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Women’s rights: Looking back or moving forward?

The Beijing Platform for Action in Africa

Mary Wandia

2009-11-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/60352

cc S CDespite the wide adoption of protocols for gender equality across Africa, ‘violations of women’s human rights have reached epidemic proportions,’ Mary Wandia writes in Pambazuka News, ‘and unless we adopt a multi-sectoral approach in the implementation and monitoring of regional and international commitments, we shall continue to marginalise half of the continent’s population.’ With the Beijing +15 Africa Review meeting underway in Banjul, Wandia asks whether Africa’s ministers for gender and women will ‘rise up to the challenge’.

2009 is a significant year in the African women’s rights calendar. The assembly of the African Union declared 2010-2020 the African Women’s Decade. The summit called on member states, AU organs and regional economic communities to support the implementation of Decade activities.[1]

The declaration comes when women worldwide mark the 30th anniversary of the United Nations (UN) Convention on elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW) in 2009. Later in 2009, Africa’s ministers for gender/women will meet in Banjul, the capital of Gambia to review the implementation of the Beijing Platform in Africa during the last 15 years.

In 2010, women worldwide will mark 15 years since the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing (Beijing + 15). African women will be marking six years since the adoption of the Solemn declaration on gender equality in Africa (SDGEA) and five years since the Protocol to the African charter on human and people’s rights on the rights of women in Africa entered into force. But in 2009, it is clear that women’s lives have not yet seen the promise of the continental framework.

THE CURRENT STATUS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA

WHAT WE’VE ACHIEVED

Africa now has its first female head of state, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia. Women’s representation in national parliaments has improved in a majority of African countries. Africa has the highest reported rate of progress – 10 per cent – on this target in the world over the period 1990 to 2007. But the story is not all together cheerful, as several countries have shown only a slight improvement over the period 2003-2007.[2] Many factors still hinder women’s political participation, such as political parties being slow to respond to women’s interest, under-investment in women candidates’ campaigns, cultural barriers, and conflicting demands on the time of women candidates due to their domestic and social responsibilities.

African governments have established various mechanisms at different levels –including national machineries – to mainstream gender in the formulation of policies, plans and programmes, policy advocacy and to monitor and evaluate the implementation of international, regional and national commitments. Particular attention has been given to the formulation of national gender policies and implementation plans, with some countries having prepared sector-specific gender policies.

However, the mechanisms for the integration of gender equality and women’s empowerment remain weak at all levels, lacking adequate capacity, authority and funding. Line ministries have not reached gender equality targets due to low levels of resource allocations. Gender concerns continue to be treated rhetorically or as separate women’s projects. Sex-disaggregated data and information from gender-sensitive indicators are often not collected. When they are collected, they are lost in aggregation of published data or not used.[3]

OBSTACLES TO EQUALITY

The democratic recession in Africa has seen cultural and religious fundamentalism. This has resulted in the enactment of laws that curtail citizen, civil society and media freedoms, the adoption of and implementation of discriminatory laws and discrimination and attacks against sexual minorities, which individually and combined affect the advancement of women’s rights in Africa. In addition, threats to lives of human rights defenders and infringements of freedoms of association that impact the promotion, realisation and enjoyment of human rights and women’s rights are on the rise.

While states have failed to fulfil their commitments, they are undermining regional and international standards by introducing anti-human rights bills. Several governments have adopted or are in the process of adopting discriminatory legislation reversing fundamental women’s rights including, but not limited to, bills on criminalisation of HIV, indecent dressing laws and anti-homosexuality bills. These bills violate various rights: The right to privacy and confidentiality, the right to sexual integrity and autonomy, the right to bodily integrity, freedom from discrimination, the right to health, the right to equal protection before the law, freedom of association, sexual and reproductive rights, freedom of choice, the right to life etc.

The continent is experiencing a rise in food prices far beyond the reach of the poor in the context of global, food, energy and financial crises further exacerbated by climate change. Due to their subordinate position in society, a large number of African women have borne the brunt of these crises, further exacerbating their already precarious situation. In sub-Saharan Africa, agriculture accounts for approximately 21 per cent of the continent's GDP and women contribute 60-80 per cent of the labour used to produce food both for household consumption and for sale.[4] However, women face discrimination under both customary and formal systems as a result of culturally embedded discriminatory beliefs and practices, male control of inheritance systems, and the spread of HIV/AIDS, which further weakens land rights and livelihood options of widows and orphans.[5]

Latest updates confirm that, at primary school level, most African countries are likely to reach gender parity by 2015. However, the impressive improvement in gender parity in primary education is not mirrored in secondary education, where there is still significant under-representation of girls. Limited education and employment opportunities for women in Africa reduce annual per capita growth by 0.8 per cent. Had this growth taken place, Africa’s economies would have doubled over the past 30 years.[6]

A vast majority of African countries are experiencing a negligible improvement in maternal mortality rate. Without a major leap forward, Africa is off-track to meet this goal.[7]Half of all maternal deaths globally (265,000) occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Haemorrhage alone causes 34 per cent of maternal deaths. Yet most of these conditions could be prevented or treated with good quality reproductive health services, antenatal care, skilled health workers assisting at birth, and access to emergency obstetric care.[8]

The proportion of women infected with HIV is high and increasing. As of December 2007, women constitute 61 per cent of infected people in the four sub-regions except North Africa. In almost every country in the region, prevalence rates are higher among women than men. The vulnerability of African women and girls to HIV infection is integrally linked to underlying gender inequalities, societal norms and discrimination.[9]

Violence against women and girls has remained one of the most widespread violations of human rights in our continent. Violence – or the threat of it – not only causes physical and psychological harm to women and girls, it also limits their access to and participation in society because the fear of violence circumscribes their freedom of movement and of expression as well as their rights to privacy, security and health.

Systematic rape has left millions of women and adolescent girls traumatised, pregnant, or infected with HIV.[10] However, in the face of high levels of violence, women and girls’ access to the justice system is limited by legal illiteracy, lack of resources and, gender insensitivity and bias of law enforcement agents.

Although African women are disproportionately affected by conflict compared to men, their voices in conflict prevention, post-conflict reconstruction, transitional justice and peace building process are only faintly listened to, often leaving them at the margins of peace processes. This is in spite of the international and regional commitments on gender equality in peace processes.

BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN POLICY AND REALITY: WHAT CAN BE DONE?

There is an urgent need to renew commitment to gender equality and the empowerment of women and to take concrete steps to address the gaps between commitment and implementation. This will not happen without a paradigm shift to a multi-sectoral approach to ensure the implementation and monitoring of women’s rights commitments made at regional and international levels.

The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has developed a multi-sectoral framework that could accelerate implementation of women’s rights commitments at national level if embraced by governments.[11] Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR) believes that this framework forms the basis for implementing existing commitments and accelerating real changes in the lives of African women and girls.

According to UNIFEM, gender inequalities that disempower women cut across all sectors, from health, economy, labour, agriculture and food security, to education, security and justice. No one sector can provide a comprehensive response. A multi-sectoral framework proposed by UNIFEM emphasises the need for women’s rights targets – based on regional and international instruments – to be integrated in national development plans and strategies, including growth and poverty reduction strategies and budgets. UNIFEM is quick to note that the multi-sectoral approach has been used in other areas such as in the response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Countries have been able to mobilise all sectors of governments, private sector, faith-based organisations and civil society, leading to significant gains in public awareness of the pandemic and a decrease in the level of stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.

Promoting the realisation of rights and empowerment by women is a national priority in its own right, because of its importance for the achievement of other national priorities including economic growth and poverty reduction. The multi-sectoral approach premise draws from the principle that all organs of government have obligations under the treaties ratified by a country as well as other commitments in declarations. Each organ and department of government is thus responsible and accountable for women’s rights falling within its mandate.

The multi-sectoral approach proposes a comparable division of roles. For instance, the ministry of labour would provide leadership in making progress on the obligation of government to take all measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of employment. The ministry of agriculture or rural development would address relevant women’s rights issues: Secure land tenure, access to and control over land, access to extension services and markets for produce. The ministry of health has responsibility to ensure the right to health of women – including sexual and reproductive health – is respected and promoted. The judiciary would ensure the implementation of regional and international commitments through application in constitutions and other provisions of law. The police would be obligated to investigate and prosecute violations of women’s rights promptly.

Overall coordination would be done by a government agency that has gender and human rights technical capacity to provide backstopping services, and at a level or status of power and influence within the overall government system, that is well respected and is backed up by resources. Existing gender machineries could be strengthened to play this role. Governments already have inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms that may be expanded to include coordination of the implementation of human rights commitments. The coordination mechanism is key to developing or reviewing a national policy and action plan on achieving women’s rights and clarifying respective roles and commitments of the various sectors and budgetary allocations to integrate women’s rights into sector programmes. Monitoring progress and regular flow of information between different government agencies helps to facilitate a comprehensive approach to women’s rights, developing training programmes, identifying gaps and contributing to regular country reports required by regional and international institutions.

Violations of women’s human rights have reached epidemic proportions and unless we adopt a multi-sectoral approach in the implementation and monitoring of regional and international commitments, we shall continue to marginalise half of the continent’s population. Will African ministers of gender/women rise up to the challenge?

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Mary Wandia is the gender justice and governance lead at Oxfam GB’s Pan Africa programme. She writes here in a personal capacity.
* Mary Wandia acknowledges generous comments and inputs from Neelanjana Mukhia, Muthoni Wanyeki, Gichinga Ndirangu, Jessica Horn, Sabine Herbrink, Faiza Mohamed, Naisola Likimani, Nelly Maina, Norah Matovu Winyi, Daniela Rosche and Irungu Houghton.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

NOTES

[1] Decision on the African Women’s Decade – Assembly/AU/Dec. 229(XII)
[2] Gender parity in decision-making has advanced the most in Rwanda (48.8 per cent), Mozambique (34.8 per cent), South Africa (32.8 per cent), Tanzania (30.4 per cent), Burundi (30.5 per cent), Uganda (29.8 per cent), Seychelles (29.4 per cent), Namibia (26.9 per cent), Tunisia (22.8 per cent), Eritrea (22 per cent) and Ethiopia (21.9 per cent).
[3] Seventh African Regional Conference on Women (Beijing +10) Decade Review of the Implementation of the Dakar and Beijing Platforms for Action: Outcome and the Way Forward Addis Ababa, 12-14 October 2004 http://www.uneca.org/beijingplus10/outcome_and_way_forward.htm
[4] http://www.fao.org/docrep/X0250E/x0250e03.htm#TopOfPage
[5] FAO ‘Agrarian Reform, Land Policies and the Millennium Development Goals: FAO’s Interventions and Lessons Learned During the Past Decade’, ARC/06/INF/7 (2006)
[6] ‘Gender and Economic Empowerment in Africa’, a paper presented to the 8th Meeting of the Africa Partnership Forum in Berlin, Germany on 22-23 May 2007. www.africapartnershipforum.org
[7] Angola, Burundi, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, the Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Somalia.
[8] United Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report 2009 pp. 27
[9] African Union Commission and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Assessing Progress in Africa towards the Millennium Development Goals Report 2008. March 2008. E/ECA/COE/27/10 AU/CAMEF/EXP/10(III) P. 15
[10] UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNIFEM, Women and HIV/AIDS: Confronting the Crisis. Geneva, New York. 2004. 47-48
[11] This section summarises the Multi-Sectoral Approach Guide developed by UNIFEM ‘Fast-tracking Implementation of the AU Protocol on Women’s Rights and CEDAW in Africa.

REFERENCES

Africa Partnership Forum, ‘Gender and Economic Empowerment in Africa’, a paper presented to the 8th Meeting of the Africa Partnership Forum in Berlin, Germany on 22-23 May 2007. www.africapartnershipforum.org

African Union Commission and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Assessing Progress in Africa towards the Millennium Development Goals Report 2008. March 2008. E/ECA/COE/27/10 AU/CAMEF/EXP/10(III)

Communiqué of the ‘Stakeholders Meeting on Domestication and Implementation of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa’, 16 – 18 July 2009, Kigali, Rwanda organized by SOAWR, UNIFEM and the AU Gender Directorate and the Communiqué of the SOAWR Annual Review and Agenda-Setting Workshop, Theme: ‘Spreading our Wings: A Multi-Sectoral Approach to Women’s Rights’ 5-7 October 2009, Panafric Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya http://www.soawr.org/en/

Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa www.africa-union.org/

Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa www.aumission-ny.org/documents/solemndeclaration_gender

Solidarity for African Women’s Coalition (SOAWR), ‘From Ratification to Implementation: a State Capacity Needs Assessment on Domestication, Implementation and Monitoring of the African Union’s Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Africa on the Rights of Women’. July 2009

UNECA, Seventh African Regional Conference on Women (Beijing + 10) Decade Review of the Implementation of the Dakar and Beijing Platforms for Action: Outcome and the Way Forward, Addis Ababa, 12-14 October 2004 http://www.uneca.org/beijingplus10/outcome_and_way_forward.htm

UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNIFEM, Women and HIV/AIDS: Confronting the Crisis. Geneva, New York. 2004.

UNIFEM, 2005 Progress of the World's Women 2005: Women, Work and Poverty United Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report 2009 pp. 27

WHO 2004. ‘Violence Against Women and HIV/AIDS: Critical Intersections: Sexual violence in conflict settings and the risk of HIV’. Information Bulletin Series, Number 2, November 2004

World Bank (2007), Gender Equality as Smart Economics (A World Bank Group Gender Action Plan (2007-10)

M. Robinson ‘Foreword’ in D Buss & A Manji (eds) International law: Modern feminist approaches (2005); C Chinkin et al ‘Feminist approaches to international law: Reflections from another century’ in Buss & Manji 17 26 28. http://www.soawr.org/en/

Spotlight on Beijing +15

Marren Akatsa-Bukachi

2009-11-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/60349

cc Advocacy ProjectAddressing gender inequality remains central to the drive to improve livelihoods and engender development for all, writes Marren Akatsa-Bukachi. While progress has been made, the key challenge will be to revitalise the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) and ensure genuine momentum is sustained around achieving gender equality in all areas of life, the author argues.

I want to bring the spotlight back to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) in 1995 ushered in a new era in terms of addressing women’s empowerment and advancement. The inception of this platform carried with it a call for governments to accelerate their efforts towards addressing gender inequality. In 2004, and in line with the BPFA, African member states reiterated their commitment to the provisions of the platform and to gender equality in general. African member states committed themselves to addressing challenges, as identified in the synthesis of the national progress reports on the implementation of the Dakar and Beijing Platforms for Action (2004) at the 7th African Women’s Conference held in October 2004 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Since 1996, the Eastern African Sub-regional Support Initiative for Advancement of Women (EASSI) has sought to hold governments to account on the status of the implementation of policies, programmes and legislation in the area of women’s empowerment and advancement in each of EASSI’s member states of Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda.

For EASSI, as an organisation whose mandate emanated from the BPFAs, the anniversary of Beijing +15 affords an opportunity to assess countries according to the degree to which there is an enabling environment at the country level for supporting an effective implementation of the Beijing Platform of Action. The review process presents challenges of measuring not just progress, but accountability towards the various conventions, protocols, treaties and documents ratified by African member states. In my opinion, such an enabling environment for the implementation of the BPFA must include, inter alia, the following key areas:

- Institutional arrangements
- Commitment to CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women)
- Commitment to continental-level gender equality protocols
- Commitment to sub-regional level gender equality protocols
- Commitment to international-level gender equality protocols
- Adoption of a national gender policy
- Adoption of national action plans for United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security
- Commitment to poverty eradication, food security and climate change
- Commitment to the eradication of gender-based violence and the promotion of sexual and reproductive health rights
- Adoption of gender responsive budgeting as a mechanism
- Emerging issues for Africa
- Integration of gender equality principles into national development strategies (NDS) and poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSP).

We as Africans must embrace our own African-inspired protocols such as the African Union Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality (SDGE) of July 2004 and the African Women’s Protocol, popularly known as the Maputo Protocol, of July 2003. I wish to take this opportunity to urge the countries that have not yet ratified the African Women’s Protocol, namely Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea, to do so without further delay, and to implement the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality, which calls for 50–50 gender equality at all levels to do so. I wish to commend Rwanda as the world leader in gender equality. Last year, following the parliamentary and local government elections, Rwanda reached a level of 56 per cent women in decision-making positions in the Lower House of Parliament.

Social and economic indicators for developing countries consistently show that women bear the brunt of hardship in poor communities. At the same time, women are the key agents for an effective grassroots implementation of poverty reduction programmes and economic regeneration. The efforts of our African and other developing countries to modernise discriminatory laws and galvanise women's participation can be frustrated by the deep-rooted cultural barriers that so often run in parallel with poverty.

The belief that gender perspectives should inform all development strategies is founded on accumulating evidence that a fairer stake in society for women reduces poverty, generates economic activity and improves the quality of health and productivity of the family unit.

WOMEN'S RIGHTS

The pursuit of equality for women is of course built on deeper foundations than utilitarian economics. This commitment came in the shape of the Convention to Eliminate all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1979. It is worth noting that this year marks 30 years since the adoption of CEDAW. CEDAW has been described as a bill of rights for women; it spells out the areas in which women experience discrimination and commits countries to amend their laws, construct national gender policies and create institutions to deliver them. The most solid subsequent endorsement of CEDAW came at the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in September 1995, at which governments committed themselves to the Beijing Platform for Action, a detailed template for the eradication of discrimination and poverty.

This generally positive global commitment to women's rights has not been reflected in the rate of progress. Ineffective enforcement of legislation is the most common constraint, as countries are eager to be listed as signatories. Implementation is a different matter altogether.

WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Cultural traditions in developing countries create the most stubborn obstacle to the essential steps towards women's equality. The belief that girls should work in the home and in the fields rather than go to school and the presumption that a woman acquires no right to property on marriage are deeply entrenched in many societies. The disempowerment of women is often reinforced in a country's laws; for example, many countries in sub-Saharan Africa are in various stages of amending laws which prevent women from gaining access to land and property. The HIV/AIDS crisis has accelerated these pressures, given that over 30 per cent of households in southern Africa are now headed by women, few of whom can claim ownership rights.

WOMEN'S LIVELIHOODS

The burden of unpaid domestic work for women is particularly acute in developing countries. Poverty greatly compounds the demands of simple household tasks that would otherwise be minimal. In assessing progress in women's opportunities for non-agricultural work, the MDG (millennium development goals) report for 2008 estimates that two-thirds of women in developing countries find themselves in vulnerable piecework such as farming or in unpaid household tasks.

This predominant role in tending crops and livestock, as well as coping with large extended families, places women in the front line against the connected global crises of food security and climate change. Given their roles as managers, women bear more pressure to provide for the family, yet their access to already scarce resources is further complicated by the intersectionality of their gender with class, age, ethnicity and other social categories. Natural resource management is also dominated by men, with limited participation by women. Global networks working on climate change are likewise male-dominated. In addition, the lack of sex-disaggregated data has worked against surfacing and addressing women's concerns and needs.

Rising food prices will stretch the ingenuity of poor households, which will simultaneously lack awareness and the resources necessary to adapt traditional farming methods to changing weather patterns.

One response to climate change could be the adaptation or the capacity of social actors to shift livelihood strategies and develop support systems that are resilient enough to assist vulnerable people to respond to climate change.

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

HIV-prevention programmes are also now more aware of the risks arising from domestic violence against women, one of the most brutal consequences of the economic, social, political and cultural inequalities that exist between the sexes. Yet strong concerns voiced by development agencies and policy-makers have emerged only in relatively recent years. There is no mention of the subject in CEDAW, apart from a brief reference to human trafficking. In launching his new 2008 campaign, Unite to End Violence Against Women, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon observed that 'at least one out of every three women is likely to be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime.'

While rich countries are by no means free of violence against women, the problems – which range from domestic violence to honour killings – are perceived to be more serious in developing countries. Attitudes in society need to change so that women can be more forthcoming in disclosing their problems. Legislation also has a part to play.

Legislation is also gradually being introduced in African countries where deep-rooted tradition accounts for the widespread practice of female genital mutilation (FGM), endangering perhaps as many as 3 million girls each year. Trafficking of women for sex and other services is illegal, but authorities are struggling to keep up with the combination of crime syndicates and poverty which drive the trade.

Women suffer terribly in war zones, especially those wars in which the world's media take only a token interest. The incidence of rape in Darfur, the DR Congo, northern Uganda and Sierra Leone may never be known, let alone carry any hope of accountability.

WOMEN'S VOICES

Principles of equality and empowerment lie behind the encouragement of greater representation of women in all levels of government. Women are more likely than men to keep sight of the human dimension in problem-solving and to favour a peaceful resolution of conflict. Indeed, the most interesting developments in women’s political participation occur in post-conflict countries whose constitutions have been torn up and rewritten. The Rwandan parliament is believed to have the highest representation of women in the world with over 56 per cent. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first female president, has been elected in Liberia, a country torn apart by conflict and corruption.

The overall picture is, however, less encouraging, with only eight women among 192 heads of government as of January 2008. Despite quotas in place in over 40 countries, the average women’s representation in national parliaments remains barely over 15 per cent.

In conclusion, I call upon all governments to:

- Renew commitments to gender equality, equity and the empowerment of women
- Demonstrate through analysis and up-to-date data the centrality of gender equality and equity in the national development plans, national vision plans, PRSPs, MDGs, as well as policies and programmes of development
- Mainstream gender analysis into economics and involve gender experts in the formulation of macroeconomic policies, so that economic policies support women’s paid activities in the subsistence and the care economies
- Engender indicators for monitoring the impact of poverty-reduction programmes and measures and the MDG targets on poverty
- Replicate and implement the AU 50–50 gender parity principle at all levels of national, sub-regional and regional governance, whereby women’s access to elected positions (municipal and parliamentary) is supported
- Promote for partnership with government, NGOs, the private sector and development partners to implement BPFAs.

