Africa: Protocol on the rights of women in Africa campaign update

Update on the campaign on the Popularization, Ratification, Domestication and Implementation of the Protocol on the rights of women in Africa
By Equality Now, July to September 2006

Introduction
Below is the quarterly update (July to September 2006) that Equality Now received from SOAWR members who are working on the campaign for popularization, ratification, domestication and implementation of the African Union’s Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa as well as from the African Union Commission, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other organizations that are also doing work around the Protocol. Also included is the information on the status of ratifications, meetings attended by the SOAWR members and upcoming events. During this quarter the Steering Committee approved a membership application from the Women of Liberia Peace Network (WOLPNET) bringing the number of members to 23. Welcome to WOLPNET who will serve as the focal point for SOAWR in Liberia.

Country Level Updates

Burkina Faso
On 9th August Burkina Faso deposited its instrument of ratification and was confirmed as the 20th country to ratify the Protocol on the Rights of women in Africa.

Voix de Femmes plans to hold a workshop in October 2006 to develop a strategy for implementation of the Protocol. Voix de Femmes feels that even though some of its country’s laws are already in conformity with the Protocol such as the Family Code there is still a need to harmonize all the laws with the Protocol. Through its legal clinic, Voix de Femmes continued training women on the Protocol despite the numerous challenges faced such as social and economic factors that affect women in fighting for their rights.

Cameroon
Cameroon signed the Protocol on 25th July 2006 thereby graduating to the yellow-carded category.

Gambia
Though the Gambian Government had informed SOAWR that it lifted the four reservations that it had earlier entered against the Protocol, SOAWR learned that the African Union Commission has not yet received official notification from the government. The African Center for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) is following up with the Government to find out when this process will be completed.

The ACDHRS will be hosting the NGO Forum in Banjul during 12-14 November 2006 ahead of the Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights which is scheduled to take place 15-29 November. For more information write to the ACDHRS at [email][email protected] or [email][email protected]

Ghana
Equality Now’s Program Officer, Caroline Osero-Ageng’o, visited Accra in September and had the opportunity to meet with Ms. Joyce Opoku Boateng, the official at the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs charged specifically with the ratifications of international instruments including the AU Protocol on the rights of women. Caroline learnt that the documents of ratification are with the Parliamentary Committee after cabinet approval has been obtained. Once further approved, the documents will be passed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who will prepare the ratification document for signature by the President.

Guinea
CPTAFE continued with its advocacy efforts around Guinea’s ratification of the Protocol. It plans to meet with the Minister in charge of Presidential Affairs and discuss a way forward for depositing the instrument of ratification to the African Union Commission.

Kenya
FIDA (K) has been collaborating with the Ministry of Justice in various initiatives including the drafting of Kenya’s country Report under the African Charter which is due to be presented to the African Commission in November 2006. Through this collaboration there is a proposal to co-host a forum with the Ministry of Justice to sensitize various government ministries on international human rights instruments among them the Protocol. FIDA sees this as a good opportunity to include the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Sports and Gender to get a clear picture of Kenya’s position on the Protocol and use the forum for advocating for fast tracking the ratification of the Protocol.

Liberia
During the SOAWR Review and Agenda Setting meeting, Una Thompson from the Women of Liberia Peace Network (WOLPNET) reported that they did some investigation and learned that after signing the Protocol in December 2003, the former Government of Liberia had ratified the Protocol and that the instrument of ratification was with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for onward transmission to the AU. [She mentioned that the former government faces a great number of challenges in terms of communication due to the destruction of the country by the war. WOLPNET plans to follow up with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to engage in advocacy actions to ensure that the Government will expedite the process of depositing the instrument of ratification to the African Union Commission.

Mali
Association des Juristes Maliennes (AJM) has continued with sensitization of the Protocol and has incorporated this action into its day to day sensitization on the laws of the country. The Ministry of Justice has recently asked AJM to draft a proposal on training magistrates around the country on the Protocol and other international instruments that Mali has ratified. This will be a good opportunity to continue to impress upon the Magistrates on the need to use the Protocol as a tool to protect the rights of Malian women.

In terms of domestication AJM reported that the Bill of the Family Code that is currently pending before parliament already contains several issues covered in the Protocol.

AJM has also taken the lead in the discussions with other Civil Society organizations on ways to engage the merged African Courts (the court of Justice and the Human Rights court) as a means to enforcing the rights of women embodied within the Protocol.

