Lubaale-Anyasi, Emma Charlene, Kwagala, Primah and Rukirabashaija, Kakwenza (2025) Consent cannot cure harm: an International Human Rights Law critique of Uganda’s polygamy ruling. In: Lubaale-Anyasi, Emma Charlene, Kwagala, Primah and Rukirabashaija, Kakwenza, (eds.) seminal Papers on Polygamy, Cultural Freedoms, and Gender Justice: Insights from Uganda's Constitutional Court. The Women’s Probono Initiative (WPI), Kampala, Uganda, pp. 6-20. (doi:https://womenprobono.org/download/seminal-papers-on-polygamy-cultural-freedoms-and-gender-justice-insights-from-ugandas-constitutional-court/)

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Abstract

On 10 July 2025, the Constitutional Court of Uganda delivered its judgment in Women’s Probono Initiative v Attorney General (Constitutional Petition No. 12 of 2021). The petitioners challenged the constitutionality of polygamy, contending that the practice contravenes multiple constitutional provisions by discriminating against women, inflicting emotional and physical harm, undermining the right to health, and obstructing equitable distribution of property upon marital dissolution. In response, the Attorney General defended polygamy as a constitutionally protected cultural and religious institution, voluntarily entered into by consenting adult women. The Court ultimately dismissed the petition, holding that polygamy falls within the realm of personal liberty and marital choice, and that adults who enter such unions are presumed to do so with full awareness of the potential disadvantages (paras. 51 & 120). This ruling raises significant jurisprudential questions concerning the nature of consent, autonomy, and liberty in the context of structurally embedded gender inequality. In this commentary, we argue that international human rights law reflects a consistent normative trajectory that regards polygamy as inherently harmful and incompatible with the principles of substantive gender equality. Through General Comments and Recommendations, Concluding Observations, and treaty body guidance, polygamy is increasingly framed not as a neutral cultural practice, but as one that perpetuates systemic disadvantage and undermines women’s dignity and rights. Accordingly, we argue that the Constitutional Court’s reliance on adult consent as a legitimising principle is fundamentally flawed from an international human rights law perspective. Where a practice is recognised under international law as structurally harmful, the invocation of autonomy and freewill cannot serve as a sufficient defence. The assumption that women enter polygamous unions voluntarily and with full awareness of their detrimental consequences overlooks the prevailing international human rights trajectory that polygamy is inherently harmful. As such, its very nature places it beyond the bounds of what can be considered a legitimate or permissible exercise of individual choice.

Item Type:	Book Section
Additional Information:	"This collection of seminal papers emerges from a pivotal moment in our journey toward gender justice, the delivery of the judgement in Women’s Probono Initiative v Attorney General, Constitutional Petition No. 12 of 2021 [2025] UGCC 6." - MP
Uncontrolled Keywords:	polygamy, human rights, women, Uganda
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) J Political Science > JX International law K Law > K Law (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences > School of Law and Criminology
Related URLs:	Publisher
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2025 15:42
URI:	https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/51041

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