As we approach the 2nd anniversary of the coming into force of the Protocol,Caroline Muthoni Muriithi takes us on a retrospective of the continental successes that SOAWR has achieved so far.

The Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR) Coalition was created in September 2004 to speed up the ratification of the African Union (AU) Protocol on the Rights of Women and subsequently push for the domestication and implementation of the Protocol at the national level. Three years after its inception, the SOAWR coalition has evolved into a 26 member coalition all working towards popularization, ratification and domestication/implementation of the AU Protocol on the Rights of Women. As we approach the 2nd anniversary of the coming into force of the Protocol let us look back on the continental successes that SOAWR has achieved so far as we intensify the momentum of the campaign and renew our efforts to ensure universal ratification and implementation of the Protocol.

Continental campaign: Using the African Union policy space

The coalition took advantage of the new advocacy opportunities that came with the newly established African Union to engage the African Union member states. The transformation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to the African Union in 2002 created room for civil society engagement (CSO’s) and welcomed their contributions through the African Citizens’ Directorate (CIDO) which has the responsibility of facilitation of civil society engagement [1]. Although the collaboration and engagement between CSO’s and the African Union and its institutions has been limited, SOAWR managed to work with other AU departments such as the African Union Commission Legal Counsel Office which receives the instrument of ratifications and the Women, Gender and Development Directorate (WGDD) which has worked together with civil society to discuss African Union instrument such as the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa and the African Union Protocol on the Rights of Women as well as strategizing on promoting gender equality within the African Union Commission.

Through this fruitful collaboration with the Women, Gender and Development Directorate (WGDD) the campaign has been able to reach a wide audience both within the African Union as well as citizens across the continent. In 2005, the WGDD helped to provide a space for SOAWR to hold a press conference at the Abuja Summit in January 2005 and has continued to collaborate with SOAWR in planning and hosting various activities such as : jointly publishing a book ‘Breathing life into the African Union Protocol on the Rights of Women’ which was launched at the July 2006 African Union summit in Banjul, Gambia; organizing a joint North African Consultation on strategies for accelerating the ratification of the Protocol across North Africa in Tunis, Tunisia in April 2007 and has continued to engage in various discussion on the way forward for gender equality in Africa.

SOAWR members have also utilized the advocacy and lobbying opportunities at the African Union Summits. The African Union hosts two summits every year; January and July. Since its creation, members have used the summits as a way to make the campaign visible among government officials, African Union and the Heads of State and Government. The summits offer an opportunity to engage these leaders on the steps their governments have taken to ratify the Protocol and a chance to influence decisions made within the African Union.

During the summits, various creative strategies have been used to send the campaign message across. In January 2005, the rating cards strategy proved effective at holding governments accountable. The strategy was based on football penalty cards system: Red for countries that had not signed the Protocol; Yellow for those countries that had signed but not ratified; and Green for those countries that had ratified the Protocol. What made this strategy successful was the fact that country representatives where given the bright colored cards while either sitting in the plenary room or walking towards it making the room look colorful but at the same time arousing curiosity among the other delegates to know what the color cards were about. The color card also created competition among the countries while at the same time shaming those countries that had not ratified the Protocol. The strategy worked on the premise that most governments do not want to look bad before their peers and therefore would be pushed to sign and ratify the Protocol. It worked! On 25th November 2005 (a year after the formation of SOAWR) the African Union Protocol came into forces largely due to the pressure and all the strategic lobbying and campaigning by SOAWR members. Today many of the African Union officials as well as the country delegations are aware of the campaign and the Protocol.

The publication and distribution of policy briefs during every summit which links the Protocol to the current theme of the summit has made the Protocol relevant to all the African Union discussion and debates. These policy briefs are handed out to the African member states delegations as well as to the media. The presence of local and international media present at the Summit has enabled members to communicate the campaign agenda to heads of states and government by holding press conferences and distributing media statements and policy briefs. This has given visibility to the campaign effort in the country hosting the summit, through out the continent and beyond while popularizing the AU Protocol to the masses. To add icing to the cake, the secretariat has followed up by putting more pressure on African Union member states by writing to individual presidents urging them to honor their commitments by ratifying and implementing the Protocol.

