Deaths of parents from AIDS-related illnesses in rural Swaziland has slowed the rate of school construction, school officials told Prime Minister Dlamini during a visit to the north of the country. "Construction of our high school was financed by parents. Unfortunately, most of these parents have passed away and everything has stopped," said Phindile Magagula, a community leader in Ludzibini.

As the World Day to Combat Desertification was commemorated over the weekend, the United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, in a message said current trends suggest that by 2020, some 60 million people would be displaced because of desert conditions. It is projected that these people could move from desert areas of sub-Saharan Africa towards North Africa and Europe.

Up to 20,000 villagers, resident in areas in and around 330,000 hectares of land endowed with commercial tree species, are to benefit from revenue generated through community forest projects at Ncumcara, near Rundu, following legalisation.

Governor Kalu of Abia State predicted the imminent collapse of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party despite the claim of the party to being the largest in Africa. Kalu said the end of PDP was at hand because it has failed the people who placed so much hope on it, adding that the arrogance of the party will soon come to an end with its rejection by Nigerians in the forth-coming elections.

The Climate Change Adaptation in Africa Research and Capacity Development Programme (CCAA) is launching a first call for concept notes for CCAA start-up activities that contribute to the objectives of the programme.
Deadline for applications: 15 July 2006

With more than 300,000 IDPs in Kitgum district alone, living conditions in the camps are crowded and degrading. Huts are spaced only a few meters apart, and there are inevitably five or more people living in each small shelter. Women wait in line for hours at boreholes and often end up with less water than is required by minimum sanitation standards. But the situation is improving.

The Africa Union has urged its member states to put an end to the practice of female genital mutilation, saying the ritual traumatised millions of girls and women on the continent.

As winter sets in, the Zimbabwean government has launched another operation to purge the capital, Harare, of "illegal" homes and market stalls in an effort to "clean" the city.

“Cashew nuts are very important! They enable us to eat and earn cash to buy other things,” said Bide Man, a farmer in northern Guinea Bissau. “We farm many things, but nothing helps us like the cashew”. Farmers have even stopped growing the national staple food, rice, in favour of the mighty cashew and now the country doesn’t grow enough rice to feed itself.

A group of men took to the streets in protest after a number of well-publicised incidents reported attacks by women, but some analysts say the real scare is the changing role of women in society. But some social analysts felt Swazi men were less concerned about random acts of violence by women against men than the evolution of women's role in society.

Burundi's government and the country's last active rebel group have agreed to end hostilities and draft a permanent ceasefire deal in the next two weeks. Observers say a deal with the FNL is seen as one of the final hurdles for stability after the long civil war.

The men and women in Yasira market have no illusions about the upcoming elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the benefit their votes will bring. "We expect presents from candidates, otherwise we will not vote for them," said 20-year-old Lobela Lionda.

The chief prosecutor of the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) has told the UN Security Council that investigators have uncovered evidence of "large-scale massacres" in Darfur, Sudan, but stopped short of labeling the situation there "genocide". Attacks on villages and refugee camps by Khartoum-backed Arab militias have killed as many as 400,000 people over the past three years, and left another 700,000 homeless and without access to humanitarian relief.

Keeping a promise made at the United Nations six years ago to dramatically improve the lives of at least 100 million poor city dwellers by the year 2020 will be a major focus of the World Urban Forum from June 19 to 23. A large number of people, particularly in Africa, still live in informal settlements and slums because municipal governments fail to provide adequate housing and basic services.

As much as 24% of global disease is caused by environmental exposures which can be averted. Well-targeted interventions can prevent much of this environmental risk, the WHO demonstrates in a report. The report further estimates that more than 33% of disease in children under the age of 5 is caused by environmental exposures. Preventing environmental risk could save as many as four million lives a year in children alone, mostly in developing countries.

For phone manufacturers and service providers, some of the globe's poorest people have turned out to be one of their most profitable demographic groups, while for international development agencies, the proliferation of mobile handsets is one key means to bridge the ever-increasing technological divide between rich and poor.

Premier Wen Jiabao and Ghanaian President John Kufuor agreed to a low-interest loan of about $66-million for a number of projects, including a plan to upgrade Ghana's communications network by increasing phone lines and improving the country's Internet-access. The plan also includes training students and workers in communications technology, finance minister Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu said after the meeting.

Omar Bah, news editor of the privately-owned "Daily Observer" has been missing since 12 June 2006. Colleagues of Bah, who are expressing fear that he might have been arrested, said that he expressed concern regarding an impending situation the last time they heard from him.

Less than fifteen years after liberation, it is no longer clear that the country has the moral and intellectual capacity to generate an alternative meaning of what our world might be, or to become a major centre in the global south. The deputy chair of the South African Institute of International Relations, Moeletsi Mbeki speaking recently at Witwatersrand University, made an arresting comparison between the current political situation in South Africa and the one prevailing in the period leading to the Xhosa cattle-killing in 1856-57.

"Don’t care where you come from, As long as you’re a black man, you’re an African. Don’t mind your nationality, you have got the identity, of an African," - Peter Tosh. According to Jarka Halkova "before 1945 most Czechoslovak citizens had never even met a black person. But ever since the first black soldier entered the country with General Patton's Third Army in April 1945, people have gradually got used to Africans and Afro-Americans."

The African ISP runs the risk of becoming an endangered species. Most of them are small, undercapitalised businesses that exist in the rather tight margin between greedy incumbents and price sensitive customers. The introduction of DSL broadband has shifted the power balance decisively against most ISPs and by the time regulators level the playing field again, there will be significant numbers of casualties.

The Burundian government is detaining rather than rehabilitating former child soldiers associated with the rebel National Liberation Forces, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released on the annual Day of the African Child.

State security agents arrested a presenter for Nigeria’s leading private television channel after he hosted a panel discussion about next year’s presidential election, a station manager said.

The Mail and Guardian newspaper reports that about 200 displaced white farmers from Mashonaland West province have turned down an offer of farms by the government, saying there was no guarantee the government would not in future turn back on the offer and evict them again.

