Nigeria’s Federal High Court agreed Monday to review the asylum status of fugitive former Liberian President Charles Taylor. Indicted one year ago for war crimes by the United Nations Special Court for Sierra Leone, Taylor has avoided justice by receiving asylum from Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo in August 2003. The High Court decision allowing the challenge to Taylor's asylum status to go forward was brought on behalf of two Nigerian businessmen who were tortured in 1999 by rebel groups in Sierra Leone backed by Taylor.

We representatives of some of the largest continental organisations and national networks headquartered in several African cities, bringing together women's organisations, labour, researchers, development and advocacy NGOs across Africa note that a pre-occupation with domestic issues and international security priorities have displaced the capacity of the G8 to meet it's obligations to Africa in 2004.

Two years after the Africa Action Plan was announced, G8 commitments to Africa appear buried beneath an avalanche of inaction on core areas such as HIV/AIDS, poverty eradication and debt. Africa's cheque remains unsigned and un-cashable in spite of obvious need and progress by the African Union and member-states to meet their obligations to Africa's poor and marginalized.

We nevertheless call upon the G8 to do the right thing in 2004, by announcing a comprehensive debt cancellation strategy for heavily indebted countries; greater market access for African commodities; an end to World Bank/IMF conditionality and delivery on the Africa Action Plan. Should these actions be taken at the upcoming G8 Summit on the Sea Islands, it would dramatically change current trends and create conditions for the determined pursuit of the Millennium Development Goal's in Africa.

Debt Cancellation

Noting the emerging consensus within the G8 on the need for debt cancellation for Iraq and that current debt relief mechanisms are unable to address debt sustainability among several African Countries, we call on the G8 to announce debt cancellation for heavily indebted countries in Africa. If there is one obstacle that stands in the way of Africa meeting the millennium developments goals and assuring basic human rights for its citizens, it is the odious debt that strangles public expenditure and domestic economic growth.

In many African countries, significant resources are being diverted away from basic social services into debt repayment obligations. Broadening access to HIPC for African countries such as Somalia, Sudan and Liberia for instance and deepening the relief, is a step in the right direction but a miniscule step. HIPC countries' sustainability criteria needs to be broadened beyond its narrow link to exports and relate more to poverty and government expenditure on basic social services. The cost of servicing debt continues to be a major source of state failure in Africa. Prioritising only collapsed states and states that have clearly become important to the war on terror for the G8 is short sighted and could open the door to future crises.

The G8 must ensure that all future calculations of debt sustainability for poor countries are linked to the Millennium Development Goals. In addition, the G8 must commit an additional $2.3 billion to ensure that all HIPC countries are brought down to the agreed 150 per cent debt to exports threshold.

Trade Justice

The G8 must address the systemic imbalances in current trade agreements which continue to prop up a multilateral trading system that undermines economic growth and poverty alleviation. Current reform of these agreements would help even the playing field and advance Africa's economic interests. At the World Trade Organisation (WTO), emphasis must necessarily shift away from expanding the trade agenda in favour of addressing existing asymmetries.

The G8 must therefore commit to dropping demands on expanding the WTO agenda to include new multilateral rules on the Singapore Issues. The recent proposals within the European Union to reduce domestic subsidies and open up market access for products of export interest to developing countries can create a firm basis for progress on the Doha Development Agenda.

All G8 members must rally support for this proposal and submit tangible and time-bound commitments on reduction of domestic and export subsidies including all forms of export credits that have a subsidy component. The G8 needs to take greater leadership in injecting political momentum towards realizing the objectives of the Doha Development agenda.

The G8 must make trade count for Africa by addressing World Bank/IMF trade liberalisation conditionality, the dramatic fall in the value of Africa's primary agricultural exports, current G8 tariffs on Africa's exports including non-tariff barriers that continue to discourage processing and value-adding of African commodity exports.

HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis AIDS continues to undermine Africa's development, adversely impacts on the provision of health services and constraints food security and agricultural productivity particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa which has been most affected by the epidemic. Access to affordable life-saving medicines and policy flexibility on intellectual property rights is a pre-requisite in the fight against AIDS. This G8 must go beyond empty promissory notes and support the Global Fund on fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis by increasing funding to enable WHO meet its target of placing 3 million people, predominantly from sub-Saharan Africa, on ARV treatment annually over a five year period. The G8 must also not unnecessary fetter African countries keen on using available flexibilities on parallel importing and compulsory licensing to avail affordable life saving medicines.

