Introduction
The Africa Reproductive Justice Litigation Alliance is a continental Alliance established to consolidate, coordinate, and elevate reproductive justice litigation across Africa. It was formed in recognition of a structural deficit within the regional legal landscape: the absence of a cohesive continental mechanism capable of harmonising national litigation efforts, engaging regional judicial bodies, and advancing a unified African jurisprudence on reproductive justice. ARJLA is a structured litigation architecture rooted in African legal philosophy and continental solidarity. Its core mandate is the advancement of reproductive justice through strategic litigation, legal empowerment, and legal aid across national, sub-regional, and continental judicial forums.
Over the years, ARJLA members have engaged African human rights mechanisms, including the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, ECOWAS Court of Justice and national Courts, to advance a coherent continental jurisprudence on reproductive justice. The Alliance has supported its membership to respond to regressive and restrictive legal and policy shifts that undermine access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, combining rapid legal support with longer term strategies aimed at shielding service delivery, protecting litigants, and strengthening institutional accountability.
ARJLA has also issued oral statements in regional spaces to contest rollbacks and to affirm the continued applicability of African human rights standards to reproductive justice questions, particularly where national measures attempt to normalise exclusion, criminalisation, or administrative obstruction. Complementing this engagement, the Alliance has generated research and documentation to strengthen evidence-based litigation, inform policy discourse, and support precedent setting strategic litigation across national, sub regional, and continental forum.
ARJLA’s mandate is to utilise the law as an instrument of social justice through three integrated approaches: strategic and public interest litigation, legal empowerment, and legal aid. The Alliance operates across: National courts, Sub-regional judicial mechanisms, including regional economic community courts and Continental human rights institutions. Its litigation scope encompasses reproductive autonomy, access to safe abortion and post abortion care, contraception, maternal health, comprehensive sexuality education, protection from sexual and gender based violence, and other structural determinants of reproductive justice.
Membership_
Membership in ARJLA is open to reproductive justice actors across Africa, including civil society organisations, legal and medical practitioners, judicial officers, academics, coalitions, and networks committed to advancing reproductive justice through legal mechanisms. Eligibility requires demonstrated engagement in reproductive justice work, adherence to ARJLA’s guiding principles, and commitment to continental collaboration. Members benefit from structured platforms for cross learning, coordinated litigation strategy, technical and financial support mechanisms, and participation in continental convenings. Membership responsibilities include adherence to institutional standards, active contribution to Alliance initiatives, and compliance with conflict of interest and accountability provisions.
The Alliance is dedicated to promoting reproductive justice through a comprehensive approach that includes strategic and public interest litigation, legal empowerment, and legal aid. This multifaceted strategy will be implemented at various levels, including national, sub-regional (such as the East African Community – EAC, the Economic Community of West African States[1]ECOWAS, and the Southern African Development Community-SADC), and regional levels (such as the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Commission of Human and Peoples’ Rights).
Through this comprehensive approach, the Alliance plans to address the complex and interconnected challenges affecting reproductive justice. This will involve coordinated reproductive justice litigation, as well as the support and coordination of national, sub-regional, and regional legal networks to challenge adverse colonial legacies and push back against legal systems and frameworks that hinder access to SRHR.
