Africa: Update on women's rights campaign

Update on the Campaign on Ratification, Domestication and Popularization of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa from the Solidarity on African Women's Rights (SOAWR) campaign.

Below is the latest quarterly update (January to March 2006) that Equality Now received from SOAWR members who are working on the campaign for ratification, domestication and popularization of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa as well as other organizations that are doing work around the Protocol. Also included is information on the status of ratifications, meetings attended by SOAWR members and upcoming events.

First, welcome to the new members of SOAWR – FIDA-Kenya, Human Rights Law Service (HURILAW), Nigeria, and Women Direct, a regional organization based in Nairobi. SOAWR members are now 21 and a few more are expected to join it soon. The Steering Committee revised the membership criteria which have since been made available to interested groups.

Country level Updates

Burkina Faso
On 24 February 2006, the Constitutional Advisor gave a legal opinion in favour of ratification of the Protocol. He set the date of 23 March 2006 for advising on the follow up process to the Cabinet where the decree for ratification will be prepared. The delay appears to be administrative but Voix de Femmes is confident that the process is at its final stages before ratification. In the meantime, Voix de Femmes has developed different themes from the Protocol in order to start the process of sensitization and popularization so that the Protocol can be more easily incorporated into the national laws after ratification.

Ethiopia
With support from Action Aid Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA) has printed the Protocol in the Amharic language and in a booklet form and has started to distribute it at sensitization workshops that it has organized. EWLA is concerned about the challenges of implementation and although Ethiopia has not yet ratified the Protocol is preparing to organize training around the Protocol for law enforcement officials. It is also working closely with the newly established Ministry for Gender with a view to advancing the ratification process.
The Gambia
The African Center for Democracy and Human Rights Studies holds two forums for NGOs annually preceding the Sessions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. It is now planning the first NGO Forum of the year which will take place in Banjul during 8-10 May 2006. The forum will share information about human rights violations throughout the continent and in addition will receive a progress report on the status of the ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of Women and implications for redress of cases now that the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights is being set up. Commissioner Angela Melo is expected to attend, particularly to speak about the Protocol and its relationship to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Kenya
COVAW held three meetings with the new Minister for Gender, Sport and Culture, between 9 and 27 January 2006 to sensitize him on the provisions of the Protocol and to impress on him the urgency for the country to ratify it. In addition, COVAW visited the foreign affairs ministry and spoke to a senior official in the treaties department on emerging legal issues and the procedure leading to deposit of the necessary documentation of ratification in Addis Ababa. They also held two meetings with the Attorney General, in November and December 2005, to follow up on the ratification process. On 1 February 2006, the new Gender Minister, together with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Attorney General signed the revised cabinet memo which stated the provisions of the Protocol and the need for Kenya to ratify it. COVAW had a follow up meeting with the Director for Gender and learned that the cabinet discussed the revised document on 7 February 2006 and approved it with reservations. The approved ratification document is now with the African Affairs Department of the Foreign Ministry for onward transmission to the African Union. COVAW has sought an appointment with the Assistant Minister in charge of this portfolio to get a further update but has not yet managed to get an appointment date. While continuing the process of ratification COVAW is also continuing with other interventions of its advocacy plan.

COVAW engaged a consultant who prepared a policy brief on the Protocol meant for parliamentarians and other key stakeholders such as judges, magistrates and lawyers and is in the process of organizing forums to disseminate the brief. For these interventions, COVAW is collaborating with ICJ-Kenya (in the case of the judges/magistrates) and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) in the engagement of the lawyers. The policy brief targets decision makers who are expected to influence the discussion on the Protocol in Parliament to authorize domestication. The policy brief document will be available on COVAW’s website in due course. COVAW is working on translating the simplified version of the Protocol into Kiswahili and other local languages in addition to producing fact sheets on the content of the Protocol. In the next quarter COVAW will organize sensitization forums on the Protocol targeting judicial officers and lawyers, as well as one for members of civil society that are also working on the Protocol. Any SOAWR member interested to get a copy of the policy brief and other documents can write to COVAW at [email][email protected] or simply post a message to [email][email protected] addressing colleagues at COVAW.

