What gains and what challenges do we have two years after the entry into force of the protocol? This is the overall question that the various articles presented in this special issue of Pambazuka aim at addressing. And what is clearly coming out is that the challenges outweigh the gains made so far, says Faiza Mohamed.

What gains and what challenges do we have two years after the entry into force of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa?

This is the overall question that the various articles presented in this special issue of Pambazuka aim at addressing. And what is clearly coming out is that the challenges outweigh the gains made so far. The articles which are mostly written by members of the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR) coalition, for the occasion of the second anniversary of the Protocol’s entry into force, bring out descriptive country situations with emphasis on the extent to which the Protocol is embraced or not embraced by the governments of Kenya, South Africa, the Sudan and Uganda; but there are also mention of regional/continental level perspectives looking at how far the Protocol has gained momentum as a recognized tools for action to protect the human rights of women.

The authors raise several key issues that beg closer attention if this Protocol is at all to make a meaningful difference in the lives of many African women.

1. Universal ratification of the Protocol – i.e. ratification by all the member states – is critical for all African women to equally have the benefit of its implementation. The majority of the countries (30) have not ratified and clearly this is a problem. If you consider women as representing 50% of the total population [1] (in some countries they are more than 50% but let us stick to 50% for now) of these 30 countries, then this would approximately translate to 260.7 million women and girls being denied the chance to claim their rights as provided in the Protocol. This is more than 50% of Africa’s female population and surely this should be of great concern to all of us!

2. Various stakeholders in any given country need to take ownership of the Protocol, chief among them being the state itself. Obviously, it has been left up to the civil society organizations and in particular women’s organizations to be the flag bearers and its nurturers. Where are the states that have adopted it and pledged to carry it through? Where are the Presidents who made a solemn declaration to deliver it to the women of Africa? What about mainstream human rights organizations? Should they too leave it to the women or should they also take responsibility to advocate for it and live up to it? What will it take to have these important stakeholders embrace the Protocol as their own? Ownership by all, and not just the women, is a critical factor for the success of the African women’s rights Protocol.

3. Reservations entered against any article of the Protocol are obstacles aimed at defeating the objectives for which it was created. Of the 23 countries that ratified the Protocol only two (The Gambia and South Africa) had put up some reservations. Recently Gambia removed its reservations leaving South Africa as the only country with reservations. On a closer look one could argue that South Africa’s reservations are not harmful ones. But the notion of a leading African state, whose standards are looked up to as a model in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region, setting such a negative precedence (as reservations obviously carry that notion) is indeed worrying. Others would also argue that if a country, such as Kenya, Sudan and Uganda, want to ratify with reservations then let them do so because then their women will not be totally denied to benefit from the rest of the rights provided in the Protocol. And who knows, after some further advocacy work, they could come around as Gambia did to lift such reservations. These are important points to reflect on.

4. What is the added value of the African women’s rights Protocol? Clearly there is no doubt that it complements other international human rights instruments, such as the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against women (CEDAW), and many people would add that it also further provides rights that are well situated within the realities and needs of African women; but as the authors point out in their articles its value has not been exploited yet to reap the benefits it offers African women. As Delphine Serumaga states in her article on the situation in South Africa, “Women and the girl-child remain marginalized with regards to access to basic human rights such as justice, safety and security, housing and health.” If the situation is as such in one of the most developed countries in Africa what can we imagine would the case be in the less advantaged countries? For African women to reap the value of the women’s rights Protocol, countries must domesticate it, must invest resources into mass education, as obligated under article 26 (2) of the Protocol (on implementation and monitoring), must encourage women to seek help at designated places when their rights are violated, and must ensure that the justice system delivers free from its, often alleged, patriarchy’s biases. Many states can learn from countries like Djibouti which has, not long ago, set up a help Center for women whose rights are abused and equipped it with a hotline service for women to immediately report violations; and then it follows through their cases in the courts. In a short while the Center managed several hundred cases which had a good impact on the attitudes of the public in appreciating the rights of women. This is one example of how member states could turn the Protocol into real value for women.

