Pambazuka News 412: Global crisis of capital and consequences for Africa
Pambazuka News 412: Global crisis of capital and consequences for Africa
The Kenyan government has defended a contentious media bill which critics say is intended to gag the press. The Kenya Communications Amendment Bill, which was passed by parliament, gives the state power to raid media houses and control broadcast content.
Talks aimed at ending the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are encountering serious difficulties, the UN mediator says. Olusegun Obasanjo said this was because Gen Laurent Nkunda's rebel negotiators lacked the authority to make decisions.
Cameroon has budgeted $309 million for the military in 2009 and $105 million for the president’s office and services to the presidency, compared with $106 million for agriculture, which employs 70 percent of its people… In smaller villages, such as Mvomeka’a in the South Province, most Cameroonians live in shacks made of mud bricks and sticks. Only 20 percent of Cameroon’s households have electricity.
This year is the first that school students – or learners as they are now known - are to matriculate under the new Outcomes Based Educational system. OBE was adopted as one of the first major policy innovations under the newly democratic government in South Africa, under the ideological guidance of the first minister of education, Sibusiso Bengu.
The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for a Green New Deal that would work for all nations, rich as well as poor, in the face of two crises: climate change and the global economy. Addressing the high-level segment of the gathering of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that kicked off Thursday, Ban pleaded for "global solidarity on climate change".
With a complex range of ethnic, religious and linguistic groups competing for access to resources, outbreaks of violence leading to significant situations of short-term internal displacement are frequent in Nigeria. Many internally displaced people (IDPs) seek refuge with family and friends while waiting for the violence to subside so they can return to their homes.
We remain extremely concerned for the safety of the displaced Congolese population in Kibati as the civilian character of these two UNHCR-run camps north of Goma is continually violated. In another incident early this morning, two young girls were shot. A 5-year-old died and a 7-year-old girl is fighting for her life in a local hospital. Our staff also reported this morning that another woman was raped by armed men in the vicinity of Kibati camp yesterday evening.
The South African government is considering "managing" the influx of Zimbabweans, said a government spokesman after its border area with Zimbabwe was declared a cholera disaster area. "We are looking into the issue," Themba Maseko responded to a question on whether the country would control the number of possibly infected Zimbabweans entering South Africa.
Leading environment groups have opposed plans to hand over financing to check climate change to the World Bank. Industrialised countries may be required to provide more than 100 billion dollars for developing countries to build low-carbon economies, according to unofficial estimates. This money should not be handled by the World Bank, 142 organisations fighting for climate justice said in a joint statement Tuesday (Dec. 9) at the UN climate talks under way in the Polish city Poznan.
Forty year-old Angelique reveals a gunshot wound in her back to women in the Keyshero Medical centre, while her six-year-old daughter reaches up to touch it. Angelique (her name has been changed) and her family were attacked in their village in November 2007 when men dressed in police uniforms broke into their house at night, looted it, and forced her family into the forest.
As the world celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the UN General Assembly will hear a statement in mid-December endorsed by more than 50 countries across the globe calling for an end to rights abuses based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Civil society calls for action to remove HIV related travel and residence regulations for people living with HIV in time for the Vienna World Aids Conference in 2010. States should do whatever possible to insure that legal discrimination of people with HIV ceases to exist. People with HIV should have the same rights than others.
Although Burundi has made commendable advances in key areas for peace consolidation, an impasse between the Government and the last major rebel holdout is deepening and the risks of renewed confrontation are intensifying, according to a United Nations report being discussed by the Security Council.
The United Nations Security Council has underscored the need for continued international support for Guinea-Bissau, while voicing their concern over security in the West African country which faced an unsuccessful coup attempt last month by elements of the military. Renegade military elements launched an armed attack on the residence of President João Bernardo Vieira in the capital, Bissau, on 23 November.
The top United Nations envoy to Somalia has welcomed the return of an opposition leader, who took part in reconciliation talks with the strife-torn Horn of Africa nation’s Government, to the capital Mogadishu. The Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, characterized the return after a nearly two-year absence of Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, who heads the Alliance of the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), as “a most welcome development.”
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has bestowed this year's Ceres Medal to Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson for her work in promoting food security and agricultural development. At the 6 December ceremony in the northern Liberian town of Voinjama, Jacques Diouf, FAO Director-General, the West African nation has prioritized bolstering agriculture as part of its development efforts, despite the degradation of the farming sector following two wars.