Continental Integration

Despite the failure so far of the G8 to live up to its promises regarding support to important African initiatives, African States have embarked on an ambitious programme of continental institutional renewal with the formation of the Peace and Security Council, pan African Parliament, African Court of Justice and the African Peer Review Mechanism (2001-2004). Progress continues to be made on all these fronts.

Nevertheless, a lot more remains to be done by our leaders to enable poor and vulnerable citizens to inform their governments' priorities and trade offs of national and international policy making. As the G8 meets African leaders, we call on the latter to commit to deepening democratic practise and public accountability across our continent by supporting on-going initiatives and strengthening institutions that enhance democratic culture and principles.

* Please send comments to [email protected]

The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights recognizes the importance of women’s rights through three main provisions. Article 18(3), covering the protection of the family, promises to ensure the elimination of all discrimination against women and also ensure protection of the rights of women. Article 2, the non-discrimination clause, provides that the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Charter shall be enjoyed by all irrespective of race, ethnic group, colour, sex, language, religion, political or any other opinion, national and social origin, fortune, birth or other status. And Article 3, the equal protection clause, states that every individual shall be equal before the law and shall be entitled to the equal protection of the law.

However, the above provisions are not adequate to address the rights of women. For example, while Article 18 prohibits discrimination against women, it does so only in the context of the family. In addition, explicit provisions guaranteeing the right of consent to marriage and equality of spouses during and after marriage are absent. These omissions are compounded by the fact that the Charter places emphasis on traditional African values and traditions without addressing concerns that many customary practices, such as female genital mutilation, forced marriage, and wife inheritance, can be harmful or life threatening to women. By ignoring critical issues such as custom and marriage, the Charter inadequately defends women’s human rights.

The World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna, Austria in 1993 made advances to human rights theory and practice with respect to women's human rights. The Declaration and Programme of Action of the World Conference on Human Rights at Vienna emphasized: “The human rights of women and of the girl child are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of the universal human rights.”

It also emphasized that elimination of violence against women is a human-rights obligation upon states. This was the first attempt to address the marginalisation of women’s human rights from the work of mainstream human rights. Thus the slogan that emerged from Vienna: “Women's rights are human rights”. Following almost directly on from Vienna, it was imperative for the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) to expose the specific inequalities that impact negatively on the lives of women and thereby acknowledge that “women’s rights as human rights must be respected and observed”.

Developing the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa:

Article 66 of the Charter that provides for the establishment of Protocols and Agreements to supplement its provisions gave impetus for the consideration and subsequent formulation of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa.

The process started with a meeting organised by Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) on the theme “The African Charter on Human and People's Rights and the Human Rights of Women in Africa” in March 1995 in Lome, Togo. The meeting called for the development of a Protocol to the Charter on Women’s Rights. The meeting also called on the ACHPR to appoint a Special Rapporteur on Women’s Rights in Africa. The Assembly of Heads of States and Government of the Organisation of Africa Unity (OAU) at its 31st Ordinary Session in June 1995, in Addis Ababa, mandated the ACHPR to elaborate a Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa.

The first Draft was prepared by the experts group meeting organised by the ACHPR and the International Commission of Jurist (ICJ) in Nouakchott, Mauritania, April 1997. The experts comprising of members of the ACHPR, representatives of African NGOs and international observers prepared the first Draft Protocol that was submitted to the ACHPR during its 22nd Session held in October 1997 for consideration and comments. The draft was also circulated to NGOs for comments.

The 12th ICJ workshop on “Participation in the African Commission on Human and People's Rights”, October 30 to November 1, 1997, in The Gambia, provided the opportunity for NGOs to make input into the Draft Protocol and pass a resolution calling upon the ACHPR to ensure the completion of the Draft Protocol in time for presentation to the next session of the ACHPR.

The First Meeting of the Working Group on Women’s Rights that brought together members of the ACHPR, the ICJ, WiLDAF and the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) was held in Banjul, The Gambia from 26-28 January 1998. The meeting amended the Draft Protocol and developed the terms of reference for the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa.