Finally, I would like to state that inequality between women and men is increasingly seen as a serious development constraint and a hindrance to the achievement of development. There is growing awareness of the need to ensure the full and equal participation of women as well as men at every level of decision-making in local, national, regional and global fora if the global goals established in the Beijing and Dakar Platforms for Action[1] and Millennium Declaration are to be achieved. There are significant development dividends from women’s agency and empowerment and from more effective partnerships between women and men in different spheres of life, such as in government, the private sector and in non-governmental organisations.

The transformative agenda and the human rights discourse of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) should not be displaced or made diminutive as a benchmark in progress reports, especially a decade and a half after the 1995 World Conference on Women which first yielded the BPFA.

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* Marren Akatsa-Bukachi is the executive director of the Eastern African Sub-regional Support Initiative for Advancement of Women (EASSI).
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

NOTE
[1] Statement by Ms Carolyn Hannan, director, Division for the Advancement of Women and officer in charge of the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Why we shouldn’t need Beijing +15

Morissanda Kouyaté

2009-11-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/60356

cc Tom Maruko‘The idea behind “Beijing” was not to get together every five years and count the victims of gender discrimination and violence’, Morissanda Kouyaté writes in Pambazuka News. ‘It was intended to be – and remains – a campaign to end these problems. A lack of will remains a key obstacle to achieving this – not just political will, but at all levels, to consider women as equal members of society, enjoying all inalienable rights accorded to men.’

The World Health Organization (WHO) initiated the ‘Health for All by 2000’ global campaign. While this slogan drew the world’s attention to problems relating to global health, the failure to meet the target was seen by many as a testament to unfulfilled good intentions. This however does not detract from the great effort made by the WHO in a globalised world, where the lives of the Inuit, the Maasai, the pygmies, the Ainu, the Corsicans, the Guedebursi, the Abenaqui, and all other indigenous peoples are inextricably linked.

In 2009, nine years later, malaria continues to kill thousands, diarrhoea devastates populations, and HIV/Aids is wiping out entire families. Hunger, long considered the source of all illnesses, continues to threaten and kill millions of children, women and men.

In the face of this multiple threat, there isn’t enough money or resources, and yet billions of dollars that would be better utilised in saving the peaceful inhabitants of the earth are spent on arms.

Therefore, we are to adopt the ‘Beijing + X’ formula for the status of women, we must not place an infinite value on ‘X’.

The idea behind ‘Beijing’ was not to get together every five years and count the victims of gender discrimination and violence. It was intended to be – and remains – a campaign to end these problems. A lack of will remains a key obstacle to achieving this – not just political will, but at all levels, to consider women as equal members of society, enjoying all inalienable rights accorded to men.

A husband must be willing to accept the rights of his wife, not just as a mother but also as an equal partner in family decision-making.

Parents must be willing to educate their daughters as they do their sons, not just send them to school for basic literacy before subjecting them to FGM and forced early marriage.

Families and societies must be willing to condemn all forms of physical and psychological abuse of women and children.

Legitimate religious leaders of all creeds must be willing to faithfully interpret the Sacred Texts that accord women equal rights, rather than use them as instruments of social and political domination.

Public authorities around the world must be willing to enact and apply laws against gender discrimination and violence, and not hide behind the fallacious risk of moral degeneration and cultural decline.

International aid organisations must be willing to put an end to rape and sexual abuse as a weapon in conflicts.

Governments must be willing to throw open the doors of leadership to women, and not relegate them to simple votes for men who are often oblivious to the right of the very same women, and continue to pillage public resources.

The international community must be willing to must for once earn its title, by placing women at the centre of development; and not eternal victims always in need of salvation from conflicts driven by hidden agendas.

I refer to ‘will’ in the faith that we shall all say ‘enough! Let us be just with regards to women’s rights.’ But considering the serious and blatant disregard for the laws governing the rights of women all over the world, I wouldn’t be so naive as to believe in a spontaneous rise of a generation of good men to end gender discrimination and violence.

In mathematical terms, our goal should be: Goal = Beijing + X, where X ≤ 15

People will no doubt say, ‘Certainly there has been progress, we have a female African president in one country, a female parliamentary majority in another, three more women ministers there, a female prime minister, two women ministers of foreign affairs, etc’. These are definitely gains, but they are just trees, in spite of the forest.

We no longer want to hear about ‘progress’, we want concrete and tangible results. After 15 years, we no longer want to hear talk about ‘processes’ – we are not in the diplomatic field, we are fighting for the rights of all women.

To all who are a part of this march towards achieving full rights for women; to those who dream of a peaceful and just world; to those who are ashamed of a world that denies its most valiant and important component, we say it is time we realize that HUMANITY is better off when all are included, and not just its self-proclaimed leaders.

Today we are all concerned about the environmental degradation, the damaged ozone layer, climate change, etc, and indeed, we need to be. But the most degraded environment, that which needs the greatest restoration, more so than even the ozone layer, is gender relations – whereby women are deprived of their natural rights and hence their ability to face the challenges of nature.

Beijing +5, Beijing +10, Beijing +15… Stop! No more of Fibonacci’s series in evaluating the status of women.

For our daughters, our sisters, our wives, our friends, colleagues, comrades, partners, and fellow-earthlings, let us fight for Beijing the Reality, and not Beijing the Illusion. Happy Anniversary, all the same!

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Dr Morissanda Kouyaté is secretary-general of the Coordinating Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting Women's and Children's Health (CPTAFE) and operations director of the Inter-African Committee.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

The Beijing Platform for Action: What has it delivered to African women?

Norah Matovu Winyi

2009-11-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/60350

cc World BankThe Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) was unveiled some 15 years ago, leading Norah Matovu Winyi to ask what has really changed for Africa's women since the platform's inception. Over the last 15 years progress in women's position has on the whole been regrettably slow the author notes, with a wide gap between commitments and actual action still persistent. But with the unveiling of a new resolution to 'establish [a] new gender-equality entity in the United Nations', there is fresh hope that the international organisation will be able to work with governments and Africa's citizens to revitalise the drive for equality, peace and development.

In September 1995 the United Nations convened the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. At this conference – which focused on action for equality, development and peace – the 189 governments represented adopted the Beijing Declaration (BD) and Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) aimed at accelerating the implementation of the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies in order to achieve greater equality and opportunity for women to realise their full potential and human rights. This conference was attended by more than 5,000 women and men representing many non-state actors, who also endorsed the outcomes of Beijing. So Beijing gave voice to the African woman. That was the first step.

The principal themes at the Fourth World Conference on Women were the advancement and empowerment of women in relation to twelve critical areas: women’s human rights; women’s economic empowerment; women, leadership and decision-making; education and the training of women; women and health; the girl child, women’s dignity and bodily integrity in order to eliminate all forms of discrimination and violence against women; women and the economy; women and the media; women and the environment; and the institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women. The BPFA defined the agenda for the next 20 years for the advancement and empowerment of women.

It was noted in the BPFA that deeply entrenched attitudes and practices perpetrate inequality and discrimination against women in public and private life in all parts of the world. The platform therefore emphasised that the full implementation of the BPFA can only be realised if the values, attitudes, practices and priorities that inform development programmes and initiatives also change (are transformed). The conference signalled a clear commitment to achieving the norms and standards of equality between men and women as they are articulated in international instruments like the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). There was a strong call for actions and measures undertaken by governments and other actors at the international, regional, national and local levels to be underlined by the urgent need to protect and promote the rights of women and the girl child. The BPFA underscored the urgency for re-orienting the way institutions work (in terms of their values and cultures – both formal and informal – as well as the practices) in order to expedite implementation at all levels. The BPFA provided tools for women in Africa to work with to change their situation.

In 2000 and 2005 the first and second reviews of progress were undertaken (the Beijing +5 review and the Beijing +10 review) to assess the level of implementation and identify any emerging issues and obstacles that may hinder the full implementation of the BPFA. The 2000 review process took place at a very opportune moment as gender and women’s rights advocates were able to influence the millennium development agenda adopted then in form of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In the Millennium Declaration the 189 member states of the UN undertook to advance a global vision for improving the conditions of humanity in the areas of development and poverty eradication, peace and security, protection of the environment, and human rights and democracy. The absolute necessity of advancing the human rights of all people in order to achieve this vision was underscored. In particular, the advancement of gender equality was recognised as critically necessary if any significant progress was to be realised. Member states explicitly pledged to combat all forms of violence against women and to implement CEDAW.

What was most profound was the recognition that the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment are central to all efforts aiming to combat poverty, hunger and disease and stimulating truly sustainable development, and thus the member states reaffirmed their commitment to implement the outcomes of the 1990s UN conferences including the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women.

Though progress was slow in many African counties in the first five-year period (1996–2000), in the process of implementing the BPFA the adoption of the MDGs brought renewed focus and impetus to its implementation. The fact that the need to address gender inequality was emphasised and an explicit goal on gender equality and the empowerment of women was included in the MDGs was a valuable opportunity for the advancement of CEDAW and the Beijing commitments. Gender equality was also identified as a cross-cutting issue in the implementation of all the other seven MDGs. Since then women’s rights advocates in Africa have worked hard to develop and include a broader range of gender-sensitive targets and indicators, in addition to those articulated in the MDGs, in order to facilitate national-level comprehensive reviews on the delivery of these commitments as part of the MDGs process.

By the year 2000 it was evident that CEDAW and the Beijing commitments were being fulfilled in the form of adopted gender-sensitive laws and constitutional provisions in several African countries like Uganda and South Africa. There were judicial decisions that invoked the provisions of CEDAW at the national level in countries like Botswana for example. Many governments in Africa developed national gender policies and action plans like in Uganda, Zambia, Tanzania, Nigeria and Ghana. Programmes were initiated to improve access to healthcare and basic education. Government structures in form of gender ministries, commissions or departments mandated to spearhead the implementation of governments’ commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment were set up. Many governments in Africa were commemorating the women’s international day (8 March) as a symbol of their commitment to implementing CEDAW and the BPFA. In many ways the women’s day celebrations were used as a platform by governments to account for actions and measures undertaken to implement international, regional and national level commitments to women in their respective countries. This is also the period when many civil society organisations were established and they mobilised women to engage in more strategic interventions for women’s advancement and empowerment. Tree planting was a key mobilising activity at that time for many women’s groups, both for income generation, educational purposes and for improved agricultural production. In a nutshell there was hope and expectation in the year 2000 for substantive changes to happen in the lives of women in Africa.

In 2005, the Beijing +10 review showed that although many countries in Africa were experiencing rapid economic growth and were more politically stable, the situation and status of women was not necessarily improving at an accelerated pace. By then many more effective strategies had been developed for achieving gender equality. There were significant gains under each of the critical areas of concern in terms of increased numbers of women in leadership and decision-making, and through gender mainstreaming in development planning (under the PRSP (poverty reduction strategy papers) processes) and gender budgeting. In most African countries affirmative action measures were adopted to increase the number of children accessing primary education. In some countries like South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi, adult education was prioritised. During this period there were increased commitment and resources to address the problem of child mortality and maternal health through the provision of comprehensive primary health packages; a lot of resources were harnessed to address the problem of HIV/AIDS, its effects and impacts on society generally and on women and children in particular; efforts to address gender issues in environmental protection programmes and initiatives and the management of natural resources were likewise prioritised through government policies and programmes.

At the continental level this was an exciting period for the African woman. The Organisation of African Unity was transformed into the African Union (AU) at the July 2001 summit held in Lusaka, Zambia. One of the AU’s grounding principles articulated in its Constitutive Act is the achievement of gender equality. The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), which was adopted at the same summit as the new framework for Africa’s development, represented a perfect illustration of the new will on the part of Africans to change the future of their continent. NEPAD placed gender equality and the empowerment of women at the centre of its implementation.

The Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Plan (CAADP), a programme of NEPAD, was adopted in 2003. It recognises that over 60 to 80 per cent of agricultural labour is provided by women in Africa, and under its pillars of intervention it highlights that if agriculture is to be a vehicle for sustainable development in Africa, strategies that deal with deeply ingrained gender inequalities at the household level must be seriously addressed in its implementation. The CAADP further recommends that inequalities that manifest themselves at the community level hindering women’s access and control over productive resources and the benefits from their labour require not only a supportive legal and policy framework, but more importantly the political will of leaders at all levels to implement programmes that protect and fulfil women’s right to development.

One of the milestones of this period was the adoption by the African Union of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa in 2003. The protocol was the first African instrument to explicitly articulate the rights of women in Africa. It strengthened the legal framework for the protection and fulfilment of the rights of women in Africa. The protocol came into force in 2005 after 15 countries had deposited their instruments of ratification with the African Union. It was a moment of great celebration and expectation. The contents of the protocol were informed by CEDAW as well as the gender analysis done during the period leading up to the 5th Regional Women’s Conference held in Dakar, Senegal, in 1994, which was a precursor to Beijing.

Other developments at the international level were of significant relevance to the promotion of the gender equality agenda in Africa. In 2005 donors under the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) and recipient countries of bilateral and development aid adopted the Paris Declaration (PD) in which they committed themselves to make aid more effective so that it could meet the development goals and aspirations of recipient countries. The donors committed themselves to increasing the amount of aid to Africa, especially to countries in sub-Saharan Africa in order to accelerate the implementation of their poverty eradication strategic plans. Aid to Africa increased, especially through budget support and conditional arrangements to support more strategies for the advancement of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Monitoring mechanisms in countries like South Africa, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana were strengthened in order to evaluate the impact of aid provision, particularly on the achievement of gender targets.

Despite all these commendable efforts and achievements in this period (2000–05) large gaps still persisted, particularly between policy/laws and implementation/practice. There was still a low representation of women in decision-making processes, as the set minimum of at least 30 per cent representation was not realised by many African countries and the quality of representation was a major concern. Inequality in employment and economic opportunities was still a big problem as women workers in Africa still formed the majority in the informal sector, where profits are low, conditions of work are very poor and there are no provisions for social security. In addition, unequal access to education and healthcare for the most poor and vulnerable groups in sub- Saharan Africa remained a major concern. North African countries made significant improvements on this front though, with the governments in Libya, Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt supporting girls’ education to attain higher and university education. Their health systems also are more responsive to the special needs of women when compared to those in sub-Saharan African countries.

The persistence of violence against women reached unacceptable levels as trafficking of women and girls increased and the proliferation of small arms in parts of the continent (conflict-infested areas) increased. Worse still, the feminisation of poverty and the HIV/AIDS scourge were more in focus during this period, albeit with minimal results to reverse this trend.

What is happening? What is the missing part in the puzzle? How come changes in the quality of life and daily realities of most women in Africa seem to be evasive? What more can be done to translate commitments into desired results? For how long do the women of Africa have to wait for what rightly belongs to them? These were some of the disturbing questions raised during the Beijing +10 review process.

Is the situation different and more promising today as we review the progress since Beijing, 15 years down the road?

To say the least, the situation is more disturbing. Though the review is taking place against the backdrop of the September 2009 landmark UN resolution that approved the establishment of a new gender-equality entity in the UN which will be stronger, better-resourced and with a voice and presence within the decision-making structures of this main global governance institution, the efforts made in line with the Beijing commitments in the last 15 years have not transformed the lives of women in Africa. The gap between commitments and action still exists. More actions and measures have been taken by governments, mainly in the form of legislation, national vision documents, policy formulation and the development of frameworks for implementation. However, the translation of these good intentions and aspirations into concrete actions that are indicative of the political will to sustain the transformation of women’s lives is still very minimal.

In terms of achievements in this period (2005–10), we celebrate that by August 2009, 27 countries in Africa were signatories to the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, which is a record achievement compared to other protocols and human rights instruments adopted by the AU. However, 26 countries are still lagging behind, with five member states – namely Sudan, Eritrea, Egypt, Botswana and Angola – having not even signed up to the protocol despite the fact that member states committed themselves in 2004 to the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (SDGEA) to achieve the universal ratification of the protocol within one year and to report annually on its implementation.

The Protocol has influenced changes in laws in several countries and judicial decisions have been made to hold governments accountable as the primary duty bearer in the protection and fulfilment of women’s rights. In 2008 a landmark judgment was delivered by a court in Zambia in favour of a school-going girl child who was defiled by her teacher. The government of Zambia was held accountable for the failure to protect the girl child against sexual abuse while in its care at school. In this case the judge recognised that Zambia is a signatory to the protocol and it has an obligation to guarantee the rights of the girl children under its care against all forms of abuse, especially from those that are charged with the responsibility to protect them.

By the time of the Beijing +15 review, 45 countries in Africa had ratified CEDAW and there was more consistent reporting to the CEDAW committee by both governments and NGOs producing shadow reports.

At the Africa level, the AU adopted the Africa Gender Policy in 2009 to guide the process of gender mainstreaming at the regional and sub-regional levels. The policy also has provisions on how the AU committee can provide technical support to member states for mainstreaming gender in their policies and programmes. The AU also adopted a 'Land policy in Africa: A framework of action' and guidelines to 'Secure land rights, enhance productivity and secure livelihoods' in 2009. The policy is intended to facilitate the achievement of the goals of poverty reduction, peace and security and the sustainable management of natural resources. Through intensive lobbying and the provision of expertise by different gender activists, the land policy was made more gender responsive. The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) was a key player together with ActionAid International in these processes over the last three years. Of course, the challenge is to see the full implementation of the policies and their capacity to influence actions at the national level so as to facilitate development and the advancement of the African woman as envisioned therein.

There have also been more efforts in this period to ensure that women are well informed and capable of engaging in the national planning and budgetary processes at the national- and local-government levels. In addition to government efforts to involve as many stakeholders as possible in the processes of development and reviewing their poverty eradication strategy programmes (as the overarching national development frameworks in most African countries), women’s rights groups at the national and regional levels have taken the lead in mobilising, educating and building expertise among women's organisations to engage in the PRSP lobbies, promote gender analysis and gender-responsive planning and the implementation of development programmes. For example, FEMNET secured support from Oxfam Novib and implemented a three-year project, which has so far covered 18 African countries. Initially it undertook research in five countries – Egypt, Mali, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia – to assess the extent of women’s involvement and the factors that hinder their effective participation, this being a highly specialised and complex area. Using the findings FEMNET developed training and advocacy materials to facilitate women’s participation in mainstreaming gender in macroeconomic processes in the context of new aid modalities. As part of this project it organised sub-regional training of trainers’ workshops, bringing together key stakeholders from ministries of finance, gender machineries, civil society organisations and the media to enhance their knowledge and skills in mainstreaming gender in PRSP processes and in national and local government budgeting. The impact of such interventions have led governments in Africa to prioritise gender, improve the collection of gender-disaggregated data and to strengthen monitoring mechanisms in order to assess the impact of such interventions on the lives of women, men and children.

The analysis of the various national NGO Beijing +15 review shadow reports received clearly indicate that countries are at different levels of progress. Rwanda, Uganda and Nigeria seem to be taking the lead in making substantive progress as they have implemented a range of strategies and actions at the national and local levels under the 12 critical areas of actions in the BPFA to promote gender equality and women’s rights. However, it is also clear that with Africa being a continent structurally characterised by longstanding conflicts that have claimed many lives, occasioned untold suffering and the destabilisation of states and societies, many countries like Somalia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Guinea and Eritrea have not sufficiently prioritised gender and women’s empowerment. The state of insecurity, combined with other factors like the food and energy crisis and the global economic and financial crisis, are all working against the pace of progress. Though there is progress in that gender equality and women’s empowerment can no longer be ignored by political leaders and development practitioners, generally it is not sufficient to change the realities of women’s lives in Africa in a sustainable way.

A 2008 UN report indicated that little progress has been made in reducing extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, which we know disproportionately impacts women and children. Even as we celebrate the decline in the level of parent-to-child transmissions of HIV, about 60 per cent of adults living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are women. New challenges have emerged as women in heterosexual marriages are being affected and more at risk, for example in Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Despite the setting-up of many more health centres as part of the increased support to the health sector, maternal and child mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa are still very high: the UN in 2008 reported that the lifetime risk of dying in pregnancy and childbirth in Africa is 1 in 22, while it is 1 in 120 in Asia and 1 in 7,300 in other, more developed countries.

Additionally, African women have not yet achieved the 30 per cent women representation as the minimum target in leadership and decision-making positions endorsed in the BPFA. As of June 2009 the percentage of women in parliament in sub-Saharan Africa was 18.6 per cent and less than 10 per cent in northern Africa.[1] In countries where this target has been achieved – such as in Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa and others which have surpassed it like Rwanda – the quality of the representation and their capacity to influence major decisions has come more into focus in the last five years. It is clearer now more than ever that though numerical targets are very important and necessary, it is even more critical to enhance the quality of representation and the capacity of leaders to engage and influence decisions. Women’s participation in political parties is still minimal and the numbers are fewer in the leadership of the parties. There is generally a lack of any shift in the culture and practices of political parties which are generally still male-dominated and this hinders women’s effective participation.

Africa is also seeing increased instances of violence against women in conflict situations, such as in Kenya during the country's post-election crisis and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the number of cases of sexual violence against women and those against men reached alarming levels in 2008–09. The conflict and insecure situation in Darfur in Sudan has persisted throughout the review period, leaving many people (the majority of whom are women and children) displaced and living in squalid conditions with no clear end to their suffering in sight. Such populations are not necessarily benefiting from the gains made as a result of the implementation of Beijing at the regional or national levels.

We have witnessed a regression in the democratic space as certain countries such as Ethiopia and Sudan have adopted legislation in 2008 and 2009 respectively that limits the freedom of their citizens to choice, expression and to engage effectively in the public affairs of their country. These judicial and legal insecurities have continued to derail the basic principles of a state of law and render precarious the legal protection of citizens, particularly the poor, the majority of whom are women.

New conflicts have emerged in Madagascar, Mauritania and Guinea in 2008, the latter becoming even more violent as protesters demanded their democratic rights. On 28 September 2009 the army in Guinea turned against people staging a peaceful demonstration, and this resulted in the death of more the 150 people and raping and sodomising of women in broad daylight. It is so sad that such impunity still exists on our continent 15 years after Beijing.