This study commissioned by APC and written by wireless expert Ian Howard explores sustainable ICT and the need for wireless internet access for development (W4D). Intended to serve as a guide to members of the W4D community involved in African initiatives, Howard draws conclusions based on his observations of two telecentres in Tanzania with very different business models.
Zimbabwe's President Mugabe has called MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai a political prostitute and said that British premier Gordon Brown must undergo mental examination. He was addressing mourners gathered at the national burial shrine, for the burial of ZANU PF political commissar Eliot Manyika.
Nigeria's president Yar'Adua has appealed for the repealing of laws that protect politicians from prosecution whiles in office. His appeal came while marking this year's international anti-corruption day. He also launched a new campaign to encourage Nigerians to report corrupt practices.
After issuing statements denying that scores of people were murdered in the Chiadzwa diamond fields in Manicaland province, the truth finally came out on Thursday when the District Administrator for Mutare appealed to the City Council for land to bury 83 people. The Deputy Mayor for Mutare, Admire Mukovera, confirmed receiving a phone call from the DA Mr Mashava, requesting land for a mass burial.
The 22 abducted political and civic activists, including Zimbabwe Peace Project director Jestina Mukoko, are still missing. We were not able to contact Alec Muchadehama, the lawyer representing the missing MDC activists, but lawyers representing Mukoko say the police are completely ignoring a court order. The courts had ordered the police to thoroughly investigate Mukoko’s abduction, report at 10am at the High Court every day with an update on their investigations, and put advertisements in both the electronic and print media. But none of this has happened.
African National Congress secretary general Gwede Mantashe, claimed on Thursday that Robert Mugabe had ‘real fears’ of being hauled before the International Criminal Court in the Hague, if he were to relinquish power. Mantashe made the claim in the coastal city of Durban during a breakfast meeting with journalists and editors. He revealed that the higher structures of the ANC had discussed Mugabe’s reasons for wanting to stay in power and that he was afraid of being arrested and charged with war crimes like former Liberian President Charles Taylor.
Maurine Kamau* lost her first child immediately after birth but did not discover why the baby had died until she fell pregnant a second time and tested positive for HIV at the Nazareth Mission Hospital, on the outskirts of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. She received counselling at the hospital's prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) unit and her second child tested negative for HIV. Now four months old, the baby is doing well and has regular checkups at the hospital.
Botswana's President Ian Khama has said that the number of HIV-positive people accessing antiretroviral therapy in the country is expected to nearly double over the next eight years, Mmegi/AllAfrica.com reports. If current HIV and Aids rates continue, the number of HIV-positive people accessing the drugs could increase to 220 600, up from an estimated 145 000 currently, according to Khama.
Despite improvements in living conditions over the past decade, the health of South Africans has worsened, according to the SA Health Review 2008 which was launched last night (Dec 10) in Pretoria. “There have been clear improvements in access to water and sanitation, services that are essential for good health,” reports researcher Debbie Bradshaw.
Kano State government has said it would make the teaching of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) mandatory at all levels of education and that it had commenced the training of teachers on its use, as well as upgrading libraries to digital ones.
Governments in southern Africa are still failing to honour their own commitments to scale up access to antiretroviral therapy despite the growing availability of international donor support to do so, according to a new report from the Southern Africa Treatment Access Movement (SATAMo). The Southern African Treatment Access Movement, a network of community-based activists in eleven countries, is calling on regional leaders to keep the promises they made towards provision of HIV treatment by committing the necessary resources.
In a bid to lure votes and increase their exposure, presidential candidates in Tunisia are taking their campaigns to the pages of popular social networking website Facebook. At least two candidates, Mohamed Bouchiha of the People's Unity Party (PUP) and Ahmed Nejib Chebbi of the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), have created their own pages on the website to campaign in the October 2009 elections.
Human rights as we know them today are based on the principles of equality, liberty and solidarity which emerged during the French Revolution and were embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. While all human rights must be interpreted taking into account all three of these guiding principles, due to historical reasons, each principle has in turn generated a different set of rights.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres on Wednesday opened a two-day international dialogue aimed at seeking solutions for millions of people caught up in the limbo of so-called "protracted refugee situations" in which they spend years in exile with no end in sight. Guterres told some 300 representatives of more than 50 governments and governmental and non-governmental organizations in Geneva's Palais des Nations that the world must do more to resolve the seemingly endless plight of nearly 6 million refugees who have spent years, and sometimes decades, in exile.