These and more issues are deliberated in the several articles that follow; and the critiques and ideas that are discussed to re-energize the campaign could serve as food for thought. SOAWR members are definitely going to deliberate on them, during their upcoming meeting in January 2008, so that the African women’s rights Protocol is translated into, to borrow Pamela Mhlanga’s words, “substantive rights” and not allowed to remain as “paper rights”!

Keep on reading……….

Note
1 Source of population data: US Census Bureau

* Faiza Jama Mohamed is the Africa Regional Director of Equality Now and convener of the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR) coalition.

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

"This thing of rape," said Colonel Edmond Ngarambe, shifting uneasily on his wooden bench high in the mountains of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, "I can't deny that happens. We are human beings. But it's not just us. The Mai Mai, the government soldiers who are not paid, the Rastas do the same thing. And some people sent by our enemies do it to cause anger against us.

Sylvie Niombo, APC-Africa-Women Co-Coordinator, examines a role of information and communication technologies in the fight against female circumcision, a harmful practice carried out on over a hundred million girls and women in West African countries. She explores 'shadow areas' through a closer look at thus launched a research programme “Contribution of information and communications technologies (ICTs) towards the discontinuation of female genital mutilation in Francophone Africa: civic role of the youth” by Enda Third World of Senegal, a member organisation of the Association for Progressive Communications network.

The battle for the control of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Women's Assembly has exposed several issues which key stakeholders have to note. Key issues that require a critical analysis include the role of the women in the MDC, the election process, the use of women by men, the use of financial resources, the 50/50 campaign, Morgan Tsvangirai' s propensity to reward those with financial muscle, lack of constitutional respect and the unfair distribution of party resources to the structures.

Chosen by a distinguished jury in the category “Humanitarian and voluntary leadership“ Betty Hazviperi Makoni will be honored at The Outstanding Young Persons of the World (TOYP) Ceremony during the JCI World Congress in Antalya, Turkey, on 6th November 2007.

Given the specificities of women in migration, particularly their potential to contribute to gender equality and the empowerment of women both at home and abroad, IOM is creating an adjunct database for African women diaspora members. This women database is a crucial component of the database initiative, and we are excited to involve women of various talent and leadership capacities. For this reason, we would like to encourage you to check out our website and take just five minutes to register in the women database here:

This is an to participate in an online discussion on “Women in Leadership Roles” hosted by WomenWatch – the UN Internet Gateway on Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women. The discussion, which will take place from 19 November to 15 December 2007, is organized by the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, in its capacity as Task Manager of WomenWatch, with support from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

The International Women's Program is currently seeking an Advocacy and Armed Conflict Specialist in the NY Office to assist IWP in the development and implementation of its work related to gender and conflict. The Specialist will report to the Director of IWP. Deadline for applications is December 10 2007.

Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA) is pleased to announce the 5th Eastern Africa Sub-Regional African Women's Leadership Institute (AWLI) to be held from 3rd to 17th February 2008, in Mombasa, Kenya. Please also note that the deadline for receiving applications is Thursday 20th December 2007. Interested participants should contact Akina Mama wa Afrika; Head Office - [email][email protected] or UK/Europe Regional Office - [email][email protected] for more information on the application procedure.

Women politicians who gathered for a workshop organised by the Botswana Media Women's Association (BOMWA) and the Gender and Media in Southern Africa (GEMSA) complained that women were accused of earning political office by providing sexual favours. The workshop on "Gender is not about women; it's about development" attracted the women's wings of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), Botswana Congress Party (BCP), the Botswana National Front (BNF) and the Botswana Alliance Movement (BAM).

News has just come through that Angola has also deposited its instrument of ratification bringing the total to 23 countries that have ratified the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. Congratulations to all involved.

Roselynn Musa writes that despite the promises and the mobilisations by women from all over the continent, African women still lack adequate protection of their human rights. She argues that the root of the problem is the persistent lack of political will by governments to implement commitments to gender equality.