The global economic and financial crisis – which started in 2007 and has worsened in 2009 – has finally reached Africa as commitments to aid are not being fulfilled. Donor countries have reviewed their priorities to focus more on bailing out their own financial institutions and leading economic giants through financial stimulus packages. The first people to lose jobs in the formal sector in Africa have been those at the lower levels, and the majority of these are women. Many more workers are joining the informal sector, both men and women. As more men join the informal sector, many more small businesses managed by women are now under threat and may not survive the crisis.

The coping strategies adopted by most African countries to respond to the global financial and economic crisis seem not to be responding to the needs of women, who are already overburdened by the care economy. Most African countries cannot even afford to provide stimulus packages to sustain the provision of basic social services. In addition, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) continue to prescribe cutbacks on government spending for essential social services like education and the provision of healthcare as a condition for accessing concessional loans during these difficult times. What does this mean? The development agenda that is people-centred is thrown out of the window and is taking backstage priority. Where do all these challenges leave the African woman and the Beijing commitments? Sadly, real, sustainable change is yet to be realised.

It is therefore with renewed expectation and enthusiasm that the women of Africa welcome the UN resolution to establish the new gender-equality entity in the United Nations. Here is hope that this entity will work closely with governments and citizens of Africa, particularly women, to centralise the Beijing agenda for equality, peace and development. There is also excitement for the heads of states and government around the AU summit resolution adopted in January 2009, in which they declared the period 2010–20 as the 'decade for women in Africa'. The process of establishing the UN entity and the African women’s decade are new opportunities to keep the commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment – as articulated in the Beijing Platform for Action – in the spotlight at the international and regional levels as well as the national level. The journey for change continues.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Norah Matovu Winyi is the executive director of FEMNET.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

NOTES
[1] International Parliamentary Union (IPU), fact sheet.

Kenya: Peace and security imperatives for women

Gender dimensions in the electoral process

Carole Ageng’o

2009-11-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/60353

cc TeseumCarole Ageng’o takes a closer look at the interplay between gender relations and conflict in the three phases of Kenya’s electoral process – pre-election, election and post-election. Highlighting the barriers women face to participating in each phase despite international standards and regional instruments for protection of the rights of women, Ageng’o argues that entrenched social roles have ‘made it difficult for men and women to share power, privilege and status on the basis of equality'. A change in prevailing gender relations, Ageng’o suggests, is key to ‘empowering communities torn apart by war to build peace from below’.

INTRODUCTION

The concepts of peace and security in Africa in general, and in Kenya in
particular are closely linked to electoral processes. The electoral process is an embodiment of the idea of structural conflict, which presupposes an un-peaceful situation that exists between the dichotomies of peace and war.

It is, however, evident that structural conflict that at times ends in structural violence, is about correcting the situations of extreme deprivation of one or several communities at the expense of another or others. The link between political affiliation, ethnic belonging and access to resources is also evident and is a result of longstanding interactions of these three dimensions.

A discussion of electoral processes falls within the ambit of the meaning of conflict as an incompatibility of goals between two or more parties[1], as the parties in the electoral process each have a distinct reason for taking part in the process often at variance with each other.

The incompatibility of goals between the various parties plays out in the electoral processes, which are an embodiment of the role of bringing about change in the social structure and institutions, the distribution of resources and in the relationships between the conflicting parties.[2] Political conflicts involve different groups and are characterised by a high level of organisation that can also alter the context of hitherto social conflicts into political conflicts.[3]

Structural conflict incorporates elements of the human security, which in turn embraces a broader meaning of security, separate from the traditional view, which considers security as a function that is limited to the state; where states are the only actors in international relations who then exercise the security function in times of peace and war.[4]

The realist view of the state as the primary actor limits the opportunity to examine matters such as the composition and constraints of the state and the constituency it represents. It could also lead to an erroneous interpretation that the state is secure; yet the reality could be that individuals and communities suffer and die from famine, disease, genocide, ethnic cleansing, assault and discrimination in the distribution of state resources, amongst other factors, which are, after all, the components of the human needs approach.[5]

National security, however, remains the preserve of the state but is necessary for the attainment of human security. Human security implies protection against, or safety from, a future of risk and deprivation, injury or death and encompasses the important elements of predictability and control.[6] The notion of human security entails the creation of systems that allow for survival, dignity and livelihood, and which are also closely linked to development.[7]

In many African countries, insecurity has to an extent been linked to bad governance and lack of democratic practice. Democracy is therefore a means of conflict resolution and an opportunity for addressing divergent views through various means, including through elections. Electoral violence occurs where the rights of groups are not protected nor economic interests fulfilled, and may lead to the breaking away to assert and claim self-determination. Good governance leads to peace and stability, which are prerequisites for sustainable development.[8]

In multiethnic societies, ethnic bias is evident in the implementation of development policies that should in principle create sustainable improvement in the quality of life of all people. Thinking around development has evolved from planning and economic discourse to the current thinking of development as a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy. These freedoms include political freedoms, economic facilities, social opportunities, transparency and protective security.[9]

The three phases of the electoral process – the pre-election, the election and the
post-election phases – overlap, and structural conflict in the pre election phase breaks out into structural violence in the election and post election phases. In Kenya, the announcement of the presidential election results was the trigger to the structural violence. This paper focuses on the gender dimensions of Kenya’s electoral process, as against the standards of protection of the rights of women in international and regional instruments.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GENDER AND CONFLICT

The gender dimensions of electoral conflicts encompass the socially constructed gender relations in the society, which connote the socially constructed designation of women and men, their roles in the culture-specific context and the relationship between the two sexes.[10] Reference to gender connotes the social construction of the gender roles and relations between men and women that is dynamic and changes over space and time. This reference also includes the state of being male or female, distinguishable by the physical, biological or sexual characteristics by which all members of the society are identifiable.[11] The causality of gender considerations in the differentiation of individual and societal interactions is evident in the cultural and political relations. At the individual level, the differentiations are very pronounced on the basis of opportunities and constraints based on sex category and the resultant consequences.[12]

The impact of the conflict on men and women entails much more than the general notion that women are primary ‘victims’ and ‘peacemakers’. Generally, men are considered as primary actors in conflict, whereas women assume a peripheral role.[13] The prevailing gender relations in the society result in differences between the experiences of men and women in violent conflict, their coping strategies and how the gender relations are reconfigured as result of conflict.[14]

The social roles of men and women have been different in all known human societies. The differentiation has been primarily on the basis of division of labour, which has predisposed men to access and control valuable resources in their societies, which has in turn made it difficult for men and women to share power, privilege and status on the basis of equality.[15] The relevance of gender analysis in electoral conflict is premised on the fact that elections are about access to and the exercise of power at the different levels that the elections happen, whether at national or local authority levels.

THE GENDER DIMENSIONS OF THE ELECTORAL PROCESS IN KENYA

The gender dimensions of conflict are based on the human security approach. Gender considerations underlie basic needs that are intrinsic to biological and physical survival, self-esteem and autonomy, and are considered universal and primordial. Conflict threatens the very existence of people under circumstances of oppression, discrimination and isolation.[16]

Men and women participate differently in electoral processes where they also interact differently between and across the genders. These differences are influenced by several other factors including the laws and institutions that govern elections.

The experiences of men and women in the electoral process are not isolated but are rooted in the gender relations in the society that exist outside the electoral process. An analysis of the gender dimensions of electoral conflict involves a discussion of the power relations around the patterns of women’s and men’s access to control over resources, authority and social legitimacy.[17]

Resources are an element of human security that is understood in terms of human development, which is a process of widening people’s choices in a broader and more integrated sense to include freedom from fear and want. Human security has significant inherent gender concerns that are presented largely in a gender-neutral way, except in the aspects of personal health and security, where women’s vulnerability is highlighted.[18] The electoral process is one of the means by which the power relations are gauged in society.

STRUCTURAL CONFLICT IN THE PRE-ELECTION PHASE

One of the determinants of peace and security in Africa is ethnicity. This is linked to resources and struggles around access to resources are rooted in the electoral processes. The root causes of the tribal clashes in Kenya brought on by the introduction of the multiparty electoral system had not been addressed by the 2007 elections, and even though they constituted the post-election phase of the previous conflict, they also formed the pre election phase of the electoral conflict in 2007.[19]

In the pre election phase, gender dimensions are discernible in the institutional and legislative frameworks. The actions of individuals within these two contexts are influenced by the structural arrangements in the society, some of which are deep seated and mirror the post election phase of the previous electoral cycle. An example is seen in gender stereotyping, where men are seen as aggressors and women as victims associated with peace.[20]

The Constitution of Kenya guarantees freedom from discrimination on the basis of sex or any other basis.[21] The electoral law, as enshrined in the constitution[22] and other statutes, does not prevent any man or woman from participating in the electoral process. To that extent, it allows for equality between men and women in the political arena of elections. The principle of equality espoused is not absolute as the constitution contains some claw-back clauses that make exceptions to its application. These exceptions are on issues of personal law, such as marriage, divorce and property.[23]

In the pre-election phase, the application of the exceptions allows for discrimination on the basis of gender. This is because social interaction and relations between men and women extend to the electoral process. As such, a woman seeking to be elected must first get clearance from the existing leadership structures in the community. These structures are, for the most part, male dominated, and the woman has to get the endorsement of the male family members and the wider community. The same does not always hold true for men, who endure a lighter level of scrutiny than women in their quest to vie for electoral posts. This is because women’s social and political interactions are pegged to that of men, particularly husbands.[24]

Female aspirants face the challenge of choosing where to vie for election, as they have to convince the members of the communities of their marriage and their communities of birth that they are fit enough to lead. Overcoming the hurdle of family and societal endorsement to present oneself for nomination leads directly to another hurdle with strong gender dimensions: The party nominations. Political parties are an integral part of the institutional and legislative framework in the electoral process in Kenya, as there are no provisions for participation without the backing of a political party.

Indeed the Political Parties Act 2007 interprets a political party to mean:
‘Any association or organisation of persons which has for its objects or purposes or one or more of its objects or purposes the proposing or supporting of candidates for national or local authority elections, with a view to forming or influencing the formation of the Government of Kenya or any local authority within Kenya.’[25]

The nominations on the party ticket must therefore be weighed against the possibility of winning the particular seat. In many instances, women are sacrificed at the altar of political power play[26], despite the fact that women are the majority in Kenya at 51 per cent of the population, according to the 2003 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS).[27] Generally, political parties have women’s wings and gender desks, but these are separate from the mainstream political activity and do not influence the party nomination processes substantially. For this reason, political parties rarely nominate women for elective positions.[28]

In Kenya, however, the law prohibits the creation of parties on the basis of gender[29] and women must therefore contend with the structures in their political parties, even where these do not provide a level playing field or allow for fair competition between them and the male party members.

The women who survive the party nominations have to then contend with the challenges around the campaign period. In the campaign stage, there are gender stereotypes around the personal roles of the women. As already noted, men are seen as primary actors in conflict, whereas women are seen as victims and peacemakers.[30] A general perception shared by men and women is that the campaign trail is unsafe for the personal security of women. For this reason, the society does not encourage the active participation of women in campaigns. This view is not restricted to the participants, but also embraces the electorate.[31]

These activities happen under the prevailing gender relations in the society that influence the participation of the voters in the process. Participation in the voter education and registration activities is to a great extent influenced by the social roles of men and women. An example with regards to voter education is where the men and women have to choose between taking part in voter education activities and continuing with their day-to-day activities. As regards voter education, women shy away from attending sessions on voter education for the reasons of conflicting gender roles.[32]

In the voter targeting strategies in the campaigns, a lot of emphasis is on how the candidates hope to correct the pre-existing structural anomalies in the society.[33] These anomalies reflect the gender interactions in the society that are also evident during the campaign. Electoral campaigns involve large sums of money and are also a time of displaying societal leadership roles. Men are constructed as being superior to women in society and often given greater capacity than women to mobilise a variety of material resources and assume cultural roles of leadership.[34]

This capacity is reflected in various terms including control of land that rests with the men, especially where the land is communal or family land.[35] A woman would face strong resistance if she wanted to encumber the family land in order to raise money for the elections. On the contrary, men face less resistance and are able to use family and communal land as security to raise money for elections.[36]

Voters regard female and male candidates differently and gender biases can affect the electoral prospects of women candidates. The gender stereotypes in the society affect the substantive issues that female candidates emphasise in their campaigns.[37]

STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE IN THE POST-ELECTION PHASE

In the post election phase, several women were raped and men sodomised. Sexual violence was used as a weapon of war, where women are to be humiliated and conquered.[38] Even though women suffer the violations, sexual violence is used to subdue men and to humiliate them.[39] Sexual violence in the post election phase has also been described as a by-product of the collapse of social order in Kenya and a tool to terrorise individuals and families and precipitate their expulsion from the communities in which they live.[40]

Sexual violence impacts the social dimensions of the gender roles that are affected or recreated as a result of the conflict, at the personal level and at the national level. The cost of treatment of one female victim of rape weighs heavily on the health facilities when multiplied by the number of women victims of rape. This has consequences for the health budgetary allocation of the country.

Where these women bear children as a result, the cost of raising these children is transferred to the state. This includes the indirect costs of the psychological trauma that may be manifested through dysfunctional and delinquent behaviour of these children, owing to the circumstances surrounding their birth. Where the women die as a result of the rapes, the impact on the immediate families, communities and the family has economic and psychological connotations. In the final analysis there is the danger of societal retaliation, where the children born of or affected by such violations bottle up their frustrations which are easily triggered into renewed violence at a later date.[41]

The other aspect to be considered is in the arena of violent hostilities and the role of combatants. In most instances, it is men who take up arms and take part in the attack of the oppressor. Indeed, men are recruited to take part as frontline combatants.[42] In the Kenyan conflict, newspapers and television stations carried pictures of stone-throwing men, and women and children fleeing from the violence. This phenomenon is grounded on the various factors that include laws relating to security, censorship laws and restrictions in movement and expression that draw from the socially constructed lower status of women in the Kenyan society.[43]

When men go to the frontlines, the women are left to take care of the households, often without the benefit of the training or induction needed to enable them effectively take up the responsibilities of the men. Where the men are fatally wounded in the conflict, the above impact is long-term and quickly snowballs to impact the wider community and ultimately the state.[44] This leads to a secondary level of structural conflict. In the Kenyan conflict, the unresolved tribal clashes of 1992 and 1997 have contributed to the 2007 conflict, as communities seek to avenge the wrong occasioned on their people.

An example is given of a 5-year-old in 1992 whose family is victim of the clashes; such a child grows up blaming a certain group of people for the wrong occasioned to his family and therefore needed very little instigation to pick up arms to seek revenge for the wrongs done to his people.[45] The IDP (internally displaced person) camps exposed the women to further risk of sexual violations and victimisation, which were linked to camp design and services including sanitation and water availability.[46]

The response to the violence indicates omissions by police officers. An example contained in the Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence (CIPEV) report notes:

‘According to a married woman living in Mathare, who was able to identify some of her attackers by name, she went to Pangani Police Station and the police ”told me that they do not want to listen to cases about rape. If it is about robbery I should report and I reported and they gave me an OB number.”

‘Similarly a married female resident of Kibera who had been gang raped, went to report at the Kilimani Police Station, she was told ”to choose between the two, either the issue of the house being burned or being raped.”

‘Although the woman had identified the men who gang raped her and looted her property, the police at the Pangani Police Station released the perpetrators without offering her an explanation. The police only said that ”this [was] about politics and that [she] should leave.”’[47]

The response of the police officers was a reflection of the prevailing gender relations, where the rape of a woman was not considered as meriting the intervention of the law, despite the existence of a judicial system supported by laws that would punish the perpetrators. According to women in Burnt Forest, the primary responsibility of a woman in such a situation was to her husband and children, and reporting rape was not an option.[48] A representative of a local non-governmental organisation also noted that women would not report rape because their husbands would leave them while the community would laugh at them.[49]

The response of the police could also be because certain police officers were also perpetrators of sexual violence, who failed to provide protection as they were supposed to. The actions of the police officers support the earlier assertion that rape and sexual violence are a means of humiliating women and subduing men.[50] The CIPEV report contains several cases of violations by security officers. In one case it is reported:

‘In some cases, the security agents attacked individuals, including teenagers, during flight. According to the statement of a 17 years old girl from Eldoret currently living in a children’s home in Nakuru, she was attacked by 7 Administrative Police Officers, who gang raped her. At the time of the attack, she was running away from her sister’s house which had been attacked by some raiders during the post election violence.’[51]

The violent conflict happened against an existing legal background at the national and international levels. Rape is a crime against humanity, according to the 1998 Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court, a principle that has been applied in the in the Akayesu[52] case. Under Article 7 of the Statute:

‘Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilisation, or any other forms of sexual violence of comparable gravity’, are crimes against humanity ‘when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.’[53]

At the national level, the constitution and several other statutes including the Sexual Offences Act, 2006 and the Penal Code[54] protect the citizens against the violations experienced in the post election phase. The application of the laws is not effective due to some institutional weaknesses, some with strong gender biases. In the investigations of the sexual offences committed in the post election period, a woman who was gang–raped by eight men was told by a Nairobi police officer after she reported to the police station that if she did not know who raped her, ‘she should “just” go to hospital and not to the police.’[55]

CONCLUSION

Recovering from violent conflict seldom follows a linear process. Latent conflict lingers and interpersonal violence and crime may actually increase. In such cases, it is often difficult to lay the groundwork for the reconstruction of the society from the point of view of development and human security. The success of any intervention undertaken is measured in terms of the quality of peace left behind, and the speed with which the benefits of such intervention reach the people in the community in conflict. Each post conflict recovery requires an integrated human security framework, developed in full partnership with the national and local authorities to ensure ownership and commitment to the objectives.[56]

Effective peace building should be based not only on power manipulation of peace by elites, but by empowering communities torn apart by war to build peace from below. In so doing, they complement international intervention and reconstruction.[57] Several peace processes in Africa have failed because they fail to include the local actors and rather focus on addressing the interests of the regional and international actors. Unfortunately, when the peace process failed, the regional and international actors abandoned the local actors, leaving them to their own devices.

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* Carole Ageng’o LL.B, MA–ICM, is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

NOTES

[1] M.Mwagiru, ‘ Conflict in Africa: Theory, Processes and Institutions of Management’, ( Nairobi: CCR 2006)p.3
[2] A. de Reuck, ‘The Logic of Conflict: Its Origin, Development and Resolution’ , in M. Banks (ed) Conflict in World Society: A New Perspective on International Relations, ( Sussex: Harvester, 1984) p.99
[3] M. Mwagiru, ‘Conflict in Africa: Theory, Processes and Institutions of Management,’ op cit, p.3
[4]C.H. Ofuho , ‘Security Concerns in the Horn of Africa’ , in M.Mwagiru (ed) African Regional Security in the Age of Globalisation ( Nairobi: Heinrich Boll Foundation, 2004) pp 7-9
[5] L. Chweya, ‘Emerging Dimensions of Security in the IGAD Region’ op cit, pp 31-48
[6] O.Sana, ‘Good Governance as a Building Block towards Improved Human Security in the Horn of Africa,’ in M. Mwagiru (ed) Human Security: Setting the Agenda for the Horn of Africa, ( Nairobi: African Peace Forum, 2008) pp 35-36
[7] R. Mudida, ‘The Security-Development Nexus: A Structural Violence and Human Needs Approach’ op cit, p 12
[8] O.Sana,’Good Governance as a Building Block towards Improved Human Security in the Horn of Africa,’ op cit,pp36-37
[9] R. Mudida, ‘The Security-Development Nexus: A Structural Violence and Human Needs Approach’ op cit p14
[10] S. Nakaya, ‘Women and Gender Equality in Peacebuilding: Somalia and Mozambique’, in T. Keating and A. Knight (eds) Building Sustainable Peace (Tokyo: UN University Press, 2004) p.146
[11] P. Kameri-Mbote, ‘Gender, Conflict and Regional Security’ in M. Mwagiru (ed) African Regional Security in the Age of Globalization, (Nairobi: Heinrich Boll Foundation, 2004) p.83
[12] B.J. Risman, ‘Gender as a Social Structure: Theory Wrestling with Activism Source,’ Gender and Society, Vol. 18, No. 4 (Aug, 2004), pp. 432-434
[13] P. Kameri -Mbote , ‘Gender, Conflict and Regional Security’ op cit, p 85-89
[14] S. Baden, ‘Post-conflict Mozambique: Women’s special situation, Population Issues and Gender Perspectives,’ Report of a Consultancy for the Action Programme on Skills and Entrepreneurship in Countries Emerging From Armed Conflict , (Brighton: IDS , 1997) , p 1
[15] M Marini, ‘Sex and Gender: What Do We Know?’ , Sociological Forum, Vol 5 No 1(Mar.1990) p 96
[16] H. W Jeong, ‘Understanding Conflict and Conflict Analysis’ (London: Sage,2008) pp28-29. See also Chapter 2 , section 2.2
[17]S. Ssali, ‘Human Security, Conflict and Women in the Horn of Africa,’ in M. Mwagiru (ed) Human Security: Setting the Agenda for the Horn of Africa (Nairobi: Africa Peace Forum, 2008) p102 . See also note 4 above.
[18] Ibid, pp.103-104.
[19] See Chapter 2, Section 2.3
[20] S.Ssali, ‘Human Security, Conflict and Women in the Horn of Africa’ , op cit, p104
[21] The Constitution of Kenya, Chapter 5
[22] Ibid Section 41
[23] Ibid, section 82(4),(5) ,(6), (8) and (9)
[24] S.Ssali, ‘Human Security, Conflict and Women in the Horn of Africa’, op cit, p107
[25] Political Parties Act , 2007, section 2
[26] B. Schaffner, ‘Priming Gender: Campaigning on Women's Issues in U.S. Senate Elections,’ American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 49, No. 4 (Oct., 2005), p 804
[27] www.knbs.go.ke Accessed on 14th October 2009
[28] B. Murungi, ‘Women and Citizenship Rights,’ in A. Ghirmazion, A. Nyabera and E. Kamweru,(eds) Perspectives on Gender Discourse: Gender and Constitution Making in Kenya ,( Nairobi : HBF, 2002) p61
[29] Political Parties Act , op cit, section 14. Even though this Act was passed in 2008 after the last general elections, the principle was applicable in the last electoral cycle, albeit tacitly.
[30] P. Kameri-Mbote, ‘Gender, Conflict and Regional Security’, op cit , p85
[31] Interviews with nominated MP , op cit
[32] Interview on 5th June 2009 with Evelyn Opondo, Programme Officer, FIDA Kenya. FIDA Kenya undertook voter education activities in 2002 and 2007 elections. See also note no 12 above.
[33] See Chapter 2 , section 2.2 and note 8 above
[34] S.Ssali, ‘Human Security, Conflict and Women in the Horn of Africa’ , op cit, p105
[35] Ibid
[36] Note 21, supra
[37] P. Herrnson, J. Lay and A Stokes, ‘Women Running ‘as Women’: Candidate Gender, Campaign Issues, and Voter-Targeting Strategies,’ The Journal of Politics, Vol. 65, No. 1 (Feb., 2003), pp 245-246
[38] S.Ssali, ‘Human Security, Conflict and Women in the Horn of Africa’ , op cit, p102
[39] Ibid, pp 112-113
[40] J.Myrum, J.Ward. and M. Marsh., A Rapid Assessment of Gender Based Violence During the Post-Election Violence in Kenya, Interagency GBV Assessment Report, Jan- Feb 2008, p 4
[41] Ibid , pp 19-51
[42] P.Kameri-.Mbote, ‘Gender, Conflict and Regional Security,’ op cit, p 92.
[43] Ibid
[44] P.Kameri-.Mbote, ‘Gender, Conflict and Regional Security,’ op cit, p 92.
[45] M. Mwagiru, ‘The Water’s Edge: Mediation of Violent Electoral Conflict in Kenya,’ op cit, p 11
[46] J.Myrum, J.Ward. and M. Marsh., A Rapid Assessment of Gender Based Violence During the Post-Election Violence in Kenya, op cit , p II
[47] CIPEV report, op cit, pp 255-256
[48] J.Myrum, J.Ward. and M. Marsh., A Rapid Assessment of Gender Based Violence During the Post-Election Violence in Kenya, op cit, p6
[49] Ibid, p5
[50] S.Ssali, ‘Human Security, Conflict and Women in the Horn of Africa’ , op cit, p102 and pp 112-113
[51] CIPEV report , op cit, p 256
[52] Prosecutor vs. Akayesu, Case No. ICTR 96-4-T, Judgment (Sept. 2, 1998). In this case, Akayesu was found guilty even though he had not himself committed the actual physical acts of rape. He was found to have encouraged others to commit the offence or rape.
[53] Statute Establishing the International Criminal Court
[54] Chapter 63, Laws of Kenya
[55] J.Myrum, J.Ward. and M. Marsh., A Rapid Assessment of Gender Based Violence During the Post-Election Violence in Kenya, op cit , p23
[56] Recovering from Violent Conflict , Human Security Now ( New York: Commission on Human Security, 2003) pp.57-61
[57] H. Miall.,O. Ramsbotham and T. Woodhouse, ‘Contemporary Conflict Resolution’, op cit , pp 217-229.