Two years after the historic court victory that affirmed the Kalahari Bushmen’s right to live and hunt on their land, Botswana’s President Ian Khama has told the Bushmen that their hunting way of life is an ‘archaic fantasy’. Botswana’s High Court affirmed on 13 December 2006 that the government’s eviction of the Bushmen was ‘unlawful and unconstitutional’, and that they have the right to live on their ancestral land inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR).
The Botswana government has given its approval to a controversial diamond mine on the land of the Kalahari Bushmen – on the condition that the mining company Gem Diamonds does not provide the Bushmen with water. The government has, however, reserved the right to use water boreholes drilled by Gem for wildlife.
The current political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe is dealing a blow to the provision of free treatment and care to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs). While there has been a significant decline in the country’s HIV prevalence rate from 18.1 percent in 2005 to 15.6 percent in 2007, activists believe this has been "the most difficult year" for HIV-positive persons.
One night, in a country swept up in a long and harrowing armed conflict, Liberian social worker Leymah Gbowee dreamt that she gathered women together to pray for peace. Her dream was realised in 2003 at St. Peters Lutheran Church in Monrovia, when women of all walks of life gathered there to demand peace, a peace that Liberia hadn't seen in years. In the months that followed, Gbowee's dream would gain momentum.
The debate over reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation is dominating the United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Poznan, Poland, Dec. 1-12. At issue is the best way to deal with the 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation.
Since the November 2004 murder of Frank Kangundu, journalist with the Congolese daily ‘La Référence Plus’, and his wife, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has entered a sad cycle of killings of media professionals. The most recent target was Didace Namujimbo, a journalist with Radio Okapi, who was shot in the head by unidentified assailants near his home in Ndendere, in South Kivu’s Ibanda county (eastern DRC) on Nov. 22, 2008.
Cash transfers have become an increasingly popular way of providing social protection in low-income African countries. This study aims to find out more about the impact of social pensions for older people and the combination with child benefits in older people headed households, and what can be learnt from the experiences with this approach in the Kwa Wazee project in Tanzania.
There is a ‘secret-cult’ silence on the issue of abuse of the elderly in Nigeria, argues the author of this paper. The victims of abuse and others are reluctant to talk about it, and there is constant denial by victims and abusers. Acts of abuse are usually regarded as normal behaviour within society. What can ordinary Nigerians, the government, families and communities do to assist the abused and abusers in prevention and intervention strategies that will benefit the elderly in Nigeria?
South Africans are still prejudiced about homosexuals despite having some of the most progressive legislation in the world, with 80% of the population believing that sex between lesbians or gay men is wrong, according to a study commissioned by the Human Sciences Research Council. This is in line with another comparative study, which examined the attitudes of 40 countries to homosexuality, according to researchers Benjamin Roberts and Prof Vasu Reddy.
The murder trial of Zoliswa Nkonyana was finally heard last Friday at the Khayelitsha Regional Court following an array of postponements. The trial began last week Friday, 5 December, three years after the brutal murder of this Khyelitsha lesbian, killed because of her sexual orientation. Phindiswa Magxala, a witness who was present on the day of Nkonyana’s murder, told the court how, on 4 February 2006, they were attacked by more than 14 people, four of whom were women, in front of Nkonyana’s step father Gcinumuzi Madondo just meters away from her home.
Habib Papy Boubendji, also known as Habib Bibalou, a journalist with the satirical weekly Le Nganga, was badly beaten by soldiers inside the presidential compound in Libreville on the night of 5 December, Reporters Without Borders has learned from several sources. “This incident could easily have ended tragically, with one more name being added to the grim list of journalists who have ‘disappeared’ after falling into the clutches of an African president’s bodyguards”, the press freedom organisation said.
The African Union (AU) is hoping to set up a communal fund to pay for education, science and technology programmes on the continent. The fund would be held by the African Development Bank (ADB), and be open to contributions from international donors as well as from African governments.
African universities have rallied behind a scheme to integrate community-guided environmental initiatives into their teaching and research agendas. The African Association of Universities (AAU), a confederation of 212 universities, stated its support for the Mainstreaming Environment and Sustainability in African Universities (MESA) Partnership during the 1st MESA International Conference held at the UN Environment Programme headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, last week (24–28 November).
Alice Munyua, of APC Member Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) spoke at the IGF opening ceremony. In her speech, she highlighted the East African Internet Governance Forum (EAIGF) held in early November as the first of its kind in the African region. “[The EAIFG] was initiated from the realisation that there was a need to address very limited participation by Africa stakeholders in not only the Internet Governance Forum but also in other global ICT policy processes.”
