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2005-11-24

EDITORIALS: The Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa comes into force this week. It's time to Smile, Woman of Africa, Smile!
- Pambazuka News begins a weekly feature on trade agreements between Europe and Africa
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS: WSIS aftermath: What happened to human rights?; Browse the WSIS bazaar
LETTERS: Readers on how the other half dies; the politics of fear in Ethiopia and the shame of Tunis
BLOGGING AFRICA: Sokari Ekine tells us what's being talked about in the African blogosphere
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem wants a Pan-Africanism for the people
BOOKS AND ARTS: Meet the Chairman of Fools in our latest review of novels from the African continent
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: News from Darfur, Eritrea and Niger
HUMAN RIGHTS: Human rights defenders under threatening conditions in Ethiopia
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: UNHCR office temporarily halts operations as asylum seekers go on hunger strike
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Kibaki humbled as Kenyans say no to constitution
WOMEN AND GENDER: Women victims of "gendercide"
DEVELOPMENT: WTO ambush warning
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: Bird flu in Africa, dysentery in Zimbabwe
MEDIA: Uncertainty over release of journalist held for four years without charge in Eritrea
FUNDRAISING: Fundraising QuickGuides: Special offer for Pambazuka News readers
PLUS...Courses, jobs, e-newsletters, internet and campaigns

Smile, Woman of Africa, Smile!

2005-11-24

Anne Kithaka

This week holds two important events for African women. The 25th of November marks the start of the 16 Days of Gender Activism Against Violence, an international campaign meant to raise awareness about gender violence, strengthen the work of local organisations and demonstrate the solidarity of women around the world. Incorporating the International Day Against Violence Against Women (November 25th) and International Human Rights Day (December 10), the goal of the campaign is to link violence against women to the fact that it is a human rights violation. November 25 is also especially important for African women, as it is the day that the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa comes into force. Having been ratified by the requisite 15 African countries, this extremely important and progressive treaty has the potential to liberate and empower all African women to know and utilise their rights. That’s why A.N. Kithaka, in the article below, makes an eloquent plea for Kenya to ratify the protocol. Extolling the advantages that the Protocol will have on African countries, Kithaka argues that the work done by numerous groups around the globe is imperative to gender rights, and to leaving behind violence against women as a things of the past . below Kithaka’s article are a list of resources on 16 days and the Protocol - suggested websites, further reading, blogs and events. (French version available)


Women of Africa, we have cause to celebrate; the long awaited ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of the African Woman by the requisite 15 member states has just been announced. The Protocol will come to force soon (November 25). Those states that have deposited their instruments of ratification with the Executive Council will be at liberty to incorporate its provision into their domestic laws.

It has been a long journey; a journey and a battle well fought by national, regional and international lobby groups. Most of us were not aware of this but we are glad that their collective and consistent lobbying, cajoling and canvassing has finally born fruits. The Second Summit of the African Heads of Governments and States sitting in Maputo, Mozambique finally adopted the Protocol as a supplement to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. The only rider was that it had to be ratified by 15 states out of a possible 53 member states. The fifteenth state to deposit its document of ratification with the Executive Council did so on the 26th day of October, meaning that within 30 days from this date, the Protocol will come into force! It has been correctly taunted as the Green Card that will usher us to a new era. It not only guarantees us a wider spectrum of human rights specific to our needs as the much oppressed and repressed creature of the old (and new!) millennium, but also allows us to seek redress in the yet to be constituted African Court of Human and Peoples Rights. Unfortunately, Kenya is yet to ratify the protocol, perhaps due to the present national preoccupation with the referendum. Nevertheless, it will not be an up hill task to nudge the government towards the right direction - it appears malleable.

The big question is, how soon will women in Kenya join the proud list of those countries that have chosen to give their women an early Christmas gift by ratifying the document? How long will the women in Kenya have to camp on this renegade side of the Red Sea as they wait for the magic word 'ratification' to part the raging waters and usher them to that other side where gender discrimination, repulsive FGM, forced marriages and widow inheritance, domestic and sexual violence, etc. are a thing of the past? Not long, I hope.

We must join hands to lobby for this ratification at all costs. Only then can we rise and say “Eureka!” Otherwise we may as well be content to sit on this side for an eternity, as we watch our sisters from Cape Verde, Mali, Malawi, Lesotho, Comoros, Libya, Namibia, Rwanda, Nigeria, Djibouti, Mauritius, Senegal, South Africa, Benin, Togo and Gambia take the first steps into the soggy sea bed to personal freedoms.

After ratification and domestication; we must move to the next important stage: that of educating the masses on its benefits, without forgetting to bring on-board our dear fathers, brothers, husbands and sons. Some of the opposition being waged against the Wako Draft Constitution is because it promises equal inheritance rights to women, especially married women. One would think that the Draft is introducing new concepts into our legal jurisprudence, yet the Succession Act has been around since 1981!

Most women have refused to enforce their rights, even when assured that the law is on their side. Others do not want the incessant fights over meager family resources with hostile male relatives; visits to infamous land offices make many cringe. They prefer to hide behind the mask of traditions as they denounce their shares in favour of their brothers.

Men fear losing control over their mothers, sisters, wives and daughters. They subscribe to the primitive belief that the only way to subjugate and subdue a woman is by denial of basic rights and freedoms; and application of gender-specific violence; rape and physical assault being the most popular today. In our mother's days, denial to basic and secondary education was the weapon of choice, and being forced to resign from paying jobs in favor of 'staying-at-home –to-take-care-of-the-children' edicts. Even today's educated man wants to confine his woman to that perpetually smoky room called the kitchen (after work, that is!).

Dissenters are deserted, attacked, maimed and killed with impunity. Those lucky enough to escape and fend for themselves are given cold treatment by a society that brands them prostitutes, husband grabbers and social failures. Any property they acquire in their single state will be grabbed or inherited by their estranged husbands, brothers, uncles and fathers. Any children they leave behind, especially girl children, are mistreated, forced to leave school and become house girls, or married off to total strangers who profess kinship to their parents. Sometimes they are shunted off to rural areas where they are forced to undergo abhorrent traditional rites. Would it not be better for governments to facilitate the fostering of such children so that they can continue to live in the manner and style they were accustomed to when their mothers were alive?

That is why advocacy groups must do more than just lobbying for adoption of international legal instruments; they must help women from rural areas apply them to improve their lots and those of their children. Atieno from Ahero, Wanjiku from Waithaka, Kalekye from Katse and Naliaka from Narok must be facilitated, both materially and intellectually, so that she is aware of her basic human and women’ rights and how these can be enforced at the national, regional and international courts of justice. Let us gang up and apply the shock therapy to disgorge men from their entrenched prejudices; let us wean them from the present retrogressive and chauvinistic mindset that has been passed from generation to generation.

In his play, ‘Measure for Measure’, Shakespeare introduces a character called Angelo. He is the law enforcer who brokers no-nonsense deals when it comes to matters of justice. He refuses to temper justice with mercy and holds that the law must be obeyed to the letter - at the beginning of the play, anyway. What happens later is for the curious to find out. He is famously quoted as pontificating that 'we must not make a scarecrow of the law, setting it up to catch birds of prey till custom finding it harmless makes it their perch and not their terror'.

Our advocacy skills and efforts must translate to visible changes in the lives of our people; they must not remain mere 'open sesame' to donor funds; let us canvass for enactment of laws, but let us not leave them to be mere scarecrows that are set up to frighten birds of prey, and…men!

* A. N. Kithaka is an Advocate in Kenya.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Supporting organisations of the campaign for the ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of Women

African Centre for Democracy And Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) http://www.acdhrs.org/
Akina Mama wa Afrika www.akinamama.org/
Association des Juristes Maliennes http://www.justicemali.org/ajm.htm
Cellule de Coordination sur les Pratiques Traditionelle Affectant la Sante des Femmes et des Enfants
Coalition on Violence Against Women www.covaw.or.ke
Equality Now-Africa Regional Office http://www.equalitynow.org/english/index.html
FAHAMU http://www.fahamu.org
FAMEDEV-Inter-African Network For Women Media, Gender and Development
FEMNET - African Women's Development and Communication Network www.femnet.or.ke
Foundation for Community Development, Inter-African Committee on Harmful Traditional Practices (IAC)
Oxfam GB http://www.oxfam.org.uk/
Sister Namibia
Union Nationale des Femmes de Djibouti
Voix de Femmes http://www.voixdefemmes.org/
University of Pretoria Center for Human Rights http://www.chr.up.ac.za/
Women's Rights Advancement and Protection Alternatives
Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) http://www.wildaf.org/
Resources
16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/16days/home.html
Peace Women http://peacewomen.org
Akina Mama wa Afrika http://www.akinamama.org/
Equality Now http://www.equalitynow.org/english/index.html
FEMNET http://femnet.or.ke
Feminist Africa http:/www.feministafrica.org

Blogs
Feminist African Sisters http://feministafricansisters.blogspot.com/
Diary of a Mad Kenyan Woman http://madkenyanwoman.blogspot.com/
Black Looks http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks

Further Reading
Women Building Peace http://www.international-alert.org/publications/121.php
Trafficking in Women and Children in Africa http://www.unicef-icdc.org/publications/
African Experiences of Transnational Feminism http://www.feministafrica.org/2level.html

Pambazuka News Special Editions on the Protocol
Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa: A Pre-condition for Health and Food Security http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=190
The Protocol on the Rights of Women in Red, Yellow and Green http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=213
Challenges of Domestication: The Protocol To The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on The Rights of Women in Africa http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=222

Pambazuka Profiles on the Protocol
Land Rights - http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=30397
Women and Sustainable Development - http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=30299
Women in Armed Conflict - http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=30122
Female Genital Mutilation - http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=30050
Trafficking in Women and Children - http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=29740
Female Refugees - http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=29873