The 21st century marks a critical juncture in the promotion and protection of a human rights culture in Africa. As the world becomes more interdependent, regional systems of cooperation are playing an increasingly important role in the promotion and establishment of a positive international human rights order.

African states have committed themselves to various international and regional policy documents. The most significant international gender mechanisms are the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) of 1995, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the charter, hereafter), the International Conference on Population and Development’s Programme of Action (ICPD PoA), the African Union’s Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and the constitutive act of the African Union. In signing up to the MDGs, 191 governments resolved to promote gender equality as a goal in its own right, but also the empowerment of women in order to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate sustainable development. NEPAD also stresses equality and enhances women’s rights through its African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). All these conventions and policy frameworks commit governments to address gender equality, equity and women’s empowerment. They are subject to periodic reviews to measure the extent to which they have been delivered.

Over the past year these reviews have generally shown that Africa has made some progress at all levels. Most countries have developed national gender machineries and policies, but the majority of their strategies have not been implemented. Despite all these promises and first-class commitments, African women are no better off than when they started. The promises have moved a shoe size further on, if at all. The stagnation in some respects and deterioration in others are worrying, particularly given the level of mobilisation of women and advocacy by women’s rights activists from all over the continent. At the root of the problem lies the persistent lack of political will on the part of African governments to implement commitments to gender equality.

This paper explores the relationship between the international and regional policy framework on women’s human rights in Africa and its actual implementation. It discusses the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (from here onwards referred to as the protocol), compares it with other instruments and highlights what makes it unique. It concludes with the challenges encountered in promoting women’s rights and recommends accelerated implementation of gender policy commitments in Africa.
The Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa

The protocol seeks to address the shortcomings of the international instruments that preceded it in addressing African women’s rights. It has proven to be a much-needed improvement on the way in which the AChHPR addressed the position of women in Africa. It applies CEDAW and BPfA in an African context.

The protocol has three sections. The first sets out its rationale and refers to both regional and international commitments on women’s rights. The second outlines the rights to be upheld by the protocol, and the third covers its implementation and addresses the procedures for adopting, monitoring and amending it.

The protocol is the first instrument to be developed by Africans for women in Africa. It builds on and strengthens other regionally negotiated issues that have been detrimental to women’s human rights. It challenges cultural behaviour and traditions that often violate the fundamental rights of women in Africa. The inclusion of articles concerning widows and inheritance rights is regarded as a breakthrough, for these are issues particular to African women which are normally swept under the carpet. And it gives women a line of defence on which to base their appeals in cases where they have been unsuccessful in challenging national discriminatory laws or practices.

The entry into force of the protocol reflects a growing awareness that women are equal members of society, and that they are participants and not simply beneficiaries in the development process. Prosperity on the African continent requires the promotion and protection of the rights of all African peoples, as well as adherence to the principles of gender equality and non-discrimination.

From the above it can be seen that the African Union has plans and programmes to ensure that its member states are part of the global effort to advance the principle of gender equality in Africa.

Enforcement mechanisms

At the national level, the procedure for domestication of CEDAW and the protocol is a major challenge. While several countries have acceded to CEDAW, many have not taken the extra step to domesticate it and make it part of their national laws. What this means in effect is that its provisions cannot be directly applied in national courts. States parties do not always have the political will to implement commitments made at the international level.

The challenges faced in implementing CEDAW are a good indication of those the protocol will face, from which important lessons can be drawn. The mandate of the CEDAW Committee is to monitor its implementation by the states parties which have ratified it, and this is done through periodic reports. Unfortunately this is one area that has not been taken very seriously by states parties. Many have two or more reports outstanding, while some have submitted none. This is a major challenge to the committee’s work.

While the process of reporting is thorough, to a great extent it remains in the hands of governments; NGO participation is weak. The examination of states parties’ reports is not intended to be adversarial, but should be done in a manner that promotes constructive dialogue between the states parties and the committee.

