ABSTRACT
This chapter stems from the premise that national governments have an obligation to promote, protect and fulfil human rights, and that adolescents girls’ reproductive health rights, specifically the right to contraception constitutes a critical part of the realization of this obligation. Once governments have signed and ratified international and regional instruments, they have an obligation depending on the domestic legal system, to translate these international instruments into their municipal legal system as law that can be implemented and enforced domestically. The chapter provides a desk-based analysis of the nature and extent of adolescent girls’ access to contraceptives in rural Zimbabwe. The chapter draws from international, regional and domestic law, policy, and reports. The aim of the chapter is to examine Zimbabwe’s compliance with its international, regional and domestic commitments pertaining to the sexual and reproductive health and rights of adolescent girls living in rural areas, specifically access to contraception and family planning.
