By The Constitutional Court has struck down discriminatory provisions in Uganda’s Divorce Act, affirming that both men and women now have equal rights to petition for judicial separation and property settlements.
Previously, only women could seek separation, leaving men without the same legal recourse. In its ruling, the Court declared the provision unconstitutional and extended its application to spouses of either sex.
“This decision marks a major victory for gender equality in family law,” said one of the petitioners. “For too long, women carried the legal burden while men were shielded from the same obligations. The Court has now corrected this imbalance.”
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However, activists who brought the case expressed mixed feelings after the Court rejected their bid to replace Uganda’s fault-based divorce system with a more flexible model based on consent. Petitioners had argued that when one party withdraws consent to a marriage, the union should be dissolved without requiring proof of adultery, cruelty, or desertion.
Justice Egonda-Ntende, in a dissenting opinion, agreed with this view, stressing that forcing unwilling spouses to stay married violates individual freedoms. “Marriage is a contract based on consent,” he wrote. “Once consent is withdrawn, there should be no legal barrier to exit.”
Despite this dissent, the majority of justices ruled that the fault-based system remains constitutional, meaning Ugandans seeking divorce must continue presenting evidence of misconduct before court.
Lawyers and activists described this as a missed opportunity to modernize Uganda’s family law. They argued that making couples prove intimate details of cruelty or infidelity prolongs suffering and discourages many, especially women, from seeking justice.
Still, petitioners welcomed the ruling on separation as a step forward. “The fight is not over,” one human rights lawyer said. “We have secured equality in separation, and now we must keep pressing for reforms that recognize the right of individuals to leave a marriage without having to prove fault.”
The ruling underscores the ongoing tension between tradition and reform in Uganda’s marriage laws, with campaigners vowing to continue advocating for a no-fault divorce system in the future.
