Making the protocol effective at family level

It is two years since the protocol came into force. Time has come for it to become a reality at the level of the family argues Morissanda Kouyate.

It is two years since the Protocol came into force. Time has come for it to become a reality at the level of the family. On the 11th of July 2003, African Heads of state adopted the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. This historic event was a breath of fresh air for African women’s rights. As I have stressed in a previous article, these are rights, and not privileges due to women (http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/22731). In the four years since its adoption, the Protocol has been ratified by the requisite 15 countries, and has come into force as per the statutes of the African Union.

A lot has come to pass during this time: Heads of state have participated in meetings of the AU, only to return home and “forget” to ratify agreements signed on behalf of their people; attempts to water down the Protocol by expressing reservation on certain fundamental articles; but we have also seen a number of resolute political leaders committed to advancing the cause of African women and overcoming the paradox: Nothing without women, but everything for men.

Faced with this incomprehensible slothfulness on the part African governments, the question arises: What is the price of ratification? It requires neither a detailed plan of action, nor foreign aid. All that is required is a strong political will and a commitment to the rights of women. It is unacceptable for politicians to spout pro-feminist rhetoric while the protocol document gathers dust in the parliamentary drawers and ministerial archives.

Forget for a moment the speeches, conferences and workshops, and introduce the protocol to African families (men, women and children). Rather than localization, we should be talking about appropriation, as SOAWR and it global partners have endeavoured to do.

We must continue to involve all sectors of African society: political, religious and traditional leadership, parents, and youth groups. But most of all, the women and girls whose rights have been suppressed in the name of supposed cultural and traditional values.

Catchy slogans will not suffice. What is required is a door-to-door campaign to inform women that their right to protection against female genital mutilation, child-marriage , HIV/AIDS, etc, is enshrined in a document called the Protocol, signed by their own leaders.

To those who argue that the illiteracy prevents women in African villages from enjoying the full protection of the Protocol, let us make it very clear: women’s rights are acquired at birth and not in the classroom.

The work of activists is thus one of restoring innate rights that have previously been alienated. Achieving this requires the kind of innovation and assertiveness that SOAWR displayed by ‘red-carding’ countries that had not yet ratified the Protocol, at regional and international conferences.

This strategy can be further fine-tuned. I would suggest, for instance, that local women in non-ratifying countries issue these red-cards to their own leaders at meetings and rallies. This would be a clear signal to them that until and unless they ratify the Protocol, they do not deserve to participate on the local political playing field.

That the Protocol has come into force, after the required 15 signatories, is thanks to the gargantuan efforts of SOAWR and its partners. Never before in the political history of the continent has a document been ratified so rapidly. The challenge, however, still lies in exposing leaders who are yet to ratify the protocol, perhaps in the hope that it will be overtaken by events. Of equal importance is the challenge of restoring women to their rightful place in the vanguard of the continent’s development.

Future efforts must focus on the beneficiaries of the Protocol. It is only through them that the Protocol will truly come into force.

Dr. Morissanda Kouyate is Director of Operations, Inter-African Committee and Secretary-General, CPTAFE, Republic of Guinea

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