The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights is an approach of last resort when all other domestic remedies have failed to provide satisfactory results. Pending the full establishment of the African Court, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (the commission, hereafter) is seized with matters of interpretation arising from the application and interpretation of the protocol. The commission was established under Article 30 of the charter. Its primary responsibility is to promote and ensure the protection of human rights on the continent. Its four areas of mandate are: promotional activities, protective activities, the examination of state party reports and the interpretation of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. It holds regular sessions twice a year in around April and November and can hold extraordinary sessions.

The commission has 11 part-time members. They are independent experts and act in their personal capacity rather than as representatives of their governments. The integration of the protocol into the implementation mechanism of the commission is consistent with the provisions of the charter itself. It will ensure that women whose rights under the protocol have been violated will have final recourse to the African Court to have their rights established and enforced. Furthermore, individuals other than the victims themselves, as well as human rights NGOs, can bring a complaint on behalf of the victims to the court.

One of the challenges facing domestication of the protocol is the multiplicity of legal systems in most African countries. While in a few countries international treaties, once ratified, automatically become part of national law, in most cases they have to be passed by an act of parliament to bring them into effect.

It is encouraging that the constitutive act of the reinvigorated African Union, which replaced the Organisation of African Unity, and the creation of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights has emboldened women’s rights advocates to press for more vigorous enforcement of international and regional commitments.
Unique features of the protocol
The protocol was drawn up after many other treaties and therefore has the advantage of hindsight. It was able to draw on the best parts of earlier documents while also dealing with issues they omitted. The protocol is closely modelled on CEDAW; there are more similarities than differences between the two. The differences are mainly in those areas that concern African women and that CEDAW mentions in the abstract or not at all. The protocol names specific rights and defines violence against women. Its definition of a woman is comprehensive and includes the girl-child. It is culture-specific and therefore very valuable in challenging negative cultural practices. Unlike CEDAW, the protocol places explicit obligations on states to set aside resources to eliminate discrimination against women and to punish people or organisations that practise it.

There was initially stiff resistance to the protocol on the grounds that women in Africa do not need a separate provision, and that a clause on non-discrimination against women in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights would suffice to take care of the women’s rights issues that were omitted from it. The charter is perhaps distinct from other regional systems of human rights protection in that it has specific provisions that address the rights of women. This is apart from the commonplace provisions on the rights to equality and freedom from discrimination characteristic of most international instruments of this kind. With regard to the rights of women, the charter provides that ‘The state shall ensure the elimination of every discrimination against women and also ensure the protection of the rights of the woman and the child as stipulated in international declarations and conventions’ (Article 18 (3)).

However, this provision has been regarded as too general, giving no substance to the rights of women, thereby placing these rights in a situation that has been described as a ‘legal coma’. Addressing the rights of women alongside those of children is also criticised. While recognising that both women and children have been victims of enduring violence, it raises the question of why the latter are equated with the former. Nevertheless, the charter is seen as creating the bedrock for the protection of women’s rights in Africa. It provides a basis from which states have to account for the status of women and the protection of their rights within national legal systems. And it enjoins African states to take positive steps to ensure that their national laws and policies seek or result in the attainment of these two primary goals. Since then there have been significant developments towards a more comprehensive legal regime for the protection of women’s rights in Africa, resulting in the drafting of the protocol to the charter.

The protocol can be a tool that forces states to prioritise legislative measures to eliminate harmful traditional practices. It provides a foundation on which human rights acquire legality in the African context, and a basis for assertions that African women’s rights to equality are no longer contested. What is critical at this point is to see greater dynamism from domestic courts, the charter and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in giving meaning and precedence to the protocol.

The protocol attempts to invigorate the charter’s commitment to women’s equality by adding rights that it omitted and by clarifying governments’ obligations. Only one of the charter’s more than 60 articles makes specific reference to women. These are some of its shortcomings:

• Its failure to define explicitly discrimination against women
• Its lack of guarantees concerning the rights of women to consent to marriage and equality in marriage
• Its emphasis on traditional values and practices that have long impeded the advancement of women’s rights in Africa.

