Sexual and Reproductive Rights
SALC’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights programme has the following objectives:
- To ensure a human rights approach in management of teenage/adolescent and learner pregnancy
- To challenge the practice of child and forced marriage
- To ensure accountability for health care violations relating to sexual and reproductive health rights
- To promote recognition and respect for sexual and reproductive health rights
- To challenge laws and practices that violate sexual and reproductive health rights
- To ensure accountability for and eradication of gender-based violence.
Current cases:
Malawi: Protecting right to freedom of expression for woman human rights defenders
Eswatini (Swaziland): Challenging laws allowing child marriage
Completed cases:
Tanzania: Challenging laws allowing child marriage.
Botswana: Challenging prescription in medical negligence claim
Zimbabwe: Case strengthening women’s access to reproductive health services.
Namibia: Challenging coerced sterilisation of women living with HIV.
Malawi: Advancing the best interests of the child in sentencing of caregivers.
Malawi: Challenge to the arrest and removal from school of pregnant learners
Malawi: Challenging the criminalisation of breastfeeding by women living with HIV.
Lesotho: Challenge to unfair dismissal as a result of pregnancy in the Lesotho Defence Force.
Publications:
Advocacy:

Call in the lawyers: mitigating the Global Gag Rule...
Article on the effects of the global gag rule, how it negatively impacts efforts to improve laws to ensure access…
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News Release: Challenge to use of Defilement Offences against Adolescents Engage...
Blantyre, 26 August 2020 – Yesterday, the Child Justice Court sitting in Blantyre, Malawi, issued an order for a stay…
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MALAWI: CHALLENGING CRIMINALISATION OF ADOLESCENT SEXUALITY...
SALC is working with Centre for Human Rights Education, Advice and Assistance (CHREAA) – Malawi in a challenge to the law of defilement in s138 of the…
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Celebrating International Women’s Day...
International Women’s Day (IWD), which was held on 8 March 2020, represents an important day in the fight for women’s…
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News Release: Tanzania Court of Appeal upholds ban on child marriage...
23 October 2019 - Today, the Tanzania Court of Appeal issued a judgment in the case of Attorney General V…
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Eswatini: Summary of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act...
The Rights4All Project, under its My Body My Rights Campaign, published a booklet which summarises the provisions of the Sexual…
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International Safe Abortion Day 2019: The Global Gag Rule as a barrier to access...
Article 14(2)(c ) of the Maputo Protocol mandates African states to facilitate access to safe abortion in cases of sexual…
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Policy Brief: The Recognition of Customary Marriages In Zimbabwe And The Propose...
The Zimbabwe Marriage Bill, 2019 was gazetted and released for public comment on 19 July 2019. The Bill proposes to…
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