Events
Nigeria – Baobab Women http://www.baobabwomen.org/upcomingevents.html
South Africa – Women’s Net http://womensnet.org.za/16Days/calendar.shtml
Agenda in Durban, South Africa Contact editorial@agenda.org.za
Kenya – COVAW http://www.covaw.or.ke/
Ghana – Ark Foundation http://www.arkfoundationgh.org/news/home.htm
International Calendar http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/16days/kit05/calendar.html

Sourit femme d’Afrique, sourit!
A. N. Kithaka
Cette semaine, deux évènements importants pour les africaines auront lieu. Le 25 Novembre marquera le début des seize jours d’activisme contre la violence à l’égard des femmes, une campagne internationale créée dans le but de sensibiliser l’opinion à la violence contre les femmes, de renforcer le travail des organisations locales et de démontrer la solidarité des femmes dans le monde entier.
Incorporant la Journée internationale pour l’élimination de la violence à l’égard des femmes (le 25 Novembre) à la journée internationale des droits de l’homme (le10 Décembre), le but de cette campagne est de relier la violence à l’égard des femmes au fait qu’il s’agit d’une violation des droits de l’homme. Le 25 Novembre possède également une signification importante pour les Africaines dans la mesure où il s’agit du jour ou le protocole entre en vigueur relatif aux droits de la femme en Afrique. Ayant été ratifié par les 15 pays africains nécessaires, ce traité extrêmement important et progressiste possède le potentiel d’émanciper les Africaines et de leur offrir la puissance que donne le fait de connaître et d’utiliser ses droits. C’est pourquoi A.N. Khitaka, se lance, dans l’article ci-dessous, dans un éloquent plaidoyer pour la ratification du traité par le Kenya. A.N.Khitaka vante les avantages que le traité offrira aux pays d’Afrique, elle assure que le travail effectué par de nombreux groupes dans le monde entier est d’une importance vitale pour les droits des femmes ainsi que pour faire de la violence contre les femmes une chose du passé. Au-dessous de l’article de A.N. Khitaka se trouve une liste de ressources sur les seize jours et sur le protocole : sites suggérés, lectures conseillées, blogs et évènements.


Femmes d’Afrique, nous avons une raison de nous réjouir, en effet nous avions longtemps attendu la ratification du protocole relatif aux droits de la femme en Afrique par les 15 pays nécessaires d’Afrique : elle vient d’être annoncée. Le protocole entrera bientôt en vigueur (le 25 Novembre). Ceux des états qui ont déposé leurs instruments de ratification auprès du Conseil Exécutif auront la possibilité d’en incorporer les articles au sein de leur droit national.

Ce fut un long voyage ; un voyage et une bataille bien menés par des groupes de défense des droits de l’homme nationaux, régionaux et internationaux. La plupart d’entre nous l’ignoraient, mais nous sommes maintenant ravis que leurs pressions, cajoleries et démarchages aient fini par porter leurs fruits. Le second sommet des chefs d’états et de gouvernement se tenant à Maputo, au Mozambique a finalement adopté le protocole comme supplément à la Charte africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples. La seule clause additionnelle était qu’il devait être ratifié par au moins 15 états sur les 53 états-membres possibles. Les 15 états à déposer leurs instruments de ratification auprès du Conseil Exécutif l’ont fait le 26e jour d’Octobre, ce qui signifiait alors que le traité devait entrer en vigueur à 30 jours de cette date ! Il a été correctement décrit de façon plaisante comme la « Carte Verte » qui inaugurera une ère nouvelle. Non content de nous garantir une palette élargie de droits humains répondant spécifiquement à nos besoins de créatures les plus lourdement opprimées et réprimées de l’ancien (et du nouveau !) millénaire, il nous permet de chercher réparation auprès de la future Cour africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples. Malheureusement, le Kenya n’a pas encore ratifié le traité ; c’est peut-être dû à la préoccupation actuelle vis-à-vis du référendum. Cependant, pousser du coude le gouvernement dans la bonne direction ne devrait pas se révéler une tâche insurmontable : il a l’air influençable.

La grande question est la vitesse à laquelle les femmes du Kenya viendront s’ajouter à la fière liste des pays qui ont choisi d’offrir à leurs femmes un présent de Noël avant l’heure en ratifiant le document. Combien de temps les femmes du Kenya devront elles attendre de ce côté renégat de la mer Rouge que le mot magique de « ratification » ouvre les flots rageurs et les projette sur l’autre rive, là où la discrimination contre les femmes, la répugnante Mutilation Génitale Féminine (excision), les mariages forcés, la pratique du lévirat, la violence sexuelle et domestique sont des choses du passé ? Pas longtemps j’espère.

Nous devons à tout prix unir nos efforts dans un lobbying visant à obtenir cette ratification. Alors seulement pourrons-nous nous lever et nous écrier « Euréka ! » Sans cela, nous pourrions tout aussi bien nous contenter de rester éternellement sur cette rive pour regarder nos sœurs du Cap-Vert, du Mali, de Malawi, du Lesotho, des Comores, de Libye, de Namibie, du Rwanda, du Nigeria, de Djibouti, de l’île Maurice, du Sénégal, d’Afrique du Sud, du Bénin, du Togo et de Gambie faire leurs premiers pas sur le fonds marin détrempé qui les mènera vers la liberté de l’individu.


Après ratification et domestication nous devrons progresser vers la prochaine grande étape : celle de l’éducation des masses à ses bénéfices, sans oublier de prendre à bord nos chers pères frères, époux et fils. Une partie de l’opposition au projet Wako de constitution vient du fait qu’il promet des droits d’héritage égaux aux femmes, surtout aux femmes mariées. C’est à croire que ce projet introduit de nouveaux concepts dans notre système juridique, et pourtant le « Succession Act » existe depuis 1981 !

La plupart des femmes ont refusé de faire valoir leurs droits, même une fois assurées que la loi était de leur côté. D’autres ne veulent pas d’incessantes querelles au sujet de maigres ressources familiales avec des membres masculins de la famille. La perspective de se retrouver dans une sordide officine de province en fait reculer beaucoup. Celles-là préfèrent se réfugier derrière le masque des traditions en renonçant à leur part en faveur de leurs frères.

Les hommes craignent de perdre le contrôle de leurs mères, sœurs, femmes et filles. Ils adhèrent à la croyance primitive selon laquelle on ne peut dompter et soumettre une femme qu’en la privant de ses droits et libertés essentiels ainsi qu’en appliquant une forme de violence spécifique à sa féminité, le viol et l’agression physique en étant les moyens d’expression les plus populaires aujourd’hui. Du temps de nos mères, leur arme de prédilection était le refus d’accorder aux femmes une éducation primaire et secondaire; elles étaient également contraintes à démissionner de leurs emplois rémunérés par des décrets du type « mère au foyer avec enfants ». Même l’homme éduqué d’aujourd’hui tente de confiner sa compagne dans cette pièce perpétuellement enfumée qu’on appelle la cuisine (après le travail, bien entendu).


Les récalcitrantes sont abandonnées, attaquées, blessées et tuées en toute impunité. Celles qui ont la chance de s’en sortir et de subsister par leurs propres moyens sont traitées en parias par une société qui leur colle une étiquette de prostituées, de voleuses de maris et de rebuts de la société. Tout bien qu’elles acquièrent sous leur statut de célibataire sera saisi par les maris, frères, oncles et pères dont elles sont séparées ou leur sera offert en héritage. Tout enfant laissé derrière elles, sont maltraités, les petites filles surtout sont forcées à devenir servantes, ou bien l’on s’en débarrasse en les mariant à de parfaits inconnus se faisant passer pour un membre de la famille de leurs parents. Parfois on les expédie à la campagne où elles doivent subir d’odieux rites traditionnels. Ne vaudrait-il pas mieux que le gouvernement facilite l’adoption de tels enfants, de façon à ce qu’ils puissent continuer à vivre dans le style et la manière qui était les leurs du temps où leurs mères étaient encore en vie ?


C’est la raison pour laquelle les groupes de défense des droits de l’homme se doivent de faire davantage qu’exercer un simple lobbying pour l’adoption d’instruments légaux internationaux ; ils doivent aider les femmes des zones rurales à les faire appliquer afin d’améliorer leur lot quotidien ainsi que celui de leurs enfants. Il faut faciliter l’existence d’Atieno d’Ahero, de Wanjiku de waithaka, de Kaleyke de Katse et de Naliaka de Narok à la fois matériellement et intellectuellement pour qu’elles puissent prendre conscience de leurs droits de base en tant qu’êtres humains et en tant que femmes et de la façon dont il est possible de les faire respecter devant des tribunaux régionaux, nationaux et internationaux. Unissons nos forces afin d’appliquer une thérapie de choc qui obligera les hommes à renoncer à leurs préjugés les plus enracinés ; corrigeons-les de l’actuel état d’esprit rétrograde et phallocrate qui leur a été transmis de génération en génération.


Dans sa pièce intitulée Mesure pour mesure , Shakespeare introduit un nouveau personnage nommé Angelo, le régent qui rend de dures sentences en matière de justice. Il refuse de mêler la miséricorde à la justice et déclare que la loi doit être suivie à la lettre : au début de la pièce en tout cas. Nous laisserons aux curieux le soin de découvrir ce qui se passe ensuite. Lors d’une réplique célèbre, il pontifie sur le fait suivant : « l’on ne doit point faire de la loi un épouvantail, le préparant à attraper des oiseaux de proie, jusqu’à ce que l’habitude le leur faisant juger inoffensif ils en viennent à en faire leur perchoir au lieu de leur terreur ».


Notre dextérité et nos efforts dans la défense d’une cause doivent se traduire par des changements visibles dans les existences des gens de notre peuple ; elles ne doivent pas rester un simple « Sésame » pour nos donneurs de fonds, militons pour la promulgation de lois, mais ne les laissons pas devenir de simples épouvantails à oiseaux de proies et ... à hommes !