The close-down of several copper and cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) southern Katanga Province has now developed into "an economic crisis", according to UN sources. According to the UN's peacekeeping mission in the DRC, MONUC, has expressed its concern over "the current economic crisis in south-eastern DR Congo’s Katanga province, which has led several mining companies to stop their operations."
The Togolese cabinet has presented a bill that will abolish capital penalty in a nation plagued with human rights violations. Human rights groups are delighted by the news.On 10 December, the symbolic day of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Togolese government presented a bill that will abolish the death penalty in the country, if approved of by the Lomé parliament.
The lack of clean drinking water and proper hygiene fuelled the spread of cholera in the south and southwest of the Republic of Congo, says the Congolese Red Cross, which has just completed a campaign to teach people how to recognise and stem the spread of the disease. It said the cholera outbreak began in the Boeunza region in February 2008 and that by the end of November 127 cases of the disease and three deaths had been registered.
Diarrhoea and other deadly waterborne illnesses threaten some 28,000 Chadians in an eastern town, after armed attacks – including the theft of a water pump – forced out the last aid workers running already scaled-down operations. UN aid officials fear that people will begin to flee the area – Dogdore – if aid operations do not resume there soon, thus further complicating humanitarian efforts in Chad's volatile east. About 24,500 displaced Chadians live in Dogdore, along with some 4,000 local residents, according to the UN.
Zed Books was this week announced as the winner of the prestigious 2008 Pandora Award from Women in Publishing, for ‘a significant and valuable contribution to publishing’. The Pandora Award has been presented since 1981 to an individual or organization for promoting positive images of women in publishing, bookselling and related trades.
Lino Matope, 23, is lying on a mangy cotton mattress in a tiny shack made of corrugated iron sheets at the Feira market in Chimoio, capital of central Mozambique's Manica Province, receiving his fourth illegal injection of benzatinic penicillin. "The injection is giving me muscle cramps," he says, kicking his legs. "But I have to continue taking them to cure the gonorrhoea I picked up."
The exclusion of disabled people living with HIV in Africa is so entrenched that they were even marginalised at the latest international conference on the disease, according to disabled rights activists. Rights groups claim that many of their members were shut out of the opening ceremony of the 15th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA) held in Dakar, Senegal, last week, because they could not access the room. The only entrance to the amphitheatre that did not have stairs was reserved for the President of Senegal.
We, representatives of peasant organizations, women, migrants, workers, consumers, urban and rural poor, fisherfolks, social movements and civil society organizations are writing to express our alarm that efforts are being made to conclude the Doha “Development” Round of negotiations.
Pambazuka News 411: 16 days of activism against gender-based violence
Pambazuka News 411: 16 days of activism against gender-based violence
As President- Elect Barrack Obama was announced the next President of the United States of America, African Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET) was approaching the climax of celebrating its yearlong 20th anniversary. FEMNET was set up in 1988 by a group of women who had the conviction about the strength of numbers in any transformation or change process. We are very lucky to witness the historical moment of President – Elect Obama’s election victory. There was a lot of crying, jubilation, hugging among people from different communities here in Kenya after the world listened to his inaugural speech. This election is not only significant in the lives of Americans it is for all people in the world. We want to see things change for the better – to have a more peaceful world where the main providers of development aid and humanitarian assistance are not the main producers and distributors of military arms especially small arms that have caused a lot of havoc in all regions in Africa.
When the founders of the African Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET) resolved to set up the network 20 years ago they had a dream. They wanted to see to it that every woman in Africa is able to live in dignity, enjoy life free of violence and deprivation and be equal partners in the development of our dear continent Africa and in directing its affairs. They were convinced that the more women from different parts of Africa remained in contact with one another, the more they would learn from each others’ experiences, provide support for one another and build a strong women’s movement for the development of Africa.
It is indeed commendable that our founder members took action and today we have a very strong, well respected and reputable Network of women organizations in Africa. This is a very good cause for celebration of 20 years achievements. The network has mobilized women at all levels to take action to transform their lives. It has raised issues affecting African women at regional and international levels and lobbied to ensure that these issues are part of the mainstream agenda. Where the issues required special attention FEMNET and its members have demanded for it. The Network has also played a critical role of documenting African women’s experiences and sharing them widely through seminars, dialogues and meetings, publication of reports, newsletters, journals, email and though its website.