The gradual discovery of new oil fields could bring the biggest influx of income in the continent's history, but observers fear it will do Africa more harm than good, propping up corrupt regimes and exacerbating poverty.

Global trade negotiations bring to mind impenetrable technical discussions on macro-economic policy between trade ministers. The WTO Ministerial meeting in Hong Kong last December was seen as the last opportunity to get agreement among the 148 member countries on the Doha Round. But the meeting at Hong Kong again failed to reach resolution and six months on there has been little progress.

More than 23,000 people have fled their homes in southern Ethiopia following clashes triggered by disputes over land ownership between neighbouring ethnic groups in the area, according to Oxfam. The fighting, which pits the Guji community against the Borena erupted about two weeks ago in the territory between the towns of Yabello and Finchewa, some 400 km south of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Swaziland says global warming is the key culprit in encroaching desertification, which is causing habitable areas and croplands to disappear and exacerbating the impoverished country's food security crisis, rather than looking closer to home for the reasons.

The Tanzanian government will recruit almost 6,000 teachers within the next two months in a bid to address an acute shortage in its secondary schools, a minister said on Monday 19 June.

An outbreak of plague in the northeastern district of Ituri in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has killed 20 people out of 70 cases identified in the last three weeks, health officials said on Friday. "The figure is expected to rise as more reports arrive," said Lendunga Wapayer, the medical director of the Centre for Surveillance and Control of Plague in the northeast.

The first 13 of 250 European Union (EU) election observers have arrived in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, an official said on Friday 16 June. The observers, led by French Member of Parliament Phillipe Morillon, are in the country to observe the DRC's first general elections in 45 years. The polls are scheduled for 30 July.

New research from nef (the new economics foundation), published on the day that the Paris club - the informal group of the world's creditor countries - meet to celebrate 50 years of rescheduling the debts of the world's poorest, shows that if the world's richest countries honoured their aid commitments for just five years, all unsustainable debt of the poorest could be written off to such a degree that the basic health and education needs of the world's poorest people could be met.

Land reforms in Southern Africa are heavily influenced by the IMF and World Bank rhetoric, University of Malawi researcher and lecturer Professor Wiseman Chijere Chirwa has said. "Our research on land shows that land reforms have no serious analysis of the prospects of the poor," Prof Chirwa said. "We have done so many researches in this area but we don't see proper prospects of the poor."

A campaign to stop violence in mining has been launched by the National Coalition of Mining (NCOM), a grouping of communities affected by mining and civil society organisations. Reading from a prepared sheet on behalf of NCOM, Gifty Dzah, from ABANTU for Development, said the objective of the campaign was to stop violence by mining companies and state agencies against communities and citizens.

The Corruption Fighters' Tool Kit is a compendium of practical civil society anti-corruption experiences described in concrete and accessible language. It presents innovative anti-corruption tools developed and implemented by TI National Chapters and other civil society organizations from around the world.

Calm returned to the Guinean capital, Conakry, on Wednesday after two days of street violence that pitted students and unemployed youths against security forces, but a nationwide strike continued. Eyewitnesses reported seeing up to 13 corpses of people killed in rioting and clashes between soldiers and student protesters.

Like most of the female residents of Awere Internally Displaced Persons camp in northern Uganda, the girls rose at dawn that morning in 2002. They set out on foot, with their mother, to harvest crops several kilometers away. The two sisters, both teens, had called the camp home for most their lives. Along with about a million and a half of their neighbors, they were moved from their village to the camp by the Ugandan government in the mid-1990s to protect them from a murderous rebel group known as the Lord's Resistance Army.

Women groups under the aegis of Women in Peace-building program (WIPNET) of the West Africa Network for Peace-building (WANEP) have called on the Federal Government to enact a law making un-approved arms importation into Nigeria a criminal offence; and to enact a bill to monitor accountability in arms transaction in government security agencies.

One out of two migrant is a woman. Increasingly present and increasingly visible, women who live and work away from their countries of origin send billions of dollars to their relatives - often more frequently than men. Read this interview with Ms.Ndioro Ndiaye, Deputy Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on the website

There is a need for greater consciousness within UN peacekeeping operations of the potential economic impact of deployment and missions need to be adapted to the war-torn economies where UN peacekeeping missions are deployed, says a new report.

East African states have agreed to isolate leaders of armed factions in Somalia by imposing a regional travel ban on them and freezing their assets in a bid to help the nation's fledgling transitional federal government restore stability. Kenya took the lead last week, imposing sanctions against Somalia's so-called "warlords" after they and their militia were driven out of Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, by forces loyal to the city's Islamic courts.

African teams in the World Cup have not been performing too badly, but their valiant efforts are not reflected on the scoreboards of the various groups so far. Therefore many of us have been watching the games with a mixture of affirmation that ‘African football has arrived and improved consistently to world class professional standards' and doubts that maybe we are not quite there yet or still lacking in the killer focus.

But we take comfort in the universal fact that ‘the boys are playing well’ although we are not quite resigned to the English consolation psychology of ‘it’s not the wining that counts but participating’ which makes them turn ‘glorious losers’ into celebrities. Africans want victories and are hoping that one of our teams will just move beyond the ‘nearly’ club. So we keep vigil in all kinds of public and private places, glued to the box watching every match. If all fail we have the automatic transfer of loyalties to Brazil or any other team (almost all he major ones) with Black players in them!

Like other people across the world, for the next month work can only be partial unless you are in a football related industry. FIFA is our employer for now! When people are not watching the matches they are discussing those that have happened and making all kinds of spirited predictions about those still to take place. Even those who do not like football are forced to participate in the frenzy because those of us who do will never stop talking about it. Media is saturated with stories about ‘the beautiful game’.

Hence it was with a great sense of sacrifice, personal and political loyalty, that I found myself abandoning Togo's match against South Korea Tuesday evening to go and listen to Professor Okello Oculi, speak at the Unfungomano Hall at Nairobi University. It was part of the Public Debate Series of the African Research and Resource Forum (ARRF) for 2006.