AU women and gender experts adopt key instruments

African Press Organization

2009-11-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/60360

cc M A UAfrican Union (AU) experts on women and gender affairs will submit their recommendations to establish the African Union Women’s Trust Fund feasibility study, the African Union Commission Gender Action Plan, and the Roadmap for the African Women’s Decade: 2010-2020 to ministers in charge of gender and women’s affairs on 21 November. In order to disseminate and monitor the implementation of the Action Plan the meeting proposed using faith-based groups, imams, and the media to sensitise and transmit messages to women and society at large.

African Union (AU) experts of Women and Gender Affairs ended their meeting which started on November 13 in Banjul, The Gambia by adopting the African Union Women’s Trust Fund feasibility study, the African Union Commission Gender Action Plan, and the Roadmap for the African Women’s Decade: 2010-2020.

In setting up the Fund, the study proposes that the AU adopts a combination of endowment and programmatic approaches for sustainability. The Fund would serve the AU as an instrument for resource mobilization, donor coordination in support of gender equality and women’s empowerment and to enhance policy dialogue. It will be also a grant making facility providing support in the four identified priority areas.

In this regard, the experts recommended the AU Commission as the best option for the management and delivery of the fund with flexibility to borrow from other options. They also recommended voluntary contribution and financial strategies to further strengthen the AU’s capacity to leverage more resources from diverse sources for consideration by the AU Ministers of Gender and Women’s Affairs for approval and endorsement by the Executive Council. The meeting agreed to rename the fund by African Union Fund for Women. 

On the Roadmap for the African Women’s Decade: 2010-2020, aimed at advancing gender equality by accelerating implementation of Dakar, Beijing, and AU Assembly Decisions on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE), the meeting agreed to implement it via three phases.

The first phase would run through 2010-2014. The activities during this period would include, conducting a baseline survey on the status of women at the national level. The launch of the African Union Fund for Women would be done at national level through the creation of National Gender Equality Fund. The period will focus on gender based corporate social responsibility to re-engineer the private sector to concentrate on issues that affect women and allocate resources to meet such needs.

The second phase will focus on the continuation of implementation of the decade activities. The thematic identification and selection of themes to reflect the emerging issues such as violence against women, climate change and collaboration with men on gender equality processes will be crucial. A mid-term review of the Decade activities will be envisaged and indicators developed to measure progress.

The third phase would be the final review and evaluation of the Decades’ programmes and output.

Regarding the Gender Action Plan (GAP), it is aimed mainly at creating and enabling a stable environment, settling legislation, and legal protection actions against discrimination for ensuring gender equality. AU experts recommended to reconcile between the past, the present and future activities in order to make sure that all planned activities were actually achieved. On mobilization of stakeholders for implementing the AU Gender Policy, the meeting proposed the use of faith based groups, Imams and the media to sensitize and transmit messages to women and the society at large in order to disseminate and monitor the implementation of the Action Plan.

It was further suggested that more emphasis should be put on grassroots stakeholders for better impact at the community level hence the need to focus on bottom up rather than top down approaches. In terms of gender mainstreaming tools, the meeting urged the AU Commission to learn from Member States that had already developed these tools and use what already existed at the national level. 

The recommendations of the AU experts will be submitted to Ministers in charge of gender and women’s affairs on 21 November for adoption.

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* This article was first published by the African Press Organization.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Zimbabwe ratifies SADC Protocol on Gender and Development

Rozaria Memorial Trust

2009-11-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/60355

cc SokwaneleZimbabwe has ratified the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development, a regional instrument for advancing gender equality and women's rights. It is the second country after Namibia to ratify the protocol.

Some good news from Zimbabwe! Zimbabwe ratified the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development, this month, becoming the second country after Namibia, to accede to this important regional instrument for advancing gender equality and women's rights.

‘This ratification comes at an opportune time when the country is in the process of coming up with a new constitution. This means the protocol can be enshrined in this constitution. Women must ensure that they make use of the opportunity and not miss the train as what has been happening all along,’ Dr Utete Masango, permanent secretary in the ministry of women’s affairs, gender and community development of Zimbabwe had stated at an event earlier in the month.

This is a major step forward for a country that is struggling to recover from a humanitarian, economic and political crisis, where mostly women and children continue to bear the brunt of poverty, HIV and lack of access to quality basic social services. For most women and men at the community level, they will be eager to see the implementation of this SADC protocol, translating the lofty aspirations and commitments to tangible and practical actions in their daily lives. Rozaria Memorial Trust is among the many organisations providing support and services at community level, providing support to families affected and infected with HIV and AIDS and advocating for access to treatment, nutrition and education.

The SADC Protocol on Gender and Development was adopted in August 2008 and encompassed commitments made in all regional, global and continental instruments for achieving gender equality. It also advances gender equality by ensuring accountability by all SADC member states. The main provisions of the Protocol are on: Constitutional and legal rights, governance (representation and participation), education and training, productive resources and employment, economic empowerment, health, HIV & Aids, peace building and conflict resolution, media, information and communication. There are 28 substantive targets for achieving gender equality by 2015 and this initiative is a global first and places SADC at the cutting edge of innovative strategies for giving global and continental commitments meaning at sub-regional level.

As Zimbabwe participates in the Beijing +15 review process in Banjul this November, as well as in the UN Commission on the Status of Women in March 2010, this ratification will feature as a key achievement of a nation. The passage and establishment of the Anti-Domestic Violence Act, Council and Fund will all be key highlights of the official statements.

At the backdrop of this good news, are a people struggling to get life back to normalcy. The women and families are looking for agricultural inputs as the farming season starts; they are still yearning for schools with books, motivated teachers and quality learning environment, and yes are looking for the day where at every local health centre there are motivated health workers and all essential drugs are available. Zimbabwe women are seeking a life free of violence, and where there own innovation and potential is unleashed for the well-being of their families, communities and nation.

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* The Rozaria Memorial Trust supports innovative initiatives of young people and women that promote health, education and entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Graça Machel returns

L. Muthoni Wanyeki

2009-11-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/60351

cc W E FWith Graça Machel set to re-visit Kenya this weekend as a member of the Panel of Eminent Persons overseeing the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), L. Muthoni Wanyeki stresses the need for all Kenyans to ensure that those in charge are not permitted to paint a rosy picture of 'achievements' for Machel's team.

Graça Machel arrives in Kenya this weekend. Not, this time, in her capacity as a member of the mediation team, but as a member of the Panel of Eminent Persons overseeing the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) responsible for that process in Kenya.

The APRM is the voluntary peer-review process associated with the African Union’s New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). It assesses member states’ progress in four areas, including democratic governance, economic governance, corporate governance and socio-economic development. Kenya submitted to the APRM and, after a lengthy and rigorous self-assessment, its first full report was discussed by African heads of state and government in 2006. Kenya was praised at that time for the candidness of the self-assessment. And questions posed to our then head of state President Mwai Kibaki focused on, among other things, issues of discrimination and inequality on the basis of ethnicity.

With the benefit of hindsight it is always easy, of course, to pinpoint what we could and should have done to avert what happened in 2007–08. We could and should have addressed the imperial presidency through comprehensive constitutional reforms. We could and should have addressed the electoral system – and the governance and management of the same. We could and should have addressed the pressing needs around land – both in terms of recognising and dealing with historical claims to land as well as with illegal allocations of public land. We could and should have addressed discrimination and inequality – on ethnic and other grounds.

We knew what we needed to do. Kenya’s APRM report – and the plan of action that came out of it – spelt out the imperatives clearly. And the APRM report and plan of action merely reiterated what many different pieces of analysis from many different quarters – internally – had said before, in as many words. I am thinking, for example, of the Institute of Economic Affairs and the Society for International Development’s scenarios for Kenya, which forecast ultimate doom and gloom unless we pursued the scenario involving both constitutional reform and economic recovery. We knew what we needed to do. But we did not do it.

And so, many of the issues flagged before found themselves reiterated, with new urgency, in the mediation agreements. There is nothing new in any of the four agenda items that make up the mediation agreements, just as there is unlikely to be anything new in the new APRM assessment that is about to begin – that is, to focus exclusively on democratic governance and to follow quite closely the priorities spelt out in the mediation agreements.

Which is not at all, however, to suggest that we should disengage ourselves from this APRM assessment. For it offers us an opportunity to flag, once again, to both our own executive and public service – as well as, ultimately, the AU – that Kenya is by no means out of the woods. The word for us in conflict-speak is ‘fragile’. Many Kenyans are worried, whether they know about that classification or not. Many Africans – particularly our closest neighbours – are worried. And the rest of the world is also worried – which is what lies behind the latest flurry of diplomatic pressure.

The question is whether or not our own political leadership is worried. My sense is that they are – but not necessarily about the same things. The latest series in the Daily Nation on land distribution in the immediate post-independence period is shocking in its confirmation of what we’ve always anecdotally known. The abuse of power and the public interest by those entrusted with leadership of the state for personal self-enrichment shows clearly just how far back the personal economic and political interests that have always impeded real transformation go.

We have become used to window-dressing those personal, economic and political interests with terms such as ‘lack of political will’. The truth is that there is plenty of political will, to protect those interests, to get a piece of the same, to ensure there will never be any accountability for the same, to concede a bone to the hungry public while the feast on public goods and resources remains unchecked.

What we need to do while Machel is here is make the point yet again. The bone that is new laws, new policies, new institutions – or new processes establishing the same (of which there certainly are aplenty) will ultimately mean nothing to the public unless they really truly do effect a drawing of a line in the sand. It stops here. The plunder of the state (which is plunder of us, the public) stops here. The casual contempt of the impoverished stops here. Impunity for that plunder stops here. Impunity for the daily abuses and assaults of the impoverished also stops here.

Our government spokesperson recently gave the executive and public service a high grade for implementation of the mediation agreements. Our police spokesperson, although quiet recently, has continually denied the abuses and assaults on the impoverished. We can be sure that the executive and the public service will trot out the same list of supposed achievements and denials for inspection by Machel’s team. It is for us to say to Machel’s team that motion is not movement. It is for us to say what human rights violations persist – despite the impressive sounding list of laws, policies, institutions and processes to which so many of us have earnestly contributed. It is for us to name the personal, political and economic interests that hide under the cover of a ‘lack of political will’ while continuing to threaten every necessary and possible fundamental step forward – beginning with our new constitution and land reform. We have to move forward and we cannot let 200 or so people stop us – all 40 million or so of us – from doing so.

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* L. Muthoni Wanyeki is the executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC).
* This article first appeared in The East African.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence

25 November – 10 December 2009

POWA

2009-11-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/60359

SOUTH AFRICAN POST OFFICES AND POWA EXHIBITION AND LETTER WRITING PROJECT

People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) is working with the South African Post Offices to run an innovative and informative awareness campaign for postal workers. The project has two components to it – the first component was encouraging women postal workers to write anonymous letters to those who abused them. The letters serve both as catharsis and will also form part of the advocacy materials used in the exhibition. The exhibition, which will run for the duration of the 16 Days of Activism in two Post Office sites, is a multimedia experience focusing on

- Domestic violence, where the exhibition space is a bedroom with facts and figures on domestic violence
- Rape, where the exhibition consists of life-size cutouts so that visitors can walk among the cutout figures
- Sexual harassment, where the visitor is surrounded by a recording of a sexual harassment survivor telling her story.
The exhibition also features the history of the struggle for women’s rights in the form of protest art, interviews with Post Office women on the progress made internally over the past 30 years, and it informs victims/ survivor what they can do when confronted with abuse. The exhibition will be put up at the Post Office headquarters in Pretoria and at Witspos mail-sorting centre in Johannesburg.

POWA, SONKE GENDER JUSTICE NETWORK AND UNICEF IN MUSINA PROJECT

People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) and Sonke Gender Justice Network, with the support of UNICEF, are running a collaborative project aimed at improving Sexual and Gender Based Violence programs in Musina and surrounding areas. It is hoped that by the end of the project that women refugees, in particular women survivors of gender based violence, have improved access to women-centred, responsive, rights based and holistic services. On the 25 November a number of different activities are planned to commemorate the start of the 16 Days of Activism including:- mural painting and protest poetry performed by migrant and local South African women and a symbolic signing of a policy and procedure document by service providers.

LAUNCH OF THE 1ST FOR WOMEN POWA HOUSE

POWA will officially launch the first second-stage housing facility for abused women in Gauteng on 27 November 2009. The apartment building, centrally located in Johannesburg, was purchased for People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) by 1st for Women Insurance Brokers. The second stage housing facility is available to survivors of gender-based violence, with or without children, on a rent-geared-to-income basis. Second stage housing enhances survivors’ ability to live violent free lives on a long term basis. Coming from abusive experiences this serves as a bridging program for women to begin to live independently and to take control of their lives

Date: Friday, 27 November 2009

WORKSHOPS ON CUSTOMARY LAW AND WOMEN

POWA will be conducting workshops on customary law marriages. The workshops will be conducted in the following areas: Denver, Soweto, Tembisa and Katlehong. The workshops will run on 25 November 2009, 02, and 09 of December 2009. The purpose is to educate women on the law regarding customary marriages and to raise awareness on the new amendments to the Customary Law Act.

REACHING OUT TO RESIDENTS IN ALEXANDRA INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS

People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) in partnership with ADAPT, Lifeline, Alexandra Police Station, Government Communications System Centre, Community Development Workers of Local government, and SANCA, will be working with 12 Avenue and Malboro Informal Settlements in Alexandra Township during the 16 /365 days of activism on violence against women and children. The work is aimed at creating awareness on violence against women and HIV/AIDS in these particular communities. The initiative is also aimed at encouraging community participation and involvement in the fight against VAW and HIV/AIDS. The work will include information stall, information distribution, one on one discussions on violence against women and HIV/AIDS. It is scheduled for the 25 November and 1 December 2009 from 09h00 – 13h00.

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* For more information on any of the events listed above please contact Nehwoh Belinda Geh, POWA on 00 27 (0)79 927 7996.
* People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) works to create a safer society that does not tolerate violence against women, and where women are powerful, self-reliant, equal and respected.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Seventh meeting of the Panel of the Wise, Addis Ababa

Ethiopia 9–10 November 2009

2009-11-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/60348

COMMUNIQUE

1. The Panel of the Wise, established pursuant to Article 11 of the Protocol establishing the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU), with the mandate to support the efforts of the Chairperson of the Commission and those of the PSC, particularly on conflict prevention, held its 7th Meeting at the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 9-10 November 2009 under the chairmanship of His Excellency Mr. Ahmed Ben Bella, Chairman of the Panel. The meeting was opened by the Chairman of the Panel, H.E. Mr. Ben Bella, and the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra.

2. With great sadness, the Panel learned of the sudden death of the spouse of one of its members, Mrs. Elisabeth Pognon. The Panel extended its heartfelt sympathy to her and her family, praying for the eternal happiness of the deceased.

3. Present at the opening session were representatives of Libya as Chair of the AU and Rwanda as Chairperson of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) for November 2009, as well as representatives from the European Union (EU) to the AU and the embassies of Italy, Sweden and Japan, as partner countries and organizations.

4. President Ahmed Ben Bella, in his presentation, highlighted the activities of the Panel in the course of the year under review, which included in particular the adoption by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Panel’s Report and Recommendations on Election-Related Conflicts. He reported that the Secretariat of the Panel, in conjunction with the Department of Political Affairs, had developed a plan of action to implement the recommendations contained in the report of the Panel on election- related conflicts.

5. Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra, in his address, reviewed conflict situations in Africa and the challenges that the Panel faces in the year ahead. The Commissioner also commended the Panel for its sterling work with regard to Election Related Conflicts.

6. The agenda of the meeting of the Panel covered five main issues: (i) consideration of the outcome and recommendations of the Workshop on Impunity, Justice and National Reconciliation, held in Monrovia, Liberia from 28 to 29 May 2009, on the basis of a report prepared by a team of

consultants and consultations with Dr. Francis Deng, Special Advisor of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the Prevention of Genocide; (ii) consideration of the action plan for the implementation of its report on election-related conflicts; (iii) review of the state of peace and security in Africa and consideration of the steps to be taken by the Panel in support of the ongoing efforts to promote peace, security and stability; and (iv) consideration of its work programme for 2010, including the identification of the third thematic focus.
I. ON THE THEMATIC REFLECTION OF THE PANEL ON IMPUNITY, JUSTICE AND NATIONAL RECONCILIATION

7. The Panel commended the work so far done by the team of consultants, and expressed satisfaction at the successful conduct of the Workshop held in Monrovia. The Panel, once again, highlighted the clear message on Africa’s firm stand against impunity and, in this regard, praised the recommendations of the experts as being realistic, clear and consistent with the AU Constitutive Act. The Panel was committed to raising public awareness with regard to what national governments have committed to on this issue.

8. It was emphasized that justice should always be seen to reach all perpetrators and not be selective.

9. It also expressed its gratitude to Dr. Francis Deng, who addressed the Panel and provided invaluable contributions regarding his framework of analysis for early warning against the occurrence of genocide which should be incorporated into the AU’s mechanism. Dr. Deng also expressed the readiness of his office to collaborate with the AU in this area.

10. The Panel concluded that impunity could be prevented if governments and other parties are engaged in a positive manner. A case in point being Darfur whereby the AU engaged the stakeholders in a positive manner through the AU High Level on Darfur (AUPD).

11. The Panel was also briefed on the report and recommendations of AUPD, presented to the PSC at Heads of States level on 29 October 2009 in Abuja, Nigeria, which it praised as providing a unique and holistic opportunity to resolve the problems of Sudan, with Khartoum being at the centre of the process.

12. The Panel received a briefing from the AUC Legal Counsel on the report and recommendations of the Ministerial and Expert meeting on the Rome Statute of the ICC, held on 3-6 November 2009, in Addis Ababa.

13. The Panel agreed that its report on Impunity would be finalized on the basis of the afore-mentioned briefings and additional contributions, with the view of submitting action-oriented recommendations to the Assembly of the Union at its ordinary session to be held in July 2010.

II. ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE THEMATIC REFLECTION OF THE PANEL ON ELECTION-RELATED CONFLICTS
14. On the basis of the progress report presented by the Department of Political Affairs, the Chairperson of the Group requested its Secretariat to liaise with the said Department to finalize the elaboration of the plan of action on the implementation of its recommendations as contained in the report on Election- related disputes.