The campaign has linked continental efforts with national campaign efforts by actively involving national SOAWR members and women’s organizations in the host country to link human rights violation of women in the country together with Protocol campaign and the Summit theme. For example at the Accra summit in July 2007, SOAWR hosted a public forum that discussed the Protocol at length; the ongoing African Union debate on Union Government and tied these discussions together with ‘trokosi’ a traditional practice in parts of Ghana where girls are enslaved for life in shrines to pay for the ‘sins/crimes’ of their relatives or family members

Women’s organizations across Africa have been mobilized and have joined the rallying call to push for the popularization, ratification and implementation of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in their respective countries. These groups have adopted the Protocol as a tool with which to champion their rights by adopting the Protocol’s provisions in their day to day activities. For example Voix de Femmes, a SOAWR member in Burkina Faso, have adopted article 5 of the Protocol as a tool to fight Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The Protocol is the first human rights instrument to specifically call for the elimination of FGM and has become a bench mark for the Voix de Femmes campaign against FGM.

Successes

At the time SOAWR was formed, only four African countries had ratified the Protocol (The Comoros, Libya, Namibia and Rwanda), however due to the aggressive campaign today there are 22 African states that have ratified the Protocol. The Protocol came into force one year after the launch of the campaign and two and a half years after the adoption by the Heads of States and Government making it the fastest human rights instrument to enter into force within such a short time in Africa.

The concept of holding member states accountable has been elevated to a new level never seen before at the African Union Summits. It is the first time that leaders have been put to task and have been shamed for failing to honour their commitments to African women expressed in the Protocol and the Solemn Declaration for Gender Equality in Africa.

The African Union Protocol has been featured in various African Union discussions and meetings and with more government officials being more aware of the AU Protocol on women’s rights. For example during the Accra Summit in July 2007, the SOAWR team realized that many of the country delegations were aware of the Protocol as well as the SOAWR coalition that had been pushing for the ratification and implementation of the Protocol. SOAWR campaign objectives have become visible through out the continent as well as the African Union level.

Due to the wide experiences gained at lobbying at the continental level and specifically within the African Union the SOAWR campaign has become a model to be replicated by others around the continent and beyond. SOAWR has been called upon to share its strategies with other civil society organizations around African and in particular the secretariat has received request for organizations to embark on a learning visit to learn about the SOAWR campaign and meet with coalition members. In January 2007, an Iranian woman’s groups visited the Secretariat to learn about the strategies that SOAWR was using to campaign for the ratification and implementation of the Protocol. The group picked up pointers that they intended to replicate back in Iran to develop a national protocol on the rights of Iranian women. In April 2007, the Secretariat hosted lawyers from the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA) who wanted to learn more about the campaign and meet with SOAWR members in Nairobi.

Due to the success of the continental campaign, the focus has begun to shift to those countries that have ratified the Protocol to start the process of implementing the provisions of the Protocol at the domestic level. The campaign will continue to target the 31 countries that have not yet ratified the Protocol in order to achieve universal ratification and subsequent implementation of the Protocol in all these countries. It is a large task ahead but the campaign continues to grow in strength and in numbers, recruiting women’s organizations from across Africa to work toward a common goal and objective, to ensure that the AU Protocol on the Rights of Women become a reality for all women in Africa. SOAWR has earned its reputation as,‘the coalition that makes things happen’.

Notes

1 AFRODAD, AFRIMAP and OXFAM GB, ‘Towards a People-Driven African Union- Current obstacles and New opportunities, 2007, p. 5

* Caroline Muthoni Muriithi is Assistant program officer, Equality Now

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