Many thanks to Keikantse Phele, a Botswana based Human Rights lawyer and LL.M. graduate in Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Africa, at the Centre for Human Rights of the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Law. Her summary and analysis of this pioneering decision has just been published among the online updates to co-published third volume of case summaries, Legal Grounds: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts. We are pleased to circulate brief excerpts:

Ricky Nathanson v Farai Mteliso, The Officer in Charge Bulawayo Central Police Station, Commissioner of Police and the Minister of Home Affairs, Case no.HB 176/19 HC 1873/14 [2019] ZWBHC 135( (14 November 2019);  (Zimbabwe, High Court) Decision online.   Case Summary by Keikantse Phele (download PDF).

COURT HOLDING: The Plaintiff, a transgender woman, was awarded damages of 400,000 ZWD, for unlawful and malicious arrest during which she was subjected to inhuman…

Many thanks to Benson Chakaya, a D.Phil Candidate and M.Phil Graduate in the LL.M./M.Phil (Sexual & Reproductive Rights in Africa) degree program at the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria. He also serves as National Coordinator for Right Here Right Now Kenya ​hosted by the ​Family Health Options Kenya and formerly worked with the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions. His full case summary and comment has been added to the online update of Legal Grounds III: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts.

We also thank Bernard Dickens, Professor Emeritus of Health Law and Policy at the University of Toronto, co-editor and author of Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective: Cases and Controversies (2014), who provided a concise overview of this important decision:

Federation of Women Lawyers (Fida – Kenya) & 3 others v Attorney General& 2 others [2019] eKLR, Petition No…

Many thanks to Ovye Affi, an LL.M student of Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Africa, in the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa. He kindly contributed a 6-page case summary to the updated edition of Legal Grounds III: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts., online here. We are pleased to circulate a few excerpts about this “first suit in a Nigerian court which specifically sought the protection of the rights of homosexuals.”

Cite as: Ovye Affi, “Nigerian High Court avoided constitutional scrutiny of anti-gay laws : Mr. Teriah Joseph Ebah v. Federal Republic of Nigeria (2014),” Legal Grounds III: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts, Reprohealthlaw Blog, Dec. 10, 2019 Decision online. 6-page Case Comment by Ovye Affi.

“Court Holding: The Court held that the Applicant in this case has no legal standing to bring an…

Many thanks to George Sakyi Asumadu, an LL.M student in Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Africa at the Centre for Human Rights in the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Law, for summarizing and commenting on the significance of this landmark decision on age of marriage, gender discrimination, and violations of rights through customary law. We are pleased to excerpt this overview of the Court ruling and provide links to the full Case C.

APDF & IHRDA v Republic of Mali(Association pour le Progrés et la Défense des Droits des Femmes Maliennes (APDF) and The Institute For Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) v. Republic Of Mali), Application No. 046/2016, African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. (2018)  Decision of May 11, 2018  PDF.  Decision online . Case Comment by George Sakyi Asumadu.

COURT HOLDING: The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (The…

Many thanks to Kutlwano Pearl Magashula, an LL.M. student in the Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Africa program at the University of Pretoria’s Centre of Human Rights, for her summary and analysis of the recent judgment in Letsweletse Motshidiemang v Attorney General [2019] MAHGB-000591-16 (High Court of Botswana)Decision of June 11, 2019, in which the Court struck down sections of the Penal Code that criminalized same-sex sexual intercourse.

(Cite as:) Kutlwano Pearl Magashula, “Botswana High Court decriminalizes homosexuality: Letsweletse Motshidiemang v Attorney General, 2019” online at: “Legal Grounds: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts” 5-page case summary and comment

We are pleased to excerpt her comments about the significance of this ruling:

The case made a watershed finding that recognized the rights of LGBT persons in Botswana. The Court found that sodomy laws do not serve any useful public purpose and in fact ‘deserve archival…

Colloquium on Overcoming Barriers to Safe Abortion in the African Region, 16-17 January 2020 at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa. Details, funding, topics, and Call for Abstracts

The Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa, will host a colloquium on #SafeAbortion and realising women’s human rights from 16 to 17 January 2020. The colloquium is about developing responses to the persistence of unsafe abortion in the African region. The Centre invites abstracts on overcoming barriers to safe abortion in the #African region. The focus is two-fold: critically exploring laws, policies and practices that serve as barriers to access to safe abortion; and suggesting reforms to overcome the barriers in consonance with women’s human rights. The colloquium seeks to bring together scholars, practitioners and researchers from the African region and beyond working on various aspects of abortion.

Abstracts must be sent by email to

Apply before July 20, 2019 at 3:59 a.m. EST.
Director, International Human Rights Program (Job #1902704)
Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, Canada
Official Job Details and application info online here.

About IHRP:

The International Human Rights Program enhances the legal protection of existing and emerging international human rights obligations through advocacy, knowledge-exchange, and capacity-building initiatives that provide experiential learning opportunities for students, and legal expertise to civil society, through the following programs and initiatives:

• Clinical Legal Education
• Volunteer working Groups
• Summer Internships
• Speaker Series and Symposia
• Rights Review magazine.

The Director of the International Human Rights Program (“IHRP”) provides clinical, educational, and administrative leadership and support to the IHRP. The Director is the primary contact and responsible for all matters related to the IHRP.  The Director oversees all of the IHRP’s advocacy initiatives, including the clinic, working groups, speaker series, Rights Review magazine, internships, and the mentorship program.  …

Congratulations to Satang Nabaneh of the University of Pretoria’s Centre for Human Rights, at the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa, and Adamson S. Muula, of the Africa Center of Excellence in Public Health and Herbal Medicine (ACEPHEM), Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, University of Malawi in Blantyre, whose article, recently published in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, suggests that female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM) can be progressively deterred in African countries, by legal and educational means, where there is a will to apply them:

Satang Nabaneh and Adamson S. Muula, “Female genital mutilation/cutting in Africa: A complex legal and ethical landscape,”  InternationalJournal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 2019; 145: 253–257,  PDF at Wiley Online. Submitted text at SSRN.

Abstract:  While international and regional human rights instruments have recognized FGM/C as one of the most prevalent forms of violence against…

Many thanks to Naitore Nyamu, an LL.M. student in the graduate program in Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Africa at the University of Pretoria’s Centre for Human Rights, for contributing a detailed abstract of this progressive Kenyan ruling for Legal Grounds III: Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Sub-Saharan African Courts,online edition.

J O O (also known as J M) v Attorney General & 6 others [2018] Petition No 5 of 2014, (High Court of Kenya at Bungoma), March 22, 2018.  Case summary by Naitore Nyamu.   Court decision.

The case summary by Naitore Nyamu explains how, on 5 August, 2013, a low-income pregnant woman sought healthcare for delayed labour and suffered neglect, privations and expenses from an ill-funded county hospital, and humiliating personal abuse from its nurses.  She later filed a constitutional petition alleging various violations of her rights as stipulated in the Constitution of Kenya 2010…