III. REVIEW OF THE STATE OF PEACE AND SECURITY IN AFRICA

15. On the basis of the extensive briefings provided by the Commissioner for Peace and Security, the Panel reviewed the state of peace and security on the Continent. While welcoming the progress made in some parts of the Continent, the Panel expressed deep concern at the ongoing conflicts and violence facing many regions and countries in Africa.

16. The Panel encouraged the PSC and the Chairperson of the Commission to pursue and intensify their efforts in furtherance of peace, security and stability on the Continent. The Panel recognized the political commitment which has led to the holding of elections in Mauritania, as well as to negotiations between Malagasy stakeholders, which led to the conclusion of the Addis Ababa Additional Act to the Transitional Charter.

17. The Panel, however, expressed concerns on the situation in Somalia and urged the UN Security Council to assume its full responsibility.

18. The Panel further condemned the acts of violence perpetrated in Guinea, and commended the actions taken by the PSC in support of the action taken by ECOWAS, as well as the setting up of an international inquiry commission.


IV. WORK PROGRAMME OF THE PANEL FOR 2010

19. The Panel reviewed its work programme for the rest of the year and for 2010. It agreed on the missions that its members would undertake in various parts of the Continent, to further efforts at peace, security and stability. The Panel expressed its full commitment to actively contribute to the attainment of the goals of the “2010: Year of Peace and Security in Africa”.

20. The Panel also agreed to focus its thematic reflection for 2010-2011 on an issue relevant to conflict prevention in Africa and in this case decided to focus on the problem of women and children in armed conflicts. This choice was informed by the empirical evidence accumulated over decades confirming that women and children suffer most wherever and whenever there is a breakdown of social order, rule of law and ascendance of violence. Women are often subjected to gender based violence, often becoming the single heads of households, displaced/ refugees in dehumanizing camps. A clear commitment to the objectives of the UNSC Resolution 1325 (2000) was reiterated in this context.

21. As has been the case for the previous thematic reflections on election-related conflicts and impunity, the Panel will commission a report as well as organize a workshop. In this exercise, the Panel shall endeavor to complement and broaden other related AU and international efforts.

V. NEXT MEETING OF THE PANEL

22. The Panel decided to hold its next meeting in February-March 2010 to consider the status of implementation of its Programme and assess the outcomes of the missions that will be undertaken by its members within the framework of the conflict prevention efforts of the AU. The Panel looked forward to complete its consideration of the report on impunity, justice and reconciliation during the same meeting.

Kenya: November attacks in Samburu

DiasporaKenyan

2009-11-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/60357

For over five months, police forces taunted local residents as they underwent exercises along the Wamba-Isiolo Road for what they announced in the Daily Nation as ‘Operation Walk and Shoot’. Since then residents have lived in fear for that to be carried out. Today, their fears were realised. This is what Tina Ramme wrote on her Facebook updates:

‘Just before daybreak, six lorries filled to capacity with red beret Government Security Unit forces were employed to the Lerata-Marsabit-Wamba Junction. Shortly afterwards, eight more lorries arrive in Ngara Mara and Archers Post, six Kenya Police helicopters were seen at tree level outside Archer’s post at 10am, as well as hundreds of armed ground troops.’

Thousands of residents have been displaced as they now flee in terror, remembering the February 21 attack on Lerata and Kalama communities, when police helicopters strafed at innocent villagers from helicopter, including school children and elderly grandmothers, beating, raping, and terrorising communities.

Another facebooker who is extensively campaigning for justice in Samburu writes as below:

Mzee Lenaiboy facebooked on the November Samburu attacks:

‘TOO DAMNED PREDICTABLE. ON SAT 15TH BORANA ATTACK AND KILL 4 TURKANA NEAR ISIOLO: SUNDAY AM 16TH TURKANA RETALIATE AND KILL 10-11 BORANA INCLUDING 5 HOME GUARDS, NEXT HON KUTI AND OTHE BORANA LEADERS HOLD A PRESS CONFERENCE BROADCAST BY KTN ASKING FOR GOVERNMENT ACTION. AND SHORTLY AFTERWARD A MAJOR SECURITY ACTION I…S MOUNTED BY GOK FORCES IN SAMBURU EAST.

VERY VERY OMINOUS INDEED PLEASE PRAY FOR THE LIVES OF INNOCENT PEOPLE NOW CAUGHT IN THE DEADLY CROSS FIRES.’

Referring to the above postings by Tina Ramme, Lenaiboy writes on his Facebook profile:

‘THIS WAS POSTED ABOUT AN HOUR AGO BY TINA RAMME WHO ADDS:

“Police Forces Invade Samburu! At Dawn, Monday, Nov 16, Kenyan police attacked from multiple entry points in Samburu. All entrances in and out of the Samburu East communities are closed, and all communications were blacked out for at least 9 hours today while police initiated aggressive tactics on innocent villagers in Lerata, Kalama, Ngara Mara, and Archer’s Post.”

‘AT THIS POINT IT IS NOT AT ALL CLEAR WHAT IS GOING ON BUT SECURITY OPERATIONS OF THIS MAGNITUDE CLEARLY HAVE TO BE ORGANISED AND PLANNED SO IT IS VERY HARD TO DRAW ANY CONCLUSIONS EXCEPT THAT THE PEOPLE OF SAMBURU EAST ARE BEING TARGETED BY ELEMENTS OF THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT. AS THIS WAS BEING PLANNED THE WHOLE COALITION LEADERSHIP WAS AT THE COAST TRYING TO AGREE ON THE NEW KENYAN CONSTITUTIONAL STRATEGY WHILE THEIR FIRST OBLIGATION IS TO PROTECT THEIR OWN.’

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* This story first appeared in Diaspora Kenyan
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Conference on Zimbabwe: Healing, reconciliation and reconstruction

Syracuse University's Africa Initiative responds to intimidation allegations

Otieno Orwa

2009-11-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/60354

In response to reports appearing in a cross-section of the media, including an opinion piece from one Frances Lovemore appearing on Pambazuka News, regarding alleged harassment and intimidation of some participants by members of Minister Sekai Holland’s security personnel during the three-day conference, The Africa Initiative of Syracuse University and the organising committee of the special conference on Zimbabwe: Healing, reconciliation and reconstruction wish to state the following:

- That we were, and remain unaware of any instances of intimidation of a section of participants by members of Minister Sekai Holland’s entourage/security detail during the period of the conference;
- That at no point in time did any of the participants raise the issue of intimidation, explicit or implied, with the organisers of conference;
- That the alleged DVD cited as partial cause for intimidation was never shown during the conference. Attempts to show this DVD during the community event on Saturday 31 October failed due to software compatibility issues and
- That in spite of the heated but admittedly constructive debates, the conference proceeded on an air of collegiality, mutual respect and a palpable shared desire among participants for true healing and reconciliation for the peoples of Zimbabwe.

In view of the above observations, The Africa Initiative of Syracuse University and the organising committee of this special conference wish to challenge the veracity of these allegations, question their intentions, and deeply regret the appropriation of the conference platform to mislead the public and settle scores. And in so doing, we remain committed – like many Zimbabwe peoples at home and in its ever-expanding diaspora – to the pursuit of lasting peace, respect for life, and restoration of sociopolitical order through avenues that are not inspired by revenge.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Otieno Orwa is program associate at The Africa Initiative of Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, USA.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

A call for more female leadership across the continent

Sokari Ekine

2009-11-19

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/60358

In keeping with this week’s special Bejing + 15 edition of Pambazuka News, The Entrepreneur from Cameroon argues for the need for a female candidate in the 2011 elections. Firstly he believes that a woman would challenge the usual ‘heavy handed intimidatory’ methods generally used against opposition leaders by the incumbent dictator President Paul Biya. Secondly, very few women have been at the centre of government and therefore are not associated with the endemic corruption. And lastly what he sees as the general movement towards the call for more female leadership across the continent:

‘Cameroonians have groped in the dark for too long for a leader who could stir the country towards economic prosperity. The two prominent post-independence leaders, all males, have ruled the country with very paltry results. Maybe it’s time a female steps into the political fray and provide some fresh air.

‘While I’ve been deliberate in this piece not to cite possible names of women who can run for the position of president, there are many Cameroonian women out there, in the academia, international institutions, and others who, with encouragement from Cameroonians, can take on this task.’

Political activist, Kayode Ogunamisi of Nigeria Liberty Forum comments in Black Looks on the recent raids by Lagos State Government on nightclubs hosting pole dancers in Lagos. In the usual Rambo style typical of Nigerian security forces, who invaded the premises harassing and photographing many of the near naked women dancers. The photos were then sent to various news media. Kayode points out that the women’s rights were violated and comments on the misguided – not to speak of hypocritical – interpretation of morality in the country, highlighting the immorality of a failed educational system, increasing unemployment and incessant sexual harassment of women:

‘In as much as Lagos has been doing well so far, we cannot and must not keep quiet when some officials are out of line and literally wrapped up in misconduct. The emergence of ostentatious clubs, “yachts’” and other elitist play toys are contentious by-products of a city that prides itself in its pro-active mechanism of governance. If we do not cautiously ensure that a healthy balance is maintained at all times some overzealous officials will pretty soon start dictating to Nigerians on the shape, size and complexion of the partner they must date or marry – could get that ridiculous!

‘Under the nose of our so called “moral police”, young Nigerian ladies who are incessantly challenged with forced long holidays due to the neglect of the educational sector and strikes by both academic and non academic staffs engage in misdemeanors to while away time or simply survive. High and low class prostitution thrive unchallenged in the streets of well lit reserved areas of Lagos and the men who can patronise these girls are definitely high net worth individuals in government and the private sector.’

The Gay Cafe comments on the contradiction that on the one hand sexual orientation is not a national issue of importance, so why then are the media so focused on the subject?

‘A person was assaulted because of his sexual orientation, uh uh! no it's not important. 15-20% of HIV infections are by MSM, still not important, damn right. A gay marriage causes a stir, we are overwhelmed with stories and sprinkling it up is a follow up to the family home. Ding ding ding. We got a winner here that is important, you shouldn't care at or on anyone unless he pays you. It has been officially declared don't bother by whom.’




A thoughtful essay from Tanzania blogger Knowledge Matters discusses stigma and discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS which contributes to the spread of the virus:

‘Stigma is linked to power and domination throughout societies as a whole. It plays a key role that ultimately creates social inequality. Stigma has its origins deep within the structure of society as a whole and in the norms and values that govern much of everyday life. Stigma and discrimination against AIDS sufferers causes some groups of people feel superior than others. For example. Long ideologies of gender inequality have resulted in women being blamed for the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases. HIV/AIDS related stigma often leads to a discriminative attitude, which is difficult to overcome and this, in turn leads to a disregard of the dignity of people living with HIV/AIDS virus, their families and even those who are thought of being infected.’

He goes on to suggest ways in which the stigma and discrimination can be challenged such as less policy-orientated methods and more community based educational approach linked to a ‘model of enlightenment’:

‘Too often in the past, understanding was linked to a model of enlightenment in which those who know best intervene to redress negative mentalities and attitudes. This approach regards those who are being educated as instrumental to empowering communities through participatory processes that unleash their knowledge and experiences. The success approach in this needs a long-term advocacy for social change in response to HIV/AIDS related stigmatisation and discrimination. The role of people with HIV/AIDS and of religious and political leaders in the country as regards such a process cannot be underestimated.’

The trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor in The Hague has been going on for over two years. The actual indictment goes back to 3 June 2003 when Taylor fled into exile in Nigeria. Three years later he was finally taken to Sierra Leone to stand trial. The blog The Trial of Charles Taylor was set up to document the trial proceedings. I have just finished reading ‘Allah is Not Obliged’ by Ahmadou Kourouma, which is set in Sierra Leone and Liberia during the civil wars. The latest post reports on the cross-examination of Taylor on NPFL actions against the West African peacekeepers and including the killing of civilians, peacekeepers and a group of American nuns during ‘Operation Octopus’ in 1992. Except for the blog which has painstakingly documented each day’s proceedings, there is very little in the media on the trial.

However the recently released documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell, reminds of Charles Taylor’s crimes and those of other warlords. The film chronicles the campaign by women of Liberia who came together to end the war in which they held silent protests taking on the numerous warlords and made personal submissions to Taylor and members of ECOWAS. The documentary speaks to the power of grassroots activism and the determination of women to act against violence.



Black Looks continues with the Liberia/Sierra Leone war in the review of Ahmadou Kourouma remarkable novel ‘Allah is Not Obliged’. The story is set around the experiences of 10-year-old Birahima, child soldier and narrator of the novel.

There are three sets of interwoven stories. The story of Birahima and his many wanderings with different militias across the region, which makes a mockery of the artificial boundaries created by colonial rulers – only tribes not countries have meaning in this chaos and madness. The stories of some of his best comrades – how they came to be child soldiers, which is invariably due to some horrific story of loss of family and poverty. And the history of the wars, the warlords, the dirty deals with multinationals, foreign governments, colonials and various African leaders.

The author makes a mockery of cultural traditions that invade the rights of women and children such as forced marriage and male and female circumcision. He exposes the global structures of corruption which allow for the violence – the silence of the international community, the commercial value of war, the brutality of the peacekeepers [Nigerians] who themselves act like militias operating under their own warlord [Abacha.] and strips them naked.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Sokari Ekine blogs at Black Looks.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Government withdrawing soldiers from diamond fields

2009-11-20

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/africa/-/1066/691522/-/134j08az/-/index.html

Zimbabwe has started withdrawing soldiers from diamond fields in the east of the country after recommendations by the Kimberly Process and criticism over rights abuses, state media has reported.

Weekend GPA talks planned

2009-11-20

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news191109/weekendgpa191109.htm

A top official from the mainstream MDC on Thursday said there were doubts Robert Mugabe would implement the Global Political Agreement, even if party negotiators manage to strike a deal. Negotiators from the three parties are due to meet at a secret venue from Friday and throughout the weekend for talks aimed at dealing with the matters brought on the table through the SADC Troika summit that met in Maputo two weeks ago.

Africa: Government urged to prioritize women’s rights

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/yj43clg

The deputy executive secretary of the United Nations Commission for Africa, Lalla Ben Barka, has urged governments and the rest of the international community to prioritize achievements of gender equality and women' rights as these are essential in the crusade of poverty reduction and the promotion of growth.

Africa: North African women at forefront of legal reform

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/yk9najq

Women in North Africa have made tremendous progress in promoting and upholding their rights. Women in this region—commonly known as the Maghreb—are at the forefront of the Arab world in terms of individual rights and gender equality, and constitute models for other Arab women to follow.

Gambia: Conference proposes key strategies to empower African women

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/ycg7unj

Experts, civil society organizations and other key stakeholders in women's empowerment and gender equality issues have agreed to improve the lives of African women, a UNECA press lease has said.

Kenya: Women weighed down by culture

2009-11-20

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=87063

Armed with a university certificate, Hubbie Hussein Al-Haji returned to her pastoralist community in Garissa, northeastern Kenya, expecting to serve as a veterinary health assistant. But she was refused the job.

Somalia: Woman stoned to death

2009-11-20

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/11/20091119112014611167.html

A Somali woman has been stoned to death for committing what a judge has said was adultery. The 20-year-old divorcee was executed after confessing to having had sex with a 29-year-old unmarried man.

Sudan: Women seek international support over repressive laws

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/yljvbru

Sudanese women have called on the African human rights system to assist them reform the repressive laws back home in Sudan. In a paper they presented at the 46th ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and people's Rights in Banjul, the Gambia, a group of Sudanese human rights activists called for an urgent reform of the public order regime in Sudan.

DRC: UNICEF says over 43,000 children work in mines

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/yjtnqnj

UNICEF has said that more than 43,000 children work in mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The UN agency made this known in a statement it issued ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Children's Rights.

Global: Silencing the defenders in the Commonwealth - new report

Heather Collister

2009-11-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/60385

The biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet is a major target for CHRI’s advocacy. CHRI will be distributing hard copies of its report during the proceedings of the human rights assembly organised by the Commonwealth Foundation and Commonwealth Human rights Initiative. The report titled ‘Silencing the Defenders: Human Rights Defenders in the Commonwealth’ looks into an issue of human rights concern in the Commonwealth, which includes recommendations to further protect and promote human rights.
In the seventh decade after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Commonwealth governments continue to resist fulfilling their human rights obligations. There is an ongoing need for people who are ready and willing to stand up and defend human rights. It is, however, only relatively recently that the legitimacy and value of actions done in defence of human rights have been recognised at international and regional levels.

The United Nations Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, commonly known as the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders (the Declaration), was unanimously adopted by the General Assembly in 1998. The Declaration was born out of two fundamental considerations: one, that promoting human rights is valuable and is the prerogative of everyone, and two, that these activities make the actor vulnerable to reprisal. Although it is a declaration rather than a treaty, and hence not legally binding, the unanimity with which it was adopted gives it a unique strength and places states under a strong moral and political obligation to abide by it.

The Declaration does not provide human rights defenders with new or special rights but brings together previously agreed legal obligations found elsewhere in international human rights law. The non-binding nature of the Declaration does not therefore mean that countries are not legally obligated to ensure that the rights in it are implemented. The Declaration simply reiterates already existing rights as being noteworthy in the context of the work that human rights defenders do and their need to be able to do it unhindered and protected.


That the work of human rights defenders is not popular in many Commonwealth jurisdictions is clear from the frequency with which they are targeted. Whether they are active in a conflict situation or a stable democracy, anything that suggests criticism of government can attract dire consequences. Human rights defenders are likely to suffer a range of abuses from having their activities unreasonably restricted and their organisations unfairly scrutinised, to being spied on or defamed, denied access to funding, or being subject to arbitrary arrest, physical violence and death – all imposed with the intention of deterring them from pursuing their valuable work. In certain situations these risks are even greater: the period around election time is one such context as are situations of internal armed conflict, coups and states of emergency. National security is a legitimate concern of governments, however the presence of protracted armed conflicts within state borders has prompted the passing of special laws and an increase in police powers which, in some cases, are not well-regulated, enabling them to be turned to ends other than those for which they were intended. There is also a tendency for governments to retain these statutes and continue to use them even after the tensions that prompted their adoption have ended.

However, the state has a duty to protect. Article 12 (2) and (3) of the Declaration underlines that the state has a responsibility to ensure that everyone is protected from violence in the exercise of their right to participate in peaceful activities against human rights violations. This means that the state and its institutions – particularly the justice system and the police – must be able to provide effective safeguards for both the person and the work of those under threat wherever these threats may come from. When non-state and private actors attack human rights defenders the state is bound to bring them to justice through the proper channels. But in many countries state machineries are simply unable to do this or are wilfully neglectful in making sure human rights defenders can go about their work without coming to harm. Indeed it would be fair to say that all too often the plight of human rights defenders is heightened by the active antagonism of the state combined with the protection that it affords its agents either unofficially or through legal mechanisms that assure impunity.

In recognition of the value and importance of the work of human rights defenders in protecting human rights and in implementing the fundamental human rights principles of the Commonwealth, and noting the difficulties that they face in carrying out that agenda, CHRI is calling on CHOGM as a matter of urgency to mandate the development of a Commonwealth wide policy on human rights defenders.

*The biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet is a major target for CHRI’s advocacy. CHRI will be distributing hard copies of its report during the proceedings of the human rights assembly organised by the Commonwealth Foundation and Commonwealth Human rights Initiative, in Hotel Cascadia, #67 Ariapita Road, St. Anns, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 23-24 November 2009. The report titled ‘Silencing the Defenders: Human Rights Defenders in the Commonwealth’ looks into an issue of human rights concern in the Commonwealth, which includes recommendations to further protect and promote human rights. Following on from previous reports which had highlighted trends in the Commonwealth to devalue civil liberties while enhancing state and police power, this year’s report examined the particular impact on human rights defenders whose crucial role in the promotion and protection of human rights is undermined by restrictions imposed on the space they have to carry out in their activities. Anyone who would like a copy of the report can contact Heather Collister [heather@humanrightsinitiative.org or Iniyan Ilango] [iniyan@humanrightsinitiative.org] who will be addressing the human rights assembly.

Global: Universal Children's Day

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/y8hbb2q

The International Detention Coalition has released a media statement for Universal Children’s Day 2009, which calls upon States to stop the detention of refugee, asylum seeker and migrant children and to use community alternatives to the detention of children and their caregivers.

Rwanda: Germany arrests war crimes suspects

2009-11-20

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,661965,00.html

The Hutu militia FDLR is responsible for much of the violence in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where murder, massacres, rape and kidnapping are widespread. The FDLR's leaders have lived untouched in Germany for years. Now the authorities have reacted -- far too late.

Africa: Immigrants drift toward Latin America

2009-11-20

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5AF0AG20091116

Stowed away on cargo ships and unsure where their dangerous journeys will take them, increasing numbers of African immigrants are arriving in Latin America as European countries tighten border controls.

Africa:The Policy Will Kill Us: Somali nationals seeking asylum in India

Liban Mohammed Jama and Sahana Basavapatna

2009-11-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/60378

Somali nationals claiming asylum in India form a small but significant community of refugees who are seeking asylum in a region far from their roots. But the Government of India does not recognize Somali refugees, who are part of the approximately 11,257 refugees (also including Burmese, Iranians, Iraqis, Palestinians and Sudanese, among others) who can only rely on the ‘protection’ of the Indian office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Somali nationals claiming asylum in India form a small but significant community of refugees who are seeking asylum in a region far from their roots. But the Government of India does not recognize Somali refugees, who are part of the approximately 11,257 refugees (also including Burmese, Iranians, Iraqis, Palestinians and Sudanese, among others) who can only rely on the ‘protection’ of the Indian office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).2 Somalis mostly live in the following cities: Pune, New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Mysore and Aurangabad.