As we start on the journey of the next 10 years FEMNET is fully aware that the terrain has changed fundamentally since its inception in 1998. There are more actors on the continent working at different levels and on various women’s rights issues. There are multiple women’s networks that are either issue –focused or working in particular sub- regions or countries on selected issues. There are many more women organizations with varying capacities and composition working at country level that may not necessary be strategically linked with other women groups within the same countries. National women’s network and umbrella bodies have taken on slightly different roles as more and more women are able to organize and lobby for their concerns through different configurations in country, across sub - regions and in some cases covering a considerable part of the continent. This is an indication of success that many more women are mobilized and involved in the change and development processes in Africa. Many have taken the stand to challenge the patriarchal systems that have kept women in subordinate positions for far too long and create spaces for women’s organizing and activism.
On the other hand there are many more actors to link up with who are not necessarily well coordinated. This is a big challenge as it requires investment of many woman-hours to just attend to the communications received on a daily basis. As the bigger actors become more sophisticated in their strategies there is a growing gap between the activists working at the grassroots level and those operating at the regional and international levels. Though the issues of concern remain the same the approaches of the grassroots activists and those operating more at the regional and international levels seem to be so different and divorced from each other.
In this Special issue of Pambazuka you will find a story on a dialogue FEMNET held during the AWID Conference in Cape Town, South Africa from the 14th – 17th of November 2008. The women activists operating at the grassroots levels strongly expressed their concerns about the disconnection between women’s grassroots activism and the advocacy work at regional and international levels. They recommended that strategies must be devised specifically by FEMNET to minimize this gap.
Another story in this Special issue shares about the ceremony at which the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Development flagged off the three buses that are involved in the 2008 Men Travelling Conference (MTC). This is an annual event organized by FEMNET in partnership with the Men for Gender Equality Now (MEGEN – Kenya) as part of the 16 days of activism against gender – based violence (GBV). The members of MEGEN (majority are men) go out in different parts of the country to mobilize people to say No to GBV. They use drama, music, printed materials and informal discussion fora to share the message of the MTC.
The flagging off ceremony was held a Mathare North Social Centre. Mathare is a densely populated community. The three hours we spent with the members of this community made it very clear that as women feminists and activists we urgently need to get back to the basics if we are to build a critical mass of people to support the change we want to see in our societies and communities during our lifetime. Theorizing and intellectualism is good and necessary for reaching out to our governments and other intellectuals. However we need more foot soldiers, visionary leaders, more Mother Theresas who are willing and committed to spend less time in board rooms and more quality time in the field, with the people.
We have to inspire people to take action in order to realize their dream of having better services, access to clean and safe water sources, proper drainage and sanitation systems, clean and safer environments, better roads and planning of our cities and townships, more women leaders, better health facilities and services, communities free of violence.
Declarations and resolutions adopted in five star hotels have not resulted in the change we desire to see. The hit-and-run strategies that many organizations are engaged in will not and cannot bring about transformation of our continent and the improved status of women in Africa. It is time to change gear and get back to the basics.
It is on this premise that FEMNET for the next 10 years will lead by example to enable activists to get back to basics. We shall continue to advocate and facilitate communication on issues that are of concern to women specifically for purposes of inspiring action. We shall commit more time and resources to bridge the gap between the board room work and activism and women’s grassroots organizing. This will be done by strengthening our network in the region and collaborating with other networks and regional organizations working on the promotion of women’s rights in Africa. We shall provide platforms for activists operating at different levels in the region to engage more often. We shall mobilize resources to support the documentation of the experiences of women’s grassroots organizing to ensure that these experiences inform our lobbying and advocacy work at the regional and international levels.
* Norah Matovu is the Executive Director of FEMNET.
* Please send comments to or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/
Development must be people-centered! This was the specific re-assertion by the over sixty representatives from various governments, civil society organizations, NGOs and development partners attending the 2008 Civil Society Development Forum (CSDF) in Geneva last month. And in the words of Mr. Liberato C. Bautista, President of the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CONGO), “the nexus between human rights and sustainable development is not so much as a venue for consensus-making, for such venues have been amply convened, and in many occasions, failed to stir imaginations. The nexus matters because at the junction where human rights and sustainable development meets, they coalesce, they collaborate, they cross-fertilize and they become one”.
