African Union - Gender Equality in Africa
SOLEMN DECLARATION ON GENDER
EQUALITY IN
We,
the Heads of State and Government of Member States of the African Union, meeting in the
Third Ordinary Session of our Assembly in
Reaffirming our commitment to the principle of gender equality as enshrined in Article 4 (l) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union, as well as other existing commitments, principles, goals and actions set out in the various regional, continental and international instruments on human and womens rights, including the Dakar Platform for Action (1994), the Beijing Platform for Action (1995), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW - 1979), the African Plan of Action to Accelerate the Implementation of the Dakar and Beijing Platforms for Action for the Advancement of Women (1999); the Outcome Document of the Twenty-third Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (2000); UN Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security; and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003);
Standing
by our Decision on gender parity taken at the Inaugural Session of the
AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government in July 2002 in Durban, South Africa
implemented during the Second Ordinary Session of the Assembly in Maputo,
Mozambique, 2003 through the election of five female and five male Commissioners;
Noting
with satisfaction that
our Decision on gender parity is a historic achievement that does not yet exist in any
other continent or regional organizations;
Re-affirming
our
commitment to continue, expand and accelerate efforts to promote gender equality at all
levels;
Determined
to
build on the progress that we have achieved in addressing issues of major concern to the
women of
Taking
cognizance of
the landmark decision to adopt the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and
Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women in
Noting
the
decision of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission to transform the African
Womens Committee on Peace and Development (AWCPD) into the African Union
Womens Committee (AUWC), which will be located in the Gender Directorate and serve
as an Advisory Body to the Chairperson on Gender and Development;
Recognizing
that
major challenges and obstacles to gender equality still remain and require concerted and
collective leadership and efforts from all of us including networks working on gender and
development;
Deeply
concerned about
the status of women and the negative impacts on women of issues such the high incidence of
HIV/AIDS among girls and women, conflict, poverty, harmful traditional practices, high
population of refugee women and internally displaced women, violence against women,
womens exclusion from politics and decision-making, and illiteracy, limited access
of girls to education;
Aware
of
the policies and programmes we have put in place to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS pandemic
as well as the current challenges in this campaign;
Concerned
that,
while women and children bear the brunt of conflicts and internal displacement, including
rapes and killings, they are largely excluded from conflict prevention, peace-negotiation,
and peace-buildingprocesses in spite of African womens experience in peace-building;
Aware
of
the fact that low levels of womens representation in social, economic and political
decision-making structures and feminisation of poverty impact negatively on womens
ability to derive full benefit from the economies of their countries and the
democratization process;
Aware
of
the digital divide between the North and the South, men and women and the role of
information telecommunication technologies (ICTS) in the advancement of the gender issue
as stated in the e-gender Forum Declaration of Tunis, May 2004 in preparation for the
World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) 2005;
HEREBY
AGREE TO:
1.
Accelerate the implementation of gender
specific economic, social, and legal measures aimed at combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic and
effectively implement both
2.
Ensure the
full and effective participation and representation of women in peace process including
the revention, resolution, management of conflicts and post-conflict reconstruction in
Africa as stipulated in UN Resolution 1325 (2000) and to also appoint women as Special
Envoys and Special Representatives of the African Union;
3.
Launch, within
the next one year, a campaign for systematic prohibition of the recruitment of child
soldiers and abuse of girl children as wives and sex slaves in violation of their Rights
as enshrined in the African Charter on Rights of the Child;
4.
Initiate, launch and engage within
two years sustained public campaigns against gender based violence as well as the problem
of trafficking in women and girls; Reinforce legal mechanisms that will protect women at
the national level and end impunity of crimes committed against women in a manner
that will change and positively alter the attitude and behaviour of the African society;
5.
Expand and Promote the
gender parity principle that we have adopted regarding the Commission of the African Union
to all the other organs of the African Union, including its NEPAD programme, to the
Regional Economic Communities, and to the national and local levels in collaboration with
political parties and the National parliaments in our countries;
6.