India has not ratified the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees or the 1967 Protocol, nor has it adopted domestic legislation to regulate refugee matters. The only claim these refugees can make in India is for the Refugee Status Certificate that the UNHCR will give if their claim to be a refugee is recognised under UNHCR’s Mandate. In the eyes of the Government of India, however, they are still foreigners illegaly resident in India, regulated by the Foreigners Act, the Registration of Foreigners Act and the Constitution of India.. Thus, refugees have to rely on UNHCR and its Implementing Partners for assistance and protection. While the courts have upheld the principle of non-refoulement under Article 21 (right to life) of the Constitution in numerous judgments, protection and assistance to refugees has been fraught with uncertainties.

While many Somalis first arrive in Hyderabad , to make a claim for refugee status they have to travel to Delhi, where the UNHCR office is located. Once recognized by UNHCR, refugees get a Refugee Status Certificate (which must be renewed every 18 months) and monetary support of Rs. 2245 (approximately $48 per month) for the principle applicant and half that amount for dependents. Educational, health, and old-age allowances may also be provided by UNHCR depending on need. Unlike Burmese refugees, Somalis do not hold a Residence Permit issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, which helps refugees to access emergency medical care, employment and protection from harassment.3

Refugees and asylum seekers, irrespective of their mandate status, can technically approach the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are implementing partners of UNHCR or state institutions for health care and education. The implementing partners are the link between the refugees and the UNHCR. There are only three in all of New Delhi: the Young Men's Christian Association (which is mandated to assist refugees in vocational training, language education, and psycho-social assistance, especially to refugee women), the Socio-Legal Information Centre (a wing of a local NGO called the Human Rights and Law Network, which is mandated to provide legal aid and assistance, resolve any legal disputes involving refugees and, from August 2009, register asylum seekers) and Don Bosco Ashalayam (mandated to assist refugees in matters of employment).

The specific challenges facing Somalis refugees in India

Somali refugees form a unique refugee community in India for a variety of reasons. They are often victims of racial discrimination, police harassment and often identified as “drug dealers” according to news reports of arrests4 of 'Africans' by Indian authorities (there are difficulties of distinguishing Somalis from other Africans). Most are deprived of educational opportunities, find it impossible to gain employment and are unable to take care of basic needs such as shelter and health. These problems are a recurrent lament in the narrative of this community.

What also makes the case of the Somali refugees unique is that Somalis in India get “extended mandate” recognition from UNHCR, which, under International refugee law, limits the extent of legal protection to which they are entitled.5 UNHCR has unofficially acknowledged in informal conversation that Somalis in India, as in other parts of Asia such as Thailand, should not all be classified under the extended mandate. It is still not known what the implications of this unofficial acknowledgement means for Somalis in India, and it is very difficult to get information from the Indian government or UNHCR and its implementing partners in Delhi.

From February 2006 until March 2007, refugee status determination (RSD) for Somalis was suspended by UNHCR, who gave no reason for doing so. It is important to reiterate why the temporary suspension of RSD is significant for the Somali community, or for that matter, other mandate refugees in India. As asylum seekers whose refugee status determination is pending, Somalis in India are simply illegal foreigners. Until they have been officially recognised by UNHCR and provided with official documentation, they run the risk of arrest and deportation by the police under the Foreigners Act. When RSD was suspended, only some asylum seekers had been provided with UNHCR’s “Under Consideration Certificate”, which protected them from being deported as long as their claim was being considered by UNHCR. For the rest of the Somalis, UNHCR was closing its doors for what looked to them for an indefinite period of time and without valid reasons. It was only later during discussions with UNHCR in late 2008, that it became clear that this suspension was because of the possible trafficking of Somali children, which the UNHCR wanted to investigate. By the time the suspension was lifted, the Somalis’ trust in UNHCR had been sorely damaged.

In this scenario, basic entitlements such as access to health care, education and employment are not so easily accessed. While technically, refugees can access government facilities, the absence of legal documents (such as a valid work permit or a Residence Permit), the high costs of accessing these resources coupled with the chaos and confusion that prevails with the government institutions (such as hospitals and the education system) and the ineffectiveness of assistance from the Implementing partners make navigating the system a nightmare for refugees.

Take the example of employment. Even qualified Somalis (some are qualified engineers, computer professionals, and so on) cannot seek work because of the absence of work permits. Don Bosco, one of the UNHCR’s implementing partners, has so far been unwilling to facilitate employment in the informal sector as they do in case of the Burmese. Don Bosco has held the position that they are unable to help the Somalis because the latter do not hold Residence Permits. There are some self-employment schemes open to the Somali refugees which allows them to earn Rs. 2000 a month but many qualified individuals or those with families to take care of are unwilling or unable to take this up.

Finding accommodation in New Delhi is a herculean task to say the least. Following a discussion with the Somali community, UNHCR set up a Task Force for Housing in 2008. Somalis on the task force were expected to assist others in finding houses and resolving any problems that arose. But, since Somali members of the task force did not speak the local language nor have familiarity of the society in Delhi, this expectation was unrealistic.

Educational opportunities are limited in Delhi. Goverment schools, for example, require some sort of proof of identity and a birth certificate (which most Somalis do not possess). Additionally, the medium of education is Hindi for primary, secondary and tertiary education, which means that older children find it difficult to assimilate and to study. Educational assistance from UNHCR is Rs.2,500 or Rs. 3,100 in instalments (over a period of one year), but this amount only covers fees, not the costs of books, school uniform and travel expenses.

Health care is one of the most pressing concerns. Government hospitals are chaotic and confusing, even for Indians and, as they cater for the poor of Delhi and staff are invariably understaffed and overworked, Somalis find them less than welcoming. Furthermore in emergency cases, approaching government hospitals means waiting for long periods, which puts Somali in life-threatening situations. The YMCA is also bureaucratic, unhelpful and not transparent in providing information on how it can assist.

By way of conclusion, a few points may be made to highlight some of the emerging concerns and suggesting ways that will make assistance more transparent and efficient. Both UNHCR and the implementing partners need to be more transparent as to how their policies are implemented. Even after years of working with refugees, it is not clear as to the nature of assistance and the organizations that can be approached. It would help for implementing partners to build skills and capacities of the local staff to assist refugees either in the hospitals or accompanying them to schools or the police station so that language does not become a hurdle. Often, the refugees themselves, working with these organizations are asked to accompany fellow refugees, which misses the purpose of assistance, unless a well planned training program that includes language training, explains how Government institutions work and what information should the social workers have to assist efficiently.

Further, costs in Delhi have increased and therefore the monetary assistance that Somalis receive now do not help them meet even the most basic needs. Like other refugee groups, facilitating employment for them, either in the informal economy or through self-initiatives, would go some way in lessening the hardships. Somali refugees have recently been asking UNHCR Delhi to repatriate them, on the grounds that the living conditions in Delhi are appalling. Some of them living in India for over a decade and see no hope of any improvement in their situation. Given that the Government of India is unlikely to pass a refugee protection law in the near future, Somalis in India remain a forgotten community.

North Africa: Crossing into Israel, African migrants dodge Egyptian bullets

2009-11-20

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1114/p06s01-wome.html

When Amank decided to attempt to cross the Egyptian border into Israel, he wasn't thinking about the likelihood that Egyptian guards would shoot at him. He knew the danger existed, but his main focus was escaping dire economic prospects and rampant discrimination as an off-the-books housecleaner in Cairo.

Zambia: Food used to boot class attendance in camps

2009-11-20

http://www.unhcr.org/4b057f386.html

The UN refugee agency, with technical support from the World Food Programme (WFP), has embarked on a school feeding programme to increase classroom attendance and reduce malnutrition at two settlements for Angolan refugees in Zambia.

South Africa: AEC activist to speak in the US

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/ygux2p2

This month, one of the Anti-Eviction Campaign's coordinators, Ashraf Cassiem, is going around the U.S., speaking at college campuses and meeting with activist to share information about post-apartheid community struggles, particularly with the forced removals and the resulting protests taking place in the run up to the 2010 World Cup.

South Africa: Cleric calls for the release of the Kennedy Thirteen

2009-11-20

http://www.abahlali.org/node/6073

After their 6th inconclusive bail hearing, it is now abundantly clear that the legal process for the Kennedy 13 is a complete travesty of justice. They are scheduled to appear again on the 27th November. By that time, some of accused will have been in prison for 2 months without trial - two months in prison without any evidence being presented to a court and without a decision on bail. This is a moral and legal outrage that amounts to detention without trial by means of delay.

Africa labour news roundup

2009-11-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/labour/60447

Sierra Leone: Workers' party launched

2009-11-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/labour/60379

The African Socialist International, in unity with other organizations of the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, proudly announces the launch of an international workers party that will begin contesting for state power in Sierra Leone.
The African Socialist International, in unity with other organizations of the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, proudly announces the launch of an international workers party that will begin contesting for state power in Sierra Leone. The launch of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) in Sierra Leone marks the first officially registered political party led by and benefiting the masses of African workers and peasants in Sierra Leone’s history. As we speak, Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, a former child soldier, journalist and activist, is leading a conference attended by hundreds of Africans from Sierra Leone and by an international delegation of members of the African Socialist International from the North American region.

The international significance of this event cannot be overstated. The existence of the African People’s Socialist Party in Sierra Leone is here to expose the illegitimate attempts by neocolonial rulers that have their interests everywhere except with the masses of workers and peasants. We see that since the 2007 election of president Ernest Koroma and the overall leadership of the All People’s Congress, the conditions of the everyday worker in Sierra Leone have not improved. Rather we see president Koroma appealing more to the interests of foreign nations such as the United States, England and China. Koroma’s betrayal of his people is evident in the million dollar deals with the British Department for Foreign International Development (DFID) that provide monies for supposed social programs that alleviate nothing for the masses but result in securing the UK’s interest in the diamond mines. Further betrayal is exposed in Koroma’s permission of AFRICOM’s Africa Partnership Station to impose U.S. maritime security interests on how Africans in Sierra Leone use their own waters. This new program, in addition to the FBI’s legal attaché in Freetown, allows for the U.S. military and intelligence apparatus to trump any attempt by Sierra Leone to set the terms of their own security. No Western nation would allow Africans to set up militarily in their home region.

The launch of the African People’s Socialist Party is a bold step in a new direction. It says that Africans will not put the interests of foreign nations before those of her own citizens. This has been a longtime coming and should be embraced by all working class Africans around the world as a necessary step in moving towards a true freedom that we can believe in. Furthermore, in this period when the affairs of the entire African world are dictated by foreign interests and when the interests of the toiling masses—the workers and the peasants—are not represented, the African People’s Socialist Party in Sierra Leone now gives a voice to the voiceless. They are speaking truth to power about the various diamond miners that keep up the criminal economy of resource extraction without just payment of these precious stones—miners like the Global Exploration Corporation, Rex Mining Corporation, DiamondWorks (BranchEnergy and BranchMining), and Sierra Rutile-Nord Ressources. They are exposing the devastating scenario where more African women in Sierra Leone die from preventable childbirth related complications than anywhere else in the world.

Joining the hundreds of African workers in Sierra Leone Party is an international delegation from North America that will be there for 2 weeks. The delegation is led by Chairman Omali Yeshitela. Some of the activities they will participate in are: 1) a conference from November 16-18 that lays out the initial goals and objectives of the APSP in Sierra Leone, 2) setting up an FM and internet radio station that will allow African workers in Sierra Leone to hear news and other programs that articulate a political understanding of local and global political affairs with their interests in mind, and 3) launching the Oloshoro Fishing Project as well as a program to address the alarming infant and maternal death rates in Sierra Leone as led by the All African People’s Development and Empowerment Project.

We, children of the African world far away from the motherland, stand proud today in unity with our sisters and brothers in Sierra Leone who have done the hard work of launching this much needed international political front. The African Socialist International of the North American Region salutes your bravery and commitment to the worldwide struggle for liberation, particularly at this difficult point in history of sophisticated oppression—where it hides in the cloak of neocolonialism and Africans everywhere are encouraged to feel hopeful in the most desperate and devastating of times marked by a global economic crises and militarism. We stand here in front of the Sierra Leonean embassy as part of the global African nation that is one billion strong. Your achievements in launching this workers party will not go unnoticed and we stand together with you to say, “One Africa! One Nation!”

Uhuru!

Africa’s emerging global partnerships

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/ykvy9vf

This paper attempts to analyse Africa’s strategic partnerships: the Africa–Indian Forum Summit, Africa–Europe Summit, China–Africa Cooperation Forum (South–South) and the Africa–South America cooperation (South–South).

China not allowed to bid for Ghana Jubilee field

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/yc6ebww

Cnooc Ltd., China’s largest offshore oil producer, said the Ghanaian government has not allowed it to bid for Kosmos Energy LLC’s assets in the African nation.

China's expanding role in peacekeeping

2009-11-20

http://books.sipri.org/files/PP/SIPRIPP25.pdf

China has dramatically increased its participation in United Nations peace operations in recent years. China now provides more uniformed personnel than any other permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Chinese companies in the extractive industries of Gabon & DRC

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/yezg87c

This report builds on field research conducted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Gabon in 2008 and 2009. While few of the Chinese company representatives in both Gabon and the DRC consulted for this study were aware of the EITI, all of them expressed great interest in the notion of an overarching transparency initiative.

Emerging powers news roundup

Sanusha Naidu

2009-11-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/emplayersnews/60442

A. Investment and Trade

1. India expects investment in SA to remain strong
As India’s demand for natural and manufactured resources increase, the country’s direct foreign investment into South Africa would increase in search of these resources. More..

2. Zim, China sign US$8 billion investment deals
THE government of Zimbabwe and a Chinese joint venture company yesterday signed five strategic co-operation agreements that will see the country receive US$8 billion in investment deals in several sectors of the economy. More..

3. Nigeria attracts trade fair buyers with shea butter, minerals
Around 25 representatives from Nigeria are taking part in the ongoing India International Trade Fair, the only African country participating in the fortnight-long fair. Most of them are trading in agricultural products, like shea butter and minerals. More..

4. India-South Africa trade basket to be widened
Both the Ministers agreed that early conclusion of India-SACU Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) and Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPA) will provide further impetus to trade in goods and investments. More..

5. Algeria Intends To Become An Export Base For Chinese Products
Algeria intends to become an export base for Chinese products manufactured in Algeria to Arab Free Trade Area (AFTA) countries, the European Union (EU) and the United States, entities with which we are bound by cooperation agreements, said Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CACI) Brahim Bendjaber. More..

6. Chinese, Algerian enterprises seek to expand business cooperation
A Chinese trade delegation and representatives from Algerian companies are seeking further cooperation in areas such as infrastructure construction, machine building, finance, service and agriculture. More..

7. Entrepreneur is creating a new generation of Nigerian businesses, Edozien
Standard Bank, the parent company of Stanbic IBTC Plc has affirmed its support to the China’s promise of $10 billion concessional loans to African countries. The bank announced at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, that it remains committed to ensuring that the opportunities arising from the China-Africa cooperation are beneficial for all parties. More..

8. Local telecom investor secures Shs600b loan
Local telecommunications investor, Libyan African Investment Portfolio (Lap) Green, has signed a $300 million (about Shs600 billion) financing agreement with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) More..

9. Nigeria, China to enhance banking relations
First Bank of Nigeria Plc has expressed the readiness to enhance its banking relations with major Chinese financial institutions, following the approval of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) to open a representative office in Beijing. More..

10. Economic and Trade Cooperation Between China and Sierra Leone
The Scale of Aid to Sierra Leone increased rapidly. According to the needs of Sierra Leonean government, Chinese government provided more and more necessary aids to help Sierra Leone to improve the social-economic development and the livelihood of Sierra Leonean people. More..

B. Commentaries
1. The Battle for Angola's Oil
Thanks to accounts located in secrecy jurisdictions, also known as tax havens and offshore financial centers, Angola's oil transactions are protected from external investigation — even from branches of the same bank. Details of transactions are also ring-fenced by Angola's secretive state-owned company Sonangol, conveniently bypassing relevant ministries, the central treasury, and parliament. Since 2003, over $13.5 billion has been sourced through pre-export financing — largely limited to cash for future oil — from major banks including Standard Chartered, BNP Paribas, Commerz Bank, Deutsche Bank, Fortis, West LB, and others. More..

2. China and India engaged in 21st century ‘scramble for Africa’
In the 19th century it was European colonialists who scrambled for Africa’s riches. Today it is Asia’s emerging powers who are trawling the continent for raw materials to fuel their economies. More..

3. A Superpower Stirs
Now, at the dawn of the 21st century, the world is looking to China to assume an unfamiliar role of global leadership. At a time when American prestige is fading, China's status is rising. More..

4. Who won when the Wall fell down? China, of course
Two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall most of the countries liberated from authoritarian one-party rule are currently struggling to emerge from recession, while China – with a self-appointed ruling party that ruthlessly defends its monopoly on power – has been such a rip-roaring capitalist success that it feels compelled to protect its investment in the US by advising the Obama administration to rein in deficit spending. History, it seems, has a wicked sense of humour. More..

5. China in Africa: Soft power, hard results
Building upon interviews from a broad range of Africans, it is shown that elites generally favor China’s presence in the region while the lower classes do not. Much of the local disapproval results from Chinese companies using limited amounts of domestic labor – particularly in relation to Western companies – as well as the flood of sometimes illegal Chinese immigrants to Africa selling cheap goods. More..

6. Hype belies challenges ahead for China-Africa ties
Beyond the bonhomie, competition from nimble and low-cost Chinese firms, a feeling that China's capacity to give is endless and an influx of migrants to Africa from the world's most populous nation could sour the tone of ties. More..

7. Paul Collier: History is repeated as tragedy in the new scramble for Africa
China is not party to the EITI and so has a massive competitive advantage over firms constrained by honesty. Yet Chinese involvement in African resource extraction can be a force for good. They have provided a welcome infusion of competition, raising prices for African resources and reducing prices for the construction projects on which many Chinese firms now bid. More..

8. China Defies Africa Policy Critics
Analysts usually draw attention to the downsides of Beijing’s engagement in Africa. Yet, this critical stance, especially promoted inside Europe, has neither stopped China from achieving its goals nor constructively added more successful development policies than what the country has already established on the continent. More..

9. Is Africa’s land up for grabs?
An apparent surge in the purchase of African land by foreign companies and governments to grow food and other crops for export has set alarm bells ringing on and off the continent. The headlines have been strident: “The Second Scramble for Africa Starts,” “Quest for Food Security Breeds Neo-Colonists,” “Food Security or Economic Slavery?” More..

C. African Development Partnerships
1. Africa needs to decide how it wants Indian help: academic
It is up to African countries to decide what kind of partnership they want with India, said a senior Indian academic. More..

2. Ghana Trades Union says China is important to Africa’s development
Dr Yaw Baah, Deputy Secretary-General of Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) said the future of Ghana and Africa in the next two decades would be defined by their relationship with China. More..

3. A strategic alliance
The volume of Chinese direct investment into the continent has exceeded $7.8 billion, which stands for almost 10 per cent of total Chinese investment overseas. Despite the repercussions of the economic crisis, the first quarter of 2009 has seen a 77.5 per cent increase in Chinese investment in Africa. The number of Chinese companies operating in Africa has reached 1,600, conducting activities in various economic fields at a worth of $17 billion. More..

4. China reaches for African science
China took on a new role in African science last weekend (November 8), announcing plans to promote research in agriculture, medicine, and clean energy as part of its $10 billion investment in the region.

5. China offers Africa expertise, loans and advice
BRUSHING off accusations that its investment is denuding Africa of precious natural resources, China has pledged to help African countries overcome poverty and fight new threats like climate change, which scientists predict is likely to seriously affect the continent.

6. Chinese-African relations have evolved, says expert
China, as a major trading partner with the continent of Africa, is starting to pay more attention to its press: not only the international community as a whole, but African governments and African rights organisations, which is shaping policy between the two entities, according to Deborah Brautigam, author of The Dragon's Gift: the Real Story of China in Africa More..

7. Why China investments are good for Africa
Many have written expressing dismay and surprisingly anger, over the fact that China is virtually taking over or getting involved in all businesses worth talking about in Africa.
http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?issue=14080&article=5456

8. China's phone firms help Africa go mobile
The sheer scale of China's involvement in Africa overshadows the country's role, led by the likes of Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp, in also putting the advantages of a modern mobile-phone network into the hands of the great African public. More..

9. China Curbs Its Appetite
The bigger the doubts about the West’s prospects, the greater become the assumptions about China’s economic power. China, it is said, will have a massive foreign exchange surplus for the foreseeable future, gobbling up natural resources producers in Australia, Africa and Latin America, buying U.S. technology companies to transfer know-how back to China, and using an open checkbook to pick up big stakes in famous European brands. More..

D. Tensions and Rivalries
1. Angolan 'mafia targets Chinese'
Violent attacks on Chinese expatriates in Angola are on the rise, construction workers say.The "mafia-style" gang violence could affect the countries' relations, according to Chinese business leaders in Angola. More..

2. Ethiopia's Meles says US at Fault for Africa's Econ Woes
Ethiopia Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says failures in the U.S. financial system are largely to blame for Africa's economic crisis, and pointed to China as a possible key to recovery. More..

3. Africa: A hot frontier for U.S. and China
As U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with Chinese President Hu Jintao and the highest-ranking members of the Chinese Politburo, one has to wonder if he is sizing up the competition. China appears to be leaving the United States in the dust by taking off on a global shopping spree from South America to the Middle East and especially Africa. More..

Ghana: ONGC eyes energy blocks

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/yaxcqrx

India's ONGC Videsh (OVL), ONGC’s foreign investment arm, is in talks with Ghana’s national oil company to bid for Kosmos Energy’s stake in the giant offshore Jubilee field of the region. Dallas-based Kosmos Energy focused on Africa, holds a 30.8 per cent stake in the Jubilee oil block, one of the biggest oil blocks in Africa.

Burundi: Upcoming polls a test of fragile peace

2009-11-20

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=87117

Next year’s elections in Burundi, billed as a milestone on the country’s long road to sustainable peace, could trigger more conflict because of a combination of widespread illegal weapons and well-organized youth wings of political parties, according to analysts.