Mali
The Association des Juristes Maliennes has continued with sensitization activities around the Protocol. In collaboration with other local organizations, they participated in a meeting organized by the Italian NGO No Peace Without Justice. This meeting was held in Bamako from 21 February 2006 and came up with an action plan to ensure implementation of the Protocol. The dissemination of the contents of the Protocol through information and training of the population was also included in the plan.

Mauritius
On 6 February Loga Virahsawmy (Chair of the Media Watch Organization - Gender and Media Southern Africa MWO-GEMSA) wrote to the Hon. Rama Valayden who is the Attorney General and Minister of Human Rights of Mauritius. Ms. Virahsawmy had participated in the AU/SOAWR conference in September 2005 and had at that time informed the meeting that she had a telephone conversation with the Attorney General who had indicated then that Mauritius planned to deposit its instrument of ratification by the end of 2005. In her letter, Ms. Virahsawmy reminded the Attorney General of his earlier indications, and shared with him a quote from a keynote speech by the African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Ms. Julia Joiner, that she read during a Symposium SOAWR held at the Ahfad University for Women in partnership with Sudanese organizations, in which she said:

“The entry into force of the Protocol is not an end in itself – it is part of a process which started with the drafting of the Protocol and will not end until appropriate policy and legislative measures are put in place by the 53 Member States of the African Union, to translate the provisions of the Protocol into practice at regional, national and community levels. The task ahead of us in 2006 and beyond is therefore to combine our efforts towards that ultimate goal. It is also to encourage those Member States that have not yet signed or ratified the Protocol to do so as an illustration of their commitment to gender equality and women’s rights,”

Ms. Virahsawmy concluded her letter with an appeal to the Attorney General and Minister of Human Rights to expedite the deposit of the instrument of ratification, emphasizing his commitment to combating gender violence and gender discrimination.

Mozambique
A national coalition spearheaded by Forum Mulher generated an advocacy plan to popularize the Protocol and also take government to task regarding its slow pace of domestication and implementation. Among the activities it plans to undertake are advocacy actions directed at parliament and government, production of materials for popularization of the Protocol, radio and television programmes and regular meetings among its coalition members to strengthen their campaigning interventions.

Nigeria
WRAPA did two interactive radio programmes around International Women’s Day. On 31/3/06 WRAPA participated in a one hour radio phone-in programme in one of the 3 major Nigerian languages (Hausa). The reach covered 9 states and the subject was women in power and decision-making against the backdrop of international women's day and the provisions in the Protocol on the rights of women for 30% participation of women through affirmative action. There were 2 panelists, Mr. Awwal Rafsanjani Musa, a Muslim, of northern and Hausa descent as well as a human rights activist. Saudatu Mahdi of WRAPA was the second panelist. The audience was vibrant but 11 out of the 23 callers were of the view that women have no role in decision-making. Some of the 11 were agreeable to having women in lower level decision-making positions but rejected the idea of any apex post. Most of them proffered religious reasons arguing that women have no role in public life. Seven (7) of the callers were in support of women's involvement and advocated for more energy in sensitization and advocacy for legal reforms to concretely support the inclusion of women. Another 8 callers were undecided on whether or not to allow women's inclusion but were not convinced as to whether that should happen now or whether there were adequate numbers of women available to be engaged. The overall message from this activity pointed to the need for intensified engagement with the religious and traditional institutions in Nigeria as a means of dispelling many of the misconceptions about the inclusion and role of women in public life. WRAPA will continue with the sensitization activities.

Somalia
On 23 February 2006, the Foreign Affairs Minister of the Somali Transitional Federal Government, Mr. Abdullahi Ismail Sheikh, signed all remaining 17 treaties of the African Union that Somalia had not signed since the country has been in civil war. Somalia became one of only four countries that have signed all the AU/OAU treaties. This included the African Union’s Protocol on the Rights of Women. SOAWR members met the Minister during the opening of the AU Executive Council session at the Khartoum Summit in January 2006 and had handed him a red card for the second time (the first time was at the Abuja Summit a year ago) urging him to take action to ratify the Protocol. While SOAWR welcomes signature of the Protocol, more follow-up work needs to be done to ensure that Somalia ratifies the Protocol.