Ensure the
active promotion and protection of all human rights for women and girls including the
right to development by raising awareness or by legislation where necessary;
7.
Actively promote the
implementation of legislation to guarantee womens land, property and inheritance
rights including their rights to housing;
8.
Take specific
measures to ensure the education of girls and literacy of women, especially in the rural
areas, to achieve the goal of "Education for All" (EFA);
9.
Undertake to Sign and ratify the
Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women
in Africa by the end of 2004 and to support the launching of public campaigns aimed at
ensuring its entry into force by 2005 and usher in an era of domesticating and
implementing the Protocol as well as other national, regional and international
instruments on gender equality by all States Parties;
10.
Establish AIDS
Watch Africa as a unit within the Office of the Chairperson of the Commission who should
render annual report on HIV/AIDS situation in the continent during annual Summits; and
promote the local production of anti-retroviral drugs in our countries;
11.
Accept to establish
an African Trust Fund for Women for the purpose of building the capacity of African women
and further request the African Union Commission to work out the modalities for the
operationalisation of the Fund with special focus on women in both urban and rural areas;
12.
Commit ourselves to report annually on
progress made in terms of gender mainstreaming and to support and champion all issues
raised in this Declaration, both at the national and regional levels, and regularly
provide each other with updates on progress made during our Ordinary Sessions;
13.
We request the
chairperson of the African Union Commission to submit, for our consideration, an annual
report, during our ordinary sessions, on measures taken to implement the principle of
gender equality and gender mainstreaming, and all issues raised in this Declaration both
at the national and regional levels.
=================================================================
Subject: Join the campaign, sign the petition for ratification of AU
Protocol on Womens rights in Africa now!
Importance: High
Dear Colleagues,
We write to invite you to join an exciting continental campaign spearheaded by the
womens rights organisations Equality Now and FEMNET, together with Oxfam GB, Credo
for Freedom of Expression and Associated Rights and Fahamu. The campaign seeks to press
African Governments to ratify the African Unions Protocol on the Rights of Women in
Africa. This advocacy initiative has been well received by African Governments and the
African Union Commission during the recently concluded AU Summit. Hon. Graca Machel of
Mozambique wrote in support of the campaign; "I urge all African States to ratify the
Protocol immediately because African Womens' rights cannot be postponed". So far, 600
people have signed the petition. The Coalition is targeting at least 10,000 by the end of
this year.
You can read some more about the campaign below and in the Special Issue of Pambazuka News
162 "Unfinished business" at www.pambazuka.org
but for now,
We urge you to;
1) Click on the following URL link to sign the petition on-line http://www.pambazuka.org/petition/petition.php?id=1
or
2) Send text messages to all your colleagues and friends in your address book alerting
them to the petition and fowrard this to them in an email.
3) Forward this in an email to listserves and human rights or social justice organisation
in Africa Send your details to sms-support@pambazuka.org
and
we will post you pamphlets to distribute.
4.) Contact sms-support@pambazuka.org if
you require a translation of this request into French
5.) If you are from the following countries write to the coordinators of the campaign
working at country level and ask for what activities are underway and how you can lend
support to their initiatives;
Guinea Conakry - Dr Morissanda KOUYATE, SG CPTAFE, Guinea Conakry
Uganda - Sarah Mukasa,Akina
Mama wa Afrika
Nigeria - Saudatu Mahdi, WRAPA
Gambia - Hannah Forster,
ACDHRS,
Kenya - Anne Gathumbi -
Masheti, COVAW
Rose Gawaya (Gender Advisor-SA) Irungu Houghton (Pan African Policy Advisor)
Debra Bucher (Gender Advisor-WA)
=================================================================
PETITION ON THE RATIFICATION OF THE PROTOCOL ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN
AFRICA
For a copy of the protocol go to http://www.africa-union.org
or email me
To African Union Heads Of State
Your Excellencies:
Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in
Africa
We the undersigned write to you regarding the ratification of the Protocol on the African
Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa by member states of
the African Union and urge your Excellencies to ensure the fast tracking of its
ratification by your respective governments by the next Heads of States Summit in
July December 2004.