Mauritius
Loga Virahsawmy (Chair of the Media Watch Organization-GEMSA) met with the Hon. Rama Valayden (the Attorney General and Minister of Human Rights of Mauritius) on 20th September 2006 to find out about any progress on Mauritius' ratification of the Protocol. Hon. Valayden indicated that the Protocol will be tabled before Cabinet at the end of September and assured GEMSA that Mauritius would ratify the Protocol by the end of the year.

Mozambique
Forum Mulher heads a coalition of organizations that is popularizing the Protocol throughout the country and is campaigning for its domestication and implementation. The coalition came into formation after a consultative meeting in Maputo in October 2005. The coalition carried out advocacy campaigns and engaged parliamentarians and especially the female parliamentarians leading to the ratification of the Protocol in December 2005.

Forum Mulher after ratification has focused on the domestication of the Protocol into national law and engaged in popularization campaigns generating brochures which were used in dissemination meetings within three regions in the country, namely North, Center and South, as well as in the membership monthly meetings. After various reviews, they learned that the Constitution of Mozambique addresses most of the issues addressed in the Protocol except the family law thereby prompting a review of the Family Code. Forum Mulher has also drafted a law on domestic violence which it plans to submit as a proposal to the women parliamentarians for discussion before the Parliament.

Forum Mulher and other coalition members are planning meetings with the Judicial Training Centre (CFJJ) and the Technical Legal Reform Unit (UTREL) on strategizing on ways to implement the Protocol and together with the media will hold roundtable debates around the provisions of the Protocol. UTREL has also drafted a proposal on reviewing succession laws in Mozambique in order for these laws to be brought in line with the Protocol and Forum Mulher is also calling for a review of the Penal Code to be inconformity with the Protocol noting that some of the provisions in the Penal Code may be a hindrance for the full enjoyment of rights provided under the Protocol.

Niger
Since Niger’s Parliament rejected the Protocol on 3rd June 2006, the Coordination des ONG et Associations Feminines du Niger (CONGAFEN), a local NGO that has shown interest to join SOAWR, has been campaigning afresh for the ratification of the Protocol. CONGAFEN has been involved in numerous advocacy campaigns with a view to educating the public on the value of the Protocol. CONGAFEN learned that Articles 6 (b) & (f), 7, 14, 21 were considered (by members of the parliament) to be incompatible with the teachings of Islam and that this was the reason the parliament rejected to endorse the Protocol. CONGAFEN has therefore engaged in re-educating the people on the provisions of the Protocol and demystifying the Protocol and the terms used. They have found that this has proven to be helpful as many people have certain perceptions and misunderstanding about the rights of women for example issues of reproductive health and inheritance rights. Once people understand what the Protocol provides they realize that it does not contradict Islamic teachings. CONGAFEN anticipates that on 4th October 2006, the Protocol will be tabled before the parliament for a second time and is hopeful that it will be adopted this time.

Nigeria
Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA) has been engaged in a number of activities around the Protocol. WRAPA has expanded the participatory base for the campaign on popularization and domestication of the Protocol to include Action Aid International, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) and Women in Law and Development (WILDAF Nigeria). On 11th July 2006 WRAPA held a meeting with WARDC and WILDAF with the objective of integrating their campaign activities into one campaign on the AU Protocol to avoid duplication and ensure that the domestication process is effectively carried out.

Civil Society Meeting
On 4th-7th August 2006, WRAPA held a one day meeting with twenty civil society groups from six geo-political zones in Nigeria. The objectives of the meeting were to build the capacity of the organizations to conduct popularization and advocacy activities around the Protocol in their zones and to monitor the implementation process of the Protocol once it is domesticated. The participants were from 12 states and were made up of 10 women’s rights organizations, 5 human rights development bodies, two youth focused NGOs and three media organizations. The participants during the discussions identified key strategies and approaches for sensitization and advocacy within the context of their localities.