Sudan
The 5th Ordinary session of the African Union was held in Khartoum in January 2006. This presented an opportunity to mobilize Sudanese civil society organizations to join the campaign for the popularization, ratification and domestication of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa and to continue with regional advocacy thereby building on the high visibility so far realized for the campaign. For interventions in Khartoum, SOAWR sought the collaboration of SIHA (Strategic Initiative for the Horn of Africa) Network, Babiker Badri Scientific Association for Women, the Ahfad University for Women and the African Union Commission’s Women, Gender and Development Directorate. A symposium was held at the Ahfad University for Women on the Protocol and the rights of women in Islam. It brought together about a hundred participants from civil society organizations, students, media, United Nations officials and government officials. Keynote speeches were made by the Sudanese Federal Minister of Health, Dr. Tabita Butrus, and the African Union’s Commissioner for Political Affairs, Ms. Julia Joiner, who both emphasized the value of the Protocol in the promotion of women’s rights (Ms. Joiner’s speech is available at http://www.pambazuka.org/aumonitor/) A SOAWR member handed a red card to the minister before she left and requested her to deliver it to the President while also urging the minister to take a leadership role in Sudan’s ratification. Sudanese participants added their voice to the appeal emphasizing that the message to the President was coming from the Sudanese women gathered at the Symposium. The participants generated a declaration in support of ratification (available at http://www.pambazuka.org/aumonitor/) at the end of the meeting which they later distributed widely at the summit functions (the opening of the Assembly, the first ladies conference) and was picked up by several media sources including SUNNA, the main government newsletter, and other popular newspapers like the Khartoum Monitor. As a follow-up to the activities held in Khartoum, SIHA commissioned the Sub-Saharan Informer to carry a page on its weekly releases information page about the status of ratifications and lack of ratification of the Protocol in the Horn of Africa. The Sub-Saharan Informer published the information which featured members of SIHA on 24 March and repeated it on 31 March. Prior to the Symposium, SOAWR also held consultations with Sudanese civil society organizations and had a fruitful exchange on various issues largely focused on the rights of women and the situation at Darfur. Other interventions are reported under regional advocacy.

Uganda
Akina Mama wa Afrika continued with its work around the Protocol even in the face of stiff opposition from the Church. The Uganda Episcopal Conference took out a full page advertisement in the Daily Monitor, a leading daily newspaper. In the advertisement, the Church lashed out at countries that had ratified the Protocol and urged the government of Uganda not to ratify this Protocol, claiming it was a license for abortion. The paid advertisement did not cover any other aspect other than a misinterpretation of Article 14(2) (c). The country held presidential and parliamentary elections at the beginning of March and the new parliament is expected to take office in May. Akina Mama wa Afrika is preparing to engage the new cabinet members and the parliamentarians to support ratification of the Protocol by Uganda.

The Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA) in collaboration with the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights (INTERIGHTS) held a workshop on Using International Law to Litigate Sexual and Domestic Violence Cases in Kampala from 27-29 March 2006. The workshop focused on sexual and domestic violence and considered ways in which such violence can be addressed through litigation, particularly by reference to regional and international instruments and mechanisms, of which the Protocol is one. The workshop trained 15 women’s rights lawyers, from across Uganda. Predominantly, participants were lawyers committed to taking women’s rights cases to court, with a particular interest in taking cases to regional and international bodies. This was an intensive exercise which attracted participants truly interested and motivated to work on such cases.

Regional Level Advocacy
African Union Summit
In addition to the symposium held during the summit (reported above under Sudan) and consultations held with Sudanese civil society organizations, the SOAWR team also undertook the following activities:

1) Press conference – SOAWR and its Sudanese partners held a press conference, which was well attended, and received coverage in the local papers, radio and television as well as Voice of America and Al Jazeera. The press statement is available at http://www.pambazuka.org/aumonitor/

