Ethiopia’s Reservations to the Maputo Protocol: A Compatibility Analysis with the Protocol’s Object and Purpose

Abstract

In July 2018, following fifteen years of lobbying, the government of
Ethiopia ratified the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and
Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo
Protocol). Despite the delayed ratification, it was widely regarded
as a pivotal addition the national framework for protecting women
and girls against widespread and systematic human rights
violations. Nevertheless, upon ratification, Ethiopia entered six
reservations and seven interpretative declarations, which hindered
Ethiopian women and girls from fully benefiting from the
provisions. The analysis in this paper centres on the three
reservations and interpretative declarations on Articles 4(2)(a), 6(b)
and 6(d), which respectively prohibit violence against women in the
private sphere; set 18 as the minimum age of marriage and require
mandatory registration of marriage. This raises a critical question
as to their compatibility with the object and purpose of the Protocol,
potentially risking their nullification under the Vienna Convention
on the Law of Treaties (VCLT). This paper explores both the object
and purpose of the Protocol, as well as Ethiopia’s stated rationale
for entering reservations and interpretative declarations at the time
of ratification. Central to the discussion is a critical assessment of
whether these reservations and interpretative declarations are
compatible with the Protocol’s object and Purpose.
Key words; Maputo Protocol, VCLT, object and purpose,
compatibility, Ethiopia