Meeting for leaders
WRAPA also held a one day meeting with fifty three religious leaders comprising of Islamic, Christian and traditional faiths and civil society members from 6 geo-political zones on 1st September 2006. The objective of the meeting was to establish knowledge and acceptance of the Protocol among religious leaders; to generate support for the domestication and to monitor the implementation of the Protocol once domesticated. During the meeting a few problematic areas were identified. Of the 32 provisions of the protocol only 28 were considered to be in conformity with the various religious teachings. Articles that were controversial and recommendations from these leaders were:
• Article 14 (2) on reproductive health and abortion was acceptable to Islam on medical or health grounds on the advice of professional medical practitioners to save the life or preserve the health of the mother, while abortion was rejected by the Christians based on the rights of the unborn child.
Recommendation: the article should be retained to apply to situations where the continued pregnancy endangers the mental and physical health of the mother or the life of the mother or the fetus. However the provision on abortion in cases of rape, sexual assault and incest should be modified to take into consideration the well being of the mother and the fetus as provided for by the institutions of faith.

• Article 21(2) on Inheritance - Islamic teachings endorsed the provisions subject to clarification of terminology as well as the Catholics. The other Christian faiths did not express any reservations. The provision of equitable shares requires an unambiguous definition to avoid possible misinterpretation of the intent of the Protocol
Recommendation: the provision for inheritance in equitable shares for women and men should be unambiguously defined to reflect appropriate shares of their parents’ property

• Article 16 – Age of consent being 18yrs was disputed
Recommendation: That the article should de-emphasize the age limit of 18 yrs and rather lay emphasis on mental and physical capacity as the basis for marriage

• Article 7 on divorce separation and annulment - The Islamic teachings endorsed the provision while the Catholic faith allows only separation and annulment of marriage but the provision was not endorsed by other Christian denominations.
Recommendation: These provisions should be determined by the legal and religious regime of marriage

• Article 14 on the right to control fertility, to decide whether to have children or not as well as choosing the method of contraception was not endorsed however the religious leaders felt that the provisions should be amended. Article 14 (1) (b) & (g) on child spacing and not family planning was endorsed by Islamic teachings while the catholic church permits family planning in its teachings
Recommendation: that this provision will be dependent on the empowerment of the individual woman to take the decision of birth control and fertility in mutual consultation with spouses and especially backed by medical or physical factors as well as complimentary support of the State and the institutions of faith.

• Article 6(f)-The right of women to retain her maiden name was rejected by the Christian faith but the Islamic leaders endorsed it as it is permitted within Islam

The meeting concluded that the three arms of government and civil society should collaborate towards the realization of the aspiration of the domestication as a mark of political will and commitment to the promotion and protection of women’s rights in Nigeria. The participants also emphasized the need for further intense and sustained sensitization and public awareness of the provisions of the Protocol before its domestication by Nigeria.

Roundtable meeting on the Protocol
WRAPA also held a one day round table discussion on strategic intervention strategies on the AU Protocol on 18th September 2006. The roundtable was hosted by Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) in collaboration with WRAPA and WILDAF. The objective of the meeting was to discuss the Gender Audit of Nigerian laws as put together by consultants and to draft model legislation to implement the Protocol. The meeting brought together legal experts, representatives of the Federal Ministry of Justice and National Human Rights Commission along with civil society working on women’s rights and media. The outcome of the meeting was as follows:
1. Civil society organizations should jointly re-submit a memo to the Chief Justice of the Federation on amending the Evidence Act before it is passed into law. This would allow the Act to take into consideration the provisions within the Protocol
2. That Professional organizations and trade unions should mainstream women’s concerns such as workplace discrimination by practising corporate responsibility and corporate accountability
3. The model legislation incorporating the AU Protocol should be unambiguous and clear
4. Encourage women to participate in law-making through increased numbers in elective and appointed office to ensure that the laws reflect their needs
5. Empower women economically and with knowledge as women’s exploitation is as a result of low economic status

Legislative Consultation
WRAPA in collaboration with the House of Representatives Committee on Women and Children will also be hosting a legislative consultation on 4th October 2006. The meeting is aimed at closely working with the Parliamentarians to sensitize them on the provisions of the Protocol and identify issues and strategies for domestication once the Executive Bill is forwarded by the President to the Senate. WRAPA will organize another meeting with the Senate Committee on Women and Children at a later date.

Partnership with Action Aid International
WRAPA together with Action Aid International Nigeria have agreed to form a partnership on the popularization and domestication process of the Protocol at the grassroots level. This partnership will involve working with Action Aid Partnership Against Poverty (PAP) partners in Nassarawa, Kaduna, Gombe, Ebonyi, Ondo, Akwa, Ibom, Kogi and FCT to popularize the Protocol to community members, institutions, religions and cultural groups. On 4th September 2006 a meeting was held to identify the best PAP partners to work with WRAPA’s campaign and outline strategy plans, roles and responsibility for sensitization and advocacy around the Protocol at the PAP locations. In addition, the meeting was to enable WRAPA and the PAP to agree on the content and extent of the activities subject to PAP’s budgetary provisions on Gender.