2) An advocacy package containing (a) a policy brief about the Protocol, (b) a special issue of Pambazuka and (c) a rating card (red, yellow or green as applicable) was also prepared and distributed to members of the AU Executive Council during the opening session. Some of the delegates were captured in photographs while reading their status cards. SOAWR members had the opportunity to dialogue with several of the delegates and below is the feedback received from some of them:
- Burundi – The Ambassador received the package and indicated that he will speak to his minister about ratification.
- Congo Brazzaville – the delegate indicated that the instrument is being discussed at the parliament and there was anticipation that it will be finalized soon. Equality Now’s Africa Regional Director had the opportunity to meet the Second Secretary of Congo’s Embassy in Addis and briefed him on the campaign requesting him to follow-up on his country’s ratification and that SOAWR has great expectation of Congo as it holds the chairmanship of the African Union. He promised to follow up on it.
- Central African Republic – indicated that the Parliament was reviewing the document and that the minister in charge of gender was following up on it. They expected that CAR will deposit its instrument of ratification within the year (2006).
- Republic of Guinea – the minister mentioned that the Legal Counsel of the President’s office is currently reviewing the instrument and the President is expected to sign the ratification instrument after this review is completed. She said she will inform the Gender Ministry to follow up.
- Algeria – indicated that they have a concern about the Arabic formulation of some of the articles and are discussing it with AU officials. They hoped to finalize this soon.

3) An information brief on the Protocol was also prepared for public consumption and posted at the AU-Monitor webpage that is managed by FAHAMU, a SOAWR member. For details, visit http://www.pambazuka.org/aumonitor/

4) Following the handing over of the advocacy packages to the Ministers, SOAWR distributed a press release to the members of the media informing them of SOAWR’s intervention. The press release (available at http://www.pambazuka.org/aumonitor/) highlighted the progress made since January 2005. The number of countries that have ratified since January 2005 has more than doubled while countries labeled red (for not even signing the Protocol) have shrunk further; but emphasis was put on the need for universal ratification and implementation of the Protocol so that all African women could enjoy these rights.

Letters from Botswana and Sudan
President Fetus Mogae of Botswana sent a letter to SOAWR on 20 December 2005 (received in January 2006) in response to a letter that SOAWR’s Secretariat sent him on 28 November 2005. In his letter, President Mogae stated that although his country has not ratified the Protocol, Botswana is at the forefront of the promotion of the rights of women and pointed out that in Botswana women occupy senior positions in public office. Other measures listed included amendment to the Citizenship Act allowing women married to foreigners to pass their citizenship to their children; and an amendment to the deeds registry allowing women “whether married in community of property or not to have property transferred or ceded to the woman as if she were married out of community of property and marital power did not apply”. SOAWR’s Secretariat will write to the President to press for ratification.

On 14 March Equality Now received a letter from the government of Sudan (dated 14 February 2006) responding to a letter it sent to the President on 28 November 2005. In the letter, the government stated that although it has some reservations on certain articles of the Protocol it is considering all aspects of the Protocol in its totality with a view to ratification. SOAWR’s Secretariat will write to the Government and encourage speedy ratification. The ground work covered during the Khartoum summit and the participation of Sudanese CSO in the campaign should go a long way in helping realize Sudan’s ratification of the Protocol.

Status of ratifications

The following is the status of signatures and ratification with two additional signatories (Seychelles and Somalia). Total signatures are now 40 and there are 17 ratifications – seven more ratifications since a year ago. The Protocol entered into force on 25 November 2005, 30 days after the fifteenth ratification by Togo on 26 October 2005.

Status of signatures and ratification At March 2005 At March 2006
Total signatures 38 40
Total ratifications 10 17

RED-CARDED COUNTRIES
01) Angola 02) Botswana 03) Cameroon 04) Central Africa Republic 05) Egypt
06) Eritrea 07) Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic 08) Sao Tome & Principe
09) Sudan 10) Tunisia

YELLOW-CARDED COUNTRIES
01) Algeria 02) Burkina Faso 03) Burundi 04) Chad 05) Congo 06) Cote d’Ivoire 07) Democratic Rep. of Congo 08) Equatorial Guinea 09) Ethiopia 10) Gabon
11) Ghana 12) Guinea 13) Guinea-Bissau 14) Kenya 15) Liberia
16) Madagascar 17) Mauritius 18) Niger 19) Seychelles 20) Somalia 21) Sierra Leone 22) Swaziland 23) Tanzania 24) Uganda 25) Zambia 26) Zimbabwe

GREEN-CARDED COUNTRIES
01) Benin 02) Cape Verde 03) The Comoros 04) Djibouti 05) The Gambia
06) Lesotho 07) Libya 08) Malawi 09) Mali 10) Mauritania 11) Mozambique
12) Namibia 13) Nigeria 14) Rwanda 15) Senegal 16) South Africa 17) Togo

Meetings

Below are some of the meetings that SOAWR members attended.

