Doo Aphane is a Swazi lawyer and

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

campaigner. She has worked with many human and women's rights organisations. In 2012 she was successful in changing Swaziland's law to allow married women to hold property in their own name.

Career

Doo Aphane has a

master of law A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

degree and practises as a lawyer, specialising in gender law. She founded the Women for Women Development Consultancy, she remains a director of the firm, and also founded the legal aid clinic of the

Council of Swaziland Churches A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

. Aphane conducts legal research and is the co-author of several academic papers. She was the first national coordinator of women and law for Swaziland for the

Human Rights Trust of Southern Africa The Human Rights Trust of Southern Africa, better known as SAHRIT, is a human rights groups established in October 2006 to promote human rights in Southern Africa. It has its headquarters in Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the cap ...

and was also the regional coordinator of six southern African countries for the Women’s Legal Rights Initiative. Aphane was deputy chair of the central coordinating body of the Global Fund for Women and was a member of the Southern African Development Community's technical advisory committee on HIV and AIDS from 2007–2012. She was also a board member of Swaziland Young Women’s Network, the AIDS Information and Support Centre and remains a member of the

African Feminist Forum The African Feminist Forum (AFF) is a biennial conference that brings together African feminist activists to deliberate on issues of key concern to the feminist movement. It was developed out of the growing concern amongst feminists on the continen ...

. Aphane warned the Swaziland government that a prolonged teachers' strike in 2012 was affecting the education of children and their non-attendance at school exposed them to the risk of sexual assault and misuse of drugs. Also in 2012 she won a case at the Swaziland Supreme Court challenging the prohibition on married women owning property either in their own name or jointly with her husband; the law was subsequently amended.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aphane, Doo Swazi lawyers Swazi human rights activists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)