Activities related to the AU Protocol
On 22nd August 2006, the Nigerian Senate conducted the first reading of an Executive Bill for the domestication of the CEDAW (UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) after 21 years of tireless efforts by civil society to sensitize and popularize the CEDAW in close collaboration with Nigeria’s gender machinery and the Justice Ministry together with development partners. The Bill has been sent to the Senate Committee of Foreign Affairs for consideration. CIRDDOC and WRAPA are making contacts with the Committee to identify ways in which civil society organizations may input into the Committee’s process. WRAPA has been informed that the Bill has reached an advanced stage and may actually receive expedited passage.

Somalia
In Somalia, the Coalition for Grassroots Women’s Organizations (COGWO) whose membership application is being considered by SOAWR’s Steering Committee, reported that they have translated the Protocol into the Somali language and are educating the masses on the importance of the Protocol. COGWO also recently held a workshop titled, Advocacy workshop on the use of regional and international instruments on human rights, with the help of UNIFEM and UNDP. During this workshop the participants were educated on the Protocol together with other human rights instruments.

In parallel, UNDP is working with lawyers in Somalia to formalize and regulate the legal system and is working on drafting the Penal Code and the Constitution. This has created an opportunity for COGWO and other organizations engaged in human rights work to engage in this process and make sure that women’s rights are not left out, including advocating for the ratification of the Protocol and ensuring other international human rights instruments are put on the agenda.

South Africa
A study on the compatibility of national laws and policies with the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa for the first 15 countries that ratified the Protocol: Written by Rebecca Amollo, Tebello Thabane, and Roselyn Hanzi of the University of Pretoria, Centre for Human Rights. This recent study seeks to assess the compatibility of national laws and policies of the first 15 countries that ratified the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. The paper gives a background on the motivation and history for creating the Protocol and an overview of its legal framework. The paramount objective of the paper is to identify problem areas in different countries, and make recommendations on how the Protocol can be used to remedy them. The paper provides a comprehensive analysis of current laws and policies in each of the first 15 ratifying countries and where the countries’ national laws are incompatible with the Protocol. An intended use for the study is to provide relevant stake holders, such as the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights; the Special Rapporteur on women’s rights and civil society organizations; and relevant ministries in the member states, with easy reference material on the status of the Protocol in relation with the first 15 countries that ratified it. The paper makes observations and legal, regulatory, and policy recommendations to member states on using the Protocol and making their national laws compliant with its provisions.

Swaziland
WILDAF Swaziland has been carrying out advocacy campaigns with MPs who are also members of the SADC parliamentary Forum, and the Pan African Parliament as well as some of the officials in the government about the Protocol and hopes that Swaziland is on its way to ratifying the Protocol. WILDAF-Swaziland is following up on this process. WILDAF is analyzing the Protocol in relation to the process of making the SADC Gender and Development Declaration into a protocol. It is seeking to create a rationalized approach that emphasizes the complementary nature of all these instruments to avoid the all too frequent excuse by governments that they are too many and that they do not know how they relate to one another.

Commissioner Advocate Pansy Tlakula accompanied by Mr. Robert Eno, Legal Officer at the Secretariat of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, undertook a promotional mission to Swaziland in August 2006 to assess the country’s human rights situation. They met with various stakeholders including government and civil society organizations. The ACHPR delegation raised many issues with the authorities, including the fact that the Kingdom of Swaziland is yet to ratify the Protocols to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa as well as on the establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, they discussed submission of Swaziland’s Initial Report to the African Commission in conformity with Article 62 of the African Charter, and engaged the Government on the measures taken to implement the decision of the African Commission with respect to communication 251/2002 – Lawyers for Human Rights/The Kingdom of Swaziland. The government undertook to look into these.