Kenya: Kibaki assures Kenyans on new constitution

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/yla2rno

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has called on Kenyans to rise above individual and partisan interests and approach the constitution - making exercise with a sense of sobriety in order to deliver the much-awaited new constitution to Kenyans.

Madagascar: Leaders urged to hold elections, form Government

2009-11-20

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32989

The UN Security Council has welcomed the power-sharing agreement reached by Madagascar’s current and former leaders, and urged the political forces to end months of internal strife with the establishment of a new Government.

Namibia: Ruling party gets preferential election campaign coverage on NBC

2009-11-20

http://www.misa.org/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?category=2&id=1257857024

Latest analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), has revealed that for the week of 30 October 2009 to 5 November 2009, a whopping 82 percent of the national broadcaster, the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC)’s election campaign news coverage was devoted to the ruling South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) rallies, while the next highest party coverage was a mere four percent.

Nigeria: EU lends support in fighting corruption

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/y8d35mo

Nigeria has signed a 677 million euro pact with the European Union aimed at combating corruption and promoting peace in its troubled, oil-producing Niger Delta region.

West Africa: Sierra Leone acts tough on corrupt investors

2009-11-20

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/africa/-/1066/691674/-/134iybcz/-/index.html

Sierra Leone’s anti-corruption commissioner has a simple message for foreign investors coming to his country for its mines and oil — offer bribes and you could find yourself in prison.

Zimbabwe: Corruption index changes positively

2009-11-20

http://zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=6196&cat=2

Transparency International’s popular annual Corruption Perception Index commonly known as the CPI was launched on 17 November 2009. Zimbabwe’s score moved up as Zimbabwe became number 146 along with Cameroon, Ecuador, Kenya, Russia, Sierra Leone and Timor Leste with a score of 2.2 of a possible 10.

Africa: East Africa to agree trade deal

2009-11-20

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8370027.stm

East African leaders are due to sign a common market treaty. The presidents of Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi are expected to agree to the free movement of people and goods across the region.

Africa: Population explosion obsctalce to attaining MDGs

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/yzujcyr

At the age of 42 years, Isabirye Kakaire Mutwalibi of Bulugodha village, Iganga district, one of the poverty-stricken districts in Eastern Uganda, boasts of seven grand children. He will be recording his eighth in the next five months, giving him a small edge of three grandchildren ahead of his age mates, all under 45 years.

Africa: Population tops one billion

2009-11-20

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8366591.stm

The number of people in Africa has passed the one billion mark, the UN Population Fund says in a report. UNPF's Executive Director Thoraya Obeid said that the annual figures showed the continent's population had doubled in the last 27 years.

Global: Developing countries prepare tariff deal without WTO

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/yj83djd

As the Doha Round of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) stumbles into its ninth year, a group of 22 developing countries are poised to clinch their own deal to cut tariffs and boost trade among themselves.

Malawi: Rural land development project gets additional funding

2009-11-20

http://www.afrol.com/articles/34764

The World Bank has granted Malawi US$10 million for the Community-Based Rural Land Development Project (CBRLDP). The additional grant will also extend the project for another two years, the bank said.

Africa: OXFAM denounces seizure of Africa-bound medicines

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/ya24u3q

International aid organisation Oxfam has criticised the Belgian Customs for the routine seizure of generic medicines sent to Africa from India or China, under the cover that they are fake. Contending that some of the medicines are generic versions, with undeniable therapeutic properties, the organisation therefore demanded an analysis of the seized drugs to confirm whether or not they are fake.

Kenya: Stigma holding back the fight against TB

2009-11-20

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=87108

When Dorothy*, a single mother of five, told her neighbours in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, she had tuberculosis (TB), she expected sympathy and maybe even offers of help. Instead, she found herself so severely ostracized, she felt she had to move out.

Uganda: AIDS Commission takes new direction in prevention

2009-11-20

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=87053

The Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) is revamping its national HIV information campaign after HIV prevention messages were less successful than hoped. "We shall use basic facts in the messages to communicate effectively because we have realized that the level of knowledge about basic facts on HIV information is quite limited," said Saul Onyango, senior health educationist with the UAC.

Uganda: HIV-positive women need family planning services - study

2009-11-20

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=87125

HIV-positive women in western Uganda want fewer children than women not living with the virus, but often do not have access to family planning services, a new study reveals. The study of 421 women in the district of Kabarole found that the probability of HIV-positive women wanting to stop childbearing was 6.25 times greater than it was for HIV-negative individuals.

West Africa: WHO to vaccinate against yellow fever

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/y85mw7y

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is to launch a mass yellow fever vaccination campaign in the Republic of Benin, Liberia and Sierra Leone. WHO has said that the week-long event would target 11.9 million people across the three countries, all of which are at high risk of yellow fever outbreaks.

Kenya: In and out of school in Samburu

2009-11-20

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86968

Many Kenyan children are in school, but enrolment in the north has been adversely affected by insecurity, food scarcity and traditional attitudes, residents and teachers said.

South Africa: Solidarity protest over anti-homosexuality bill

2009-11-20

http://www.mask.org.za/article.php?cat=southafrica&id=2402

In an act of solidarity with Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) activists and human rights defenders, a gathering was held yesterday, 17 November, in Pretoria, at the Ugandan Embassy, to protest against the Anti Homosexuality bill. Fikile Vilakazi from the Coalition of African Lesbians gave a synopsis of the bill in front of a large number of activists who were chanting outside the embassy in opposition to the bill.

Uganda: Museveni warns against homosexuality

2009-11-20

http://www.mask.org.za/article.php?cat=uganda&id=2399

President Museveni has joined the anti-gay crusade, saying he had received reports suggesting that “European homosexuals” had launched a recruitment drive in Africa. He urged the youth to reject the advances. Expressing his homophobia, Mr. Museveni said the youth must stand firm and abhor the divergent sexual orientation.

"I" Stories: My father saved me

Miriam Sikalele with Tariro Benga*

2009-11-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/16days/60382

It's 12 midnight, as I lay awake beside him. My head is filled with confusion as I weigh the options for the next course of action to take. I am struggling to sleep and worse still, I cannot stand seeing his face. Part of me is telling me to stab him and end all the misery that he is causing me, but the other side is warning me not to.
It's 12 midnight, as I lay awake beside him. My head is filled with confusion as I weigh the options for the next course of action to take. I am struggling to sleep and worse still, I cannot stand seeing his face. Part of me is telling me to stab him and end all the misery that he is causing me, but the other side is warning me not to.

My whole body is filled with so much anger and fury as I crawl out of the bed and wander around the house before heading to the lounge, where I sat feeling helpless until 5 o'clock.

I dialled my parents’ number and within no time, my father answered the phone, with a sleepy voice.

With tears trickling down my cheeks, and my voice hoarse due to the inner rage that was in me, I presented my father with three options. I asked him whether he wanted me dead, or for me to murder someone and for me to be jailed.

I told him, he had hit me again and I could not stand the violence anymore. "If you love me dad, I want you to rescue me.”

“Calm down my daughter, I will be there shortly,” was his response and in an hour's time, he was by the gate. One look at my face said it all. My eyes, mouth, in fact every part of my body was swollen. There was no questioning what had happened.

He looked at me with a sympathetic eye, shook his head and took me in his arms and cuddled me like a child. “Are you ready to leave,” he asked me.

“Yes dad. I can’t take it anymore,” I said, tears still trickling down my cheeks. He asked me to pack my bags and come home with him. I complied, took my bags and left without saying a word to my husband, who, had turned into my worst enemy.

I hated him. All I could feel for him at that time was hatred.

“I don’t ever want you to come back to this man. If you decide to come back, don’t ever dare call me,” my dad said in anger.

This was the third time he had come to collect me after my husband had beaten me up. This time he had beaten me because he accused me of having extra marital affairs, after a male relative called me. Before, the reasons were that I was disrespectful and was not a suitable wife for him.

Every attempt I had made to run away had been fruitless because my relatives kept telling me, “that is how marriage is like,” and I had to soldier on to save my marriage.

My father sat me down when we got home and he told me that I was never going to go back to my husband again. He told me he was tired of coming to rescue me from a dangerous and undeserving man.

He invited some counsellors who talked to me and told me that I did not have to go back to my husband if I didn’t want to. They told me that I did not deserve to be beaten up and they also told me that the end result was going to be death if I did not protect myself.

At first it was difficult but I told myself that I deserved a better life and that if I kept going back, he was going to kill me one day.

After some time, I recovered. My father gave me some money to start a small business. I joined my friend in crossing the borders to South Africa and Botswana. I soon became a cross border trader, joined streams of Zimbabweans who were buying and selling various wares for resale.

My customers grew by the day. I also managed to secure a stand at a flea market and my life has now improved.

My husband came after me like he had always done and tried to sweet-talk me into going back home but this time, I was adamant. I told him, I did not want to die or to be jailed one day after being forced to retaliate.

My life is much better now when I am alone compared to when I was staying with my husband. I feel I have been liberated and I would like to encourage other women in abusive relationships to take the bold steps to free themselves and to report the perpetrators.

I realise now that I could have easily been killed because I allowed him to make me a punch bag. I thank my father for being there for me and for rescuing me.

* not their real names.
*Tariro Benga is a writer from Zimbabwe; this story was shared with her by a survivor of GBV.
*This story is part of the “I” Stories series produced by the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service for the Sixteen Days of Activism on Gender Violence.

"I" Stories: Scarred for refusing early marriage

Mary Semeya,* with Perpetual Sichikwenkwe

2009-11-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/16days/60384

Will society accept me with a disfigured face like I have now? Will I ever walk up the streets out there to go to school after what this cruel man has done to me? I feel I have nothing left to be proud of and I have lost the biggest purpose of my life - completing school. I had hoped one day to have a house of my own and to be like many other women, educated and working.
Will society accept me with a disfigured face like I have now? Will I ever walk up the streets out there to go to school after what this cruel man has done to me? I feel I have nothing left to be proud of and I have lost the biggest purpose of my life - completing school. I had hoped one day to have a house of my own and to be like many other women, educated and working.

I was born in 1988 on December 6 in Mpika, Northern Province of Zambia. When I was in grade six in 2001, I was engaged to Thomas* and my parents accepted the traditional payments from him. I had no idea what it was all about although my parents told me that Thomas intended to marry me at a later stage.

It was not clear at which stage he was supposed to marry me, but since that was the common trend in my village, I did not probe further. Thomas lived about 30 Kilometers away from our village but we were from the same church and he was a devoted Christian.

When my elder sister who was then living in Lusaka heard about the engagement, she was opposed to the idea. She wanted me to complete school as she had done. She asked that I come to stay with her. I also loved school and I accepted the idea of going to Lusaka.

When I was leaving for Lusaka, Thomas was away in a boarding school. My parents did not forget to warn me not to entertain other men in Lusaka because there was already a man who had paid my dowry and was waiting for me.

Years later, I was surprised that Thomas managed to track down my whereabouts and started coming to my church as well as visiting me at my elder sister’s place. My sister was not happy with Thomas visiting me and advised me to stay way from him so that I could complete school. Several times, I advised Thomas against coming to see me but he did not heed my advice. He kept coming, sometimes sending people to spy on me.

Many times I told him that I did not want disturbances from him because I wanted to finish school. Thomas would threaten that if I were not going to marry him, he would kill me. I used to share that with my family but we would all just laugh, treating it as a mere joke. In 2007, my sister and I moved to stay with our elder brother in Chelstone. Thomas started sending insulting SMS and threats to my sister and brother warning them against stopping me from marrying him.

Despite our reports to the police about Thomas’ behaviour, the police did not arrest him. In November, two days after he had sent another SMS insulting my family, Thomas came to my church again. I decided not to talk to him. I did not even greet him and I informed my sister about his presence. In February 2008, when I was returning from school, I heard a voice calling out my name. When I looked behind, I discovered it was Thomas. I asked him what he was doing around my place. He told me that he had come to see me and complained that I did not even want to talk to him. I left Thomas on the road and headed for home where I informed my brother about Thomas’ visit.

On March 25th, 2008, a day came that I will remember for my whole life. I went to write my end of year test at Kabulonga Girls High School. Usually, I came back in the company of friends but that day, immediately after my test, I decided to get a bus back home so that I could study physics, which was my next subject.

My friends pleaded for me to wait for them but I declined. I just wanted to be home early and study. I did not know my refusal to wait for my friends was going to mark the end to my education dreams, at least, for now.

When I got off the bus at Chelstone, I met my neighbor, Gift, who informed me that he had a letter for me from an unknown person. While discussing the letter, I heard a voice calling out my name. When I turned, I saw Thomas. He greeted me and asked whether my sister was home.

Thomas told me that he wanted to talk to my sister but I told him to do that on his own. I went on my way, but Thomas followed. After a short distance, I met another neighbour. I decided to spend a few minutes with him to avoid Thomas. When I turned to look behind, Thomas had made a u-turn. That was a chance for me to walk fast towards home.

When I was four houses away from our house, I felt something cold splashed on the back of my head, around my neck. When I turned, Thomas was standing right there. I asked him what he had poured on me and why. He never replied but splashed some more liquid on my face.

It was at this point that I felt pain and a burning sensation on my face. I ran towards our home but I fell in a drainage ditch. I screamed for help. Thomas followed me for a short distance on his bicycle and eventually rode off.

Our neighbours came and took me to Chelstone clinic. From there I do not remember what transpired until I had re-gained consciousness. I discovered that I was in Lusaka’s University Teaching Hospital (the largest hospital in Zambia) with my sister on the bedside. I was admitted to UTH from March 25 to June 28, 2008 after which I was discharged. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I could not accept what had happened to my face.

I spend sleepless nights when I think about what has happened to me. I feel I am not the same person. I can laugh outside but what is inside me is sadness. I get annoyed with myself when I think about school and when I see my books lying in my room. I am wasting something that I have cherished from my childhood.

School was my passion, but how can I go back with this disfigured face? How is society going to receive me? Will they accept me the way I am? Right now I can not move an inch out of our yard because I am scared of how people will take me especially those who knew me before this happened.

If there are well-wishers out there, please help me. I want my face to be rehabilitated. I want to be the same old me who was happy with friends, family and was in school. If doctors cannot work on my face, even a mask of some kind can help me to reunite with society because now it is difficult for me even to walk around.

*Perpetual Sichikwenkwe is a writer from Zambia
*This story was shared with her by a survivor of GBV. This article is part of the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service series for the Sixteen Days of Activism.

"I" Stories: Zambia: No longer scared in a house of my own

By Mukamwiinga* with Perpetual Sichikwenkwe

2009-11-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/16days/60383

Marriage brings happiness to some, but for me it was a nightmare for twenty-five years. I stayed in an abusive marriage, enduring it, always hoping that what did not work out today, would tomorrow. It was my son’s sickness that ended it: a son who had been a breadwinner for my husband and me. Because it ended, I found happiness. Let me explain.
Marriage brings happiness to some, but for me it was a nightmare for twenty-five years. I stayed in an abusive marriage, enduring it, always hoping that what did not work out today, would tomorrow. It was my son’s sickness that ended it: a son who had been a breadwinner for my husband and me. Because it ended, I found happiness. Let me explain.

Misfortune started when I fell pregnant at the age of 12 in a village in the Chooma district in Southern Zambia. I was doing my sixth grade. The man who had been responsible for my pregnancy died in a road accident during the pregnancy. I gave birth to a son. I lived with my uncle until my son was 10 years old.

In 1979, I found a man who proposed marriage to me. I accepted. He was already married but in that era, polygamy, especially within the tribe, was common. So I gladly moved in with him. I was puzzled when he refused to have my son live with us. He said that since the boy was young, I could leave him with my relatives.

I did not bother much about this because all I wanted was to have a husband and a home of my own. People in the village had laughed at me being so young and having a fatherless child. In 1981, we decided to shift to Namwala district so that we could be away from our relatives.

In Namwala things changed. My husband became uncaring and provocative at harvest time, because he did not want me to benefit from the harvest money. Then, one evening after a long day’s work, he informed the first wife that he was going to marry a third wife. Her duty was to inform me which she did. She had always been good to me treating me like her younger sister. Reluctantly, I consented.

However, I was shocked when I was told that the third wife would get all the money from the sale of our farm products for a house, clothes and other things. He further demanded my personal money, which I kept for my son’s school fees. He was doing upper school by then. I refused. When my husband realised that I was serious about not giving him the money, he locked the house and beat me. It was at night. People were sleeping and could not hear my screams. I fainted.

When he realised what he had done, he told his first wife that if I died, she should put logs on my body outside my house to look like unknown people killed me. When I gained consciousness, the first wife advised me to run away back to my parents because my husband was going to kill me for the money that was meant for my child.

The next morning, my husband told me that I had 2 days to decide whether to give him the money or to endure another beating. My son’s school requirements were most important, so without telling anyone, at midnight, I snuck away to go to my uncle’s place to inform them of my husband’s behaviour.

Luck was not on my side. My husband caught up with me. He beat me, leaving me for dead. I was only saved by a Good Samaritan who took me to the hospital, where I stayed for five days. While I was still at the hospital, we had talks with my family and his family. My husband said he still loved me even after what he had done and promised not to do that again. We decided to go back to my house

Those first beatings were just the beginning of many beatings. He had even started beating our 3 children. Whenever I had a good harvest or money from my business, it was grounds for mistreatment and beating. I had relatives who offered to look after me and my children if I left him, but I could not do that because I wanted to be called Mrs. somebody. My first son was now working as a banker, and encouraged me to leave my abusive husband and go and stay with him, but I wanted marriage.

The end was to come in February 2004. It was raining heavily. The roads were impassable. A radio message from Lusaka informed me that my son was critically ill after being involved in a road accident. I was with my husband when the message came, but he did not say anything.

I waited for his reaction that never came. The following day I told him that I was leaving. I had sold some chickens to raise money for transport. He demanded an equal share of my transport money because the chickens lived on his land.

I refused to give him the money, supported by the other 2 wives. When it was time for my departure, he offered to escort me to the bus stop. I thought it was genuine and accepted. About 4 kilometers into the journey, my husband stopped the bicycle and demanded that I give him the money.

When I said no, he started beating me and the next thing I realised, I was in Monza General hospital nursing serious wounds while my son was dying in Lusaka. I could not be there for him.

I proceeded to Lusaka four days later with a swollen eye and marks all over my face and body. My son was in a bad state. I could not even have a word with him. Five days later, my beloved son and breadwinner died.

I informed my husband about my son’s death but I heard nothing from him. He even refused to let our 3 children come to their elder brother’s funeral. After the funeral, I decided to stay with my mother for 2 weeks. That 2 weeks changed my life completely.

My siblings advised me against going back to my husband. They found a counsellor who agreed, saying that I would end up dead in order to be called “married.” I took their advice. My husband still had not even sent condolences, but my children finally made it to the funeral.

They informed me that my husband had sold all my house property most of which had been bought by my son. I was angry but I decided that I could not look back. My children too refused to go back to their father. We agreed to start life afresh.

Even as I was agreeing, I was scared. How could I survive without the support of a husband? How could I carry on after the loss of my son who was also my breadwinner? How I could start fresh in life without any property?

I had left everything including my clothes with my husband and he had sold it all. How would the community look at me knowing that I had failed in marriage? I was even scared to take him to court just in case he organised people to beat me or harm my children.

As I am talking now, with the help of my mother, siblings and other family members, my fear has turned into happiness. I have everything a woman needs for survival. I am the pillar of the family because I have animals for ploughing, a house of my own, and money. Above all, I have regained happiness and peace.


* not her real name.
*Perpetual Sichikwenkwe is a writer from Zambia
*This story was shared with her by a survivor of GBV. This article is part of the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service series for the Sixteen Days of Activism.

Inform yourself about sexual harassment

Maggie Mzumara

2009-11-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/16days/60387

Cases of sexual harassment, at for instance a workplace, usually boil down to “he says, she says.” Yet the biggest challenge with sexual harassment is not just proving that it happens, but that more often than not it is quite subtle. During 16 Days of Activism, we need to recognise that gender violence and abuse come in many forms.
Cases of sexual harassment, at for instance a workplace, usually boil down to “he says, she says.” Yet the biggest challenge with sexual harassment is not just proving that it happens, but that more often than not it is quite subtle. During 16 Days of Activism, we need to recognise that gender violence and abuse come in many forms.

In some harassment cases, even the perpetrator and the person facing harassment may not be aware that what is happening is not ok, or that a crime has been committed. Sometimes he is not always aware of perpetrating a violation, and the woman may be left with an unsettling discomfort, but not be able to articulate exactly why she feels out of sorts. Therein lays the tragedy.

The SADC Gender and Development Protocol calls upon state parties to ensure that by 2015 they enact legislative provisions, adopt and implement policies, strategies and programmes which define and prohibit sexual harassment in all spheres, and provide deterrent sanctions for perpetrators.

However, only two SADC countries currently have specific legislation against sexual harassment (DRC and Madagascar). In eight countries (Botswana, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zimbabwe) it is covered by labour law or assault. However, there are five SADC countries (Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Seychelles and Zambia) where there is currently no legislation at all to protect victims of sexual harassment or to sanction perpetrators.

In addition, few people, men or women, are aware whether their workplace has a sexual harassment policy; still fewer of what it says. Sexual harassment is not just the obvious – where a supervisor asks for sexual favours in return for a promotion. Beware of the more subtle versions.

In one case, two male colleagues discuss their weekend conquests in detail within hearing range of some female colleagues who feel quite offended, embarrassed and even humiliated at the direction of the conversation. They blush and squirm with unease and discomfort at this.

They may be all too aware of the discomfort and offence they endure, but are they aware of what has truly transpired? That by such behaviour, these male colleagues are sexually harassing them? Do the male colleagues know that such careless banter oozing of misplaced male macho and prowess is actually a violation?