*A.N.Khitaka est défenseur des droits des femmes au Kenya

*Prière d’envoyer vos commentaires à : editor@pambazuka.org

Organisations soutenant la campagne pour la ratification du protocole relatif aux droits de la femme

African Centre for Democracy And Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) http://www.acdhrs.org/
Akina Mama wa Afrika www.akinamama.org/
Association des Juristes Maliennes http://www.justicemali.org/ajm.htm
Cellule de Coordination sur les Pratiques Traditionelle Affectant la Sante des Femmes et des Enfants
Coalition on Violence Against Women www.covaw.or.ke
Equality Now-Africa Regional Office http://www.equalitynow.org/english/index.html
FAHAMU http://www.fahamu.org
FAMEDEV-Inter-African Network For Women Media, Gender and Development
FEMNET - African Women's Development and Communication Network www.femnet.or.ke
Foundation for Community Development, Inter-African Committee on Harmful Traditional Practices (IAC)
Oxfam GB http://www.oxfam.org.uk/
Sister Namibia
Union Nationale des Femmes de Djibouti
Voix de Femmes http://www.voixdefemmes.org/
University of Pretoria Center for Human Rights http://www.chr.up.ac.za/
Women's Rights Advancement and Protection Alternatives
Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) http://www.wildaf.org/
Resources
16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/16days/home.html
Peace Women http://peacewomen.org
Akina Mama wa Afrika http://www.akinamama.org/
Equality Now http://www.equalitynow.org/english/index.html
FEMNET http://femnet.or.ke
Feminist Africa http:/www.feministafrica.org

Blogs
Feminist African Sisters http://feministafricansisters.blogspot.com/
Diary of a Mad Kenyan Woman http://madkenyanwoman.blogspot.com/
Black Looks http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks

Lectures conseillées
Women Building Peace http://www.international-alert.org/publicatio ns/121.php
Trafficking in Women and Children in Africa http://www.unicef-icdc.org/publications/
African Experiences of Transnational Feminism http://www.feministafrica.org/2level.html

Editions spéciales de Pambazuka News sur le protocole
Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa: A Pre-condition for Health and Food Security http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=190
The Protocol on the Rights of Women in Red, Yellow and Green http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=213
Challenges of Domestication: The Protocol To The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on The Rights of Women in Africa http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=222

Articles de Pambazuka sur le Protocole
Land Rights - http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=30397
Women and Sustainable Development - http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=30299
Women in Armed Conflict - http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=30122
Female Genital Mutilation - http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=30050
Trafficking in Women and Children - http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=29740
Female Refugees - http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=29873

Évènements
Nigeria – Baobab Women http://www.baobabwomen.org/upcomingevents.html
Afrique du Sud – Women’s Net http://womensnet.org.za/16Days/calendar.shtml
Agenda à Durban, Contact Afrique du Sud editorial@agenda.org.za
Kenya – COVAW http://www.covaw.or.ke/
Ghana – Ark Foundation http://www.arkfoundationgh.org/news/home.htm
Calendrier international http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/16days/kit05/cale ndar.html

Trade agreements between Europe and Africa

2005-11-24

Stephen R. Hurt

It seems as if trade agreements are impossible to understand. They’re characterized by complex jargon and detailed economic analysis that's far away from the everyday concerns of most people. The current negotiations over Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of states and the European Union are no different. Yet what is the nature of these negotiations and the likely end agreement? What kind of relationship between Africa and the European Union does it represent? And what will be the impact of this trade agreement on the social and economic fabric of our societies? Following on from our special edition on EPAs in July, Pambazuka News is retaining the focus on trade between Africa and Europe by running a series of articles on the subject, beginning with this edition and running through until the end of the year. In the first article, Stephen Hurt looks at the shifting power relations in international trade between the ACP states and the EU. The conditions of the current EPAs can be understood by looking at the historical relationship between these groupings - and actually reflect EU ambitions that date back to the early 1970s. (See below for French version).


The European Union (EU) is a major trading partner of sub-Saharan Africa. Both critics and supporters of the current negotiations towards Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) tend to agree that they are likely to have a significant impact on the development prospects of many African states. The particular importance of EPAs, which are part of the Cotonou Agreement between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states, is that they represent a return to non-reciprocity in trade relations. Therefore they can be seen as a substantial change in EU development policy. The current emphasis on trade, and the associated relative decline of European aid going to Africa, represents a reversal of the approach adopted in the early years of the relationship. Then the focus was predominantly on aid rather than trade. In order to understand how the current situation has arisen, it is necessary to put the EPAs into historical context. By doing so it becomes clear that precedents have been set in the past. Moreover, it is apparent that since the 1980s the EU has been moving inexorably towards its current position in its relationship with Africa.

To understand the dynamics that have driven the historical development of the EU’s relationship with Africa it is important to consider the wider global context of North-South relations. As I seek to demonstrate in this article it is both material and ideational developments within this structural context that condition the policy decisions taken by government and bureaucratic elites within both the EU and African states.

Decolonisation and the Yaoundé Conventions

The EU’s relationship with Africa has been formalised since the very creation of the organisation in 1957. Due to the insistence of the French government, the Treaty of Rome included articles providing for the association of African colonies. Thus, in terms of trade and aid arrangements, a special relationship between the EU and Africa has been in existence for almost five decades. The agreement gave both member states and their colonial dependencies preferential trade access. This meant that EU member states received preferential trade terms with the associate states in comparison with third parties and vice versa. These rather humble beginnings provided a lasting legacy for the EU’s relationship with Africa, and the developing world more generally. As Holland argues ‘historical ties rather than need’ have been the criterion for determining preferential trade and aid relations (2002: 27).

Following the independence of a number of African states during the 1960s, the EU’s relationship with Africa was reorganised through the Yaoundé Conventions of 1963 and 1969. These acknowledged, to a degree, the political independence of the associate states; joint institutions were established, including an Association Council and a Parliamentary Conference. However, as Koutrakou (2004: 122) suggests, the main driving force of this relationship was the continued economic interests of the EU’s member states in Africa. This self-interest was reflected in the fact that preferential trade access remained reciprocal.

Lomé I

By the beginning of the 1970s the dominance of francophone Africa in the EU’s relationship with the continent was already being significantly reduced. In 1971 the EU introduced its Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), which reduced its external tariff for trade with all developing countries. This served to erode the relative benefits of the trade access enjoyed by the signatories of the Yaoundé Convention. However, the most significant development in this period that led to a reappraisal of the EU’s relationship with Africa was the confirmation of the United Kingdom as a European member state in 1973. Members of the Commonwealth, who were at a similar stage of development to the 18 Yaoundé states, united to form the ACP group.

The European Commission was strongly behind the idea of negotiating a new agreement with this enlarged group of developing states. Negotiations began in July 1973 and eventually culminated in the Lomé Convention. Despite the fact that the ACP was a rather heterogeneous group of states, they displayed a striking level of unanimity in the negotiations (Holland 2002: 33). The unity of the ACP group was further strengthened by the global context of the early 1970s. The Bretton Woods System had collapsed and Third World states had become increasingly forthright in their desire to improve their position in the world economy. These developments resulted in the call, chiefly within the United Nations General Assembly, for a New International Economic Order (NIEO). As a result the ACP states adopted a negotiating stance with the EU based closely on this NIEO agenda.

Although the final agreement of Lomé I did reflect some of these influences the concessions made to the ACP states were qualified in a number of ways. For example, the trade provisions were based on a shift away from reciprocity towards preferential access solely for ACP states exporting to the EU. However, this access to the EU market was limited in the export of agricultural commodities, one of the key sectors for many African states, by the non-inclusion of products covered by the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This remains a contentious issue thirty years later. In addition fairly stringent rules of origin and a safeguard clause allowed the EU to retain a significant degree of control over trade matters.

From Lomé to Cotonou

Looking back, Lomé I can be seen as the peak of the EU’s willingness to accede to the demands of African governments. In fact ‘the history of European development cooperation from this point onwards can be understood as the steady erosion of these limited concessions, and the increasing adoption of neo-liberal thinking’ (Hurt 2004: 158). This process ultimately resulted in the Cotonou Agreement between the EU and ACP states, which was signed in June 2000.

During the 1980s no substantial progress was made by the ACP states during the two renegotiations of the Lomé Convention. However, a strong shift towards neo-liberal thinking in the global North coupled with the Third World debt crisis significantly altered the context of the EU’s relations with Africa. These changes were reflected in the introduction of structural adjustment in Lomé IV, which was signed in 1989. This moved the EU’s approach significantly closer to the policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. In developing its policy on structural adjustment the EU claimed it had devised a more pragmatic approach than that adopted by the IMF and World Bank, which would take greater account of the impact of such policies on vulnerable groups. This claim has been contested by a number of critics (see for example Brown 2002 and Parfitt 1996).

The genesis of the Cotonou Agreement can be traced back as far as 1992 when the European Commission released a document called ‘Horizon 2000’. This paper argued for both an increase in conditionalities attached to aid and a shift in trade policy towards the benefits of multilateral trade liberalisation rather than preferential regimes. These concerns were partially addressed in the mid-term review of Lomé IV but the limitations of working within the existing framework made more substantial alterations to the trade pillar particularly unfeasible. Hence the European Commission published a Green Paper in 1996, which presented an overall assessment of the EU’s relationship with the ACP states and outlined the reasons for an overhaul of the relationship (European Commission 1996). It was argued that the creation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the associated pressures for multilateral trade liberalisation made the EU’s preferential trade relationship unsustainable. The effectiveness of non-reciprocal trade preferences was also questioned due to exports from the ACP group having shown a steady decline as a proportion of total exports to the EU. These were views that were accepted by a majority of African state elites reflecting the increasing consensus on neo-liberal thinking.

