International Women´s Day - Respect for Women´s Rights in Africa
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
March 07, 2010
Herewith I republish Fidh Press Release and the Acknowlrdgements and the Introduction from the Dossier of Claims. In forthcoming articles, I will republish chapters of the Report that reveals the troublesome conditions under which most of the African women have been constrained to live.
We Demand Respect for Women´s Rights in Africa
http://www.fidh.org/We-demand-respect-for-women-s-rights-in-Africa
On the occasion of International Women´s Day and the first anniversary of the Campaign "Africa for Women´s Rights: Ratify and Respect!"*, over one hundred organisations publish their "Dossier of Claims", addressed to the governments of the continent.
For the past year, the Campaign partner organisations, present in more than 40 countries, have been mobilising to call upon their governments to end the serious discrimination that continues to target women in Africa.
The Campaign, « Africa for women´s rights », launched on 8 March 2009, is already resonating across the continent and some progress has been achieved, including the adoption of a law to increase the representation of women in political life in Burkina Faso, the prohibition on female genital mutilation in Uganda and the nomination of a Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General on sexual violence in armed conflict.
"But we cannot forget that women continue to suffer daily violations of their fundamental rights," stated Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President. "Inequality before the law in relation to familial authority or access to inheritance, acts of sexual violence committed with complete impunity, obstacles to access to education...the persistence of such discrimination is evidence of the long road that we need to travel before women in Africa obtain equal rights".
The Dossier of Claims is the outcome of investigations conducted by the Campaign partner organisations in their respective countries and reflects the situation of women´s rights in over thirty African countries. It contains key demands to eliminate discrimination and violence against women, including: the abolition of laws consecrating inferior status to women within the family or preventing them from having access to property; the criminalisation of sexual violence and the prosecution of perpetrators; as well as the ratification of international and regional women´s rights protection instruments.
These "claims" are directed towards national governments, since strengthening respect of women´s rights is primarily a question of political will.
With this Dossier of Claims, all the actors of the Campaign call upon African governments to take concrete and immediate measures to respect women´s rights. We call upon them to RATIFY women´s rights protection instruments and to RESPECT them in law and practice », concluded the Campaign Steering Committee.
This Campaign was initiated by FIDH in collaboration with 5 regional organisations: Femmes Africa Solidarités (FAS), Women in Law in South Africa (WLSA), African Center for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS), Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF) and Women´s aid Collective (WACOL).
The Campaign has the support of : Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, 1984; Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, 2003; Wolé Soyinka, Nobel Literature Prize laureate 1986; Nadine Gordimer, Nobel Literature Prize laureate 1991; Youssou N´Dour, Artist; Tiken Jah Fakoly, Artist; Angélique Kidjo, Artist; Salif Keita, Artist; Maryse Condé, Writer; Rachid Taha, Artist; Jane Birkin, Artist; Bafing Kul, Artist. The Campaign is also supported by: Soyata Maiga, Special Rapporteur on Women´s Rights, African Commission on Human and Peoples´ Rights; Yakin Ertürk, Former UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women; Pramila Patten, UN expert, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women; and Angela de Melo, Vice President, African Commission on Human and Peoples´ Rights.
Campaign blog : www.africa4womensrights.org
Dossier of Claims (Acknowledgements / Introduction)
http://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/dossierofclaims0803eng.pdf
Acknowledgements
The Coalition of the Campaign would like to thank all the national human rights and women´s rights organisations that have contributed to the drafting of the Dossier. These organisations will conduct, on the basis of this Dossier, advocacy before their national authorities in order to ensure the respect of women´s rights. heir mobilisation is testimony to the relevance and strength of the campaign.
The Coalition would also like to thank the patrons of the campaign – Nobel prize laureates, writers, artists, institutional patrons – that have rallied to our motto "Ratify and Respect" and brought their support to publicize and build awareness on the campaign and the concerns relating to the situation of women´s right in Africa.