Two reasons forced my hand. One, Okello was one of the radical Pan Africanist scholars who had influenced my intellectual and political outlook as an undergraduate student. He was one of those refugee scholars from Idi Amin's Uganda who were lost to Uganda but gained to many generations of African students in other countries.

Unlike the SAP refugees of the '80s and '90s and the current 'kyeyo' academics in the face of globalisation whose destination are mostly in Europe and North America, many of the Ugandans headed for other African countries and rebuilt their lives, some of them becoming adopted citizens of those countries. They were brains lost temporarily or permanently to Uganda but they were not lost to Africa.

Two other Ugandans had a direct impact on me. Firstly, Prof Yolamu Barongo, who was both a mentor and intellectual father to me. Without him I could have joined the army instead of graduate studies. Another one was the literary icon, Okot p'itek, who did not teach me directly but was an intellectual and political influence through writings and an electrifying presence at seminars, workshops and conferences across Nigeria while he was teaching at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University).

Okello never returned to Uganda and he is more Nigerian than many of us whose only claim is that we were born there. Our lives later became interchanged when I became permanently resident in Uganda as General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement. So whenever we meet we have to talk shop, with him sharing with me what is going on in the rough and tumble of Nigerian politics and I feeding him on my take on the up and downs, the zigzags and sometimes motions without movement in Uganda's politics!

So I could not refuse to go and listen to Okello. The other reason was the topic of discussion: ‘Interrogating the Conditions of The African Universities’. It is a topic that should interest anyone concerned about not just the survival of Africa and Africans but in us controlling our destiny. If we cannot own the thinking process of our society we cannot control or exercise autonomy over those societies. And our universities are very central to this. They are much neglected, abused, maligned and marginalized but we cannot use other universities as the engine of our development.

So many sins have been committed against our universities but they have also been perpetrating many sins against themselves. The mad rush for private universities mushrooming across the continent in the name of privatisation and liberalisation in education may produce more people with degrees but cannot produce more educated citizens. Even within the public sector universities, a two-tier system is in place offering apartheid discrimination based on financial resources. Okello called this FTDs (Financially Transmitted Degrees). He also looked at some of the internal weaknesses in the university systems including the process of recruitment, philosophical values underpinning the establishment of the universities during colonial and post colonial societies, the pressures of SAP, the ideological hegemony of elitism and reactionary values. He used his vast experience in East and West Africa and in Britain and North America to identify what the central problems for our universities are. And this is basically ideological: what is the purpose of a university? He identified lack of creativity and creative thinking and creative interaction between our technicians of knowledge and the society. We study as if our societies do not exist and our societies and governments, businesses, make policies as if we do not have local thinkers and qualified professionals. In plain language: our universities are not organically linked to our societies. There were places of excellence in the past like Dar Es Salaam and Ahmadu Bello university, and even the conservative bent older universities like Makerere, Ibadan and Legon. South African Universities have always been more integrated into the power structure, thinking and shaping the future of their societies.

The discussions, especially the robust interventions by the students (a modest turn out given that Togo was playing) were both nostalgic and sad for me. Inspiring because I felt that the tradition of debate is not dead, though sadly not fashionable anymore. I was also sad that though many of them are angry and believe they deserve better, they are no longer reading or having access to books that could make them turn their anger into a positive force for creativity and social transformation. They also reveal a very crude way in which the university has become integrated into the vulgarity that is dominating our societies.

I kept wondering if all present in a church become possessed by the holy spirit, who will shout hallelujah when and if we get to the promised land? When universities merely reflect the vulgar side of society instead of providing original refection on the society they cease to be a universe of ideas and are doomed to become irrelevant. Hence the current attitude in many countries: If you say you are a graduate, people retort: ‘And so what?’

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

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the African Association for the Protection of Human Rights (Association africaine de défense des droits de l'homme - ASADHO), members of the SOS torture network, of the arbitrary arrest and detention of Mr. Mukadi Bonyi, lawyer at the Supreme Court of Justice and member of the Council of the Union for the reconstruction of Congo (Conseil de l'Union pour la reconstruction du Congo - UREC), a political party.

Recent efforts to document the real situation of women in Africa have produced some alarming statistics, writes Roselynn Musa, who proceeds to outline the provisions of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa that offer some hope for women on the continent.

Equality is the cornerstone of every democratic society which aspires to social justice and human rights. In virtually all societies and spheres of activity women are subject to inequalities in law and in practice. In Africa, while the causes, consequences and manifestations may vary from sub-region to sub-region, country-to-country, and even province-to-province, discrimination against women is widespread. The situation is both caused and exacerbated by the existence of discrimination in the family, community and workplace and perpetuated by the survival of stereotypes, cultural and religious practices and beliefs detrimental to women.

Recent efforts to document the real situation of women in Africa have produced some alarming statistics on the economic and social gaps between men and women:

- Out of 1.9 million victims of conflict in Sub- Saharan Africa in the 1990s 63% were women and children
- In the Republic of Congo 40,000 women have experienced some form of sexual violence since 1998
- More than half of Africa’s 6 million refugees and 17 million internally displaced people are women
- Between 1990-2005 women occupied 14.2% of parliamentary seats in Sub-Saharan Africa, and 8.5% in Northern Africa
- Literacy rates in Sub- Saharan Africa for young males is 77% as against 68% for women
- The number of women in wage earning employment between 1990- 2003 is 35.8 in Sub-Saharan Africa and 21,5 in Northern Africa, yet women are said to constitute about 70% of the world’s population
- UNAID’s statistics show that in 2003 out of the 23 million adults with HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, 57% were women

The United Nations (UN), since its formation in 1945 has been at the forefront of advocacy for equal rights and the enjoyment of rights and freedoms, hence the entrenchment of the principle of equality and non- discrimination in its international and universal human rights instruments. Equality of the rights of women is a basic principle of the United Nations. [1] The International Bill of Human Rights [2] strengthens and extends the emphasis on the equal rights of women. One of the most significant developments in the field of human rights was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) in 1948. Based on the equal right of every human being, the declaration proclaims the entitlement of everyone to enjoy human rights and fundamental freedom. [3]

Despite these Provisions women in Africa and elsewhere in the world continue to suffer blatant discrimination in the political, social, economic and cultural spheres. Consequently, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), a landmark convention and in fact a global action towards redressing the existing inequalities, evolved with very systematic and far reaching consequences for women’s human rights globally. The convention sets out, in legally binding form, internationally accepted principles on the rights of women.