The delegation also expressed concern about the low representation of women in the high echelons of the police and correctional services, the seeming lack of participation of groups and organizations in the Constitution making process, the lack of registration and participation of political parties in elections and governance structures in the country. For more information visit http://www.achpr.org/english/_info/news_en.html
Uganda
According to the Centre for Justice Studies and Innovations, a new SOAWR member, the political transition in Uganda had an impact on the ratification of the Protocol. The Protocol was brought before the former Cabinet but the Cabinet changed after the elections and the process has to be started afresh. Another reason that the Protocol has not been pushed forward was the rejection of the Domestic Relations Bill as activists and NGOs did not want to quickly push in the Protocol for fear of it suffering from the same fate as the Bill. The Centre, together with other organizations in Uganda, is dialoguing with the new Cabinet while popularizing the Protocol amongst the masses.

Status of ratifications
The following is the status of signatures and ratifications with an additional ratification (Burkina Faso) and one more signatory (Cameroon). Total signatories are now 42 and there are 20 ratifications – 4 more signatories and 6 more ratifications than a year ago. The Protocol entered into force on 25 November 2005.

Status of signatures and ratification At September 2005 At September 2006
Total signatures 38 42
Total ratifications 14 20

RED-CARDED COUNTRIES (8)
01) Angola
02) Botswana
03) Central Africa Republic
04) Egypt 05) Eritrea
06) Sao Tome & Principe
07) Sudan
08) Tunisia

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

GREEN-CARDED COUNTRIES (20)
01) Benin
02) Burkina Faso
03) Cape Verde
04) The Comoros
05) Djibouti
06) The Gambia
07) Lesotho
08) Libya
09) Malawi
10) Mali 11) Mauritania
12) Mozambique
13) Namibia
14) Nigeria
15) Rwanda
16) Senegal
17) South Africa
18) Togo
19) Seychelles
20) Zambia

Meetings and Events

7th ORDINARY SESSION OF AU ASSEMBLY HELD IN BANJUL
The 7th Ordinary Session was held in Banjul, The Gambia, from 1st to 2nd July 2006. The summit was attended by Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Mohammed Ahmadinejad of Iran as well as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Some key important decisions were made at this Session which are important for the members of the coalition. The Assembly requested the Commission to convene a meeting of Ministers of Justice to consider the Draft Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and to make recommendations to the Council in January 2007. The Assembly also called on member states to give urgent priority to ratification of AU instruments including seeking to present them to the first meeting of their parliaments and or other appropriate organs immediately after their adoption. The Assembly also requested the African Commission and the Pan African Parliament to consider ways and means of accelerating the process and submit appropriate recommendations at the next ordinary session of the Assembly.

Women and International Migration – The focus of this year’s World Population Report
On 6th September, the 2006 State of the World Population Report was launched in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in a ceremony jointly organized by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the African Union. The report’s theme was ‘A passage to hope- Women and International Migration’. The report examines the impact of female labour migration both on the source and destination countries, money sent back home to their countries and looks at the benefits of globalization as well as the disadvantages. It looks at the scourge of human trafficking and exploitation of women domestic workers. In her launch speech, Commissioner Advocate Bience Gawanas stated that the AU is concerned about the migration of African youth to Europe and the brain drain involved in the emigration of highly skilled personnel and the consequent capital layout involved when Africa recruits expatriates to fill the gaps. She further stated that the AU will launch its State of the African Population Report during the special session of the AU Ministers of Health meeting on the 21st of September 2006.

SOAWR Campaign Review and Agenda setting meeting, 11th-13th September 2006, Nairobi (Kenya)
The Meeting brought together SOAWR members. It was a chance for the SOAWR members to review the work that the coalition has been doing for the past years and plan ahead for the next two years. The objectives of the meeting were:
1. Discuss the light review of the SOAWR campaign complied by Prof. Jacqueline Odoul
2. Reflection on SOAWR’s work plan
3. Dialogue with development partners

The meeting began with the presentation of the light review by Prof. Oduol. The review highlighted the key successes of the campaign such as the speedy ratification by member states and the coming into force of the Protocol and that the Protocol remained on the African agenda since its adoption. It also highlighted areas needing improvement for the coalition such as improving the flow of communication between members and linking the campaign to the various issues being discussed at summits. It was an opportunity for members to interact and brainstorm on new ideas and challenges. The members were able to interact with the African Union Commission, Women and Gender Development Directorate which was represented by Diakhoumba Gassama, Commissioner Angela Melo who is also the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and Ambassador Dr. Eunice Brookman Amissah, Regional Director of IPAS. Each of them gave pointers on how to actively engage the various African Union mechanisms and their respective offices to push for the ratification and implementation of the Protocol. The meeting enabled SOAWR members to share the progress of the campaign with development partners: Action Aid International, Finnish Embassy (Kenya), The Ford Foundation, Oxfam GB, UNDP and UNIFEM. The meeting ended with a Public Forum on discussion of the Sexual Offences Act of Kenya. The keynote speakers were Commissioner Angela Melo and Millie Odhiambo (Executive Director, the CRADLE – The Children’s Foundation, a Kenyan NGO). The public debate was a chance for members to engage with Kenyan activists on the experiences and challenges in pushing for the rights of women. The meeting report will be available soon.