As you will recall, the Protocol was adopted in July 2003 during the Second Ordinary
Session of the Heads of States held in Maputo. Its adoption was celebrated by African
women, women's and human rights organizations in Africa and the diaspora as a major
step towards finally securing a legal and rights framework for the protection and
advancement of the human rights of African women.
However, one weeks before its first anniversary only 29 31 of the
AU's 53 member states have signed the Protocol and only one three (Comoros, Libya
and Rwanda) has have ratified it. This record undermines the stated intention
of African governments to protect and promote the rights of all their peoples.
Many women and their families experience social, cultural and economic rights
abuses and political discrimination on a daily basis. Physical violence, vulnerability to
life-threatening diseases most notably HIV/AIDS, poor educational opportunities and legal
barriers around rights to property combine to keep women in Africa as second class
citizens as well as inhibiting their ability to contribute fully to the prosperity
of the continent.
Our call for the urgent ratification of the Protocol by all countries of the
African Union deserves your serious consideration. Ratification will send a clear
signal that women and men can and should enjoy equal rights and responsibilities. This
enjoyment, in turn, will realise benefits to the whole of the continent.
We in civil society share the dream of the Heads of States that Africa's social,
economic and political well-being rests on enabling women's resourcefulness at this
time. We trust therefore that you will recognize the urgency of the situation and will
facilitate the speedy ratification of the Protocol thereby completing the good work that
your Excellencies began in Maputo last year.
Yours Sincerely
Mary Wandia, African Women's Development & Communication Network (FEMNET)
continental organization Kenya
Faiza Jama Mohamed, Equality Now, Africa Regional Office, Kenya
Rotimi Sankore, Credo CREDO for Freedom of Expression and Associated
Rights, England UK
Firoze Manji, Fahamu, EnglandUK
Rose Gawaya, Oxfam GB, South Africa
Sarah Mukasa, Akina Mama wa Afrika, Uganda
Mourissanda
Kouyate, SG CPTAFE Guinea (Conakry)
Saudatu Mahdi, WRAP, Nigeria
Anne Gathumbi, COVAW, Kenya
Hannah Foster, ACDHRS, Gambia
Gladys MSodzi Mutukwa, WiLDAF, Zimbabwe
Nairobi, London, Oxford, Pretoria, Kampala, Conakry, Abuja, Harare and
Serrekunda July 2004
And close to 600 others
______________________________________________________________________________________________
BACKGROUND ON THE ADVOCACY INITIATIVE
The target of the campaign is to petition African Governments to ratify and popularise the
Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. The Protocol covers a broad range of
human rights issues and is a comprehensive legal framework that African women can use to
exercise their rights. Once it enters into force the Protocol will be a powerful new
tool to achieve equal rights for women in Africa. It could well serve as a model for the
rest of the world, said Faiza Jama Mohamed, Africa Regional Director of Equality
Now.
This initiative follows positive responses by African leaders during the recent African
Union Executive Council and Assembly meetings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to a campaign for
the ratification of a protocol that enshrines the rights of women. The coalition is
spearheaded by the womens rights organisations Equality Now and FEMNET, together
with Oxfam, Credo for Freedom of Expression and Associated Rights and Fahamu. For a more
detailed review of the progress so far in a number of African countries and at a regional
level click on this update.
African countries have been slow to follow through. So far only three countries, the
Comoros, Rwanda and Libya has ratified. Twelve more countries are required for the
protocol to come into force. Echoing concerns about the lack of political will on the part
of African countries to push forward with ratification, Mary Wandia of FEMNET noted,
Until it comes into force, the rights granted to women in the Protocol will simply
remain hypothetical and the tedious lobbying efforts undertaken by civil society groups to
ensure that the Protocol reflects a comprehensive list of rights for women will all
be wasted.
