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On the final day of the 2026 Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), ISLA has issued an open letter to UN Women raising serious concerns about the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (AU CEVAWG).

In February 2025, the African Union (AU) Assembly adopted the Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (CEVAWG or ‘the Convention’). The Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA), in partnership with Fòs Feminista and Akina Mama wa Afrika, undertook a comprehensive legal analysis of the Convention due to concerns about its alignment with international human rights law standards and treaty-making practice.

In February 2025, the African Union (AU) Assembly adopted the Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (CEVAWG or ‘the Convention’). The Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA), in partnership with Fòs Feminista and Akina Mama wa Afrika, undertook a comprehensive legal analysis of the Convention due to concerns about its alignment with international human rights law standards and treaty-making practice.

As the year draws to a close, we come together to support the #PauseforPurpose campaign. December 10th is International Human Rights Day, which also marks the end of the 16 Days of Activism to End Violence Against Women. We, however, understand that this violence does not take a break. The reality is that it often intensifies during this period.

The paper analyzes the potential of the recently adopted African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls in addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV). Our conclusion is that the Convention falls short in crucial areas.

Adopted in February 2025 at the 38th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of
State and Government, the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against
Women and Girls (AU CEVAWG) is the first continental treaty dedicated to addressing
all forms of violence against women and girls.

In February 2025, the African Union (AU) adopted the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (AUCEVAWG), hailed in some corners as a historic legal instrument addressing gender-based violence across the continent. And yet, for many African feminists, the moment was shocking and bittersweet. The adoption marked the culmination of a drafting process that, by most accounts, was characterised by exclusion and opacity, particularly of the very feminist movements whose decades of advocacy laid the groundwork for such a treaty. This article proffers that the lack of meaningful participation by a cross-section of civil society actors undermines the convention’s political and normative legitimacy, even if its legal validity remains intact.

From 15 to 17 September 2025, lawyers, scholars, civil society organisations, human rights defenders and feminist activists convened for a Public Reading and Strategy Consultation on the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (CEVAWG). The meeting was co-convened by the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA), Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA), and Fòs Feminista, who brought together diverse voices from across the continent to interrogate the Convention, assess its progress/advancements, gaps or challenges and strategise on the way forward.

​On 31 July 2025, ISLA hosted an online conversation examining one of the most contentious aspects of the newly adopted African Union’s Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (CEVAWG): Article 14. This provision sets out the implementation and oversight framework for the Convention, placing primary responsibility in the hands of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR).

In February 2025, the African Union (AU) Assembly adopted the Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (CEVAWG), a landmark instrument that seeks to strengthen the continent’s response to one of its most pervasive human rights challenges. The Convention affirms the right of women and girls to live free from violence (Article 2) and extends protection across both public and private spheres, including cyberspace and conflict settings (Article 3). It prescribes comprehensive state obligations from enacting laws to combat violence, ensuring gender-responsive budgeting, and establishing coordinated support services for survivors (Articles 4–5), to protecting particularly vulnerable groups such as displaced women, women with disabilities, and older women (Article 7). The text also contains progressive provisions on the world of work (Article 8), safeguards for girls against harmful labour (Article 9), preventive measures that outlaw customs or traditions invoked to justify violence (Article 10) and guarantees of access to justice and protection for human rights defenders (Articles 11–12).