Prudence Mutiso: Litigating for Women’s Rights in Africa
Prudence Mutiso (LL.M. '18) is a Senior Legal Advisor for Africa with the Center for Reproductive Rights. Based in the Center’s Africa headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, Prudence champions sexual and reproductive health and rights as a fundamental human right across the continent through strategic litigation.
Prudence has been a longtime advocate for human rights. Since starting her first human rights job in 2013 with the CRADLE, a leading organization in Kenya that advances child protection and child justice, Prudence has not looked back. “I found my niche,” she says, “and I discovered that I want to focus on human rights” as a career. From there, Prudence continued her work combating sexual violence against children with the International Justice Mission, providing legal representation to children in Kenya and ensuring that “their voices were heard in court.”
Georgetown Law was a turning point in Prudence’s career and human rights focus. Whereas she “used to be all over the place with human rights,” Prudence credits the Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa (LAWA) Fellowship led by Professor Jill Morrison with helping her narrow her focus to women’s rights. “That fellowship changed my life and marked a turning point in my human rights career,” she explains. “Listening to fellow LAWAs and hearing about the kind of issues that women were dealing with in Africa ignited and sparked something in me that made me want to concentrate on women’s rights.” Overall, Prudence says, “the opportunity that it afforded me to network with fellow human rights lawyers from Africa and work towards getting my LL.M. was life changing and gave me a great perspective that I’m going to use in years to come.”
Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Africa through Impact Litigation
Prudence’s current work focuses on impact litigation to decriminalize abortion, protect maternal health, and promote the evolving capacities of adolescents to make decisions about their sexual development. The cases that she has led or supported in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Rwanda, Malawi, and Zambia have aimed to dismantle vestiges of colonialism embedded in penal codes across Africa and in promoting the sexual and reproductive health and rights of countless women and adolescents across the continent.
On abortion laws, for example, Prudence explains that many of the countries she works in have a connection because they are former British colonies that have adopted the United Kingdom’s 1861 Offenses Against the Person Act, a law which criminalized abortion in nearly all circumstances. The law’s ban on abortion has since been repealed in the United Kingdom, but it is still on the books in several former British colonies, subjecting women and girls to the threat of life in prison for seeking to terminate a pregnancy. Prudence employs international human rights law, such as the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (also known as the Maputo Protocol) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (“CEDAW”), in order to liberalize stringent abortion provisions and expand exceptions to near-total abortion bans. Her case work is instrumental in making sure women “have the right to access safe and legal abortion.”
Prudence’s casework has also promoted the sexual rights of adolescents and helped to keep them out of prisons or juvenile detention centers. For example, in Malawi, until 2023, the penal code did not distinguish between sexual exploitation by predatory adults on young children, on the one hand, and consensual, non-coercive, and non-exploitative sex between adolescent peers, on the other hand. Adolescents who were caught having consensual sex with their peers were found to be in conflict with the law. Prudence’s support helped change that. Her support towards the strategic litigation challenging the constitutionality of “criminalizing adolescents for engaging in behavior that is very normal to them” helped to spur legislative amendments that allow adolescents to engage legally in consensual sexual relations with their close-in-age peers.
In 2024, one of the cases that Prudence worked on regarding the right to maternal health reached a landmark victory in the Kenyan Court of Appeal—the country’s second highest court and a standard-bearer on human rights in Africa. Representing a woman who was physically and verbally abused by health professionals while she was giving birth at the Bungoma County Hospital in Western Kenya, Prudence argued that the Kenyan Constitution guarantees the right to health and, therefore, the state has a duty to provide dignified maternal healthcare. “Maternal health is an issue that is very close to my heart,” says Prudence, noting the high rate of obstetric violence in Africa. “In my mind, I thought, if we win this particular case, not only will the court set a precedent in Kenya, but this decision is going to have a ripple effect across the continent.” When the Court of Appeal agreed with her, and even “went a step further to clarify what constitutes respectful maternal healthcare,” she was thrilled about “making a positive change on human rights and accountability” in Kenya and, potentially, throughout Africa.
Being Prepared—and Patient—in the Face of Legal and Cultural Barriers
The human rights issues that Prudence works on can be incredibly sensitive and contentious, and domestic legal institutions are not always aware of or abiding by international human rights guarantees. “We face a lot of pushback on sensitive topics like abortion, and “we do not always have the kind of support you would have on other issues, such as maternal health,” she says, adding, “It can dampen your spirit.” Prudence notes that she has also observed a lack of follow-through from governments that have ratified international and regional human rights instruments, such as CEDAW and the Maputo Protocol. “At times, it’s disheartening when you make very good arguments, but you still face opposition from governments in terms of implementing regional and international human rights obligations or when asking them to use it as persuasive material in the formulation of policy,” says Prudence.
For human rights advocates who are committed to making a difference, Prudence advises them to be “patient with your audiences—whether it is policymakers, judges, a community, or people you are trying to persuade.” She says, “You need to accept that some of the projects you’re working on right now might not reach fruition during your time. However, others will benefit from these efforts and will carry on the work to ensure its completion.” Prudence also highlights technical skills, such as research and drafting arguments; critical thinking; and staying up-to-date with developments in human rights law to “enable you to harness your whole potential. Read extensively and master your subject matter.”
On the Value of Networking at Georgetown
Prudence emphasizes the value of networking, explaining that fellow human rights lawyers can help you navigate an evolving legal landscape or even end up serving in pivotal roles, such as at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights or the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. “It is important to make those connections,” says Prudence, “and Georgetown is a huge community with people from all over the world.”
Outside of work, Prudence enjoys yoga and dancing.
Written by Sabrina Lourie. Edited by Michelle Liu.