The Forum reviewed progress and further developed the recommendations and conclusions outlined in the 20-point Outcome Document resulting from the CONGO New York meeting convened in June 2008. These recommendations will subsequently be submitted to the ECOSOC Bureau and the United Nations Secretariat (UN/DESA) as well as feed into discussions at ECOSOC, including into ECOSOC's reporting to the UN General Assembly. Ultimately, these recommendations will be valuable instruments for assisting us in civil society and non-governmental organizations in shaping our own strategies and in contributing to discussions and debates around development at regional and global fora.
As Africa continues to experience profound transformations, be it political, economic, cultural, social, or technological, we are witnessing the wider populace getting more and more aware of their basic human rights. In many cases where their rights have been denied or disrespected, we have seen men and women, young and old, come out to confront their government leaders and demand for their rights. For instance, a number of countries have experienced some form of ‘citizen-pressure’ for broader participation and inclusiveness in political and economic decision-making, thus opening up political spaces where citizens are demanding for social justice, good governance, equity, accountability, human rights and democracy. Such demands have given birth to new ways of ‘doing’, ‘knowing’ and ‘being’ that is totally different and altering the status quo.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has been caught up in conflict for more than a decade, with devastating effects on its civilian population especially women and children. Rebel militias led by General Laurent Nkunda and Congolese army troops are fighting for control of the mineral-rich Eastern Province. Proceeds from the sale of minerals are being used to fund the activities which prolong the conflict. Thousands women and children have been displaced from their homes as a result of the recurrent war in Congo.
As the war in Congo drags on, African women are grappling to find ways of stopping sexual violence in the war zone. The AWID international Conference held from 11th to 14th November 2008 provided an opportunity and space for women in the great lakes region to meet and find ways of address Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Congo. The discussion spearheaded by Eastern African sub Regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI) under the theme "The role of women in Peace process in the Great Lakes Region." The outcome of this meeting was the formation of a working group tasked with visiting the DRC. The aim of the visit will be to highlight the situation in the DRC with special emphasis on issues relating to abuse of women. The working group comprises Women's NGOs in the Great Lakes Regions namely: African women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), Urgent Action Fund, Women and Law in Development, EASSI and individuals committed fight SGBV in Congo.
If men want to join Sikhula Sonke, a women-led trade union for South African farm workers, they must sign a declaration saying that they will refrain from violence against women. Union members have also vowed to intervene within their communities whenever violence against women occurs.
Wendy Pekeur, Secretary-General of Sikhula Sonke, explains that these and other innovative strategies, which do not focus squarely on labour issues, but address major social needs of the members, are part of the success of the small but growing union. For many of Sikhula Sonke’s 4 000 members, a large part of them women seasonal workers or unemployed women, violence is often a part of life.
“Women are very dependent on men in the farmlands. Most women are employed as seasonal workers, and depend on substituting for male farm workers, whereas most men have a full-year employment. Women therefore often only access housing through a man. This is one reason why women tend to stay on in violent situations, because otherwise they will lose their housing.”
Malawi is a land-locked country in southern Africa. With a population of between 11.5 to 12.5 million and is among the poorest countries in the world. Like many other sub Saharan countries, Malawi is grappling with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Women are most affected by the pandemic - out of 809, 833 persons living with HIV in the country, 473, 000 are women.
The civil service is the worst hit sector in the country. The Malawi police service has a high HIV prevalence rate among its service women; an update on the Malawi National Response to HIV/AIDS indicates that 32 percent of female police officers are currently infected with HIV.
There has been marked success within development organizations that are able to design HIV/AIDS mainstreaming strategies in an effort to prevent, and mitigate the effects of HIV/AIDS. These lessons along with the strategies employed by a handful of dedicated individuals have the potential to make real change in ho Malawi and other African countries address HIV/AIDS.
As the world commemorates World AIDS Day, The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) celebrates the role of dedicated women in Africa who work tirelessly to fight HIV/AIDS. Eluby Jere, a policewoman based in Malawi’s commercial capital Blantyre, is one such person who has worked hard, with little recognition.
During the 16 days of Activism against Gender Violence, 114 gender activists from Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and Uganda, the majority of them men, travelled to remote areas of Kenya by bus, urging people from all walks of life to take action on gender violence.
In a country where close to 1 in 2 women has experienced violence, responses were varied and complex – with many people coming out to report cases or explaining how they take action to curb violence, and others pledging never to give up on their power over women.