Some of the most serious violations of women’s rights in Africa take place in the private sphere of the family and are reinforced by traditional norms and cultural values. Article 17 (2) and (3) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ rights states that every individual ‘may freely take part in the cultural life of his community’, and that ‘the protection and promotion of morals and traditional values recognized by the community shall be the duty of the state’. The only specific reference to women’s rights is contained in a clause concerning the family and the upholding of tradition, thereby reproducing the tension that plagues the realisation of women’s rights in Africa. Indeed, the charter has been interpreted as protecting customary and religious laws that violate women’s rights, such as their rights to equality and non-discrimination, to life, liberty and the security of the person, and to protection from cruel and degrading treatment.

The protocol recognises women as individual human beings rather than members of communities or families. It deals with discrimination in both the public and private realms and targets both direct and indirect discrimination. It also moves equality from an abstract concept to something that states parties are expected to take concrete measures to address.

Most importantly, however, the protocol offers a real remedy for women at the regional level. It gives women victims of human rights violations somewhere to turn, providing them with practical access to bodies which will understand the implications of their experience. But this potential will only be realised if states parties ensure that they protect women’s rights in practice and work to implement the commitments they have made.

The campaign: Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR)

While acknowledging the scale of the challenges, I also want to celebrate our achievements by recognising the efforts of Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR), a coalition that has been working tirelessly to advance the cause of the protocol.

SOAWR is a regional network of 26 civil society organisations and development partners working towards the promotion and protection of women’s human rights in Africa.[1] Since its inauguration in 2004, SOAWR’s main focus has been to get those countries that have not yet ratified the protocol to do so urgently, while at the same time encouraging those that have ratified it to domesticate and implement it at the national level. SOAWR also works to persuade countries that have ratified the protocol with reservations to remove harmful reservations that would constitute a denial of some of the most important freedoms and rights of women recognised in the protocol.

SOAWR has been using all the instruments at its disposal and has capitalised on every opportunity to move the campaign forward: writing petitions, direct advocacy with national and regional leaders, mobile phone SMS service, publications in different languages, AU pre-summit civil society forums, public forums, press conferences, coloured rating cards, and so on. SOAWR is currently documenting the advocacy strategies it has used in its campaigning. This was an idea which came from a meeting of SOAWR members immediately after the pre-summit activities they organised in Accra, Ghana, in June 2007. They decided to document their efforts to provide a clearer understanding of what was being done to encourage ratification and domestication of the protocol, and to offer inspiration and a means of action to the Africa-wide movement for the endorsement and domestication of the protocol.

I hope that SOAWR will continue to create a platform for debate and dialogue on the disjuncture between international instruments and their national implementation in Africa and to identify strategies that researchers, activists, and government officials can apply to bridge that gap. Gender activists should also join their voices to civil society coalitions such as SOAWR to continue calling for the removal of the structural barriers that face women.

Obstacles and challenges

The domestication and further ratification of the protocol have been slowed by a lack of political will. Even though most countries have established national gender machineries, these are weak and lack adequate authority, capacity, human resources and funding. This is coupled with inadequate skills in gender analysis among planners and implementers, and limited gender awareness within communities.

The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which is an important tool in interpreting the protocol, is not yet fully functional. Even when it is, access to it by civil society organisations, which have been the main champions of the protocol, will be limited to those countries that have signed a declaration to facilitate such action.

Women’s participation in politics and decision making remains low, and this slows down their influence on governments to carry out their obligations under the protocol. Women’s access to justice is further inhibited by illiteracy and ignorance of their rights and how to access them. Some cultural and traditional practices continue to hold back progress in realising the provisions of the protocol.

Most of the human rights instruments set a ceiling and a floor as frameworks that women can use to combat discrimination in its many forms. However, these tools in themselves are not perfect. For example, the language employed in some of them is either too complicated or too broad or both; this could create problems of interpretation, especially at the national level. They also fail to address the issue of recourse in cases of non-compliance. It has been said that they can only bark because they lack the teeth they need to bite. The consequences of non-compliance and non-enforcement need to be built into them.

