Africa: African Rights Advocates Coordinate Response to Family Law Backlash

Nairobi — Women's rights advocates and legal professionals have united to combat the growing use of family law to undermine women's rights across Africa. The Africa Family Law Network conference in Nairobi, Kenya, from August 4-6, 2026, brought together campaigners, judges, and lawyers to push for reforms that would protect women's inheritance, property, divorce, and child custody rights.

While some progress has been made in recent years, anti-rights forces are now increasingly using family law as a weapon to roll back protections for women and girls. Rights advocates warn that family law has become a battleground for coordinated anti-rights campaigns, which aim to redefine traditional family structures and limit women's rights within the home.

By controlling who is considered part of a family, these groups seek to shape the broader social order. The struggle is evident in countries like Uganda, where proposed changes to marriage law could leave divorced women with limited access to marital assets and make it difficult for them to prove the value of unpaid care work. Weak enforcement of existing protections and a reliance on informal dispute resolution mechanisms further exacerbate women's vulnerability to abuse and discrimination.

Experts note that competing definitions of "family values" are increasingly influencing debates over family law reform, often marginalizing women's perspectives and reinforcing patriarchal norms.