Why a separate Protocol for women?

The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), also referred to as the Banjul Charter, was adopted in 1981 by the Organisation of African Unity, now the African Union (AU). This document affirms both individual and collective rights and this distinguishes it from other international human rights treaties. It recognises African values and cultures and also emphasises both rights and duties. It provides for special protocols or agreements, if necessary, to supplement the provisions of the African Charter. [4] This serves as a legal basis for creating the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (The Protocol), which lays down a comprehensive set of rights to which all African women are entitled.

Why then was it necessary to have a separate instrument for African women? The ACHPR, just like other international human rights instruments before it, did not effectively redress the disadvantages and injustices experienced by African women by reason only of their being women, nor was it constructed to take into account women’s situations. Historically, human rights discourses started in the fields of political and civil rights - rights to life, freedom of association, etc. In this regard, the fundamental significance placed on human rights was directed towards the public rather than the private realm. Since men have largely dominated the public domain, this meant two things: that human rights came to be defined by men; and that these rights protected mostly men.

Substantive provisions of the Protocol

Article 2: Elimination of discrimination against women

In many African communities women are denied their basic legal rights, either implicitly or explicitly, including the right to participate fully in politics and the right to own property. Such instances of entrenched discrimination can easily be identified as discrimination. At the same time, not every differentiation will constitute discrimination.

In most African societies, men have used culture and tradition to justify discrimination against women. Male dominated ideologies in Africa have tended to use culture to justify oppressive gender relations. African governments could use the standards of the Protocol to remove all negative stereotyped cultures that discriminate against women and hinder their full advancement.

It is not enough to merely insert anti-discrimination clauses into the legislation. The Protocol also requires State parties to protect women’s rights effectively and provide women with opportunities for recourse and protection against discrimination. They should incorporate sanctions into legislation that deters discrimination against women. States party to the Protocol must take steps to eliminate discrimination in both public and private spheres. It is not enough to strive for equality for women vis-à-vis public authorities; states must also work to secure non-discrimination even within the family.

Article 3: Right to dignity

Every human being has an inherent right to be treated with dignity. This provision makes it incumbent for states to strive to remove the social, cultural and traditional patterns, which perpetuate gender role stereotypes, and to create an overall framework in society that promotes the realisation of full rights for African women. The prevalence of gender- role stereotypes is seen most particularly in the traditional concept of African women’s role in the domestic sphere.

The family as an agent of socialisation assigns different statuses, values and roles to boys and girls. In many countries in Africa discrimination against women starts before birth with parental and social attitudes that promote a preference for sons over daughters. Children of both sexes should be accorded equal opportunities to grow and develop to their full potential as equal partners for sustainable development and peace.

Many African women are denied an education because their role is considered primarily as one of caring for the family. This article therefore seeks to reform social and cultural traditions and practices and creates a common civil system that upholds the dignity of women as equal partners with men in society.

Article 4: The Rights to Life, Integrity and Security of the Person

Despite the efforts of women’s human rights activists, the spate of both public and private violence against women in Africa has not abated. Women are subject to violence and to threats of violence in their daily lives, physically and psychologically. Violence deprives women of their ability to achieve full equality. It threatens their freedom, safety and autonomy. Many cases of violence against women go unreported, particularly when they take place in the home, because of fear or shame. The psychological, emotional and economic conditions of women often alter their perception of reality such that they see themselves as completely helpless and unable to make choices. In some cases the abused women do not even see themselves as victims.

Although governments across Africa are now more concerned with the issue than in the past, few have taken legal, constitutional steps to stop the practice. The Protocol enjoins state parties to 'enact and enforce laws to prohibit all forms of violence against women including unwanted or forced sex, whether the violence takes place in private or public'. Unless this is done African women will not be able to enjoy fully the rights guaranteed in the Protocol.

This article charges state parties to take appropriate and effective measures to address issues of peace education, punishment for perpetrators of violence against women, rehabilitation of victims of such violence, trafficking in women, unauthorised medical and scientific experiments on women, opposition to death penalties on pregnant or nursing women, and to provide adequate budgetary and other resources for the implementation and monitoring of action aimed at preventing and eradicating violence against women.

Article 5: Elimination of Harmful Practices

Some cultures in Africa perpetuate traditional practices that are harmful to the health of women and constitute a direct violation of their fundamental human rights. Examples of such practices include Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), maltreatment of widows, male child preference, domestic violence, early/ forced marriage etc. In this connection, the Protocol has provisions that aim to improve the image and role of African women by improving public awareness through formal and informal education and outreach programmes.

Articles 6 and 7: Marriage, separation, divorce and annulment of marriage

Women are discriminated against in marriage and family law, sometimes as wives and sometimes as daughters. In all categories of marriage in Africa (statutory, customary and religious) the husband is assumed to be the head of the family and the provider (and hence able to make decisions and receive benefits for the family). Wife battering (called ‘chastisement’) is accepted as a norm in some cultures and there is no minimum age for marriage. Furthermore, wives have lesser rights in choice of marriage partner, divorce or child custody and have lesser right to inheritance.

The Protocol provides that women and men should enjoy equal rights and be regarded as equal partners in marriage. Marriage will take place only with the full consent of both parties. Cases of forced and early marriage persist in Africa and the situation of the girl child remains a matter of concern. The Protocol also requires that marriages are registered in accordance with national laws in order to be legally recognised. In cases of separation, divorce or annulment, women and men should have the right to an equitable share of the joint property deriving from the marriage.

