africa: AFRICAN WOMEN ADOPT A STRATEGY FOR THE AFRICAN UNION & NEPAD
A Strategic Planning Conference on “Mainstreaming Gender and Women's Effective Participation in the African Union (AU) and NEPAD” took place in Dakar, Senegal, from 24-26 April 2003. The Conference adopted a strategy including various recommendations for the effective implementation of gender mainstreaming in all the programmes and structures of the African Union and NEPAD.
PRESS RELEASE
Dakar, 29 April 2003 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AFRICAN WOMEN ADOPT A STRATEGY
FOR THE AFRICAN UNION & NEPAD
A Strategic Planning Conference on “Mainstreaming Gender and Women’s Effective Participation in the African Union (AU) and NEPAD” took place at the Méridien Hotel in Dakar, Senegal, from 24-26 April 2003.
This Conference, organised by Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS), gathered various networks of women’s organisations, notably ABANTU, ACCORD, ACDHRS, ALF, FEMNET, Equality Now, FCD, SAFER Africa and WILDAF.
The Governments of Libya and Senegal were respectively represented by Madam Selma Abdeljabar, Minister of Social Affairs and Madam Soukeyna Ndiaye Ba, Minister of Decentralised Cooperation and Regional Planning.
Regional and international organisations participated as well in the Conference: The African Women’s Committee on Peace and Development (AWCPD), the African Union (AU), the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR), the Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the Department of Political Affairs (UNDPA), and International Alert.
The Conference adopted a strategy including various recommendations for the effective implementation of gender mainstreaming in all the programmes and structures of the African Union, as well as NEPAD, CSSDCA and the Draft Protocol of the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa.
Those recommendations were presented to His Excellency President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal to use his good offices to mobilize his peers to actively promote the implementation of the objective of gender equality.
The recommendations will be further discussed in June 2003 in Maputo, Mozambique, during the Women Pre-Summit Forum organised by Madam Graça Machel. The conclusions of this Forum will then be submitted to the Heads of State and Government of the African Union participating in the Summit in July 2003.
The Conference was made possible thanks to the support of UNFPA, UNDP, UNHCR and the Governments of the Netherlands and Senegal.
- END -