Twitter Space Panel: Adolescents’ SRHR and Access to Education

January 24 marked the UN’s International Day of Education, offering an opportunity to reflect on how access to reproductive rights impacts one’s right to education—as shown in a recent case argued by the Center and its partner, the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC).

The case, Legal and Human Rights Centre and Center for Reproductive Rights v. United Republic of Tanzania, challenged Tanzania’s practice of permanently barring pregnant girls from school. In 2022, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) ruled that that practice violated adolescent girls’ human rights and recommended that Tanzania reform its education policies.

On January 31, the Center and LHRC hosted a Twitter Space forum discussing the ACERWC decision, its implications for education in Tanzania and beyond, and the intersection between the right to access education and the right to access reproductive services.

The Center’s Legal Adviser for Africa Prudence Mutiso spoke on the panel, and Senior Advocacy Adviser Wanjiru Kamanda served as moderator.

• Theme: Significance of adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health and rights (ASRHR) in accessing education: A deep dive into the ACERWC decision on Tanzania
• Date: Tuesday, January 31, 2023
• Time: 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. EST (7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. EAT)
• Featuring: Prudence Mutiso, Legal Adviser for Africa & Wanjiru Kamanda, Senior Advocacy Adviser
• Hosted by: The Center for Reproductive Rights and the Legal and Human Rights Centre

• Hon. Robert Doya Nanima—ACERWC Committee Member and Country Rapporteur to Eswatini, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania
• Mr. Fulgence Massawe—Director of Advocacy and Reforms, Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), Tanzania
• Ms. Primah Kwagala—Executive Director, Women Probono Initiative (WPI), Uganda
• Ms. Prudence Mutiso, Legal Adviser for Africa, Center for Reproductive Rights
• Moderator: Wanjiru Kamanda, Senior Advocacy Adviser, Center for Reproductive Rights