.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) Event – Speaking in Memory of Agnes Odhiambo
Agnes Odhimabo, Former Senior Researcher at the Women’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch (HRW), was the embodiment of a spirited activist of women’s rights. She drew focus on pertinent issues and boldly called for state action to align laws with international standards during the span of her career.
Between legal guarantees and political constraints: An appraisal of public participation in Sudan
By Razan Ali & Mai Aman
Mai Aman has co-authored a chapter with Razan Ali in “The State of Democracy in Africa” a new publication developed under the Global Campus of Human Rights Alumni Programme (2024–25) with support from the European Union.
About Us
Founded in 2014, the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA) is a Pan-African and feminist initiative with a timely remit: to strengthen strategic human rights litigation across the African continent. Essentially, we aim to change the way that strategic litigation is used so as to enable broader access to justice and to support those who seek to hold states accountable for violations of women’s human rights and sexual rights.
Contact Details
Contact Number:
+27 11 338 9028
Fax: +27 11 338 9029
Address: 87 de Korte Street,
South Point Corner, 7th Floor Braamfontein, 2017 Gauteng, South Africa