Last week, we launched an innovative campaign to get sign ons by SMS. To our
knowledge, this is the first time that SMS technologies will have been used on a mass
scale on the African continent in support of human rights, said Firoze Manji,
Director of Fahamu, a human rights organisation that developed the facility. The
facility enables those with poor on non-existent internet access to sign the online
petition and takes advantage of the fact that there are nearly eight times more mobile
phone users compared to email users in Africa. The initiative has been made possible
through the support of the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada, and
Oxfam GB.
In the light of the UK Treasury announcement that UK aid is set to increase by UKŁ1
billion from next year, this technology could further assist to ensure that Africanpeople
can influence the way that these funds will be spent in Africa. The use of such mass based
technology is going to be critical in getting peoples voices heard in the 2005 G8
meetings to be chaired by Britains Tony Blair, said Irungu Houghton,
Oxfams pan Africa Policy Advisor.
Africa currently has 52 million mobile phone users and figures indicate that the continent
has caught on to the global SMS fad, with 450 million SMS messages sent in December 2002,
compared to 350 million for December 2001, nearly a 30% increase in one year. As one of
the fastest growing mobile phone markets, Africa is set to reach 67 million mobile phone
users by the end of 2004.
ends (but we assure you this is only the beginning).
=================================================================
FACT SHEET
The Reality for African Women and the
AFRICAN UNION PROTOCOL ON THE
RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA
These facts and summary of the Protocol first appeared in Pambazuka News 162, July
2004
Armed Conflict, Violence and the Right to Peace and Safety
African women are increasingly playing a critical role in peace building efforts and
conflict resolution in Africa. In conflicts flashpoints such as Darfur-Sudan and DRC among
others, women and girls are vulnerable to all forms of violence including sexual violence
and exploitation, torture, rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution and trafficking.
In many parts of Africa, violence against women is shocking. A survey by the Kenyan Women
Rights Awareness Program revealed that 70% of men and women interviewed, were aware of
neighbours who beat their wives. In South Africa, it has been estimated that a woman is
raped every 83 seconds, while in Zimbabwe, domestic violence accounts for more than 60 per
cent of murder cases at the Harare High Court.
What the protocol says:
¤ Every woman is guaranteed the right to peace.
¤ Women refugees must be accorded full protection and benefits
guaranteed under international refugee law.
¤ States parties are required to reduce military expenditure
significantly in favour of spending on social development in general and the promotion of
women in particular.
¤ States must ensure the full participation of women in processes
for conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation.
¤ The protocol calls for education to end harmful practices and
stereotypes that negatively impact on women.
¤ States should introduce measures to prevent, punish and
eradicate violence against women including the provision of budgetary and other resources
to prevent violence against women.
Economic disempowerment and the right to a livelihood
In sub-saharan Africa, women comprise 60 per cent of the informal sector, provide about 70
per cent of total agricultural labour and produce about 90 per cent of the food. However,
they receive less than 10 per cent of total credit to farmers. In addition, women in
Africa on average work 50 per cent longer than men. Yet despite this contribution, women
live in situations of acute insecurity with weak ownership over land, lack of access to
resources such as credit and education.
What the protocol says:
¤ Women will be guaranteed the freedom to choose their
occupation.
¤ States will adopt measures to promote equality of access to
employment; promote the right to equal remuneration for jobs of equal value for women and
men; ensure transparency in recruitment, promotion and dismissal of women and punish
sexual harassment in the workplace.
Disease, HIV/AIDS and Sexual and Reproductive Rights
Poor health infrastructure, loss of control over womens sexuality and the right to
choose impacts on millions of African women daily. Financial and material dependence on
men means that many women in Africa cannot control when, with whom, and in what
circumstances they have sex or conceive.
