ACCRA — A draft African charter on family, sovereignty, and values was presented at an inter-parliamentary conference in Accra, Ghana. The draft proposes the rejection of international reproductive rights agreements.
Ghana parliamentary speaker Alban Bagbin opened the inter-parliamentary conference, stating that sexual and reproductive rights infringe on the sovereignty of African nations. The draft charter asserts that African values and culture face threats from foreign ideologies and urges states to withdraw from international agreements that conflict with its principles, including the 2003 Maputo protocol. That protocol establishes standards for gender equality and protects the reproductive and health rights of women and girls.
The draft charter claims that sexual and reproductive health and rights threaten the African family structure and states that policies based on reproductive rights promote abortion on demand. It includes provisions that reject comprehensive sex education programs and asserts that gender is exclusively male or female. The charter also declares that parental rights supersede children's rights regarding decisions on sexuality and discipline. Ugandan government ministers led a core group of African lawmakers who drafted the charter at the annual inter-parliamentary conference.
Representatives from 20 countries attended the conference in Ghana, where organizers aim to gather support to submit the charter for a vote at the African Union general assembly. The Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa published an analysis, stating that prioritizing the family over the individual risks subordinating women and children to collective family interests. Gilbert Mitullah, a lawyer, said, "It is a licence to oppose, regress on or refuse to implement existing commitments on sexual and reproductive health, and on LGBTQ rights, and to dismantle the Maputo protocol from within. That is its operational function, even before any signature is placed on it." Mitullah added, "'Family values' rhetoric legitimises expanded state intrusion into private life, and it provides a vocabulary that wins votes without delivering material change."
The initiative also reports that conservative Christian organizations from the U.S. and Europe influenced the charter's terminology. The draft charter dismisses progressive social policies as neocolonialism or cultural imperialism. Ipas reports that Family Watch International has provided support for the annual inter-parliamentary conferences on family values and sovereignty. Family Watch International issued a statement, saying it does not participate in or sponsor the Ghana conference. However, the organization stated it supports the draft charter's restrictions on comprehensive sex education programs in Africa and its provisions encouraging governments to apply a family lens when developing laws and policies. Sharon Slater, co-founder of a lobbying organization, said, "The United Nations and western donor nations are imposing a radical sexual rights agenda."