What were the major causes of the abandonment of the Lomé Convention in favour of the Cotonou Agreement? During the 1990s significant changes in both geo-politics and the global economy had an impact on the nature of the EU’s relationship with Africa. The end of the Cold War led to significant alterations in the priorities of the EU’s foreign relations. In particular, the expansion programme of the EU saw trade and aid flows being redirected towards Central and Eastern Europe (Koutrakou 2004: 125). Consequently a rather sharp decline in the proportion of EU aid going to ACP states took place. In 1989 the ACP group received 63.5 per cent of total EU aid, but by 1998 this proportion had fallen to just 29.1 per cent (ECDPM 2001 (Part 5): 3).

In the global economy, since at least the early 1980s, neo-liberalism as an idea has become increasingly dominant. This is significant because when ideas assume such a position, debates on policy are framed in a narrow fashion. The influence of the hegemony of neo-liberal development thinking is readily apparent in the EU’s claim that the Cotonou Agreement and the negotiation of EPAs are necessary to meet the global rules of free trade embodied in the WTO. This position neglects the obvious fact that the rules of the WTO are not ‘fixed and immutable’ but a ‘political construct’ (Hurt 2003: 174). If the focus of the EU’s relationship was truly developmental it could seek to alter the very rules of the multilateral trading system that it claims limit its options.

There is a clear precedent for the moves towards the EU developing reciprocal trade relations with Africa. Soon after the end of apartheid in South Africa, the EU began negotiations with the new government led by the African National Congress (ANC). Eventually a bilateral Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) was agreed in October 1999 after four years of negotiations. The trade pillar of this agreement was the creation of a Free Trade Area (FTA) between the EU and South Africa. Although the trade agreement includes an element of asymmetry in the time periods of liberalisation required by each party, by 2012 ‘substantially all’ trade will be accorded duty free access. At an early stage in the negotiations South Africa had requested full membership of the Lomé Convention. The EU had responded by arguing that South Africa was sufficiently developed in comparison with the rest of the ACP group that it would be able to withstand the adjustment costs of reciprocal trade liberalisation (Hurt 2000: 72-73). This may have been a questionable assessment of the situation in South Africa. Moreover, with hindsight it is ironic that the uniqueness of reciprocal trade relations deemed only relevant for ‘developed’ South Africa, have since become applicable to the rest of Africa.

Conclusions

The ACP group of states has been unique to the EU’s external policy with the developing world. The relative unity and negotiating strength of this grouping is clearly challenged by the current negotiations of EPAs on a regional basis. As I have demonstrated in this article, this is just one of the many differences with the period during the early 1970s when Lomé I was negotiated. The ‘normalisation’ of the EU’s relations with Africa manifested in the Cotonou Agreement actually reflects ‘the long-held wishes of the EU that actually date back to the early 1970s and the negotiations prior to Lomé I’ (Hurt 2004: 170). There exists a stark contrast between the instability of the world economy coupled with the relative negotiating strength of African states thirty years ago, and the dominance of neo-liberal development thinking embodied in the rules of the WTO in recent years. This change has allowed the EU to move away from preferential trade access and towards the negotiation of EPAs that African states are presently faced with.

* I use the term EU throughout this article to represent the European Union and the organisation, pre-Maastricht Treaty.

* Stephen Hurt is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at Oxford Brookes University, UK. (shurt@brookes.ac.uk)

*Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

* For further reading on this topic, please visit http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=216

References

Brown, W. (2002) The European Union and Africa: The Restructuring of North-South Relations, London: I. B. Tauris.
ECDPM (2001) Cotonou Infokit: The New ACP-EU Partnership Agreement, Maastricht: ECDPM.
European Commission (1996) Green Paper on Relations between the European Union and the ACP Countries on the Eve of the 21st Century: Challenges and Options for a New Partnership, COM(96) 570, 20 November, Brussels: European Community.
Holland, M. (2002) The European Union and the Third World, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hurt, S. R. (2000) ‘A Case of Economic Pragmatism? The European Union’s Trade and Development Agreement with South Africa, International Relations, 15 (3): 67-83.
Hurt, S. R. (2003) ‘Co-operation and Coercion? The Cotonou Agreement between the European Union and ACP States and the End of the Lomé Convention’, Third World Quarterly, 24 (1): 161-176.
Hurt, S. R. (2004) ‘The European Union’s external relations with Africa after the Cold War: Aspects of continuity and change’ in I. Taylor and P. Williams (eds) Africa in International Politics: External involvement on the continent, London: Routledge, pp. 155-173.
Koutrakou. V. N. (2004) ‘New directions in the EU’s Third World policy: from aid to trade under the watchful eye of the WTO’ in V. N. Koutrakou (ed) Contemporary Issues and Debates in EU Policy: The European Union and International Relations, Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 120-133.
Parfitt, T. (1996) ‘The Decline of Eurafrica? Lomé’s Mid-Term Review’, Review of African Political Economy, 23 (67): 53-66.

WSIS aftermath: Who cares about human rights?

2005-11-24

Patrick Burnett

Just days before the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) got under way in Tunis last week, United States State Department spokesman Adam Ereli expressed concern about restrictions on freedom of speech and political activity in Tunisia (http://tunis.usembassy.gov/tunisian_cooperation.html). Over the next few days, the Tunisian government made quite clear that it would not tolerate freedom of expression. Journalists were harassed and beaten, an alternative civil society meeting was effectively shut down, and meetings discussing human rights and freedom of expression were disrupted. This prompted the official US delegation to the United Nations sponsored summit to express some disappointment at the role of the Tunisian government. “We are therefore obliged to express our disappointment that the government of Tunisia did not take advantage of this important opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to freedom of expression and assembly in Tunisia,” said a press note issued by the delegation (http://tunis.usembassy.gov/tunisian_cooperation.html).

Interestingly, at the same time as the US decries the human rights situation in the country, Tunisia remains an important ally in the US ‘war on terror’. The US Department of Defence International Military Education and Training (IMET) program has trained over 3,600 Tunisian military officers and technicians since its inception in the mid-1980’s. In 2004, 87 Tunisian military personnel took part in the IMET program at a value of $1.88 million. The U.S. Department of Defense also supports Tunisia’s counter-terrorism program through bilateral training exercises and special counter-terrorism training courses for selected Tunisian participants. (http://tunis.usembassy.gov/tunisian_cooperation.html)

The US has previously supplied the Tunisian government with military hardware in the form of aircraft parts, machine guns and ammunition (http://www.fas.org/asmp/profiles/655-2002/FMS/Tunisia.pdf). According to a 2005 report from the World Policy Institute, Tunisia received $4,646,000 in military assistance despite a poor human rights record and serious abuses by the government (This figure is for 2003, the latest year for which details are available).

The report’s executive summary is worth noting: “Perhaps no single policy is more at odds with President Bush’s pledge to ‘end tyranny in our world’ than the United States’ role as the world’s leading arms exporting nation. Although arms sales are often justified on the basis of their purported benefits, from securing access to overseas military facilities to rewarding coalition allies in conflicts such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, these alleged benefits often come at a high price. All too often, US arms transfers end up fueling conflict, arming human rights abusers, or falling into the hands of US adversaries.” In 2003, the report notes, more than half of the top 25 recipients of US arms transfers in the developing world were defined as undemocratic by the US State Department’s Human Rights Report because their citizens did not have the right to change their own government. (http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/wawjune2005.html)

US companies also assist the Tunisian regime in its crackdown on dissenters. Software from US company Secure Computing, called SmartFilter, is used by the Tunisian internet agency to block websites that the government does not approve of. One of the websites blocked during the course of the summit was that of the Citizen’s Summit on the Information Society (CSIS). The CSIS event ended up not taking place due to the efforts of the Tunisian government to shut it down. It was supposed to provide a forum where issues that were not a part of the main summit venue could be discussed, but the Tunisian government feared it would be used as a platform to denounce its human rights abuses. Websites mentioned in a training session on how to circumvent internet filtering were also blocked, although its not clear if they were already blocked or had been blocked during the course of the summit.

According to a Human Rights Watch report released at the summit, the Tunisian Interior Ministry employs 500 people to monitor electronic communication. Activists told Human Rights Watch of email arriving late or not at all, of responses to emails coming from third parties posing as the recipient when the intended recipient said he never received the original message, of email inboxes being filled to saturation by repeated emails saying only, for example, “You are traitor.”

The report says Tunisia has cited counterterrorism and the need to curb incitement to hatred and violence as among its justifications for censoring information online. However, tests carried out for the report showed that only four out of forty-one radical Islamist web sites were actually blocked. “The pattern of Tunisia’s online censorship suggests that, in practice, its policy has been guided less by a fear of terrorism or incitement to violence than by a fear of peaceful internal dissent,” says the report (http://hrw.org/reports/2005/mena1105/7.htm#_Toc119125755). In the name of the ‘war on terror’, the US, though its military and commercial support, is therefore propping up a regime that uses repressive policies against its own people in order to stay in power.

At the conclusion of the summit media and freedom of expression
groups called for a full investigation by the United Nations into attacks on human rights and freedom of expression that took place in Tunisia during the summit. Steve Buckley, President of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters and Chair of the Tunisian Monitoring Group of freedom of expression organisations said: “Never again should a United Nations World Summit be held in a country that does not respect its international commitments to human rights and freedom of expression.”

“This week in Tunis, both inside and outside the official Summit, we have witnessed serious attacks on the right to freedom of expression including harassment of delegates, attacks on Tunisian and international journalists and human rights defenders, denial of entry to the country, the blocking of websites, the censorship of documents and speeches, and the prevention and disruption of meetings.” (http://www.crisinfo.org/content/view/full/1029, http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15613)

The worrying trend highlighted by the holding of the WSIS in Tunisia, is the ease with which issues such as freedom of expression are sidelined as an important footnote, or simply sidelined all together. This approach allows governments to present glossy figures on their internet rollout while at the same time escape criticism over their human rights records.

Freedom of expression is a core component of a future information society and it should not be sidelined in the interests of diplomacy – nor should organisations working in the field of information and communications technology fail to acknowledge that this is an issue that should be at the centre of the agenda.

