Today, on 11 July 2025, we mark 22 years since the adoption of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, also known as the ‘Maputo Protocol’: a landmark moment in Africa’s legal and political history. But this year’s commemoration comes at a time when the rights enshrined in the Protocol are facing new and intensifying threats. From rising violence and regressive laws to coordinated attacks on bodily autonomy and women’s rights defenders, the gains hard-won by African women’s movements are under siege. But the SOAWR Coalition is not backing