Article 8: Access to Justice and Equal Protection by the Law

Some forms of discrimination against women stem from the varying understandings and beliefs about what society or culture prescribes for women. Since most family issues never go to court for resolution, it is the often conservative and restrictive everyday beliefs of husbands, brothers, fathers, cousins, uncles and nephews, which govern women’s lives. In this regard the Protocol provides that women and men are equal before the law and shall have the right to equal protection and benefit of the law. States parties are to ensure effective women’s access to judicial and legal services, including legal aid, sensitise everyone to the rights of women and reform existing discriminatory laws and practices in order to promote and protect the rights of women.

Article 9: Right to Participation in the Political and Decision-Making Processes

Women’s equal rights to participate in decision-making are beyond a question of democracy and good governance; it is also a necessary condition for the effective recognition of women’s interests, without which the objectives of sustainable equality and development will never be achieved. Caution is needed, however, as the participation of women in government does not necessarily translate into pro-woman policies. The value of this aspect of the Protocol is therefore predicated not only on taking part in government, but in doing so in a way that is consistent with the specific needs of women.

Decision-making involvement is imperative to the Protocol, which states that women must be able to participate in government and politics. While women are prominent in grassroots organisations, they are left out of the vitally important decision-making at policy level, and so their specific concerns and needs are ignored.

Article 10: Right to peace

Women are rarely included in decision-making on conflict prevention, resolution and management, or even in peace-building initiatives. Women’s voices go unheard during formal peace negotiations, disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration, the creation of new constitutions, elections, reconstruction, rehabilitation, and the establishment of judicial systems. This occurs even though the violence perpetuated against women is exacerbated during times of conflict, and they make up the majority of all victims. Women and children are the most vulnerable and at the receiving end of most of the worst excesses and abuses in situations of conflicts.

The Protocol defends the right of women to a peaceful existence and the participation of women in the promotion and maintenance of peace. State parties are to take appropriate measures to ensure the increased participation of women in the peace process through the promotion of a peace culture; protection of refugees, asylum seekers, returnees, and displaced persons; and reduced military expenditure in favour of spending on social development.

Article 11: Protection of women in armed conflict

Conflict is a critical part of transformation and change, restructuring the social relationship between peoples and also within their own groups. Generalised and unnecessary suffering result when latent conflicts escalate into confrontation. Several African countries have been, and some still are, embroiled in war, civil strife and conflict caused by a combination of factors including massive violations of human rights and ethnic violence. These situations usually impact heavily on women and children, resulting in violence, involuntary displacement and flight from their country of origin. Violations of the fundamental rights of women and girls are widespread during times of armed conflict. These include torture, rape and murder and should not be condoned.

Towards this direction state parties are to respect the rules of international humanitarian law applicable in conflict situations and protect women affected by conflicts making sure that perpetrators are brought to justice before a competent criminal jurisdiction. State parties shall also ensure that no child, especially girls under eighteen years take part in hostilities.

Article 12: Education and Training

African women face a sombre scene filled with economic and socio-political problems which hinder their efforts at meeting basic needs. The lack of education for a considerable number of African women prevents society as a whole from facing these problems with vigour and determination. If the situation of women in Africa is to change for the better the quality of education must not only be improved, but women and girls should have easy access to education, while overcoming every hurdle that hinders their active participation in the educational process.

To this regard the Protocol guarantees an education for women and girls with the intention of breaking down social and cultural barriers, which have discouraged and even excluded women and girls from the benefits of regular educational programmes as well as promoting equal opportunities for them in all aspects of life.

Article 13: Economic and social welfare rights

Poverty in Africa manifests itself in various forms and has its origin in a lack of income, the unequal distribution of wealth and income, economic recession, drought, heavy debt burdens and unfavourable conditionalities tied to borrowing from international financial institutions, armed conflict, civil strife, etc. More than a third of the people of Africa are unable to meet their most basic needs. The heavy burden of poverty falls disproportionately on women, especially female-headed households. The feminisation of poverty is an ugly reality. Although generally speaking women constitute more than half of the population, they have limited access to and ownership of land and housing yet they provide the greater percentage of food supply.

Women in Africa need to be empowered to participate in economic structures and policy formulation in the production process itself. Women’s empowerment will enhance their capacity to realistically alter the direction of change for their own well-being and that of society as a whole. In this regard, the Protocol recommends promotion of equality of access to employment and equal remuneration for women and men, and ensures transparency in the recruitment, promotion and dismissal of women. It also combats and punishes sexual harassment in the workplace.

Article 14: Health and reproductive rights

Women’s health and reproductive rights are central to the realisation of their potential. Their ability to exercise control over their fertility is a crucial step in enabling them to make the necessary choices in other areas. Women’s, and particularly adolescent girls’, sexuality and fertility pose a high health risk. They contribute significantly to girls’ inability to attain high levels of education and unsafe abortions lead to maternal mortality and HIV/AIDS.

The subordinate position of women and adolescent girls, with younger women being the least empowered, and their lack of access to information, education and communication, health facilities, training, an independent income, property and legal rights, make them particularly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infection. They lack adequate knowledge about the disease and the measures that have been taken to prevent them from infection.

In this regard the Protocol provides women with the right to control their fertility, choose any method of contraception and to have family planning education, while state parties have, among other things, to protect the reproductive rights of women by authorising medical abortion in cases of sexual assault, rape and incest and where continued pregnancy endangers the mental and physical health of the mother or foetus.

If states are to ensure the equality of women and men in access to health care services as is expected of them they would have to remove any legal or social barriers which may operate to prevent or discourage women from making full use of available health care services. Concrete steps therefore need to be taken to ensure access to healthcare services for all women, including those whose access may be impeded through poverty, illiteracy or physical isolation.