Special Summit on the Conference of the AU Ministers of Health on 18th-22nd in Maputo, Mozambique
Two coalition members, CPTAFE and Oxfam GB, attended this Special Session of the Conference of Health Ministers of the African Union, which was organized in collaboration with the government of Mozambique, UNFPA and IPPF with the financial support of the European Union. Aside from the ministers, participants included the specialized organs of the United Nations, the regional and international non-governmental organizations, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of China, and several private organizations among them the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Packard Foundation. The conference carried the theme “Universal Access to Integrated Services in the subject of Sexuality and Reproduction in Africa” and had two objectives:-

1. To adopt a global approach in the area of health regarding sexuality, reproduction and the fight against HIV and AIDS
2. To adopt a plan of action for the implementation of a framework of orientation for the promotion of the rights and of health in the area of sexuality, reproduction and the fight against HIV and AIDS.

The conference discussed several themes, among them best practices in the provision of health services and in reproductive and sexual health rights, elimination of harmful traditional practices including the prevention and management of obstetrical fistula in Africa, approaches and programs for the establishment of a link between rights, health services in the areas of sexuality and reproduction as well as services in the fight against HIV and AIDS and the strategies for improvement of the quality of maternity and pre natal care.

The historic adoption of the continental plan of Action on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights by the ministers of Health gives a boost to SOAWR’s work around the Protocol. The plan seeks to integrate sexual and reproductive health services into primary healthcare. One of the key elements of the plan is the requirement for member states to adopt supportive legislation and protocols to ensure the realization of the Plan of Action. The adoption of the Plan of Action thus creates new impetus for continental advocacy around the Protocol, and possibilities for working with health networks at the national level.

SOAWR members present urged the delegates to take into account gains made by the African Union, particularly the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, which adds a certain value and which is a major advancement in the area of reproductive health.

Harmful traditional practices and in particular FGM and early marriages occupied an important place in the discussions to a point that certain ministers proposed that a special session be organized on the subject.

Second Session of the Human Rights Council, 18 September to 6 October 2006, Geneva, Switzerland
On Wednesday, 20th September, the Inter-Africa Committee (IAC) Executive Director, Mrs. Berhane Ras-Work made a statement at the 2nd session of the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva. Her statement on violence against women also dwelt extensively on the Protocol as an important protective instrument and called on governments to ratify and domesticate it.

Upcoming Events

Roundtable Meeting on Reinvigorating and Sustaining a Vibrant Women’s Movement in the SADC Region, 9-11 October 2006, Johannesburg (South Africa)
This roundtable meeting is a joint collaboration of The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), Women and Law in Southern Africa Research Trust (WLSA), the SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF), and HIVOS. The meeting will explore, in depth, the dwindling vibrancy of the women’s movement in the SADC region – a diminished resource base, limited capacity and ability to effectively mobilize and organize around new challenges such as HIV and AIDS, among other issues – and provide a road map towards its reinvigoration, guided by recommendations from findings of a research commissioned by OSISA in 2005. Participants will engage with the situational analysis – examining the causes of the deteriorating vibrancy, proposing strategies and modalities to address this and collectively draw up an action plan with defined roles, responsibilities and timeframes for its implementation. Key speakers will include Honorable Speaker Nthloi Motsamai of Lesotho, amongst other gender and women’s rights activists from across the region.