Thanks to all those who have contributed to this Dossier, the launching and the implementation of the campaign: Mabassa Fall, Isabelle Chebat, Nicolas Barreto Diaz, Gaël Grilhot, Karine Appy, Damien Cousin, Marc Hoffmann.
Thanks also to our network of volunteer translators coordinated by Tilly Gaillard. This guide was produced with the support of the Mission for Democratic Governance of the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. The views expressed here reflect only the opinions of FIDH.
Introduction
States gathered in Beijing for the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, declared "women´s rights are human rights" and set themselves the goal of "achieving equal rights and inherent dignity for men and women". Today, fifteen years after the Beijing conference, this goal remains far from fulfillment, and a lack of political will on the part of states remains the main obstacle to positive developments for the respect of women´s rights.
In the majority of countries in Africa, women continue to face discrimination, violence and violations of their fundamental freedoms. Although legislative progress has been achieved in some countries, discriminatory practices remain widespread across the continent.
Despite the ratification by most African states of international and regional instruments protecting the rights of women, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), its Optional Protocol, and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples´ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), their provisions are widely violated, due to legislative deficits or lack of adequate measures to enable their effective implementation.
On 8 March 2009, over one hundred organizations, present throughout the continent, launched the Campaign "Africa for women´s rights: ratify and respect!". This initiative aims to put an end to discrimination and violence against women in Africa, calling on states to ratify international and regional instruments protecting women´s rights, to repeal all discriminatory laws, to adopt laws protecting the rights of women and to take all necessary measures to ensure their effective implementation.
The Campaign was launched at the initiative of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), in collaboration with five non-governmental regional organisations: the African Center for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS), Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS), Women´s Aid Collective (WACOL), Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF) and Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA). These organisations make up the Steering Committee responsible for the coordination of the Campaign.
The Campaign has also received the support of Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize laureate 1984, Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate 2003, Nadine Gordimer, Nobel Prize in Literature 1991, Wole Soyinka, Nobel Prize in Literature 1986, artists Angelique Kidjo, Youssou N´Dour and Salif Keita, as well as Soyata Maiga, Special Rapporteur of the African Commission on Human and Peoples´ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa and many others. The Coalition of the Campaign stresses the urgency of the implementation and respect of the rights of women. Each and every violation of women´s human rights is a violation of the principle of the universality of human rights.
During the African Review Conference in preparation for Beijing + 15, which took place in November 2009 in Banjul, African governments reaffirmed their willingness to engage in the fight against inequality and to implement anti-discriminatory measures for the protection of women´s rights, and extended deadlines for implementing the Beijing Plan of Action for a further five years. The Coalition of the Campaign considers that today it is not the time to set deadlines but to take prompt action to achieve the objectives of full gender equality that have already been defined. It is therefore imperative that states implement, without delay, all the "claims" presented this Dossier, formulated by African women and men. With this Dossier of Claims, the Coalition of the Campaign "Africa for women´s rights: ratify and respect!", calls upon all African governments to RATIFY the women´s rights protection instruments and to RESPECT them in law and practice.
A "DOSSIER OF CLAIMS" TO SUPPORT THE CAUSE OF WOMEN
The Dossier of Claims is the outcome of investigations conducted by national human rights and women´s rights organizations in their respective countries and reflects the situation of women´s rights in over thirty African countries. It contains key demands to eliminate discrimination and violence against women. These "claims" are directed towards national governments, since strengthening respect of women´s rights is primarily a question of political will. The Dossier is composed of a series of notes, detailing the main violations of women´s rights in each country. Each note underlines - where they exist - any positive measures that have been taken over recent years, and identifies the main obstacles to respect of women´s rights in law and practice.
In addition to its informative and awareness-raising functions, this Dossier constitutes an important advocacy tool at the disposal of all those involved in campaigning for women´s rights. The claims formulated in the Dossier will be brought to the attention of the competent authorities at the national, regional and international levels. The Dossier is also a tool for all those whose aim is to achieve full equality between men and women, an essential condition for the fulfillment of universal human rights.
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