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Solemn
declaration on gender equality in Africa
African Union
(AU)
July, 2004
We,
the Heads of State and Government of Member States of the African
Union, meeting in the Third Ordinary Session of our Assembly in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 6-8 July 2004:
Reaffirming
our commitment to the principal of Gender equality as enshrined
in Article 4 (1) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union, as
well as other existing commitments, principles, goals and actions
set out in the various regional, continental and International instruments
on human and women’s rights, including the Dakar Platform for Action
(1994), the Beijing Platform for Action (1995), the Convention on
the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW
-1979), the African Plan of Action to Accelerate the Implementation
of the Dakar and Beijing Platforms for Action for the Advancement
of women (1999); the Outcome Document of the Twenty –third Special
Session of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on
the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (2000); UN
Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security; and the Protocol
to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights
of Women in Africa (2003);
Standing
by our Decision on gender parity taken at the Inaugural Session
of AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government in July 2002 in
Durban, South Africa Implemented during the Second Ordinary Session
of the Assembly in Maputo, Mozambique, 2003 through the election
of five female and five male Commissioners;
Noting
with Satisfaction that our Decision on gender parity is
a historic achievement that does not yet exist in any other Continent
or regional organisations;
Re-affirming
our commitment to continue, expand and accelerate efforts to promote
gender equality at all levels;
Determined
to build on the progress that we have achieved in addressing
issues of major concern to the women of Africa;
Taking
cognizance of the landmark decision to adopt the Protocol
to the African Charter on Human and People’s Right on the Rights
of Women in Africa during the Second Ordinary Session of the Assembly
in Maputo, Mozambique, 2003;
Noting
the decision of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission
to transform the African Women’s Committee on Peace and Development
(AWCPD) into the African Union Women’s Committee (AUWC), which will
be located in the Gender Directorate and serve as an Advisory Body
to the Chairperson on Gender and Development;
Recognizing
the major challenges and obstacles to gender equality still remain
and require concerted and collective leadership and efforts from
all of us including networks working on gender and development;
Deeply
concerned about the status of women and the negative impacts
on women of issues such as the high incidence of HIV/AIDS among
girls and women, conflict, poverty, harmful traditional practices,
high population of refugee women and internally displaced women,
violence against women, women’s exclusion from politics and decision
making and illiteracy,limited access of girls to education;
Aware
of the polices and programmes we have put in place to curb the spread
of HIV/AIDS pandemic as well as the current challenges in this campaign;
Concerned
that, while women and children bear the brunt of conflicts and internal
displacement, including rapes and killings, they are largely excluded
from conflict prevention, peace – negotiations and peace – building
processes in spite of African women’s experience in peace – building;
Aware
of the fact that low levels of women’s representation in social,
economic and political decision making structures and feminization
of poverty impact negatively on women’s ability to derive full benefit
from the economics of their countries and the democratization process;
Aware
of the digital divide between the North and South, men and women
and the role of information telecommunication technologies (ICTS)
in the advancement of the gender issue as stated in the e-gender
Forum Declaration of Tunis, May 2004 in preparation for the World
Summit on Information Society (WSIS) 2005;
HEREBY
AGREE TO:
- Accelerate
the implementation of gender specific economic, social
and legal measures aimed at combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic and
effectively implement both Abuja and Maputo Declarations on Malaria,
HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious Diseases.
More specifically we will ensure that treatment and social services
are available to women at the local level making it more responsive
to the needs of the families that are providing care; enact legislation
to end discrimination against women living with HIV/AIDS and for
the protection and care for people living with HIV/AIDS, particularly
women; increase budgetary allocations in these sectors so as to
alleviate women’s burden of care;
- Ensure
the full and effective participation and representation of women
in peace process including the prevention, resolution, management
of conflicts and post conflict reconstruction in Africa as stipulated
in UN Resolution 1325 (2000) and to also appoint women as Special
Envoys and Special Representatives of the African Union;
- Launch,
within the next one year, a campaign for systematic prohibition
of the recruitment of child soldiers and abuse of girl children
as wives and sex slaves in the violation of their Rights as enriched
in the African Charter on Rights of the Child;
- Initiate,
launch and engage within two years sustained public campaigns
against gender based violence as well as the problem of trafficking
in women and girls; Reinforce legal mechanism that will protect
women at the national level and end impunity of crimes committed
against women in a manner that will change and positively alter
the attitude and behavior of the African Society;
- Expand
and Promote
the gender parity principle that we have adopted regarding the
Commission of the African Union to all the other organs of the
African Union, including its NEPAD programme, to the Regional
Economic Communities, and to the national and local levels in
collaboration with political parties and the National Parliament
in our countries;
- Ensure
the active promotion and protection of all human rights for women
and girls including the right to development by raising awareness
or by legislation where necessary;
- Actively
promote
the implementation of legislation to guarantee women’s land, property
and inheritance rights including their rights to housing;
- Take
specific measures to ensure the education of girls and
literacy of women, especially in the rural areas, to achieve the
goal of "Education for all" (EFA)
- Undertake
to Sign and ratify Protocol to the African Charter on
Human and People’s Rights to the Rights of Women in Africa by
the end of 2004 and to support the launching of the public campaigns
aimed at ensuring it entry into force by 2005 and usher in an
era of domesticating and implementing the Protocol as well as
other national, regional and international instruments on gender
equality by all State Parties;
- Establish
AIDS Watch Africa as a unit within the Office of the Chairperson
of the Commission who should render annual report on HIV/AIDS
situation in the continent during annual Summits; and promote
the local production of anti-retroviral drugs in our countries;
- Accept
to establish an African Trust Fund for Women for the
purpose of building the capacity of African Women and further
request the African Union Commission to work out the modalities
of the operationalisation of the fund with special focus on women
in both urban and rural areas;
- Commit
ourselves to report annually on progress made in terms
of gender mainstreaming and to support and champion all issues
raised in this Declaration, both at the national and regional
levels, and regularly provide each other with updates on progress
made during our Ordinary Sessions;
- We
request the Chairperson of the African Union Commission
to submit, for our consideration, an annual report during our
ordinary sessions, on measures taken to implement the principle
of gender equality and gender mainstreaming, and all issues raised
in this Declaration both at the national and regional levels.
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