Judicial leadership in a changing landscape: Strengthening rights, health and inclusion across Africa

September 8, 2026

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Across Africa, courts are being asked to navigate increasingly complex questions that affect people’s rights and everyday lives – from access to healthcare, drug law and policy reform, and shrinking civic space to online harms and new technologies. Many of these challenges have a disproportionate impact on marginalized and vulnerable populations, at a time of declining international financing and growing pressure on public institutions.

From 12 to 14 August 2026, senior members of the judiciary from across Anglophone Africa gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the African Regional Judges’ Forum. Supported by UNDP through the #WeBelongAfrica programme, in partnership with the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, the three-day Forum provided a space to exchange experiences, review recent jurisprudence and consider evidence-informed judicial responses to challenges affecting equality, inclusion, health and development for those at risk of being left behind.

First convened in 2014, the Forum grew from recognition of the critical role that law and the judiciary play in the response to HIV, following the 2012 report of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law. Over time, the Forum has expanded beyond its original HIV focus to consider a wider range of emerging challenges facing courts across the continent.

That history gave particular weight to this year’s discussions. In her contribution to the opening session, Mandeep Dhaliwal, Director of UNDP’s Prosperity and Well-Being Hub, reflected on how rights-based legal frameworks, independent judiciaries and evidence-informed governance helped shape progress in the HIV response. With countries facing tighter resources and growing pressure on democratic institutions, those protections are becoming more important.

“Judges are not responsible for designing health policy. But they are responsible for ensuring that constitutional principles continue to govern public decision-making, particularly during periods of fiscal pressure and uncertainty. The rule of law becomes even more valuable when resources become scarce – in this new era, judicial independence is itself a public health asset,” Mandeep Dhaliwal said.

Health access was a central focus of the Forum. Judges examined recent cases dealing with systemic failures in public health services, access to medicines and harm reduction services, public procurement, accountability and the impact of discriminatory laws and policies. The proceedings paired judicial perspectives with technical expertise, civil society voices and lived experience, connecting constitutional principles with the practical consequences of laws and policies.

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Reflecting on the discussions in his closing remarks, Justice Oagile Key Dingake from Botswana, co-chair of the Forum, emphasized the importance of grounding judicial reasoning in evidence and lived realities. “Jurisprudence divorced from lived realities is jurisprudence without soul. Whether in public health, drug policy, digital governance, or discrimination, the law must be guided by evidence and human dignity. Where law and evidence walk hand in hand, justice and public health advance together; where they part ways, both falter.”

The Forum also focused on digital rights and security. Sessions considered online hate speech, cyberbullying and misinformation, alongside freedom of expression and association. Recent cases addressing internet shutdowns, restrictions on civil society, criminal defamation and cybercrime legislation provided a basis for considering how courts can respond to digital harms while safeguarding civic space and fundamental freedoms.

Justice Zione Ntaba of the Malawi High Court emphasized the growing responsibility of courts to respond to online harms: “Courts need to be more vigilant around protection of rights, because I think the digital space, the internet space, is showing us that the consequences and the impact of it are far reaching,” she said. She also highlighted the need to balance freedom of expression with protection from harm, particularly for individuals and marginalized communities.

Another set of sessions focused on the universality of rights and the role of domestic and regional courts in protecting equality, dignity and sexual and reproductive health and rights of marginalized groups. Participants reflected on recent developments supporting the domestication of the Maputo Protocol and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ Resolution 552 on the promotion and protection of the rights of intersex persons, highlighting how constitutional guarantees, regional human rights instruments and comparative jurisprudence can inform judicial reasoning.

On the final day, attention shifted to drug law and policy through a public health and human rights lens. Judges heard perspectives on the impact of criminalization on health and well-being, evidence supporting harm reduction and alternatives to incarceration. Judicial decisions from Africa and beyond were used to explore how courts can consider evidence, public health outcomes and constitutional rights in cases involving drug use and possession.

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A theme running through the Forum was the value of judicial exchange. While judges operate in different legal and political contexts, many face comparable questions. “We learn from each other. We exchange information, exchange ideas,” said Justice Zukisa Tshiqi, co-chair of the Forum and a former Justice of South Africa’s Constitutional Court. Rather than prescribing judicial outcomes, the Forum creates a trusted space for judges to strengthen legal reasoning and learn across jurisdictions. Reviewing decisions from across Africa and engaging with peers, experts and communities, allows judges to draw on experiences from other jurisdictions while applying the law within their own constitutional contexts.

Justice Tshiqi described the value of these regional networks simply: “You sit alone, but you are not alone.” Justice Dingake described this as the “power of judicial solidarity,” noting that the exchange of jurisprudence across Africa has enriched collective understanding.

The 2026 African Regional Judges’ Forum was supported through UNDP’s #WeBelongAfrica: Inclusive Governance Initiative, funded by Sweden, as well as an Open Society Foundation-funded UNDP project supporting public health and human rights-based approaches to drug law and policy informed by the International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy. Together, this support helps sustain judicial dialogue and regional learning that can contribute to more inclusive, accountable and rights-based justice systems.

The Johannesburg meeting brought together senior members of the judiciary from countries in Anglophone Africa, with plans to convene virtual forums for judges from Francophone and Lusophone African countries.

As the legal and policy environment continues to evolve, the need for informed, independent and principled judicial leadership remains clear. The 2026 Forum reaffirmed that protecting hard-won gains in health and human rights depends not only on laws on paper, but on institutions able to interpret and apply them in ways that uphold dignity, equality and justice for all.