Article 15: Right to food security

The struggle against poverty, the economic empowerment of women and the promotion of sustainable livelihoods for women is a moral, political and economic obligation and the responsibility of national governments and the international community. Women and other people living in poverty represent an under-utilisation of productive potential. Women’s deprived rights to development should be recognised. This requires policies that are gender sensitive, including gender-based anti-poverty policies. Besides income poverty, other areas of deprivation for women include social discrimination, exclusion, desertion, physical disability, vulnerability and deprivation. There is also poverty associated with wars, famine, displacement and refugees, unbalanced trade relations and structural adjustment programmes (SAPs).

Some of the measures recommended by the Protocol to combat this are to provide women with access to clean drinking water, sources of domestic fuel, land and the means of producing nutritious food and also adequate systems of supply and storage to ensure food security. One point that is clear however is that unless states parties guarantee women financial independence, they will not have true equality with men because they will not be able to head their own households, own their own homes, or start their own businesses.

Article 16: Right to adequate housing

Despite the active role of African women in the management and creation of urban and rural environments, they are discriminated against in their access to adequate housing and control of land and property. In some countries, legislation, tradition and harmful religious practices prevent women from inheriting and having control over property and so deprive them of their rights to adequate housing. Considering the challenges faced by women in both rural and urban areas, governments should consider that households and household members move from one end of the continuum to the other and it is necessary to provide infrastructure and services along the continuum without putting undue emphasis on one at the expense of the other.

Compared to men, women are more burdened with the rural-urban linkages. They have to move between the extreme ends of the continuum trying to make ends meet for their households. Supporting women’s efforts under the circumstances requires making their daily routine activities such as ensuring availability of water, energy and food easier, be it in the rural, or urban areas. This assurance makes it possible not only to engage in long term economic planning but also avails time for critical thinking and engagement in the socio- economic and political life of their communities. These measures are required if the states are to keep the promise of the Protocol to provide African women equal access to housing and to acceptable living conditions in a healthy environment.

Article 17: Right to a positive cultural context

African societies are products of historical evolution, enriched by diverse cultures. Individuals within those societies have their collective identities as members of families, communities, religious groups, etc. The delicate balance between the rights of the individual and society and the groups within society should be respected. Women, being among the most vulnerable and marginalised, need to be integrated in order to reconnect them with the community by making all the institutions of society more accessible to them. This article addresses discrimination against women in the private sphere, including discrimination in the area of family law.

In this regard, the Protocol provides that women will have the right to live in a positive cultural context and to participate at all levels in the determination of cultural policies. We should not be oblivious to the fact that this area of discrimination, based on long- standing cultural and religious practice is one of the most difficult areas to penetrate and one of the most resistant to change. Yet the drafters of Protocol realised that change in this area is essential in order for African women to attain full equality.

Article 18: Right to a healthy and sustainable environment

Poverty is a major cause and consequence of environmental degradation and is compounded by scarcity, depletion and the mismanagement of resources. Environmental degradation has had, and continues to have, an adverse impact on the population as a whole. Women experience this impact particularly in the traditional divisions of labour. This has resulted in an increase in their workload of domestic chores. Often, women have no choice other than to exploit natural resources in order to survive even when they know about the importance of protecting the environment and its sustainability.

As the majority of the world’s poor, women play decisive roles in managing and preserving biodiversity, water, land and other natural resources, yet their centrality is often ignored or exploited. This means that a chance for better management of those resources is lost, along with opportunities for greater diversity, productivity for human sustenance and economic development. Moreover, while environmental degradation has severe consequences for all humans, it particularly affects women and children.

Towards this end, states shall ensure greater involvement of women in planning, management and preservation of the environment and the sustainable use of natural resources at all levels.

Article 19 Right to sustainable development

Recently, African governments have slowly begun to see the political and socio-economic participation of women as a key factor and catalyst for the accelerated advancement of women and the society as a whole. In this respect, some African governments have established national machineries to be responsible for coordinating the gender perspective in overall national development activities. However, governments still have a lot to do to see that women fully enjoy their right to sustainable development.

For example, in many countries women still do not have the same property rights as men. Traditional property law often discriminates against women in that only male children are able to inherit the family land and husbands have automatic ownership over all of their wife’s property upon marriage. Similarly, legislation in a number of countries establishes that the administration of family property is to be undertaken by the male head of the family – thereby excluding women.

The Protocol enjoins governments to take tangible steps to ensure the participation of women at all levels of decision-making, implementation and evaluation of development policies and programmes, to promote their access to credit, training and skills development and also to ensure that the negative effects of globalisation are reduced to the minimum for women.

Articles 20: Widows’ rights

The need to address the plight of widows cannot be overemphasised. In many African cultures, widows have suffered from a regressive heritage that results in their being ostracised from their communities at worst or being discriminated against at best. It is not uncommon for a widow to be labelled 'a witch' who is responsible for the death of her husband. She is consequently dispossessed of all her family’s assets, denied property rights, and left to grapple alone with her liabilities.

The Protocol states that widows should not to be subjected to inhuman, humiliating or degrading treatment, that they should automatically become the custodian of their children, unless this is contrary to the children's interests and welfare, and that they should have the right to marry the person of their choice. It also states that women and men shall have the right to inherit in equitable shares, their parent’s properties.

Article 21: Right to inheritance

In adjudicating on inheritance rights for women there is a wide gap in both law and practice. This is especially so where it allows for the application of customary law under which a marriage was enacted which varies from community to community. In most communities, a woman takes nothing with her upon dissolution of marriage. The fact remains that the legal system allowing application of customary law upon divorce puts women in very vulnerable situations because cultural norms are mostly discriminatory towards women. They therefore get a raw deal even when it comes to legal redress because the outcome will be based upon gender- biased cultural practices and the whims and caprices of gender- blind judges who are themselves products of a predominantly patriarchal culture.

The protocol senses the dire need for gender responsive policies to ensure equitable access to and ownership and control of (both movable and unmovable property) as a step towards achieving the goal of women’s empowerment. It will also be a critical step towards ensuring equitable distribution of resources, poverty alleviation and overall national development.