1) United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
Several members of SOAWR attended the 50th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) held in New York during 27 February to 10 March 2006. This year’s focus of the CSW was on two themes (i) “Enhanced participation of women in development; an enabling environment for achieving gender equality and advancement of women, taking into account inter alia , the fields of education, health and work” and (ii) “Equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes at all levels”. This gave SOAWR members an opportunity to team up with the East African Sub-regional Support Initiative (EASSI) and co-convene a meeting on 3 March. The meeting entitled, “Parallel between Beijing Platforms for Action and the African Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa” looked at the AU Women’s Protocol in the context of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) and noted that the application of the Protocol was an opportunity to do away with the discriminatory laws, among other violations of women’s rights, as envisaged by the BPFA. The meeting also shared SOAWR’s campaign history, strategies that were working well for the speedy ratification of the Protocol and avenues of litigation strategies. There were about 25 participants present and several have expressed interest to learn further from SOAWR’s experience and to be kept abreast of the progress of the campaign. An Ethiopian group based in the USA also expressed specific interest to join SOAWR.

2) Meeting with Rachel Mayanja
SOAWR members also took advantage of their presence at the Commission on the Status of Women in New York to have a private meeting with Ms. Rachel Mayanja, Gender Adviser to the UN Secretary General, on 7 March 2006 at which SOAWR representatives informed her about the campaign.

3) Meeting of Experts on Social Policy
The meeting was convened by the Commission for Social Affairs at the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa during 28-30 March. The meeting discussed the draft social policy framework for Africa with a view to improving the document before it is presented to the 4th Ordinary Session of the Labour and Social Affairs Commission which is due to take place in Cairo during 22-27 April 2006. It was recommended that the Social Policy Framework should embrace and relate its purpose to decisions/commitments made by AU member states such as the Protocol on the Rights of Women and the Heads of State Solemn Gender Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa.

Upcoming events

Africa Women’s Round Table on HIV and AIDS – This meeting is scheduled to take place in Johannesburg during 6-7 April 2006. It is a joint collaboration of four organizations: The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and Action Aid International (AAI). The meeting aims at generating a set of advocacy positions around women’s rights and HIV/AIDS. The outcome will feed into upcoming policy dialogues and processes on HIV/AIDS to ensure that African women’s concerns and proposals are taken on board. The theme of the meeting has a direct bearing on the reproductive health rights espoused in the Protocol including harmful traditional practices, marriage, women in armed conflict and on other rights such as inheritance rights. For more information contact Action Aid at www.actionaid.org

PRC/Legal Experts Meeting 10-16 April 2006 - The office of the AUC Legal Counsel is convening this meeting which will among other issues discuss the merger of the African Court of Justice and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The outcome of this meeting is particularly of interest to the campaign at the post ratification period as the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights is seized with matters of interpretation arising from the application or implementation of the Protocol.

Campaigning in Africa: Experiences and New Frontiers is a workshop being held in Nairobi during 19-22 April by OXFAM GB. It will bring together 30 participants from Oxfam offices and several of its partners. It has the following four objectives:
1. A common understanding of the principles and practices of campaigns
2. Shared perspectives on political, social and economic trends and future scenarios in Africa from the lenses of power, inequalities and rights
3. Shared and critically examined strategies for enabling self-representation by affected constituencies and strengthening coalition based policy advocacy and public campaigning
4. Reflection on their current praxis (theory and practice) and proposed personal performance change objectives

The campaign around the Protocol will be one of the successful models to be shared and discussed at the meeting.