The roundtable meeting will bring together about 100 stakeholders from national, sub-regional and regional levels, individual activists, NGO coalitions, CBOs, government gender machineries, funding organizations, UN agencies, academics, among others in the SADC region and beyond. The meeting is expected to come up with a regional plan of action that will not only seek to reinvigorate, but also sustain a vibrant women’s movement in Southern Africa. For more information on the meeting please contact: Alice Kanengoni or Thoko Budaza at: Tel: +27 11 403 3414 or email: [email][email protected] or [email][email protected]

Strengthening Regional Work on Gender based Violence 8th-10th November 2006, Kampala, Uganda
The Gender Based Violence (GBV) Prevention Network, in collaboration with PATH, Raising Voices and others, will be holding this regional GBV meeting whose objective is to bring together organizations and experts working on GBV to share state of the art tools and interventions while strengthening their capacity and developing future strategies for future GBV programs in the region. The meeting is designed for NGOs, CBOs PVOs, FBOs and any other organizations working in the area of GBV and health in East and Southern Africa. Also invited to participate in the meeting are development partners and government counterparts from the region. For more information, please visit http://www.preventgbvafrica.org/

Equality Now, a member of the SOAWR Steering Committee, will be attending the meeting and will share the SOAWR campaign for the popularization, ratification and implementation of the Protocol which addresses issues of gender based violence in Africa.

Workshop on a Research Project to support state preparation for AU Summits, 10-11 November, Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
The research project which was conceived in January 2006 and the workshop are a joint partnership of AFRODAD, Open Society Foundation-Afri-map and Oxfam GB.

The purpose of the research was to understand the processes and linkages between national and continental decision-making processes related to the six-monthly African Union summits and related ministerial meetings. Among the questions that the research has answered are: What are some of the best practices that have contributed to effective intra-state coordination, consultation with non-state national actors and public accountability? Are there major divergences between African countries in the way they organize around African summits and international summits? What could civil society organizations and citizens do to contribute effectively to this process? Since there is currently little public knowledge about these processes, the research should enable a wide range of actors, from government and civil society, to participate more effectively in the work of the African Union. A working draft of the ten-country report based on research conducted by Nobuntu Mbelle and Ibrahima Kane will be complete by mid-October.

The purpose of the two-day workshop is to:

1) Present key findings and recommendations arising from the research to interested staff from the Pan African civil society community, the AU Commission and embassies and obtain their comments and suggestions for input into the final report;
2) Discuss key implications for future CSO engagement of the African Union;
3) Brainstorm on key themes for an advocacy reader for CSOs on the African Union;
4) Agree on plans for the research report launch symposium during the January 2007 AU Summit

Following this consultation, the results of the research will be shared formally with the AU Commission and interested states, including those that are the subject of research, as well as published more broadly. The aim is to launch the report at the January 2007 summit.

African Feminist Forum on 15th-19th November 2006 in Accra, Ghana
The African Feminist Forum (AFF) has been a five year project that has been discussed severally amongst African feminists. In October 2005 after the AWID (Association for Women’s Rights in Development) forum in Bangkok a number of women who had been involved in previous discussions met and agreed that the previously planned African Feminist Congress should take place in 2006 and was renamed the African Feminist Forum. The African Women’s Development Fund will host the African Feminist Forum for six years. During this time, the AFF will meet three times in 2006, 2008 and 2010. Participation at the AFF is by invitation and nomination only. The working group has established the following criteria for invitations to the AFF:
• Women who publicly self-define themselves as feminists
• Willingness to sign on to a `Charter of Feminist Principles’
• Intergenerational representation
• Experience and track record of active engagement with feminist issues
• Regional/geographical balance
• Self-identified feminists from diverse fields (community, trade unions, politicians, corporate executives, faith-based institutions, etc)

The AFF Working group has expressed a desire to ensure that the Forum is as participatory as possible. It is being planned in such a way as to ensure that different feminist communities can get something out of it – the researchers, activists, artistes, community organizers, scholars, politicians, etc. Diversity is also a core value of the Forum and this will be reflected in the participants’ profile, plenary, workshops and cultural activities

The key thematic areas are as follows
• Crafting an African feminist epistemology
• Feminist perspectives on sexual reproductive health and rights in Africa
• African feminism: political and economic power; resisting fundamentalism
• Intersecting generations
• Feminist creative expression
• African women’s movements: organizing, structures and capacities
• Confronting violations in women’s lives
• Global feminism and the UN system

The African Feminist Forum is a space for reflection and dialogue on the challenges facing the African women’s movement and feminist activists in particular.