Tunis has highlighted issues related to human rights in the information society, but it should be clear that the problem is not confined to Tunisia. Efforts by governments to control internal dissent through repression, including through internet censorship, are on the increase, and pose a very real threat to the future structure and form of the information society. It will take a united front to reverse the trend.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

WSIS: Welcome to the bazaar

2005-11-24

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was essentially a big information and communications technology bazaar. Hundreds of organisations and thousands of their representatives all crammed into a big warehouse on the outskirts of Tunis and set up shop in the exhibition area of the summit. Networking and knowledge sharing was the order of the day for those who were there, but for those who weren’t the collective resource might as well not have even existed. Pambazuka News has listed some of the organisations, innovations and publications that were on show so that if you weren’t there you can browse the links, network and learn from what others are doing. View photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fahamu/

Association of Progressive Communications (APC)
www.apc.org
APC is an international network of civil society organisations dedicated to empowering and supporting groups and individuals working for peace, human rights, development and protection of the environment, through the strategic use of information and communications technologies (ICTs).

Base Network Africa
teambasenet@yahoo.com
Base Network Africa is a youth led not for profit organisation geared towards guiding rural teenagers using information and communication technology.

Behind the Mask
www.mask.org.za
Behind the Mask aims to empower and support LGBT people throughout Africa – politically, culturally, socially and economically, by the gathering and dissemination of information via the internet.

Centre for International ICT Policies Central and West Africa (Cipaco)
www.cipaco.org
Cipaco is a Panos Institute West Africa project aimed an strengthening the capacity of West and Central African stakeholders for a better participation in international decision-making processes.

Computer Aid International
www.computer-aid.org
Computer Aid international is the world’s largest not-for-profit supplier of quality refurbished Pentiums to schools and community organisations in the developing world.

Creative Commons
http://creativecommons.org/
Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that offers flexible copyright licenses for creative works

Freedom Toaster
www.freedomtoaster.org
A Freedom Toaster is a conveniently located unit where users bring their own blank CDs and make copies of the FOSS and open content they require, at no cost.

Frontline Defenders
www.frontlinedefenders.org/
Front Line is the International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, defending those who champion the Universal Declaration of Human rights.

Gender and ICTs network
www.famafrique.org/regentic/accueil.html
The Gender and ICTs Network promotes gender analysis of the information and communications sector in Senegal and initiates a dialogue between the regulation authorities, women’s organisations and civil society

GenderIT.org
www.GenderIT.org
GenderIT.org is a tool for women’s movements, ICT advocates and policy makers to ensure that ICT policy meets women’s needs and does not infringe on their rights.

Global Knowledge for Development List
www.gkdknowledge.org
The GKD list is a powerful source of high quality expertise and vital information on ICT for development.

Global Knowledge Partnership
www.globalknowledge.org
The GKP is the leading international multi-stakeholder network committed to harnessing the potential of information and communications technologies for sustainable and equitable development

Global Voices Online
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/globalvoices/
Global Voices is an international effort to diversify the conversation taking place online by involving speakers from around the world, and developing tools, institutions and relationships to help make these voices heard.

Human Rights in the Global Information Society
www.mitpress.mit.edu
The contributors to this volume examine the links between information technology and human rights from a range of disciplinary perspectives.

Human Rights Watch: False Freedom – Online Censorship in the Middle East and North Africa
http://hrw.org/reports/2005/mena1105/
This report looks at the spread of the internet and how governments have moved to crack down on its potential as a tool for freedom of expression.

Kewl.NextGen
www.avoir.uwc.ac.za/kngfiles
KEWL.nextGen (Knowledge Environment for Web Learning, the next generation), is a free software e-learning system from the African Virtual Open Initiatives and Resources Project and the University of the Western Cape.

Kubatana
www.kubatana.net
Kubatana is Zimbabwe’s civic and human rights web site incorporating an online directory for the non-profit sector.

Mainstreaming ICTs: Africa lives the information society
www.womensnet.org.za
A handbook for development practitioners that acts as a contribution towards efforts to bridge the “policy-practice” divide. The book is aimed at development practitioners and ICT innovators interested in inventive technology applications.

Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
mxgmnv@hotmail.com
The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement is an organisation whose mission is to defend the human rights of Africans in America and promote self-determination.

NGO-in-a-box
www.tacticaltech.org/ngoinabox
NGO-in-a-box offers a set of reviewed and selected Free and Open Source software (F/OSS), tailored to the needs of NGO's. It provides them not only with software, but also with implementation scenarios and relevant materials to support this. Its aim is to increase the accessibility of F/OSS to non-profits in developing and transition countries.

Open Knowledge Network
www.openknowledge.net
Open Knowledge Network is an initiative to support the creation and exchange of local content in local languages across the South, supported by a range of information and communication technologies (ICTs)

Panos West Africa
www.panos-ao.org
Panos West Africa informs and communicates a culture of democracy, citizenship and peace in Africa.

Schoolnet Namibia
Schoolnet Namibia provides sustainable, low cost technology solutions and internet access, as well as technical support, training support and rich educational content to schools, community based educational organisations and educational practitioners throughout Namibia.

The Free and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA)
www.fossfa.net
FOSSFA is an organisation that was formed to promote the use of open source software in Africa.

The Information Revolution and Developing Countries
www.mitpress.mit.edu
In this book Ernest Wilson provides a clear, nuanced analysis of the major transformations resulting from the global information revolution.

Ungana Africa
www.ungana-afrika.org
Ungana Africa aims to address the technology capacity crisis by building innovative support programmes and tools that are empowering the development community.

Voices
www.voicesforall.org
Voices was born out of a realization that people’s empowerment through different forms of communication plays a critical and vital role in the process of socio-economic and political change.

Witness
www.witness.org
Witness uses the power of video to open the eyes of the world to human rights abuses. By partnering with local organisations around the world, Witness empowers human rights defenders to use video as a tool to shine a light on those most affected by human rights violations.

Women’s statement on the human rights situation in Tunisia
http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?w=r&x= 91870

WSIS gender caucus
www.genderwsis.org
The WSIS Gender Caucus is a multi-stakeholder group promoting gender integration and women's rights in the WSIS process.

WSIS youth caucus
http://www.wsisyouth.org/
The Youth Caucus of the WSIS is a loose group of youth who are active leaders in all kinds of areas.

WSIS Draft Civil Society Statement
http://wsis.ecommons.ca/node/view/659

Taking Pan-Africanism to the people

2005-11-24

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem

At a meeting of African heads of state in Nigeria recently, the thorny issue of African unity was debated. While the leaders busied themselves with discussing a union of states, Tajudeen Abdul Raheem writes that what unity should really be about is a unity of people. Pan Africanism, he writes, needs to leave the conferences and executive mansions and become a part of the lives of ordinary people.


On November 12th and 13th at the Banquet Hall of Nigeria's State House (more popularly known as Aso Rock), President Olusegun Obasanjo, in his capacity as the chair of the African Union, hosted a conference on ‘Africa and the Challenges of the Global Order: Desirability of the Union Government’.

Five heads of state and government including President Thabo Mbeki (South Africa), John Kufour (Ghana), Abdulaye Wade (Senegal), Prime minister Meles Zenawi (Ethiopia) and President Boutefleka (Algeria) - represented by his prime minister - along with several foreign ministers and ambassadors were present.

A number of civil society activists, academics, international policy makers including Mahmood Mamdani (Columbia University), Adebayo Olukoshi (CODESRIA), Wangari Mathai (President of ECOSOCC), Gertrude Mongela (speaker of the Pan African Parliament), Ezra Mbogori (Mwengo) and others were also present to dialogue with the leaders on the best means of proceeding with the agenda of unity.

The meeting was a direct result of the directive given by the Shirte Summit in July based on the resolution put forward by the Libyan leader, Muammar Al Gaddafi demanding that a Union of African states be formed as a further step in advancing the Pan-Africanist idea. Libya is anxious that in spite of recent progress in the Union the demands and pressures of globalization are such that only a faster march to Unity will prevent Africa from being re-colonised.

As in 1999 not many African leaders were too enthusiastic about Libya 's proposals in July. However, as has become the practice, whatever Libya pushes it has enough material and diplomatic clout in the Union for it not to be ignored. The strategy of other powerhouses in the AU - especially Nigeria and South Africa - has always been how to contain Libya’s militancy. The matter was thrown at a High Level Panel headed by President Obasanjo along with Zenawi, Mbeki, Wade, Boutefleka, Museveni and Kufour. This Panel is due to submit its report to the next summit in Khartoum in January 2006.

In Abuja the Libyans - represented by their minister for Africa Ali Treiki (called by many "The Tricky man' for his long term survival of many sharp knives in the corridors of power) - put more flesh to their proposals in terms of a time table beginning in 2006 with the removal of tariffs and visas, the establishment of a central bank, and the formation of one army all of which would lead to the creation of a Union of African States in 2009.

Libya obviously wants a United Africa as a present for the 40th anniversary of the Al Fatah revolution! These are no doubt very revolutionary proposals given the slow take off of all the institutions of the new Union. Caution will dictate that we work on making existing structures work before taking another leap forward.

In a rare display of executive candor and public engagement the leaders present did not hide their disagreement with Libya's proposals. Thabo Mbeki led the charge, raising doubts about his ability to persuade reluctant South Africans to surrender sovereignty to an entity outside the country that they did not vote for. He expressed pessimism about common tariffs, drawing his conclusion from the slow progress of common tariffs and the customs union of SADC countries.

Zenawi argued that the proposals were full of old rhetoric without adequate research and analysis. He asked if Africa's underdevelopment is the result of lacking a union government or if a union government will make Africa develop. Obasanjo drew attention to the ECOWAS region which made great progress in the area of free movement but had not proceeded to other levels of integration.

Wade suggested that the integration of Africa is impeded by dependence on aid and the collective loses that Africa suffers from the export of its precious raw materials and mineral resources like oil, gold, diamond, etc. He caused some exchange of executive banter between him and his host when he asked for the right to share in Nigeria's fuel resources. Obasanjo retorted that he could not be giving Senegal cheap oil while it uses foreign exchange to buy imported rice which he is trying to dissuade Nigerians from eating.