Article 22 Special protection for elderly women

While women can look forward to a longer life than men, they are expected to continue suffering from gender discrimination even in their old age. Widowhood is more prevalent among women because they live longer and usually marry men older than themselves. Women suffer from high rates of disability at older ages because of the lack of good health care, education and nutrition in earlier life.

The rights of elderly women are being violated without them getting any redress in many African countries. Older women are leaving their communities in fear of being killed, and, if not killed, rejected by their own families. It is not uncommon to find elderly women wandering in town and living as beggars with nobody to care for their sustenance.

It is relieving to know that the Protocol puts the plight of this category of women into perspective, recommending state protection for them and ensuring their right to freedom from violence including sexual abuse, discrimination based on age and the right to be treated with dignity.

Article 23: Special protection of women with disabilities

State parties are to take special measures to ensure the protection of women with disabilities and take specific measures to facilitate their access to employment, professional and vocational training as well as their participation in decision- making and also make sure they are free from violence and discrimination based on their disability.

Article 24: Protection of special women

These include women in detention, poor women and women heads of family. State parties are to ensure their protection from marginalisation and provide an environment suitable to their condition and their special physical, economic and social needs.

The African Court

The promises in the Protocol cannot be actualised merely by the enactment of gender- neutral laws alone. Measures have to be put in place to ensure that African women are able to enjoy the promise of the Protocol. In article 27 of the Protocol, The African Court is bestowed with the responsibility of interpretation of matters arising from the application or implementation of the Protocol. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights is to take on the duties of adjudicating matters of the Protocol pending the establishment of the African Court. [5] The African Court was constituted in February 2006. However, it is sad to note that of the nine Judges appointed to the court only two are women.

Entry into force

The Protocol entered into force in November, 2006, thirty days after the deposit of the fifteenth Instrument of ratification.[6] Nineteen states have presently ratified the protocol, though a few states did so with reservations. The interdependence and indivisibility of all rights is a long-accepted and consistently re-affirmed principle. In practice this means that respect for one proviso cannot be separated from the enjoyment of another proviso. That means for example that genuine economic and social development requires political and educational development to participate in this process. In as much as states can make reservations to some articles before ratification, universality is a desirable principle that should guide African states in ratifying the Protocol. The fact that states could ratify with reservations is a situation of accepting the better of two evils, while none of them is desirable, the lesser evil can be tolerated. While historical, cultural and religious differences must be borne in mind, it is the duty of every state, regardless of its political economic and cultural systems, to promote and protect all human rights. I use this opportunity to call on states that have ratified with reservations to emulate the good example set by the Gambia and lift their reservations.

Conclusion

The concept of equality means much more than treating all persons in the same way. Experience has shown that equal treatment of persons in unequal situations will operate to perpetuate, rather than eradicate injustice. True equality can only emerge from efforts directed towards addressing and correcting these situational imbalances. Overall, therefore, despite regional and individual efforts made by the international community and local and international NGOs to improve the status of African women, only modest progress has been made and the Protocol seems to be the light at the end of the tunnel for African women. The Protocol promises to be an extremely useful framework for advancing the rights of women in Africa. Only time will tell if it will actually fulfil these promises or not. However, we must bear in mind that in the final analysis it is the responsibility of all of us, not just the government and its institutions, to ensure an Africa where women enjoy their full human rights on the basis of equality with men.

* Musa works with African Women’s Development and Communications Network, FEMNET, Nairobi, Kenya

References

A Simplified Version of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), 2004, BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights, Lagos, Nigeria

Advancing Women’s Status: Gender, Society and Development, Women and Men Together, Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

African Union and SOAWR, Breathing Life into the African Union Protocol on Women’s Rights in Africa, (unpublished)

African Union, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights

African Union, Protocol to the Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa

Arusa Mahin Karim, 1998, Human Rights Protection in the African Regional System, Pretoria, South Africa

Asma Abdel Halim et al, Claiming Our Place, Institute of Women, Law and Development, Washington, USA

Barbara K (2002), Gender and Debt, AFRODAD, Harare, Zinbabwe
Edward O. et al, (2000) The Cost of Globalisation, Geneva, Switzerland

http://www.globalrights.org

http://www.international-alert.org

http://www.siyanda.org

http://www.unifem.org

http://www.unifenpacific.org/gender_tradehtml

http://www.unorg/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/armed.htm

Margaret S. et al, African Women and Development (1995), Johannesburg, South Africa

Patricia A. Made et al, Beyond Beijing: Strategies Towards Women’s Equality, 1999, Harare Zimbabwe

The African Union Commission, (2004) The Road to Gender Equality in Africa: An Overview, Ethiopia

United Nations Convention on Discrimination Against Women, 2000, Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Kampala, Uganda

United States Research for Social Development, 2005, Gender Equality: Striving for Justice in an Unequal World, Paris, France

Notes:

[1]United Nations Charter
[2] refers collectively to three instruments: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its two Optional Protocols
[3] Article 2
[4] Article 66, ACHPR
[5] Article 32, The Protocol
[6] Article 29, The Protocol

In early June, Niger’s parliament voted against the African Union’s Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa by 42 votes to 31. Sibongile Ndashe urges the country to rethink it position.

African Union (AU) member states continue to deposit instruments of ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa and these are developments that we continue to note with renewed belief in the AU’s commitment to upholding gender equality. This is why Niger’s stance should not pass without comment.

It is a serious set back for Niger, that the country could have saved and should still save herself from. It is a set back for the women who fought and lobbied to see the Protocol come to fruition. It is a greater set back for women in Niger in particular. In a meeting that was held in Pretoria, in May, that was aimed at accelerating the speed of ratification and domestication of the Protocol, there were women present from Niger. The fact that on 18 January 2005, the Niger executive arm of government had approved the ratification of the Protocol and that the only outstanding issue was the adoption of the motion by the legislature was seen as an exciting development.