The First Meeting of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights – The office of the AUC Legal Counsel is convening this meeting, in Addis Ababa (12-15 June 2006), which is expected to lay down the methods of operation of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights following the election of the judges during the AU Summit in Khartoum. Observers will be allowed only for the open session on the first day. Below is the list of judges that were appointed by the 6th ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly in Khartoum:
1. Ms. Sophia A.B. AKUFFO, Ghana (2-year term)
2. Mr. G.W. KANYIEHAMBA, Uganda (2-year term)
3. Mr. Bernard Makgabo NGOEPE, South Africa (2-year term)
4. Mr. Jean Emile SOMDA, Burkina Faso (2-year term)
5. Mr. Hamdi Faraj FANOUSH, Libya (4-year term)
6. Mrs. Kelello Justina MAFOSO-GUNI, Lesotho (4-year term)
7. Mr. El Hadji GUISSE, Senegal (4-year term)
8. Mr. Fatsah OUGUERGOUZ, Algeria (4-year term)
9. Mr. Modibo Tounty GUINDO, Mali (6-year term)
10. Mr. Jean MUTSINZI, Rwanda (6-year term)
11. Mr. Gérard NIYUNGEKO, Burundi (6-year term)

Aside from developing the rules of operation of the court the meeting will look into the relationship of the court to other AU organs and specially the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

The 39th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights will take place from 11 to 25 May 2006 and will amongst other issues discuss the Protocol on the Rights of Women and the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa. The African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies will represent SOAWR at this Session and will hold an NGO Forum prior to the session.

NGO Forum at the 39th Ordinary Session of the ACHPR is due to take place in Banjul on 8-10 May 2006. The 13th African Human Rights Book Fair will also be held in tandem. For more information, contact ACDHRS- [email][email protected] or [email][email protected]

OXFAM/SOAWR Workshop – OXFAM is convening a workshop in Johannesburg during 22-24 May 2006 in collaboration with SOAWR bringing together its partners from 10 countries (Angola, Burkina Faso, DRC, Ethiopia, Liberia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia) with a view to accelerating the ratification of the Protocol in these countries and also expanding the number of coalition members thereby allowing for more countries to be actively engaged. SOAWR members will share their campaigning experiences and start connecting with the Oxfam staff and their country level partners.

World Social Forum 2007 will be hosted in Nairobi Kenya during 20-25 January. Aside from the main forum there will be a Feminist Dialogue that will precede the WSF, in which FEMNET and Akina Mama Wa Afrika (both SOAWR members) are part of the organising committee. Both organisations can be approached for information about the Feminist Dialogue agenda and other related information. Preparations for the Forum can be followed on a website of the Forum which will be put up in due course. There will be bi-weekly information bulletins on WSF 2007. This will be an opportunity for SOAWR to do an event and mobilize/link-up with other social movements in support of the campaign for the popularization, ratification and domestication of the Protocol.

AU Summit - The 7th Ordinary Session of the Assembly will be held on 1-2 July 2006 in Banjul. The 13th Session of the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) will take place beforehand on 25-26 June followed by the 9th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council on 28-29 June. SOAWR members plan to undertake advocacy interventions including a public forum, press conference and launching of the AU/SOAWR book titled, “Breathing Life into the African Union Protocol on the Rights of Women”.

The Women, Gender and Development Directorate of the African Union Commission is hosting a Gender Forum during 26-27 June in Banjul. The theme of the meeting is “Promoting Gender-sensitive Governance in Post-Conflict countries”. Various women’s organizations from across the continent are expected to attend. SOAWR members plan to attend as well.

Other African Union meetings that may be of interest to SOAWR members are:

2nd AU Conference of National Human Rights Institutions, 1-3 May 2006, Addis Ababa
Interim Steering Committee Meeting of the African Network on Gender Peace Building & Governance, 2-3 May 2006, Addis Ababa.
Special Session of the AU Assembly on Malaria, HIV/AIDS & TB, 2-4 May 2006, Abuja
Meeting on Human and Peoples’ Rights (9-24 May 2006, Addis Ababa) which will have three parts: (a) Brainstorming on the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, (b) Consultations among AU Commission on human rights promotion and protection; and (c) the African Commission’s session in Banjul (mentioned above).

Equality Now Africa Regional Office
March 2006