The concerns raised by the leaders and others are genuine but I believe they are agonising instead of organising. I do not believe that Africans anywhere on this continent or in the Diaspora will not vote overwhelmingly for visa-free freedom of movement across Africa. The scandalous situation that degrades and humiliates us at the moment needs to be addressed immediately. How can an American, Canadian or Australian and virtually all Europeans have easier access to our countries while we treat fellow African as 'aliens'? Despite all the sensitivities and reactionary politics surrounding citizenship across Africa would it not be easier to recognise all Africans as Africans with full citizenship rights, wherever they may be in Africa? Mamdani, combining both personal experience and professional interest did not allow Wade's executive fiat to stop him from completing his presentation on this issue. Drawing from his book, ‘Citizens and Subjects’ Mamdani showed how the citizenship laws of today are a carry over of colonial divide and rule and a pluralism of legal regimes that made Africans into tribes subjected to native or customary laws. That pluralism has made it difficult for many African countries to create political communities with a sense of shared future.

Olukoshi took on the argument of ECOWAS not making progress since it introduced freedom of moment. Freedom of movement alone would not lead to integration if it was not accompanied by integrative infrastructure through transport, communication, education, commerce and trade, etc.

It is clear that we are back to the debates of the 1960s about how far and fast we should proceed to unity. The answer that our painful history teaches us is that slow progress has lead us to the slaughter house of neo-colonialism and impoverishment in the midst of abundant human and material resources. We have no choice but to move faster because the rest of the world will not wait for us.

It is now widely recognised that Pan Africanism needs to leave the confines of conferences and executive mansions of our leaders and become part and parcel of all our lives building from the down-up. A number of issues are clear. One, the heads of state want a union of states while what we need is a union of peoples. If people are at the centre of the agenda many of the contradictions and anxieties the leaders are obsessed with can be confronted together instead of dealing with them individually. Two, some states are more willing than others. And it may be necessary that instead of constantly waiting for everyone to come on board those who are ready should go ahead. Three, the Libyans have to learn how to be thorough and strategic in mobilising both leaders and civil society instead of wasting enormous resources as sweeteners to reluctant heads of state. The biggest obstacle to their good proposals is the way they do things rather than what they are putting forward. The crucial stage we are now at requires a broader alliance owned and led by our peoples to bring the frontiers down and release our energies for creative union that serves the people.

* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

How the other half dies

2005-11-23

Ursula Troche

I was excited to read Stephen Lewis' article on 'How the Other Half Dies'. It immediately clicked in me that this is the same title that already appeared as a title of a book by Susan George back in 1977: 'How the Other Half Dies: The real reasons for world poverty.'

I thought it would be interesting to let you, readers and Stephen Lewis himself know (maybe he does, I don't know, am curious), so that we remember who has already fought in the struggle with exactly the same headline.

Race and the Rise of the Republican Party

2005-11-22

James D. Bilotta

A book suggestion for your readers:  Race and the Rise of the Republican Party, 1848-1865,  3rd edition.  This is a serious treatment of US racism/ethnocentrism.  Thank you.

The politics of fear in Ethiopia

Anonymous (by request)

2005-11-21

I am trying to publicise as widely as possible what is happening now in Ethiopia - but without jeopardizing the possibilities for getting a visa to go back asap. So please do not mention my name if you decide to publicise the following.

I was in Addis working with ILO last week during the strike. Reports were very varied and contradictory, but what seems to have happened is:

1) the opposition had called for a one week strike immediately following Eid to enable Muslims also to join the protest against Meles’ rigging of the elections.

2) something sparked resistance early. This led to at least 50 people shot dead at random by the military – they do not speak the same language and have also been trained to be extra aggressive. The deaths included children and women trying to prevent their sons being taken away. Most of the resistance from the people was just in the form of roadblocks and stones. At least one person was shot dead just in front of a factory I was visiting.

3) 3,000 at least have now been detained and shipped to detention camps in the desert including all opposition leaders, human rights activists and journalists.

4) Government is also blocking any forms of communication it can eg the independent Amharic station.

I do hope you can make these facts widely known so the repression can stop and the detainees released – and also use any networks you have to update/correct any of the above information. Unfortunately all my contacts are too scared to speak at this time.

It seems the only way of getting world attention is to blow up a few tourists or set a few cars alight in the streets of Paris. BBC and CNN seemed more interested in Charles and Camilla's visit to US.

The shame of Tunis

Mawutodzi Abissath

2005-11-21

I have just finished reading your comprehensive editorial on events unfolding in Tunis and send my sympathy to journalists in general and human rights activists in particular.

I think the UN must not sit down unconcerned for that country's authorities to treat communicators as common criminals. What is the purpose of the Summit in the first place? What a shame!

Who's the failure?

2005-11-24

1- Go to Google (http://www.google.com )

2- Type in the word "Failure"

3- Instead of clicking "Google Search," click "I'm Feeling Lucky."

4- Giggle

5- Spread the word before the people at Google "fix" it.

* Chairman of Fools

2005-11-23

Shimmer Chinodya

Published by: Weaver Press, 2005
Distributed by: African Books Collective Ltd (www.africanbookscollective.com)

Set in Zimbabwe, Chinodya’s “Chairman of Fools” tells the story of a successful academic and writer returning home after an overseas teaching position. Returning to find his family changed, but his culture and traditions the same, Farai Chari slips into a dark and frightening paranoia. Reality and hallucinations intertwine for Farai, and Chinodya does an excellent job of weaving the two together. At the same time, the book raises important social issues, questioning the relationships between men and women, the expectations placed on men, how people with mental illnesses are treated and the changes Zimbabwe is going through,

“Chairman of Fools” presents an interesting story. Farai represents middle class male chauvinism, and that his story is one of unhappiness and illness makes for a narrative that is curious. Upon his immediate return Farai finds that his wife has become more and more involved in her church, and his children are distant. His professional success has made him materially comfortable, but hasn’t made him happy, and indeed, has trapped him into a life that he must work to continue sustaining. Tradition also binds him to his wife – his family and community would never allow for him to leave. His drinking problem, combined with his wife’s newfound religious zeal, make for a strain in their relationship, and even the intervention of numerous family members has little impact.

Farai slips deeper and deeper into a scene that includes alcohol and prostitutes, and finally spins out of control with a car accident. This is the beginning of his paranoia, which eventually lands him in a mental institution – everything Farai has gone through, and his alcoholic reaction, have aggravated a mental illness – he suffers from bipolar disorder. Suffering from mood exaggerated mood swings – mania and depression, Farai can no longer hide the fact that he is at times delusional. At the mental institution he meets a number of colorful patients, each battling their own afflictions. He is crowned “Chairman of Fools,” by them, and is put in charge of their complaints regarding the day to day running of the mental ward. But he is also introduced to people so different from himself, and from this, learns some important lessons.

The book ends quietly. Life slowly, simply returns to normal, with no big changes. Balancing out his illness with medication, he is deemed well enough to return to the US to teach. Farai and his wife reconcile softly, each admitting their shortfalls. While Farai wants his wife to be someone, something else to him, she will never be this woman who he can be freely himself with. Life continues – it doesn’t get better, or worse. Farai simply gets used to it.

While clearly representing an upper-middle class socio-economic status, Chinodya’s character is one that men in general can relate to. Masculinities in Zimbabwe, and indeed, around the globe, are such that men are often put into positions of expected power, success and responsibility. Should they not meet these expectations, their masculinity can be called into question, affecting not only their own identity and self-esteem, but the ways in which they relate to their families and communities. “Chairman of Fools” is a dark, and at times depressing representation of the despair that can consume, but also demonstrates the very real effects of the pressure often put on male heads of family.

* Reviewed by Karoline Kemp, a Commonwealth of Learning Young Professional Intern with Fahamu.

African Philosophy: The Pharaonic Period: 2780-330 BC

2005-11-22

The long awaited English translation of Théophile Obenga's AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY: The Pharaonic Period: 2780-330 BC is finally easily available in the United States by placing your orders with Vitabu Vya Africa Books, POB 2847, Berkeley, CA 94702., or calling 510-848-9485 At a list price of $32.50 (plus state tax --California's residents-- shipping and handling), the 671 pages volume is a bargain as the back cover presentation makes clear: "Was ancient Egypt African? A century ago, the answer from scholars with little knowledge of hieroglyphs and less of Africa was dismissive, racist: no. Today, a major intellectual shift is under way. New African scholarship, grounded in accurate multidisciplinary research and first-hand expertise in ancient Egyptian, contemporary African languages, Greek and Latin, has unearthed oral and written data clarifying Africa's history, philosophy, literature and culture from the upheavals of today all the way back to the beginnings of human society in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa, East Africa, Ethiopia, Nubia and Egypt."
PRESS RELEASE:
THEOPHILE OBENGA'S AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY

The long awaited English translation of Théophile Obenga's AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY: The Pharaonic Period: 2780-330 BC is finally easily available in the United States by placing your orders with Vitabu Vya Africa Books, POB 2847, Berkeley, CA 94702., or calling 510-848-9485

At a list price of $32.50 (plus state tax --California's residents-- shipping and handling), the 671 pages volume is a bargain as the back cover presentation makes clear:

THE TEXT: Was ancient Egypt African? A century ago, the answer from scholars with little knowledge of hieroglyphs and less of Africa was dismissive, racist: no. Today, a major intellectual shift is under way. New African scholarship, grounded in accurate multidisciplinary research and first-hand expertise in ancient Egyptian, contemporary African languages, Greek and Latin, has unearthed oral and written data clarifying Africa's history, philosophy, literature and culture from the upheavals of today all the way back to the beginnings of human society in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa, East Africa, Ethiopia, Nubia and Egypt.
PROFESSOR OBENGA is a pacesetter for the new scholarship. Here, in English translation, he presents key Egyptian hieroglyphic texts, with line-by-line transliterations and translations, giving new readers access to the ancient documents. Lucid, detailed commentaries guide readers toward a linguistic and philosophical appreciation of the texts, and offer specialists fresh insights, enhancing the usefulness of this extraordinary book.