40th Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Banjul, The Gambia
The African Commission will be having its second annual session during 15-29 November. The country reports being reviewed at this session are Zambia (initial report) and Uganda (first periodic report). For more information please visit http://www.achpr.org/english/_info/news_en.html

North Africa Consultation 22-25 November 2006, Tunis, Tunisia
The Consultation meeting is a joint collaboration of SOAWR and the Africa Union Commission, Women, Gender and Development Directorate, that seeks to bring together participants from governments and civil society organizations from 10 Northern African and other countries in Africa that have or not ratified the Protocol (Algeria, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Gambia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Sahraoui Arab Democratic Republic, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan and Tunisia) to deepen understanding of the AU Protocol and explore strategies for national level campaigning for ratification and domestication. This workshop seeks to stimulate the emergence of national campaigns in Northern Africa countries where ratification has not happened. It will specifically target these countries to ratify ‘The Women’s Protocol’ without reservations that would impact negatively on the progress already achieved. It will also seek to encourage countries to ratify the Protocol establishing the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
The aim of the consultation is to:
• share continental progress on the ratification of the AU Protocol and so resource persons will come from across the continent to share their experiences on working around popularization and domestication strategies
• create a common understanding of the AU Protocol, its benefits and opportunities as an effective tool for realizing women’s rights
• form a national level campaign on the ratification and implementation of the Protocol.

The ACHDR is organizing the regional consultation workshop on behalf of SOAWR and AUC.

Women Lawyers Meeting on the Protocol 1st- 4th December 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya
At the AUC/SOAWR Conference (September 2005), it was recommended that SOAWR starts looking into litigation as a strategy to push for the implementation of the provisions of the Protocol. In line with this recommendation, Equality Now, on behalf of SOAWR, plans to host a meeting of women lawyers who are actively involved in women's rights litigation from countries that have ratified the Protocol. The idea of the meeting is to:
• hold a briefing on the substance and procedures relating to the Protocol,
• discuss issues and specific cases that might lend themselves to appeal at the regional level, and
• develop strategies to incorporate provisions from the Protocol into domestic jurisprudence.

3rd Feminist Dialogues Meeting on Feminists Transforming Democracies: Visions and Strategies: Pre-Conference, World Social Forum (WSF) Nairobi, Kenya, 17-19 January 2007and Related Feminist Activities during the World Social Forum
The third Feminist Dialogues will take place in Nairobi, Kenya, and some 250 women from around the world are expected to participate in it. The broader objectives of the Feminist Dialogues (FD) continues to be to provide an open and democratic space for dialogue, reflective analysis and thinking among diverse feminists from feminist organizations that espouse the feminist principles and are non- governmental and non political party affiliated. The more specific objective of the meeting is to bring together women who are concerned about and committed to the project of building a feminist movement and to provide a space for the possible development of a framework of shared analyses and political action. Building upon the experiences of the FD in Asia 2004 and Latin America in 2005, an additional objective of the FD 2007 is to catalyze feminist organizations and networks in Africa as well as African feminists in other organizations and movements.

The meeting seeks to do the above by facilitating a process that will allow participants of the Feminist Dialogues meeting to assess and strategize upon:

• how feminists are organising and strategising locally, nationally and internationally in facing the challenges and issues of neo-liberal globalisation, fundamentalisms and militarism;
• what key issues feminist movements are organising around across regions
• the interlinkages between struggles around different issues in different contexts, including human rights, gender justice and reproductive and sexual rights
• the gaps in feminist strategizing and perspectives in terms of these interlinkages, and;
• the way forward in terms of interventions in the WSF, and possible common strategies and platforms for action in other spaces.

Following are the sub thematic areas;
• Sub theme 1: feminist ways of working and articulation;
• Sub theme 2: fundamentalisms and body politics;
• Sub theme 3: neo-liberalism;
• Sub theme 4: democracy and militarism;
• Sub theme 5: global feminist strategies, challenges and common approaches.

The expanded Coordinating Group (CG) made up of 12 regional organizations will remain responsible for providing overall direction to the FD process. However, given the fact that the WSF will be held in Kenya in 2007, DAWN and FEMNET will be responsible for managing the Feminist Dialogues and the various feminist interventions at the WSF received on behalf of the CG.

The website is being developed but in the meantime queries can be directed at FEMNET.

World Social Forum (WSF) 2007
The WSF will be hosted in Nairobi, Kenya during 20-25 January. SOAWR plans to organize events during the WSF. For more information please visit www.socialforum.or.ke

African Union Meetings/Summit, 22 – 30 January 2007, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
13th Ordinary Session of the Permanent Representatives Committee (22-23)
10th Ordinary Session of the AU Executive Council (25-26)
8th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly (29-30)

Equality Now Africa Regional Office
September 2006