The African Disability Protocol Is Now in Force — But the Real Work Is Just Beginning

On 3 May 2024, a landmark moment occurred for disability rights across Africa. The African Disability Protocol formally titled the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa – officially entered into force. This happened when the Republic of Congo deposited the 15th instrument of ratification, crossing the threshold required to make the protocol legally binding across the African Union.

It was the culmination of years of advocacy by disability organisations, government champions, legal scholars, and campaigners across the continent. And yet, as Sightsavers’ campaign lead and partners across the continent have consistently noted, the entry into force is not the finish line. It is the starting gun.

What Is the African Disability Protocol?

Adopted by the African Union on 29 January 2018, the African Disability Protocol is the first African human rights instrument exclusively focused on the rights of persons with disabilities. It was designed to complement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) not replace it by addressing issues specific to the African context.

Unlike the CRPD, the African Disability Protocol explicitly addresses customs, traditional beliefs, and harmful practices that affect persons with disabilities in African communities. It also addresses sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for persons with disabilities — an area the CRPD treats less explicitly — and it speaks directly to the role of families, caregivers, and communities in disability inclusion.

The Protocol is composed of 44 articles covering principles and scope (Articles 1–4), equality and liberty (Articles 5–12), specific rights (Articles 13–26), marginalised groups including women, children, and older persons with disabilities (Articles 27–30), duties and data obligations (Articles 31–32), and implementation mechanisms (Articles 33–44).

Who Has Ratified — and Who Hasn’t

As of early 2026, 17 African Union member states have ratified the Protocol, meaning 38 AU member states have not yet done so. The countries that ratified the Protocol during the lead-up to its entry into force include Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Kenya, Mali, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, and the Republic of Congo as the decisive 15th ratifying country.

The Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, which has been a leading academic and advocacy force behind the Protocol, is clear that universal ratification across all 55 AU member states is essential. A regional workshop hosted by the Centre in 2025 brought together stakeholders from Eswatini, South Africa, Malawi, Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Uganda, and Botswana to develop strategies for widening ratification.

What Ratification Requires — A Five-Step Process

Sightsavers’ comprehensive June 2025 guide to the African Disability Protocol outlines the five-step ratification and implementation process that member states must follow:

• Step 1: Signature — the initial political commitment by the state
• Step 2: Ratification — formal legal adoption through domestic legislative processes
• Step 3: Domestication — translation of Protocol obligations into national laws and policies
• Step 4: Implementation — actual changes in how disability rights are protected in practice
• Step 5: Monitoring — reporting to the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and other AU mechanisms

The ADP requires member states to put in place responsive systems in public service delivery that guarantee the rights of persons with disabilities, including reviewing national laws and ensuring holistic coordination across government departments.

The Advocacy Campaign Driving Universal Ratification

The African Union Commission, Africa Disability Alliance, Sightsavers, and the African Disability Forum are working together under Sightsavers’ Equal World campaign to call for universal ratification. Their strategy combines national-level advocacy through country offices, capacity-building workshops for media and community-based organisations, public awareness campaigns using radio, television, and digital platforms, and strategic engagement with relevant ministries.

In countries like Zambia, organisations including Cheshire Homes Society of Zambia, the Zambia Federation of Disability Organisations (ZAFOD), and partners under the Make Way programme have targeted government bodies including the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services and the Ministry of Justice. The goal is not just ratification but domestication translating Protocol obligations into actual national law.

The Africa Disability Alliance is running a dedicated women-led advocacy programme called ARWA (African Regional Women Advocates) to accelerate ratification by remaining member states, with a specific focus on countries including Eswatini, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mauritius, Burkina Faso, and The Gambia.

Why Implementation Is the Harder Challenge

Ratification is a legal act. Implementation is a political, financial, and institutional challenge of a completely different scale. History shows that many African states have ratified human rights treaties without meaningfully changing domestic law or practice. The CRPD itself — which has 51 of 54 African states as parties has not resulted in equal rights in practice for the majority of Africans with disabilities.

The African Disability Protocol’s implementation requires governments to allocate dedicated budgets for disability services, reform legislation that conflicts with Protocol principles, establish complaints mechanisms, create accessible formats of all public information, and ensure that persons with disabilities are meaningfully represented in political and public life.

📌 You can read simplified, accessible versions of the African Disability Protocol in multiple formats at campaigning.sightsavers.org/the-african-disability-protocol. The guide is available in English, French, and Portuguese.

For advocates, legal practitioners, OPD leaders, and citizens across Africa, the African Disability Protocol represents the strongest continental tool available to demand change. Understanding it and holding governments accountable to it is the work of the disability rights movement for the decade ahead.