São Tomé and Príncipe signed the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (The Maputo Protocol) on the 1st of February 2010 and ratified nine years later on the 18th of April 2019. São Tomé and Príncipe is one of the smallest countries in Africa. It became independent in 1975; however, it was only in late 1980s that the country’s democratic reforms were enacted. São Tomé and Príncipe was once a leading cocoa producer, but decreases in the production left the country heavily dependent on foreign aid. Although the constitution