Another problem is the strategy of placing reservations on some key provisions. This negates the principle of women’s rights as first and foremost being inalienable, integral and indivisible.

One other obstacle that has been identified at the national level is that few lawyers are aware of the protocol and are therefore unable to cite it in support of their arguments. Not many law students take up courses in gender and the law where these are part of the curriculum, hence their ignorance about the protocol and other women’s rights instruments.
Lessons learned

Effective implementation of international human rights standards for women has depended so far on the will of individual states. Cultural and religious practices are often used to undermine the implementation of provisions concerning women’s rights. Reliance on the good will of governments to implement international agreements has not yielded positive results. CEDAW was seen as foreign, but even though the protocol is home-grown, our governments have not treated it differently as far as implementation is concerned.

Women’s empowerment requires a higher level of involvement by women in governance and decision making. Systemic and structural barriers that prevent them from participating in decision making at all levels need to be removed.

The media can play an important role in promoting equality. Women’s press and communications initiatives and the use of technology to promote women’s activities should be supported.

The proliferation of instruments has also been cited as a possible factor hindering compliance because each one requires a different reporting and accounting procedure, thereby placing a huge burden on states. There is also inadequate dissemination of information about these instruments at the local level.

A number of African states have bound themselves to international human rights instruments, but only a few have actually taken steps to make them enforceable within their countries. It seems that our governments ratify such instruments not because of a political commitment to their content, but because of political expediency and in order to maintain a good image. The failure to domesticate these commitments remains a big problem.

The multiplicity of laws in different countries is such that most countries will have to enact new legislation to domesticate the protocol after ratification. A number of countries that have ratified the protocol, such as South Africa and Mauritius, did so with harmful reservations, signifying their unwillingness completely to abandon practices that discriminate against women. The legitimacy of entering reservations on the treaties may be questionable because of the substance of such reservations.

Mainstream international human rights standards are defined in relation to men’s experiences and are stated in terms of discrete violations of rights in the public realm, whereas most violations of women’s rights take place in the private realm. The public/private dichotomy that is so detrimental to women’s rights continues to exist.

The drafters of the protocol were very much influenced by the contents of CEDAW as well as the work of the CEDAW committee. It is therefore obvious that to ensure effective implementation of the protocol, Africa should draw on the experience of the CEDAW committee.

Conclusion

It is evident from the preceding paragraphs that the adoption of the protocol is a significant development that will ensure the full integration of women’s human rights within the overall human rights framework in Africa. The protocol will allow both the African Commission and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights to elaborate how the rights recognised under it should be guaranteed in real-life situations.

The role of international instruments and other initiatives cannot be underestimated. Broad legitimacy beyond the nation state has created some leverage to pursue the gender agenda. However we are faced with growing failure to translate these instruments into reality in the domestic context. The gap between the commitments and their implementation is becoming ever larger, raising the question: what needs to be done? We should consider both individually and collectively what we can do to ensure that implementation takes place.

There is no denying that it is very important to have these commitments on paper as markers of progress. What is more important though is using them to ensure actual change in the lives of women. We have to be careful that the gains won in Beijing are not turned back.

Recommendations

There needs to be a specialist body similar to the CEDAW committee to monitor implementation of the protocol. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, in its work to monitor the charter, has not paid enough attention to the protocol. Even though it has appointed a Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women, this office needs more human and financial resources to carry out its mandate effectively. States parties are bound by Article 26 of the protocol to report on progress in its implementation, but they are not likely to take this seriously if they are not required to report to a particular body specifically set up to monitor the protocol.

The teaching of women’s rights should be incorporated into the curriculum of law faculties as a core discipline, to ensure that lawyers leave school knowing not only national laws but also regional and international instruments that protect women’s rights.

Women’s rights organisations and coalitions such as SOAWR should be supported to monitor implementation of the protocol. They should be assisted financially to participate in commission meetings and to prepare shadow reports when country reports are being considered.