THE AUTHOR: Professor Théophile Obenga, Egyptologist, historian, linguist and philosopher, holds doctoral and post-doctoral degrees from Bordeaux, Paris, Pittsburg, Geneva and Montpellier. A member of the French Association of Egyptologists and the UNESCO team that produced the eight-volume General History of Africa, he has taught history, languages and philosophy at universities and research institutes in Africa, europe and America.

THE PUBLISHER: PER ANKH, is an African publishing cooperative founded and funded by an intercontinental association of friends. It is based in the seaside village of Popenguine, Senegal, West Africa.

Other Per Ankh titles available from VITABU:
By Ayi Kwei Armah:
Healers ($17.00 --$18.48 with tax)
Two Thousand Seasons ($16.00 --$17.40 with tax)
KMT: In the House of Life ($16.99 --$18.47 with tax)

Children books:
Ayi Kwei Armah and Aboubacry Moussa Lam. Hieroglyphics for Babies ($5.75 --$6.25 with tax)
Maty Thioune. New Friends: A Story of Caring and Growth ($6.00 -- $6.52 with tax)


Please note
Discounts of 10% will be given on orders of 6 copies or more.
For Shipping and Handling, add $ 1.50 per book
Make checks out to VITABU VYA AFRICA BOOKS

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Compendium of Key Human Rights Documents of the African Union

Centre for Human Rights and University for Peace

2005-11-24

http://www.chr.up.ac.za/pulp

This is a valuable collection of key documents relating to human rights adopted by the African Union and its predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity, and includes selections of decisions and resolutions of the Africa Commission on Human and People's Rights. The book also contains relevant documents from NEPAD. It will serve as a useful reference text, and has useful short annotations that help the reader understand the significance of decisions and resolutions. Published by Pretoria University Law Press (PULP), ISBN: 0620346728

Legacies of Power: Leadership Change and Former Presidents in African Politics

Roger Southall; Henning Melber (eds.)

2005-11-22

http://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/index.asp?id=2114

It was a widely dominant perception until the early 1990's that African rulers do not vacate their office alive. But even in the brutal reality of African politics, transition takes place and different former presidents have dealt with how to maintain power and privilege very differently. With new case studies examining the post-presidential years of the iconic Mandela in South Africa, Daniel arap Moi in Kenya, Nyerere in Tanzania, Rawlings in Ghana, Charles Taylor in Liberia, as well as the experience of Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Malawi, and Nigeria, this volume examines the dilemmas which demands for presidential transitions impose upon incumbent rulers and analyses the relationships which are evolving between new regimes and their predecessors.

Africa Blog Roundup: A week in the African blogosphere

2005-11-23

Sokari Ekine

Somali blog, Ayaan Hirsi Ali - Ayaan Hirsi Ali (http://ayaanhirsiali.web-log.nl/log/4184803) which is dedicated to the work of Dutch Somali MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali reports that the “once tolerant Dutch society has been transformed by the action of Islamist murders and threats”. Film director Theo Van Gogh was murdered last year by an Islamic extremist because of the film he made with Hirsi Ali which exposed domestic violence in Islam. Since then Hirsi Ali has been under 24 hour protection. She is now in the process of making another film about homosexuality in Islam which no doubt will put her in even more danger.

The Big Pharaoh – The Big Pharaoh (http://bigpharaoh.blogspot.com/2005/11/islamist-gains-in-egypt-give.html) reports that the recent gains by Islamists in the Egyptian elections will give George Bush “pause for thought”. He believes this to be good news as it may slow down the democratic process which will put more pressure on the present Egyptian regime.

“That's good news. I have always argued for a slow transition to democracy in Egypt. In other words, pressures to be added on the regime so it opens up a bit by bit. Abrupt democracy and sudden elections are not necessary the best way forward.”

Coalition for Darfur - Coalition for Darfur (http://coalitionfordarfur.blogspot.com/2005/11/uganda-un-to-step-up-support-for-2.html) reports that the UN is planning to increase its activities in Northern Uganda where the Lord’s Resistance army rebels are based in order to provide support to some 2 million refugees displaced by this conflict.

“Nearly 2 million people have been displaced by the 19 year-old conflict, 1.7 million of whom live in over 200 squalid and overcrowded camps, relying largely on international assistance to survive. Estimates indicate that more than 1,000 people a week die from disease or violence, according to a July 2005 Ministry of Health/UN World Health Organization (WHO) mortality survey.”

Kenyan blogger Mshairi - Mshairi (http://mshairi.com/index/index.php) posted a roundup of Kenyan blogs on the Kenyan Constitutional Referendum held on Monday 21st November – [url=http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/globalvoices/2005/11/21/kenya-and-the-constitutional-referendum/]
Kenya and the Constitutional Referendum[/url] (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/globalvoices/2005/11/21/kenya-and-the-constitutional-referendum/)

“In brief, the draft constitution proposes investing the presidency with greater powers, the main area of contention for the Orange campaign, which favours a constitution where a prime minister shares executive powers with the president. While both the Yes and No campaign have concentrated campaigning around this issue, attention has shifted from other proposals such as the call for radical land reform, the outlawing of gender and other discrimination and the inclusion of clauses providing for affirmative action.”

Mzansi Afrika - Mzansi Afrika (http://mzansiafrika.typepad.com/mzansi_afrika/2005/11/apartheid_era_m.html) reports on the mass graves uncovered in Namibia which date back to the Apartheid era when South Africa occupied Namibia.

“The graves were found near Eenhana 850km north-east of Windhoek. This was a military base for the South African army's 54 Battalion. Over 300 people are said to have died as a result of the fighting. According to Peter Tseehama, the Namibian Minister Safety and Security, "some of the bones were children's, possibly siblings of former freedom fighters". He said other items found were guns, bullets and parts of what might have been explosives. "The bodies appeared to have been burnt before being thrown into the graves.”

The bodies are believed to have been SWAPO soldiers blind folded and executed then dumped in the graves.

Black Looks - Black Looks (http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks/2005/11/i_would_rather_.html)has a report on the Ugandan lesbian and gay activist who has been in hiding in Kampala for the past 4 months. Ms Mukussa went into hiding following a raid on her home by security forces and the arrest of her Kenyan house guest. She has now decided to sue the Ugandan security official responsible for the raid in order to highlight the human rights violations faced by the Ugandan Lesbian and Gay community.

“By taking the matter to court JM hopes to use the case as a tool in the advancement of gay rights in Uganda and elsewhere in East Africa. By declaring the violation of her rights she is making a larger statement about the rights of LGBT and human rights advocates to be able to carry out their work and live their lives without treat of invasion.”

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Africa: Celebrating the protocol

2005-11-25

This 25 November, 2005, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights relating to Women's Rights in Africa enters into force. It is with a great delight that we celebrate the event, which marks a significant turning point in the history of African women’s struggle for the recognition and the respect of their basic human rights.


WOMEN IN LAW AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA (WiLDAF)
FEMMES, DROIT ET DÉVELOPPEMENT EN AFRIQUE (FeDDAF)
WEST AFRICA SUB-REGIONAL OFFICE / BUREAU SOUS-RÉGIONAL – AFRIQUE DE L’OUEST
B.P. 7755, Lomé, Togo – Téléphone (228) 222 26 79 - Fax (228) 222 73 90
Email : info@wildaf-ao.org - Site : www.wildaf-ao.org

TODAY 25 NOVEMBER, 2005
LET CELEBRATE THE ENTRY INTO FORCE OF THE PROTOCOL TO THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS RELATING TO WOMEN’S RIGHTS


This 25 November, 2005, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights relating to Women's Rights in Africa enters into force.

It is with a great delight that we celebrate the event, which marks a significant turning point in the history of African women’s struggle for the recognition and the respect of their basic human rights.

From this 25 November, 2005, date that we wish to engrave in gold lettering in the history of our continent, this instrument likely to do justice to women and girls of the continent will apply from now on.

On this occasion, WiLDAF would like to pay a deserved tribute to all women wherever that they are, and to women's rights activists in general, for the work, the support, courage and perseverance they showed during these last ten (10) years so that the protocol relating to women's rights has today legal existence and has force of law.

WiLDAF salutes those States that have ratified the protocol and in which the instrument can thus be applied. These are: Benin, Cape Verde, Comoros, Djibouti, The Gambia, Libya, Lesotho, Mali, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Senegal and Togo.

We also take advantage of this opportunity to thank the following active organisations from the very start of the process for their vision and their commitment from the very beginning, and for their active involvement in the various stages of the process of the protocol. They are: WiLDAF, African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies, Inter-African Union of Human Rights (UIDH), the Inter-African Network for the Fight against Violence perpetrated against Women (RIAF-DLVF), the Sub-Regional Council for the fight against Harmful Practices to Mother and Child Health (CPTN), Women in Law in Southern Africa Research Trust (WLSA), Women and Law in Eastern Africa (WLEA), Alliance of Jurist Women (Tunisia), Concertation of Women Association Collectives of the Great Lakes sub-region, the African Centre for Gender and Development (CAGED/CEA), Femmes Africa Solidarity (FAS), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. We are delighted that other organisations joined the action at the eve of the 2nd meeting of experts and also pay tribute to their determination to add their contribution to the process of adoption, ratification and implementation of the protocol.

It is appropriate, while celebrating the entry into force of this instrument, to recall in few words the course of this significant instrument.