As 36 activists disembark from a bus branded with messages on the role men can play in ending gender violence, people around the central market place in Machakos town turn to watch, interrupting their normal business. The group quickly gets organized, forming a circle, and moving around dancing and singing, while hundreds of curious people, gather around them – and the scene is set. The Men for Gender Equality Now (MEGEN Kenya) drama group, with assistance from Malawian and Zambian activists, does its first skit, on the theme of gender-based violence.
As they perform, people trading at the market place, people coming to do their shopping and passers-by join the show, laugh, get surprised, comment loudly on the happenings, or just look on quietly. Afterwards, one of the leaders introduces the group, and talks about gender-based violence, what it entails, what people’s rights are, and how survivors can seek redress. Many stay on to discuss issues on a one-on-one basis with members of the group, all easily identified in their red t-shirts with messages on domestic violence, after the session is over. Several people report on cases of gender-based violence, which the Rapid Response Team of MEGEN, are tasked to follow-up, then the group gathers to move on to the next destination.
The market place session is one of the strategies utilised during the “Men’s Travelling Conference” (MTC), that has been organised by FEMNET, through its project Men for Gender Equality Now (MEGEN) since 2003, during the 16 days of Activism against Gender Violence. This year, the MTC lasted for 5 days, with buses carrying a total of 114 activists travelling on 3 different routes from Nairobi: to the Western and Nyanza provinces, to Coast province and to Central province. The team included gender trainers, counsellors, police officers and artists. The aim of this initiative is to extend the discussion on gender-based violence during the 16 days of activism beyond conference halls, TV-shows and newspapers, which rarely reaches to grassroots men and women residing outside of the major urban centres.
With examples of the considerable risk of sexual violence faced by Somali women from a range of military organisations including the Somali Transitional Government, Ethiopian troops, and local militias, Nada Ali argues that much more needs to be done to ensure that those vulnerable within some of the African continent’s most conflict-torn areas receive adequate protection from abuse. The UN Security Council’s formation of an international commission of inquiry focussing on sexual violence, Ali argues, represents a key step if perpetrators are to begin to be effectively held to account.
Following the unveiling of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development in August 2008, Rachel Kagoiya reviews the new responsibilities for governments across the region to ensure women occupy 50 percent of all government positions by 2015. The author also discusses women’s prospects under the SADC Free Trade Agreement, and argues that moves towards the freer cross-border movement of goods must be implemented in a way that is of genuine benefit to the region’s majority female traders.
Emphasising the centrality of consolidating links within the women’s movement in Africa, Carlyn Hambuba underlines the importance of involving grassroots women to ensure their voices be heard. With grassroots women increasingly sensitive to their own needs for representation, the author urges NGOs to refrain from simply speaking on behalf of others and to work towards the effective incorporation of local women into development debates.
Pambazuka News 409: Special Issue: Power, politics and AIDS in Africa
Pambazuka News 409: Special Issue: Power, politics and AIDS in Africa
Universal HIV testing and immediate antiretroviral therapy for everyone diagnosed with HIV in a country with very high HIV prevalence could reduce new infections from 20 per thousand to 1 per thousand within ten years (a 95% reduction), according to findings from a mathematical modelling exercise carried out by the World Health Organization, published on November 26th by The Lancet.
By 1980 AIDS had spread to five continents around the world. Twenty eight years on there is still no cure although many people claim to have one. Thousands of people spend their life savings on ‘Quack doctors’ each year, with the belief that they can be cured. December 1st 2008 marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS day. Runtime: 30 minutes.
When Mariana Uchandidhora's husband was killed in a traffic accident in South Africa a year ago, tradition required that she have sex with her deceased husband's brother in order to be purified. Uchandidhora, 36, refused, arguing that her brother-in-law was much younger than she was, but the family found an older man from outside the family to carry out the ritual, known as "khupita khufa". Two months later she discovered that she was both pregnant and HIV-positive.
A woman in Malawi left her husband after years of abuse. He found her and raped her, an act not criminalised in Malawi when it occurs within marriage. The woman later tested positive for HIV and discovered that her husband had known his HIV-positive status for some time. When she confronted him about why he had infected her, he responded: "Because we must leave together".
Sixty years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and on the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day, people living with HIV in Mozambique are still experiencing frequent human rights abuses. "There are signs that many people have been the victims of violence, or even lost their lives, for having gone public about their HIV-positive status," said Alice Mabote, president of the Mozambican League of Human Rights.
The party at a popular restaurant in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, looks ordinary, but the people attending it - all of whom are HIV-positive - are enjoying a rare opportunity to socialise without feeling like an outsider. The young men and women spent the afternoon relaxing and getting to know each other; by the end of the evening new friends had been made, phone numbers exchanged and there were plans to meet again.