It is still not clear what went wrong. Niger is not a country that is fundamentally opposed to women’s human rights. Niger signaled its intentions to take women’s human rights seriously when it acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on 08 October 1999. On 30 September 2004 Niger acceded to the CEDAW optional protocol. CEDAW has been referred to as the international bill of rights for women and the Protocol’s unique selling point is that it is seen as a regional bill of rights that aims to ameliorate hardships specifically focusing on the context upon which African women’s human rights violations are located.

Niger was party to the adoption of the AU solemn declaration on Gender Equality in July 2004. The solemn declaration has no legal force. It is a commitment by members of the AU to implement gender-specific measures related to: Economic, social and legal measures on HIV/AIDS; Gender mainstreaming of peace processes; and Systematic prohibition of the abuse of girl children as wives and sex slaves. It relates to systematic prohibition of trafficking in women and girls; Promotion of the gender parity principle; Guarantee of women’s land, property and inheritance rights; Education of girls and increasing the literacy of women, especially in rural areas; and Enforcement of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa.

It also sets out in great detail the measures that will be adopted in order to give effect to the commitments. States undertook to sign and ratify the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa by the end of 2004 and to support the launching of public campaigns aimed at ensuring its entry into force by 2005.

There is more that has to be said about the Protocol that makes the Niger outcome even more baffling. CEDAW and the African Protocol on women’s rights are not mutually exclusive, if anything they serve to complement each other. The Protocol is not a radical document. There are conflicting opinions on whether the Protocol can even begin to call itself a feminist document. It seeks to negotiate space for women, asking that reasonable accommodation be made for women. It does not seek to dismantle patriarchal institutions, if anything it works around these institutions. Evidence of this compromise can be found on the provisions dealing with polygamy and inheritance rights. It is a compromise document and this is why it is really not clear what Niger law-makers could have found objectionable.

The proper application of democratic principles needs to be understood in its proper context. While it remains undisputed that Niger is a sovereign state and that the decisions made by its legislature have to be given full effect taking into account the powers given to the legislature in the Constitution, the understanding of the strict notions of sovereignty are increasingly showing signs of shifting. State parties, by engaging with the international community, at the very least are asking to be tested against standards that they have agreed to in international forums. Citizens of those countries also have a legitimate expectation that the instruments that its government binds itself to will see fruition at a country level.

The mere fact that the lawmakers voted against the Protocol should not be heralded as the proper application of democracy. It is not just what one votes against. If anything, the Protocol would serve to support democracy. Overemphasis on sovereignty and democratic principles on issues that pose no threat to a country’s sovereignty or democratic principles seems like an easy way out of a difficult situation.

It is hoped that Niger will be open to experiences of how other states have engaged with the Protocol. The Gambia serves as a good example in this regard. Initially the Gambia had ratified the Protocol with reservations but after careful consideration of the reasons behind the reservations by both the Gambian civil society formations and the state the reservations were lifted.

Niger owes it to herself and its citizens to reconsider why it did not pass the Protocol. If after engagement with the document it is still convinced that what is envisioned is not a society that Niger aspires towards then at the very least they could ratify with reservations. But it is unacceptable that the proper application of democratic principles and the rejection of the Protocol could be found next to each other.

* Sibongile Ndashe is an attorney with the Women’s Legal Centre, Cape Town, SA

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

FEATURED: Ahead of the July AU Summit to be held from 25 June -2 July in Banjul, The Gambia, we carry a series of articles on the AU Protocol on Women’s Rights in Africa. Faith Cheruiyot begins the series by comparing the experiences of The Gambia and Niger
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- Roselynn Musa shows why the Protocol offers hope for all
- Khédija El Madani discusses women’s rights and Islam, in this article translated from the French version of Pambazuka News (www.pambazuka.org/fr)
- Niger voted down the Protocol in early June. Sibongile Ndashe urges a rethink
- It’s also June 16, the 30th anniversary of the Soweto uprising. Percy Ngonyama says SA youth still find themselves in a dire situation
LETTERS: A reader poem on disability
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen Abdul Raheem discusses the state of South African universities
BLOGGING AFRICA: Sokari Ekine is back with her round-up of the African blogosphere
AFRICAN UNION MONITOR: News on AU/CSO forum
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Latest links to news on Sudan and Somalia
HUMAN RIGHTS: East African police charged with failing to reform
WOMEN AND GENDER: Nigerian women meet on arms proliferation
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Côte d’Ivoire protection needs remain
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Calm returns after Guinea strike
DEVELOPMENT: Caution urged on Nigerian debt payments
CORRUPTION: NGOs endorse accountability charter
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: G8 slammed on health commitments
EDUCATION: Broken promises and the Day of the African Child
RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA: FIFA to use World Cup to fight racism?
ENVIRONMENT: Liberia timber dealer convicted
LAND AND LAND RIGHTS: Land reform influenced by IMF
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: DRC journalists attacked in election run-up
INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY: Continent connects to the internet
BOOKS AND ARTS: Cape Town Book fair ready to go
PLUS: Internet and Technology; e-Newsletters and Mailings Lists; Fundraising and Useful Resources; Courses, Seminars and Workshops; Jobs.

* Read the recent special edition on trade and justice by clicking on Comment by sending mail to [email protected] or online at www.pambazuka.org

More refugees from Ethiopia and Somalia have arrived in Zambia through Nakonde border in Northern province. Out of the 52 refugees, three are women and the rest are men aged between 20 and 30 years. Residents of Chinka are said to be unhappy with the government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for not responding in good time to take the refugees to designated places. The residents feel the continued influx of refugees through Chinka is a threat to household food security in the area.

Located at the Congo-Uganda border 500 kilometres south west of Kampala, the Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH) Bwindi Impenetrable National Park telecentre - a combination of conservation and technology, is making a whole lot of a difference to the endangered mountain gorillas, eco-tourists, tourist stakeholders and locals who live in and around the park. The telecentre has been nominated as one of the 14 finalists in the "environment" category in the world's best Information and Communication Technology (ICT) projects that competed in the Stockholm Challenge 2006.

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