During its 23rd Session held in April 1998, the ACHPR endorsed the appointment of the first Special Rapporteur on Women Rights in Africa with a mandate that included working towards the adoption of the Draft Protocol on Women’s Rights. The ACHPR forwarded the Draft Protocol to the OAU Secretariat in 1999. The Inter Africa Committee (IAC) and ACHPR met to merge the Draft Convention on Traditional Practices with the Draft Protocol in 2000, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The first OAU Government Experts Meeting on The Draft Protocol was held in November 2001, in Addis Baba, Ethiopia. The experts amended the Draft Protocol developed by the ACHPR and called on the OAU to schedule a second AU experts meeting in 2002 to consider the draft again before the hosting of an OAU ministerial meeting on the same. African women’s organisations participated in the meeting as observers. The OAU scheduled the second experts meeting and ministerial meeting two times in 2002 but had to postpone them due to lack of quorum. Thus the Draft was not presented for adoption by the inaugural Summit of the African Union (AU) held in Durban, South Africa in July 2002 and it seemed that there was little political will among African governments to move this process forward.

In January 2003, African women's organisations from across the continent met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at a meeting convened by Equality Now, FEMNET and the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA) to come up with strategies to lobby the AU and individual governments to schedule and attend the expert and ministerial meetings on the Draft Protocol. Represented at the meeting were ACDHRS, Akina Mama Wa Africa, the Association of Malian Women Lawyers (AJM), the Association of Senegalese lawyers (AJS), Equality Now, EWLA, Femmes Afrique Solidarite (FAS), FEMNET, WILDAF, and WRAPA. These organisations pooled comments in a collective mark-up to strengthen the document and bring it into line with international standards. Following the meeting they met with officials of the AU, including the then Acting Commissioner for Peace and Security, who was in charge of the Protocol, and urged him to call for the second experts and ministerial meetings on the Protocol in March 2003 in an effort to ensure that the Draft Protocol was adopted by the AU Summit in July 2003. The organisations further lobbied ministries of Justice and Gender at national level through their networks to confirm their participation to ensure the AU obtained the required quorum.

The Second AU Experts Meeting followed by the Ministerial Meeting on the Draft Protocol was held in March 2003, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The meetings amended and adopted the Draft Protocol and recommended it for adoption by the Executive Council and Assembly of the AU. African women’s organisations attended the meetings as observers and lobbied the experts and ministers to strengthen the Draft Protocol to the level of regional and international human rights agreements on women.

The Second Ordinary Summit of the AU adopted the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa on July 11 2003, in Maputo Mozambique. The Assembly appealed to all member states to sign and ratify the Protocol in order to ensure its speedy entry into force. The Protocol will enter into force after 15 countries have ratified it. The Protocol will complement the African Charter in ensuring the promotion and protection of the human rights of women in Africa.

Content and meaning for women in Africa

Mainstream international human rights standards are defined in relation to men's experience, and stated in terms of discrete violations of rights in the public realm whereas most violations of women’s human rights occur in private. The private/public dichotomy that is detrimental to women continues to exist. In most African countries, the same constitutional provisions that guarantee gender equality allow exceptions in the so-called “private law” areas of customary law, personal law and family law. Serious violations of women’s human rights such as violence against women and provisions that discriminate against them are found in that private sphere.

Human rights guarantees in the legally binding human rights conventions such as those to the right of life, to bodily integrity, and to be free from torture, cruel and degrading treatment, have not been interpreted to include such acts as domestic violence, rape, female genital mutilation, forced sterilisation, forced childbirth, and numerous other forms in which violence against women and girls is manifested in Africa.

Provisions on women’s human rights in the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action have not involved a conceptual shift or effected structural changes needed to implement their resolutions. The Protocol primarily complements the African Charter and international human rights conventions by focussing on concrete actions and goals to grant women rights. It further domesticates CEDAW and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in the African context.

The Protocol is in three sections. The first section covers the rationale behind its elaboration, making reference to both regional and international commitments regarding women's human rights. The second section outlines the rights to be upheld by the Protocol. And the third and final section covers implementation by addressing the manner in which it is to be adopted and monitored, as well as the process through which it may be amended. The Protocol affirms four broad categories of rights: civil and political rights; economic, social and cultural rights; the rights to development and peace; and reproductive and sexual rights.