Steps should be taken to institute in full the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights without further delay.

Women should be encouraged to participate in political processes at all levels and in portfolios that have significant policy roles. Members of parliament also have an important role to play in passing legislation, initiating private members’ bills and demanding ministerial statements on obligations undertaken.

The media could also contribute by disseminating information on the progress of the protocol and its benefits to citizens so that they can demand implementation.

All the rights in the protocol are interrelated, interdependent and indivisible. Thus the violation of any one of them affects the enjoyment of all the others. Countries should be encouraged to ratify the protocol without registering reservations.

Our leaders and policy makers should resolve to change not only what is outside of them, but also what is inside them as far as attitudes to gender equality are concerned. With a redefined notion of power and equality we will be able to bring about change.

* Roselynn Musa is the Advocacy Officer at the African Women’s Development and Communications Network, (FEMNET) in Nairobi, Kenya

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

For references and notes, see link below.

The GAD Network is seeking a Chair to provide strategic direction and vision to the network, and to offer advice and support to its development and expansion. Working closely with the Steering Group and Coordinator, the Chair leads and manages the annual cycle of the Network and Steering Group meetings to guarantee the implementation of the Network decisions and ensures that the expertise of its members are deployed effectively to the work of the network. Candidates must have a strong background in gender and development issues, experience of leadership and chairing, good strategic and analytical skills, be a good communicator, and preferably have trustee experience. Deadline: 14 November

Zambian first Lady Maureen Mwanawasa is encouraging women to demand safer sex from their partners, not negotiate for it. Ms Mwanawasa recently made the statement at the launch of the FC2 female condom campaign at the Lusaka City Market, handing out condoms to the public. "Negotiating for safer sex is a term that has become accepted world wide, yet, it puts a woman at the mercy of a man," Ms Mwanawasa told the Lusaka market crowd. "I do not believe that a woman should negotiate for safer sex, but demand safer sex."

In certain parts of Africa, female genital mutilation (FGM) has been linked to religion, with Muslim communities mistakenly believing that the practice is a religious requirement. But in Côte d'Ivoire, religion is also being put at the service of fighting FGM. El Hadj Kassoum Traoré, an imam at a small mosque in Belleville -- one of the poorer areas in the commercial hub of Abidjan -- sets aside time during the Friday prayer for explaining the dangers of FGM to worshippers. The weekly prayer is an obligation for able Muslim men.

A new survey released by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals that more than half of all women in Lofa County, northern Liberia, reported at least one incident of sexual violence during the most recent conflict (1999-2003), while nearly 90 per cent reported at least one incident of physical violence.

Six years after the end of the conflict in Sierra Leone, little has been done to ensure that survivors of sexual violence receive justice, acknowledgment of their suffering, or full, meaningful and effective reparations. The unimaginable brutality of violations committed against up to a third of Sierra Leone’s mostly rural women and girls has been well documented; however the government has failed to effectively address the physical, psychological and economic impact of these crimes on the survivors.

WAAW foundation is pleased to announce its very first scholarship program, offering $500/year for need-based female African students admitted to a University, College or institute of higher learning in Africa. Scholarships are renewable annually, following proof of the student’s continued academic performance.

The feature-length documentary A Walk to Beautiful tells the stories of five Ethiopian women who suffer from obstetric fistula, devastating childbirth injuries and embark on a journey to reclaim their lost dignity. Rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities, these women are left to spend the rest of their lives in loneliness and shame. The trials they endure -- and their attempts to rebuild their lives -- tell a universal story of hope, courage, and transformation.

For decades now, many countries in Africa have been involved in internal and external civil wars and conflicts. It is estimated that there are over 9.5 million refugees and internally displaced persons and thousands of civilians killed. In our last issue of the Our Rights Newsletter, FEMNET would like to focus on key debates around The Role of Women in Peace building Processes and Post-Conflict Reconstruction. Articles should be in English or French, not exceeding 800 words and should be submitted to [email][email protected] [email][email protected] by Monday 19th November 2007.