Countries in sub-Saharan Africa are looking at a new way of preventing HIV infections: criminal charges. But experts argue that applying criminal law to HIV transmission will achieve neither criminal justice nor curb the spread of the virus; rather, it will increase discrimination against people living with HIV, and undermine public health and human rights.
The story of Samuel and Stella Malunga* is one of love and forgiveness in a time of HIV and AIDS. They met and fell in love while studying law at a university in neighbouring South Africa. Samuel graduated two years before Stella and returned to Zimbabwe but kept their relationship going until she was able to join him in 2000.
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the first observance of World AIDS Day, a new report by UNAIDS calls on countries to realign HIV prevention programmes through understanding how the most recent HIV infections were transmitted, and understanding the reasons why they occurred. “Not only will this approach help prevent the next 1,000 infections in each community, but it will also make money for AIDS work more effectively and help put forward a long term and sustainable AIDS response,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot.
On this twentieth World AIDS Day, we are at the dawn of a new era. Fewer people are being infected with HIV. Fewer people are dying of AIDS. This success owes itself to people all over the world who are taking the lead to stop AIDS. Governments are delivering on their promises to scale up universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. But this is just the beginning. There is no room for complacency. AIDS will not go away any time soon.
Access to HIV testing and antiretrovirals for prevention of mother to child HIV transmission has grown substantially over the past four years in the countries most severely affected by HIV, UN agencies reported today – but around 40% of women in the high prevalence countries of southern Africa are still not being offered an HIV test during pregnancy.
Traditional healers could potentially be an important source of HIV treatment in some African settings, according a study published in the December 1st edition of AIDS. Investigators from Zimbabwe and the University of Pennsylvania found that patients reported better quality of life after a visit to a traditional healer than did patients who accessed orthodox medical services.
Grammy Award winning singer and UNICEF goodwill ambassador Angelique Kidjo on Monday called for a relentless fight against AIDS in Africa, the world's most affected continent. "HIV-AIDS has become a huge issue for my continent and the fight against it must be relentless and determined," the Benin-born Kidjo told AFP in an interview to mark the World AIDS Day.
On 1 December 2008 over 130 media houses in 11 countries in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) publicly launched HIV and AIDS policies as part of commemorations to mark World AIDS Day. The climax of a three-year Media Action Plan (MAP) on HIV and AIDS and Gender, simultaneous launches will take place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Lesotho; Madagascar; Malawi; Mauritius; Mozambique; Namibia; Seychelles; Swaziland; Tanzania; and Zambia.
I moved to South Africa 14 years ago from a very small country in central Africa. I always wanted to give my children a chance to grow up with a father figure since I had been a single mother for the first 15 years of their lives. I started corresponding with an old boyfriend living here in Johannesburg, and in January 1995, I visited him, rekindling the spark.
UNESCO’s culture and HIV and AIDS programme is developing and testing a toolkit on the use of arts to address HIV and AIDS-related stigma and discrimination in Zambia. The objective of the toolkit is to generate discussions and exercises facilitating learning and enhancing knowledge of key issues concerning HIV and AIDS related stigma and discrimination through arts.
This year marks the 20th Anniversary of World AIDS Day. Looking back over the last 20 years, we see there has been progress — there is not only greater awareness of the gender dimensions of HIV and AIDS but also greater commitment to addressing these. But today, let us instead look forward, to what the world could look like 20 years from now, if we are able to deliver on these commitments. We would then have cause not just for commemoration but also for celebration.
AIDS Outlook is a new report from UNAIDS that provides perspectives on some of the most pressing issues that will confront policymakers and leaders as they respond to the challenges presented by AIDS in 2009. In many ways the year ahead will be a year of transition—and acceleration. Many countries are reviewing their national strategies on AIDS. Even though political commitment for AIDS is at an all-time high, recent developments in the financial world will test the resilience of many.
cc. States in Transition Observatory look at the Zimbabwe’s botched election and the subsequent violence, and how this has specifically affected women. They underscore the fact that in times of crisis and conflict, such as those still being witnessed in Zimbabwe, it is always the women and children who are most victimized. The case of Zimbabwe shows how women suffer, both for perceived direct participation in the political process, but also by proxy, for their husbands’ or family members’ involvement. In Zimbabwe, as in other conflict areas, sexual violence continues to be a tool of war.