A contentious draft charter that seeks to redefine family values and reject established international human rights obligations has taken a significant step towards adoption this week during a conference held in Ghana. The document, which has drawn sharp rebuke from human rights advocates, asserts that cultural and sexual rights pose a threat to traditional family structures across the continent.
Ghana Hosts Pivotal Conference on Family Values
The annual inter-parliamentary conference on family values and sovereignty took place in Accra, with Alban Bagbin, Ghana’s parliamentary speaker, opening the event. This year’s meeting gathered representatives from 20 countries, aiming to secure support for the draft charter that proponents claim will protect African cultural values against what they describe as “foreign ideologies.”
The charter, which is poised to be presented to the African Union’s general assembly for a vote next February, argues that sexual and reproductive health rights are existential threats to the African family unit. It calls for member states to withdraw from international agreements that conflict with its principles, including the 2003 Maputo Protocol—a pivotal document promoting gender equality and safeguarding women’s health rights.
Charter’s Contentions and Criticisms
Critics have denounced the charter as regressive and dangerous. It seeks to impose a moralistic framework, rejecting comprehensive sex education, asserting a binary view of gender, and prioritising parental authority over children’s rights in matters of sexuality and discipline. Legal experts and advocates from various sectors, including reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ rights, have voiced concerns that the charter undermines existing protections and could facilitate further discrimination.
Gilbert Mitullah, a Kenyan lawyer affiliated with the Queer African Network, expressed alarm at the charter’s implications, stating, “It is a licence to oppose, regress on or refuse to implement existing commitments on sexual and reproductive health, and on LGBTQ rights.” He argued that the document is crafted to dismantle established protections from within, even before any formal endorsement.
The Broader Societal Impact
The Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA) conducted a thorough analysis of the draft, warning that its prioritisation of family over individual rights could enable the subjugation of women and children under collective family interests. Lakshita Kanhiya, a legal officer at ISLA, articulated the grave concerns: “Women will no longer be safe; children will not be safe.” This sentiment echoes the fears of many that the charter could embolden state intrusion into private life under the guise of protecting family values.
The charter’s definition of family, rooted in a strictly heterosexual framework, overlooks the vast diversity of familial structures across Africa’s 54 nations. Critics argue that such narrow definitions not only marginalise various family forms but also ignore the realities faced by many individuals and communities.
The Influence of External Forces
The charter’s development has been significantly influenced by conservative Christian organisations from the US and Europe that oppose abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. It has been suggested that the rhetoric surrounding sovereignty and cultural integrity is often manipulated to advance an anti-rights agenda. Famia Nkansa, communications lead at Purposeful, a Sierra Leone-based girls’ activism organisation, remarked, “Anti-rights activity on the continent is simply an extension and expansion of the same colonial playbook: Africa serving as a battleground on which the west wages its ideological and economic wars.”
Mitullah characterised the charter as not merely a local initiative but rather a product of a transnational network, stating that it mirrors the Geneva Consensus Declaration, an anti-abortion manifesto backed by former Trump administration advisors. The language and stipulations of the draft suggest a coordinated effort to reshape the legal landscape on the continent around conservative values.
Why it Matters
The potential adoption of this charter could have far-reaching implications for human rights across Africa. By rejecting established international norms in favour of a regressive, moralistic framework, the charter threatens to undermine hard-won gains in gender equality and sexual health rights. Its adoption could signal a troubling shift in policy that prioritises ideological conformity over the protection of individual rights, further entrenching discrimination and inequality across the continent. As the debate unfolds, the international community must remain vigilant and advocate for the protection of human rights in the face of emerging challenges.