Status of Ratification

Almost a year after its adoption, only one member state of the AU, The Comoros, has signed and ratified it. Twenty-eight member states have signed but are yet to ratify it as at May 12, 2004. This calls for 14 more countries to ratify in order for it to come into force. Its entry into force is critical because it will commit governments to:

* Submit periodic reports to the ACHPR on legislative and other measures they have undertaken to ensure the full realization of rights recognized under the Protocol;
* Integrate a gender perspective in their policy decisions, legislation, development plans and activities and ensure the overall well-being of women;
* Include in their national constitutions and other legislative instruments fundamental principles of the Protocol and ensure their effective implementation;
* Eliminate all forms of violence and discrimination against women in Africa and promote equality between men and women.

Advocacy Needs and Initiatives

Given the time and effort necessary to persuade governments to adopt this Protocol compared with the desperate urgency to promote, protect and safeguard women's human rights in Africa, African civil society organisations have to campaign and lobby governments to sign and ratify the Protocol as soon as possible and in any event, as a gesture of commitment, before the next AU Summit to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in July 2004.

The Oxfam GB, Equality Now, FEMNET, CREDO for Freedom of Expression and Associated Rights and FAHAMU have started a campaign targeting 14 countries that have already signed with the aim of lobbying them to ratify. They have drafted a petition to be presented to the AU Summit in July 2004.

Kindly sign up at

To supplement their efforts you could as an individual or organisation:
* Contact relevant government officials in ministries of foreign affairs, women’s affairs, and justice and urge them to ratify the Protocol;
* Urge governments to be fully involved in the full realization of the human rights of women, if they have not done so;
* Encourage government officials to include the issue of the Protocol in contacts with other governments and to state their positions publicly in the media or other events;
* Inform and increase public awareness about the Protocol by putting women’s issues on the human rights agenda at various fora;
* Mobilize national and local support for the Protocol among academicians, parliamentarians, and the media;
* Work on creating a better and common understanding of issues as provided for in the Protocol;
* Support the organisation of local focal points on the Protocol to lobby and monitor government positions. The focal points will later be effective in the monitoring of implementation of the Protocol by governments.

Conclusion

The Protocol, once it enters into force, will usher in a new and significant era in the promotion and protection of the rights of women in Africa and end impunity for all forms of violations of the human rights of women in Africa. As Dr Angela Melo, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women, ACHPR notes:

“The women of Africa who have suffered for long, their efforts at building our beloved continent have gone on for long without acknowledgement, and the men of Africa should be equally committed to the task. The urgent need to work towards the ratification and effective implementation of the Protocol urgently is a great challenge, yet a duty we all owe to posterity and to Africa.”

*Mary Wandia is the Advocacy Officer with The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) E-mail: [email][email protected]

* Please send comments to [email protected]

REMEMBER: Please sign the petition at

* NOTE FOR EDITORS: Please note that this editorial was commissioned from the author for Pambazuka News. While we are pleased that several print publications have used our editorials, we ask editors to note that if they use this article, they do so on the understanding that they are expected to provide the following credit: "This article first appeared in Pambazuka News, an electronic newsletter for social justice in Africa, Editors are also encouraged to make a donation - and to sign the online petition at

South Africa is celebrating ten years of democracy - a period during which the country has shown progressive leadership, including explicitly targeting information and communications technology (ICT) as an enabler of socio-economic development. In its re-election campaign this year, the Government promised to focus on poverty alleviation and job creation. But, ironically, the Government's legislative efforts affecting new technologies like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) are actually working against the development goals it seeks to achieve.

Isis-Women's International Cross Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE) was the winner of the Gender and ICT Award presented by GKP and APC WNSP in the category "National and Local Outstanding Multi-stakeholder Initiatives", reports the May edition of Pula, the Newsletter of the Association for Progressive Communications Africa Women (APC-Africa-Women). The winning initiative focuses on recording and telling the little-known stories of women in situations of armed conflict in Uganda and other African nations. Since 1997, Isis-WICCE has documented the experiences of women in such situations in 10 countries in Africa through its networks.