Fruit of an exemplary collaboration between the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and the civil society organisations, the protocol was considered as a priority for the promotion and the protection of African women's rights during a workshop held in March 1995, organised by the African Commission in collaboration with WiLDAF/FeDDAF and the International Commission of Jurists based in Geneva.
The recommendations of the workshop advocated that a protocol on women's rights is established and that a Special Rapporteur on women's rights is appointed. The Conference of the former Organisation of African Unity (OAU) gave mandate to the Commission to initiate and coordinate the development process of the draft protocol. A working group was set up to propose a text.
From the very beginning, the process was very participatory. The civil society organisations were mobilised to enrich the first version drafted by the working group. The mobilisation increased throughout the process. For, more and more organisations were interested in all the stages of the protocol development. Indeed, to a certain stage of the process, the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices having Harmful Effects on Women’s and Children’s Health submitted its own convention to the OAU Secretariat. The Secretariat deemed advisable to integrate this draft relating to a specific aspect of women's rights to the existing draft Protocol and to submit only one document to the General Meeting of OAU. The numerous episodes which marked out the process sometimes put the civil society in a cold sweat. One of the most difficult times was the long waiting time between the first and the second meeting of experts due to the successive deferments for absence of quorum.

But the efforts of lobbying of the civil society and the determination showed by the African Union officials responsible for the dossier forced the holding of the second meeting of experts. It was followed by that of Ministers concerned by the protocol, the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs. The Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs which met prior to the Summit of the Heads of States and Government thus put the dossier of the protocol on the agenda of this summit in July 2003. Eight years after the start of the process, the protocol was thus finally adopted by the Heads of State.

Once this stage passed, then began another struggle that is its entry into force. To achieve this, 15 ratifications were necessary. The optimism that spurred on women’s rights activists shortly after the adoption of the text made them believe that the instrument could come into effect latest a year after its adoption that is in July 2004. But we had to face the evidence because one year after, only 3 countries had ratified and deposited their instrument of ratification with the African Union. Then, a new campaign was intensified towards the Heads of State and Government for a speed up of the ratification process. The latter adopted during their Summit of July 2004 a declaration known as Solemn Declaration on gender equality in which they committed themselves to make the protocol enter into force latest by the end of 2004 and to ensure that it will apply in 2005.

Confident of this commitment, women’s rights activists tried extra hard. Once again, the expectations were not met. By the end of 2004, only 3 other countries joined the list. Women organisations reinforced their strategies of lobbying from the very start of 2005. This was profitable, since on 12 October, 2005, Togo ratified the protocol and deposited the instrument of ratification on the 26th day of this month, being thus the 15th country whose ratification was expected. Finally the dream became a reality!

This is the place to pay a deserved tribute to all the partners who supported us throughout the process. I want to mention the Canadian Centre for study and International Cooperation (CECI-DCF), which supported WiLDAF and human rights organisations and women associations since the phase of development until the eve of the adoption of the protocol. We also wish to extend our acknowledgment to Open Society Institute in West Africa (OSIWA) for its support how much invaluable during the ratification phase. Finally we express our gratitude to GTZ, which also supported us.

Why the protocol is so important?

For African women, the entry into force of the protocol is an essential stage towards the recognition of rights whose daily violations cause huge sufferings. The protocol provides, as the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), a reference legal framework enabling various stakeholders and populations to daily work towards the respect of women's rights.
But more than the CEDAW, the legal framework of the protocol is the reflection of the specific violations against African women. The preamble justifies the adoption of the protocol by the maintenance of discrimination against women and harmful traditional practices, and this despite the commitments made by States on international and regional levels. It also expresses in a solemn manner the accession of leaders to the principle of gender equality.

Beyond these declarations, the protocol will allow, through its provisions, for addressing as crucial issues as the multi-sided violations of rights in marriage, violence, serious attacks to life, physical and moral integrity to women and girls security, of which no one can deny the yelling reality in our societies. While its entry into force coincides with the launching of the 16 days activism on violence against women, it is necessary to outline the particular place that the protocol as legal framework and tool must occupy from now on for the fight against gender violence in Africa.
The entry into force of the protocol provides an irreplaceable framework to put an end to violations of which women and children, particularly girls, are victims in period of conflict, as civilians, refugees or soldiers, and to take up the challenge of peace in Africa, indispensable condition for development.
The struggle against traditional practices harmful to the health of women and girls has to be backed by the protocol, which provides guidelines for their elimination. The economic and social rights, also vital as the right to health, including reproductive health, the right to education and the rights to succession of widows and girls, which are daily scorned by ignorance or intentionally, would be better protected if the actions taken could be built on adequate measures like those recommended by the protocol. Ultimately, there is no doubt that in the interest of hundreds of thousands of women and girls in Africa, the protocol relating to women's rights will provide a priceless support to the work of women’s rights organisations in the daily fight for a fairer world.

Finally, the entry into force will enhance the credibility of AU, which showed its commitment to promote women’s participation and gender equality, particularly parity within the AU Commission and equitable representation of Judges at the African Court of Humans and Peoples’ Rights in order to show consistency and constancy.

The entry into force of the protocol marks, all things considered, a decisive stage towards the rooting of a culture of respect and exercise of women’s human rights in African societies.

We are conscious that the work must be pursued so that the protocol experiences a full application and that it truly serves for the protection of women's rights on the continent. We therefore commit ourselves to pursue the mobilisation at all levels. From now on, our work will aim at ensuring that all the 53 African States ratify the protocol, that legislative reforms start, that the provisions of the protocol apply in our courts and finally that the settlement of any dispute involving a woman is based on the provisions of the protocol in order to do justice.
Then, we call on those countries, which did not ratify to date the protocol, to do it without delay and reservation so that all women of the continent can effectively profit from this instrument likely to encourage their full development and participation in a sustainable development
We urge Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mauritania, and Zambia which have already caused their Parliament to adopt the law authorising the ratification of the protocol to take all actions to submit with the African Union Commission the instrument of ratification.

We call on those States who have ratified the protocol with reservations to withdraw these reservations.
We invite all the stakeholders who worked so far and others who will want to join us to do every thing possible to provide women’s rights and human rights organisations in general, with capacities necessary so that they can monitor and evaluate the implementation of the protocol.
Finally we want to seize the opportunity to welcome the election of Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as President of Liberia. This election is of good sign for the application of the provisions of the protocol, particularly its Article 9.1a which states that women shall take part in all elections without any discrimination.



Women in Law and Development in Africa/ Femmes, Droit et Développement en Afrique (WiLDAF/FeDDAF) West Africa sub-regional office
info@wildaf-ao.org
www.wildaf-ao.org/eng

To keep up to date on signatures and ratification, go to www.africa-union.org and check Treaties, conventions and Protocols etc. under Official Documents section.

More...

Africa: Leadership realising gender equality

2005-11-22

http://www.mg.co.za/articleList.aspx?area=general_africa

Gender equality is "taking root" in African leadership, Pan African Parliament (PAP) president Gertrude Mongella said in Midrand on Monday (November 21). Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's election as President of Liberia shows "the equality of women and men in organs of power is taking root on this continent", Mongella said on the first day of the PAP's fourth ordinary session.

Global: Women victims of "gendercide"

2005-11-23

http://www.peacewomen.org/news/International/Nov05/InsecureWorld.html

There is a shortfall of some 200 million women in the world -- "missing' due to what a three-year study on violence against women calls "gendercide." The number of what the study describes as 'missing' women is based on the random birthrate of males and females and how many fewer women there are than what would be expected in the world population, said Theodor Winkler, head of a research center that directed the project. Winkler told a news conference at the United Nations that gender-related abortions and infanticides were the leading causes for the shortfall in the female population. Another factor was domestic violence, including so-called honor killings in some cultures.

Global: Women's Access to Land & Resources will Enhance Progress to MDGs

2005-11-22

http://tinyurl.com/bmhvk

According to the Millennium Campaign, over 90 activists, academics, members of government and community women from India and Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, Nigeria, Krgystan, and Uganda assembled at UNDP hall, New Delhi, on November 13th and 14th for an International Consultation on Women's Land and Resource Rights. Community women's experiences were supplemented with legal and conceptual information from people who have worked on the issue at the policy and law reform level.

Global: Women’s participation in disaster relief and recovery

2005-11-22

http://digbig.com/4fhsw

This article explores the gender-differentiated effects of natural disasters. It aims to fill a gap in understanding issues such as women's losses relative to men's, how women's work time and conditions change, both in terms of care-giving and income-generating work, or how disaster-related aid and entitlement programmes include or marginalise affected women.

South Africa: Guns and gender violence - a lethal combination

2005-11-23

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50137

Victoria [not her real name] thought she had the law on her side when she left her abusive partner and successfully applied for a protection order against him. According to provisions set out in South Africa's 1998 Domestic Violence Act and reinforced by recently enacted firearms legislation, the order gave the police powers to confiscate the gun that had repeatedly been used to terrorise her. According to the Medical Research Council (MRC), a woman is shot dead by her current or former partner every six hours, and such cases rose by 78 percent between 1990 and 1999.

South Africa: UNICEF project lets girls have their say

2005-11-22

http://tinyurl.com/8g7zk

Hundreds of schoolgirls from disadvantaged backgrounds in Inanda, Durban, had their chance this week to showcase their strengths and highlight their needs to international visitors during a Girls' Education Movement (Gem) session. It is aimed at highlighting issues affecting girls. And with a recent financial injection of about R4-million from Barclays Bank for the project in this country, it is anticipated that up to 1,5-million children will be helped.

Zimbabwe: AIDS orphans and vulnerable children bear the brunt of collapsing economy

2005-11-23

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50110

She's a sex worker, but not many passers-by would suspect that the slight figure standing in a narrow street opposite a nightclub in Zimbabwe's gold mining town of Kwekwe is also a university student. Tracy Bunjwali, a second-year business studies scholar and part-time prostitute, says her biggest fear is that she might bump into somebody she knows while out on the streets waiting to be taken to a nearby hotel-cum-brothel.

Africa/Global: Commonwealth human rights forum meets in Malta

2005-11-24

On 20th and 21st November 2005 – just prior to the Commonwealth Heads of