Women account for 55 percent of adults in sub-Saharan Africa with HIV/AIDS. Poor women
affected by HIV/AIDS are less economically secure and are often deprived of their rights
to housing, property, inheritance and access to adequate health services. In rural areas,
AIDS has resulted in the collapse of coping mechanisms that have for long helped women
feed their families during times of difficulty and natural catastrophes.
More than 90 million African women and girls are victims of female circumcision or other
forms of genital mutilation. Doctors in Cote d'Ivoire, for instance, estimate that Female
Genital Mutilation (FGM) causes 25 percent of infertility cases amongst Ivorian women.
Less than five percent of women in Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Eritrea,
Guinea-Bissau, Niger and Sierra Leone have access to modern contraception. While many
countries in Africa have restrictive abortion laws, eleven thousand unsafe abortions occur
each day (four million unsafe abortions each year) in Africa.
What the protocol says:
¤ States are required to prohibit and condemn female genital
mutilation.
¤ Women and men must have equal rights in relation to marriage.
¤ Obligates governments to guarantee women a right to adequate
and paid pre- and post-natal maternity leave.
¤ Recognizes that the reproductive rights of women must be
protected through access to abortion in certain circumstances.
¤ Guarantees the right to protection against sexually transmitted
infections and HIV/AIDS.
Right to Education
Accelerating efforts to get more girls into school is key in meeting the global goal of
poverty reduction. Illiteracy rates are still far higher among women than men. At least 9
million more girls than boys are left out of school every year in sub-Saharan Africa,
where the number of girls left out of school each year has risen from 20 million in 1990
to 24 million in 2002.
What the protocol says:
¤ States will be required to guarantee equal opportunity and
access to women in the sphere of education and training.
Marginalisation and the right to freedom
Some countries still have laws that perpetuate discrimination on the basis of personal
status, marital status and violence against women. These include Algeria, Mali, Sudan,
Tanzania, Kenya, Lesotho, Cameroon, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Morocco. Certain
customary laws and practices facilitate harmful practices such as Female Genital
Mutilation (FGM), early childhood marriages, forced marriages, inheritance of widows,
slavery and trafficking in women, child custody and maintenance and burial laws. In
several African countries, women are still regarded as second-class citizens, minors or
the property of their husbands.
What the protocol says:
¤ It seeks to highlight the human rights of women in Africa and
promote the principles of equality, peace, freedom, dignity, justice, solidarity and
democracy.
¤ It covers broad issues including employment, education, voting
rights, nationality laws, rights in marriage and divorce, health care, reproductive
rights, and equality before the law.
¤ State parties to the protocol will have to adopt legislative,
institutional and other measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women.
¤ It recognizes the need and seeks the protection of elderly
women.
¤ It mandates that any woman whose rights have been violated is
entitled to a remedy determined by a competent judicial, administrative, legislative or
other competent authority provided for by law.
Right to Participate in Government and Public Affairs
Between 2000 and 2002, number of women parliamentarians increased in 17 out of 23
elections held in sub-Saharan Africa. For instance, South Africas parliament this
year registered a 10 per cent increase in women representation from 120 to 131. Rwanda,
with 49 per cent women representation, has the highest number of women parliamentarians in
the world. The overall proportion of women parliamentarians has increased to 32.8 per cent
from 30 per cent in 1999. This is double, the average number of women represented in
national parliaments. Although Africa is one of the worlds poorest regions, women's
representation in parliament is now higher compared to many developed countries.
What the protocol says:
¤ Governments are obliged to promote the participation of women
in governance.
__________________________________________________
Irungu Houghton
Pan-Africa Policy Advisor/Conseiller en Politiques Panafricaines
Nairobi, Kenya. Website: www.oxfam.org
Some Relevant Links:
AMANITARE,
the African Partnership for the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of women and
girls is an initiative of RAINBO - an African
led NGO working to promote and protect African womens and girls rights to
sexual and reproductive health .