In another instance, a male workmate comments on the anatomy of a female colleague. This indeed could come as a compliment, at least at face value. “Hey, Tatenda, your butt is looking very appetising these days. I wouldn’t mind a feel and a squeeze.”

Although a compliment on the outside, what if the women feels embarrassed at the attention drawn to her body parts and is reasonably shocked at the offense and amount of sexual innuendos in this supposed “compliment”? She may not like it, but is she aware of the magnitude of the violation? Worse still, is she even aware of potential recourse to this, let alone the procedure of addressing this?

People in the workplace should be aware of the facts around sexual harassment and particularly be mindful of the subtle. While most perpetrators and potential perpetrators are aware and even avoid obvious violations like rape and others, they do get away with a whole lot of subtle but poignant violations. And they get away with it because we let them. Ignorance is not an excuse.

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favours, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment. In such a case, submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.

Sexual harassment can occur in a variety of circumstances. The victim as well as the harasser may be a woman or a man. The victim does not have to be of the opposite sex. The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, an agent of the employer, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or a non-employee. This may take many forms:

* threats to impose a sexual quid pro quo;
* discussing sexual activities;
* telling crude or off-colour jokes;
* unnecessary touching;
* commenting on physical attributes;
* displaying sexually suggestive pictures;
* using demeaning or inappropriate terms, such as "Babe";
* using indecent gestures;
* engaging in hostile physical conduct;
* granting job favours to those who participate in consensual sexual activity;
* using crude and offensive language

When faced with this situation, it is helpful for the victim to inform the harasser that the conduct is unwelcome and must stop. The victim should use any employer complaint mechanism or grievance system available.

During 16 Days of Activism, let’s make it our business to know all the form of violations against women (and indeed men too). Learn as much as you can about sexual harassment. Ask your human resources officer. If some material is posted at your workplace, READ IT. It is not a wall decoration, it is meant for you to know it and use it for your protection.

*Maggie Mzumara is an international media and communication practitioner.
*This article is part of the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service series for the 16 Days of Activism.

Media: Part of the problem or solution for gender violence?

Marbeline Mwashekele

2009-11-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/16days/60376

Media has always, and will always, have a major impact on the lives of human beings, simply because it has the power to influence! In fact, one of the main objectives of media is to influence change. With 16 Days of Activism just around the corner, it is an appropriate time to reflect on media and gender, and media’s role in helping to put a stop to gender violence.
Media has always, and will always, have a major impact on the lives of human beings, simply because it has the power to influence! In fact, one of the main objectives of media is to influence change. With 16 Days of Activism just around the corner, it is an appropriate time to reflect on media and gender, and media’s role in helping to put a stop to gender violence.

Individuals interpret or misinterpret media, just like everything else, based on their experiences or background. The media exists to tell a story. In most cases, we are hoping the journalists telling the story are unbiased and ethical reporters in order for us to get an accurate version of the story!

When it comes to reporting on issues concerning women, yes, the media tends to portray women as the eternal victims. In the same vein, most of our sources are men. Women sometimes shy away from letting their voices be heard because they probably believe that what they have to say is not good enough. In addition, usually the media does not delve deep into the underlying causes of such issues as domestic violence, sex work, or such social problems as “baby dumping.”

Regarding the abovementioned, the media certainly becomes part of the problem in that it does not report in such a way to influence women to positions, and feeling of power! The media could have a far better impact if it reported in such a way that women emerge as survivors, rather than victims.

It would make sense that women will be the main source of information where issues of gender and violence, or anything else is concerned. One can imagine an environment in which women would feel positive and empowered enough to express themselves without thoughts and or feelings self-doubt.

Perhaps one problem is that many women fall prey to the pressures of society, and are from a young age conditioned to play the roles of eternal victims, and to speak only when spoken to. From a young age, girls and women are taught (explicitly and implicitly) to be docile and obedient, and to always make way for men because they are providers; they deserve respect and their word is final! Even fairytales portray the little princesses as victims who can only live happily ever after if a prince comes and saves them on his white horse with his strong arms, and so on and so forth!

The media is a powerful tool, and the media is part of the problem because it perpetuates the message that women are victims, unreliable sources and need to be saved.

So, to start with, what if the media focused on reporting on a story of domestic violence, but tells it in such a way that the women concerned survived the incident! Also, what she did to survive! Her struggle. Her process. Her fight! Imagine how many women can read that and think – “oh, if she can do it, so can I!”

Imagine if little princesses did not have to wait for a prince on a white horse, and solved their own problems! How many women would say, well if Sleeping Beauty could do this, so can I!

However, it Is not fair to entirely think that all the blame should be pinned on the media, because as much as the media perpetuate the problem, the media can also be the solution. In fact, it is the only way! However, we have to remember that the media is only a medium!

Enter Marshall McLuhan! He coined the phrase “the medium is the message”!

McLuhan's insight was that a medium affects the society in which it plays a role not by the content delivered over the medium, but by the characteristics of the medium itself. Meaning that the form of a medium embeds itself in the message, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences the perception of the message.

This basically means that, the media is not really the problem, but the society that feeds the media is. How we as women, and society as a whole, decide to make use of our media, will influence and determine the way we interpret and misinterpret the message of the media.

What if more women came forward to tell their stories? What if women felt responsible to use the media to say their say without self-doubt and fear! What if women had survivor instincts form birth! Can you image the type of headlines we would have! “Woman tell her story of domestic violence to help other women!” as opposed to “Another woman becomes a victim of domestic violence! It defiantly suggests that it is almost expected to happen!

No. The media is not to blame for the state of mind that society has created. The media reports what is already there. Therefore, if what is already cannot be changed, by society, then we will only get more of what is already there.

Women and society should use the media, twist and turn it into a tool that will work for all of us. There is no use in criticising the media – unless you are willing to stake a stand and change your thinking process – and thereby changing the message! Hence, turning the problem into a solution!

*Marbeline Mwashekele is the Acting National Director of MISA Namibia. This article is part of the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service series for the 16 Days of Activism.

Men critical to fight against gender violence

Godsway Shumba

2009-11-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/16days/60388

It has become all too common that every newspaper edition carries at least one carry a story on domestic violence or rape. Efforts to engage men as partners in the prevention and response to gender-based violence (GBV) are critical to achieving positive results. This 16 Days of Activism, men across the region will lend their support for ending violence.
It has become all too common that every newspaper edition carries at least one carry a story on domestic violence or rape. Efforts to engage men as partners in the prevention and response to gender-based violence (GBV) are critical to achieving positive results. This 16 Days of Activism, men across the region will lend their support for ending violence.

According to a report delivered by Chief Magistrate Hlekani Mwayera at the launch of the Anti-Domestic Violence Council in Harare, Zimabwe recently, there were 462 reported cases of domestic violence between January and October 2009 in Harare province only. The Mail and Guardian also recently covered a story indicating that the Family Support Trust Clinic in Harare has treated nearly 30 000 girls and boys who were sexually abused in the past four years.

This leaves many people asking whether civil society organisations carrying out efforts to address gender-based violence (GBV) are involving men enough in the struggle. Nakai Nengomasha is a Counselling Programme Officer with Padare Men’s Forum on Gender, an organisation working in Zimbabwe to influence men to change their attitudes.

“Men’s involvement is critical in achieving social change. The implementation of the Domestic Violence Act is going very well in Gokwe South because the Chief and Magistrate of that district have received training on gender justice and equality as members of the Padare Chapters,” Nengomasha noted.

He indicated that widows in the Nyanga area of the country are no longer facing difficulties trying to access their late husbands’ estates because after the property has been shared, relatives of the deceased are required to inform the headman about what happened who will then make a report to the chief.

However, though there are signs that men are beginning to participate in efforts to promote women’s equality and leadership, Nengomasha was skeptical when he was asked whether there is hope for a gender justice society in Zimbabwe.

“It’s a big vision and I am not sure when will that be achieved because we have to challenge issues of patriarchy and masculinity. It will take time to convince men to give away their privileges,” he said.

However, this does not mean that all men are the same. As indicated by Nengomasha, male involvement is on the rise in areas where Padare is working such as Chitungwiza and Mabvuku.

“In Chitungwiza, we have a home-based care (HBC) programme that is exclusively run by men and our Chapter in Mabvuku offers palliative care services to children living with HIV,” he said. Many men are beginning to realise the negative consequences of violence and are doing their part to improve society.

In order to highlight issues of violence during this year’s 16 Days Of Activism campaign against gender-based violence (GBV), Padare and African Fathers are organising a march in Harare with a focus on positive fatherhood. African Fathers Initiative Director, Trevor Davies, said this is fatherhood is a key focus because it is a good entry point to talk to men through their role as fathers.

“Fatherhood is probably one of the most important roles and it’s only right that we examine that massive role and get it right,” Davies said. “Many want to be good fathers and it is only a few men who rape women who pollute our name,” he noted.

Transport is going to be organised for men from various parts of the country so that they can meet others to exchange ideas and to challenge GBV. Nengomasha said his organisation will use the 16 Days campaign to influence men through their different levels as husbands, fathers, brothers, uncles and sons to promote more equitable gender relationships in the home.

While there are organisations working to raise public awareness about the need to eliminate GBV,that alone is not sufficient to bring about sustained behavioural change. It is a duty of every human being to come up with practical steps to encourage community members to be good husbands, fathers, brothers and sons.

Women should exercise social networking caution

Dingaan Mithi

2009-11-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/16days/60386

As the region’s technological capacity grows, a new kind of gender violence is emerging in Southern Africa. In this new media age, the information super highway has become a tool for social networking and the world has become a global village where people of different walks of life are meeting. However, women in countries like Malawi are quickly recognising technology, such as the internet, as both a potential asset and a threat.
As the region’s technological capacity grows, a new kind of gender violence is emerging in Southern Africa. In this new media age, the information super highway has become a tool for social networking and the world has become a global village where people of different walks of life are meeting. However, women in countries like Malawi are quickly recognising technology, such as the internet, as both a potential asset and a threat.

Malawi is a land locked country in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region covering an area of 118,000 square kilometers. It ranks at position 14 as one of the poorest countries in the world by the latest United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Human Development Index report of 2008-2009.

Many people in Malawi’s towns and cities are connected to the information superhighway also known as the internet. In the country, cybercafés are sprouting each day.

There are man internet service providers such as Malawi Net Limited, Skyband, Burco Electronic Systems, Globe Malawi dot net and the mobile phone company, TNM. Although poverty is common in the country, people in urban areas are fast becoming conversant with the international reach of new technologies. People in offices and in internet cafés are online talking to friends in remote parts of the world such as Canada, Sweden and United States of America, just to mention a few.

Most people in the country complain about the slow internet connectivity, which makes downloading of movies and music amongst other things difficult. However, this problem may soon be history; there are plans to get Malawi connected to the marine optic fibre cable to run under the Indian Ocean, a project to be implemented by Seacom.

Women are also joining the world of online social networking, using networking sites such as face book, and Tagged.com. Sabrine Niyonsenga, a young woman managing Maxinet International, an internet café in the city of Lilongwe says she likes face book than any other social networking site. “Face book is a good social networking centre, you can talk to three people at once, it does not even cost a lot of money,” says Niyonsenga.

She adds that the cyberspace has enabled people from all over the world to easily communicate within minutes. Niyonsenga discloses she has made 101 friends over a period of eleven months in 2009 alone, 50 of whom are in Malawi, while the rest are in South Africa, Canada, Belgium, Madagascar, United States of America and Kenya.

She adds that she chats about everyday issues such as cookery, music and movies. In addition she says that social networking relieves her of emotional problems faced in her every day life. “I think face book is the most popular social networking site, I can get out of my miserable time when I am on face book, this is why this site is the biggest.”

However, although enjoying the information super high way, she notes that cyberspace crime and harassment is being committed at alarming levels hence a need for women to be extra careful when surfing on the internet.

She recounts being offended by a comment posted by another face book user on her photograph, saying her beauty could even tempt the devil; the matter even embarrassed her family.

“Cyberspace crime is really a danger and it exists, because most of the times, you are dealing with somebody you don’t know, all sorts of terrible things can happen to you,” she stresses.”

“One day I was watching Oprah Winfrey talk show, it was about a 13 year old girl who was dating a 27-year-old man online, they arranged for a rendez-vous, when they met unfortunately the girl was raped, finally the dismayed girl committed suicide,” narrates Niyonsenga.

Niyonsenga warns women in particular to avoid online dating and confirming friends not well known to them in social networking sites, as dangerous criminals use cyberspace to dupe unsuspecting people, including women.

In light of this, the Malawi Law Commission and Norwegian Church Aid have included cyberspace crime in the anti- trafficking legislation to be tabled in parliament to curb women trafficking.

Tiwonge Kaonga, a 22-year-old Cisco Networking student at Lilongwe Technical College in Lilongwe in her first year says she prefers using Yahoo Messenger as part of her social networking time. She likes the Yahoo Messenger because of its features such as news and current affairs and web chats with friends who have Yahoo email accounts.

“You see I am addicted to the internet, a day cannot pass without touching a computer, the internet makes life easier, I don’t need to waste time and money going to the post office to post letters,” notes Kaonga.

She however admits although the internet makes life easier, it has negative effects such as getting emails from unknown individuals who have an aim of conning people. “One day I got an email in my Yahoo email account from unknown man claiming to be based in South Africa, who was asking me to give him my contact details for no purpose, I just disregarded it,” she explains.

Another woman, Pilirani Kamwaza warns women to be careful when on the cyberspace not be victims of cyberspace crime. “Its bad cyberspace crime is out there, sometimes people can trick you, only to leave you stranded, we need to be careful.

“Just imagine, there is a story of a Malawian woman who was promised a job in South Africa by a person who she found on the social networking sites, only to be stranded there with nothing, when the person was no where to be seen,” says Kamwaza.

Currently the Ministry of Information and Civic Education is seeking views from the Malawian public on the draft ICT policy and its implementation strategies. However, issues of cyberspace crime need to be clearly demonstrated in terms of redress, as this consultation process continues.

*Dingaan Mithi is programme officer for Journalists Association Against AIDS in Malawi.
*This article is part of the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service series for the 16 Days of Activism.

South Africa: At least 3,000 foreigners stranded following attack

2009-11-20

http://zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=6201

At least 3,000 foreigners, mainly Zimbabweans, have fled their homes in the De Doorns farming area on the Western Cape after they were attacked by South African mobs, the Red Cross said Wednesday.

Global: Africa agrees key issues for Climate Change summit

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/yfq2xck

Africa has agreed on key issues that will be negotiated at the forthcoming Climate Change Summit (COP15) in Copenhagen, Denmark, according to Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia's Prime Mi nister and coordinator of the African negotiating team to the summit.

Guniea: Uncertainty over toxic chemicals in Conakry

2009-11-20

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=87091

The recent upheaval in Guinea has delayed the disposal of toxic chemicals discovered earlier this year at several sites throughout the capital Conakry, according to UN experts.

Global: GRAIN statement on land grabbing

2009-11-20

http://www.grain.org/o/?id=87

GRAIN estimates that to date, more than 40 million hectares have changed hands or are under negotiation -- 20 million of which in Africa alone, and calculate that over $100 billion have been put on the table to make it happen. Despite the governmental grease here or there, these deals are mainly signed and carried out by private corporations, in collusion with host country officials.

Global: Is there such a thing as agro-imperialism?

2009-11-20

http://farmlandgrab.org/9107

Dr. Robert Zeigler, an eminent American botanist, flew to Saudi Arabia in March for a series of high-level discussions about the future of the kingdom’s food supply. Saudi leaders were frightened: heavily dependent on imports, they had seen the price of rice and wheat, their dietary staples, fluctuate violently on the world market over the previous three years, at one point doubling in just a few months.

Morocco: UAE company leases farmland

2009-11-20

http://farmlandgrab.org/9118

An Abu Dhabi-based private sector investment firm has signed a contract to lease up to 700,000 hectares of farmland in Morocco, a company executive has said. Food prices have risen sharply over the past year, prompting governments and private sector firms in the Middle East to look into ways of securing supplies, as most of the food in the region is imported.

Global: World Food Summit must deal with international causes of hunger

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/yd2da23

The human rights organization FIAN International is expecting a self-critical analysis and a change of course in global food politics from the World Summit on Food Security starting in Rome today. In 1996, governments had promised to halve hunger by 2015.

Global: World leaders renew commitment to end hunger

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/yc73x5g

World leaders who convened in Rome, Italy, for the World Summit on Food Security have unanimously adopted a declaration pledging renewed commitment to eradicate hunger at the earliest date, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Countries also agreed to work to reverse the decline in domestic and international funding for agriculture and promote new investment in the sector.

Gabon: Disproportionate sanctions against media condemned

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/ye6yks6

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has denounced the disproportionate sanctions imposed by the National Council of Communication (CNC) in Gabon on November 10, 2009 against eight private newspapers which have been struck with temporary prohibition of publication as well as the suspension of a very popular television program.

Somalia: Two journalists wounded

2009-11-20

http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/12493.html

The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) condemns in the strongest possible terms the targeted shooting of two Somali journalists working for international news media organizations in Galkayo and Mogadishu.

Sudan: Women demand a fair deal from media

2009-11-20

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=49337

The guns have gone silent – except for sporadic conflict in parts of the vast South Sudan region, such as the Eastern Equatoria State. It may not be the absolute end of the conflict in the region, but it is a reason for renewed hope.

Zambia: News editor freed from 'obscene' charges

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/yek9ag6

Chief Resident Magistrate Charles Kafunda on 16 November 2009 acquitted Post News Editor Chansa Kabwela of the case in which she was charged with one court of circulating obscene materials or things that corrupt moral contrary to section 177 1 (b) of the Penal Code chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia. Kabwela allegedly circulated the pictures between June 1 and 10, 2009 in Lusaka and the Zambian Government premised their case on the notion that the images tended to corrupt morals.

Zimbabwe: Report on public broadcasting launched

2009-11-20

http://zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=6202

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has launched a public broadcasting report on issues surrounding the sector in the country. The report is based on a survey entitled “Public Broadcasting In Africa Series” commissioned by Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project(AFRIMAP), Open Society Initiative Southern Africa(OSISA), Open Society Institute Media Programme(OSIMP) and MISA-Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe: State broadcaster suspends employees for leaking information

2009-11-20

http://www.misa.org/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?category=2&id=1257919685

Three employees with the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH), O’brien Rwafa, Jacob Phiri and Freedom Moyo, were last week suspended for 10 days after being accused of leaking information on a government directive to stop covering government ministers who are members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

DRC: 100 killed in clashes

2009-11-20

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/africa/-/1066/691684/-/134iyagz/-/index.html

Inter-ethnic fighting in the northwestern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo has resulted in the deaths of 100 people and the displacement of 25,000 others, the United Nations has said.

Nigeria: Military attack on community threatens ceasefire

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/yf9grfp

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has threatened to call off its indefinite ceasefire, after alleging a military attack against the Kula community in Rivers state in the early hours of the day.

Uganda: UN forces urged to help protect civilians from rebels

2009-11-20

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32986

The Security Council has called on United Nations missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR) and Sudan to coordinate strategies to protect civilians from the rebel Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which has killed, kidnapped and displaced thousands of people.

Global: Report shows open internet in danger

2009-11-20

http://tinyurl.com/ykbr5a2

A new report that reveals how vulnerable the internet as we know it is, has just been published by two global civil society organisations. The annual report, called Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch), was released by the Association for Progressive Communications and Dutch-funder Hivos. GISWatch 2009 is entitled Access to online information and knowledge – advancing human rights and democracy.

Uganda: Growing use of cellphones for family planning

2009-11-20

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=49343

The growth of cellphone use, particularly in the developing world, is providing health experts with a new channel of communication to provide family planning information.

Eritrea: Press Freedom Updates

AfricaFocus Bulletin Nov 15, 2009 (091115)

2009-11-20

http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/er0911b.php

Eritrea ranks at the very bottom of Reporters without Borders index of press freedom for 2009, released in October. This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains two recent short reports from Reporters without Borders on the situation of journalists in Eritrea, and an account on by exiled journalist Tedros Abraham on his experiences as a journalist in Asmara and and his journey through Sudan to eventual refugee status in Norway.

Global: Launch of Municipal Service Project website

2009-11-19

http://www.municipalservicesproject.org/

The Municipal Service Project (MSP) systematically explores alternatives to the privatization and commercialization of service provision in the health, water, sanitation and electricity sectors. We evaluate service delivery models deemed to be successful alternatives to commercialization in an effort to understand the conditions required for their sustainability and reproducibility.Our focus is on the water, electricity and primary health care sectors in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Africa: Call for research assistants

2009-11-20

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/60419

Interarts, a non-governmental organization based in Spain (www.interarts.net) , will be undertaking research to map the creative sector in seven countries in Western Africa: Benin, Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger and Togo. The aim of the research is to determine current trends and development opportunities within the cultural field, as well as to identify potential partners for collaboration.
Interarts, a non-governmental organization based in Spain (www.interarts.net) , will be undertaking research to map the creative sector in seven countries in Western Africa: Benin, Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger and Togo. The aim of the research is to determine current trends and development opportunities within the cultural field, as well as to identify potential partners for collaboration.

Arterial Network has approached Interarts to use this study to provide opportunities for researchers (senior students, recent graduates, etc) in those countries to acquire experience in this field. The researchers – one per country – will assist the Interarts consultants on an ad hoc basis in their mapping exercises over a period of a few weeks. This work will be largely voluntary and provide an opportunity for the selected researchers to further develop their skills and to network with international researchers. Arterial Network will provide a nominal amount to each researcher to cover incidental costs related to the largely desktop research.

Research in Mali and Burkina Faso will be conducted in December, while research in the other countries will largely be undertaken in the first two months of 2010.

Interested researchers based in Benin, Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger and Togo should submit an application including a covering letter, a CV and two letters of reference in support of their work as researchers to me at margerie@arterialnetwork.org by Thursday 26 November 2009.

Fahamu