ANALYSIS: African Women's Decade

Addis Ababa, March 31, 2011 (Ezega.com) - As we celebrated International Women's day in March this year, one might ask the question how the status of African women has changed over the years, both on the grass roots level and on the policy level. On this question, both the United Nations and the African Union have been very vocal about the need for protection of women's rights. However, the problem remains in implementing it.

UN resolution 1325 (2000) adopted by the Security Council in October 2000 has been realized with the understanding that women are highly affected by armed conflicts all over the world, even though they are mostly not engaged directly in combat.The realities of attacks that targeted women in Rwanda and Bosnia, and the related reports of sexual violence against them, weighed heavily inthe council's decision. In addition, Resolution 1325 recognized that women were combatants in many conflicts, and were a significant part of the support systems of armed groups, and therefore deserves special attention in demobilization and reintegration programs. The Resolution also highlighted the obligations under international law of parties to conflict to protect women in war situations.Accordingly, looking at the frightening pattern of gender-based violence, the security council agreed that it was important to ensure that women's needs, and their views, were taken into account in the planning and execution of all aspects of conflict prevention, peace processes, peacekeeping operations, and post-conflict recovery. The Council took the view that women had a critically important contribution to make regarding how peace could be achieved and maintained.

The resolution expressed concern that civilians, particularly women and children, account for the vast majority of those adversely affected by armed conflict, including their status as refugees and internally displaced persons, and that they are increasingly targeted by combatants and armed elements. The Resolution also recognized the consequent impact of attacks on women and children on durable peace and reconciliation. It goes on to reaffirm the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peace-building, and stresses the importance of their equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, as well as the need to increase their role in decision-making with regard to conflict prevention and resolution,

The normative framework created by resolution 1325, both moral and legal, has guided work on gender ‘mainstreaming' policies across the UN system and has thrown a spotlight on issues preventing gender equality within UN agencies. The framework also prompted the Council to continue taking up the thematic issue of women, peace and security in the ten years since the Resolution was introduced. In the last three years the UNadopted three further resolutions on this subject (resolutions 1820, 1888 as well as 1889 which focused on the importance of women's involvement in post-conflict recovery). In 2010 alone, the Council was awaiting five different reports from the Secretary-General stemming from resolutions 1888 and 1889.

In seeking ways of improving implementation of the resolution, consideration of the fact that addressing the impact of conflict on women falls largely on the efforts of a few Security Council members and individuals within the UN Secretariat should not be over looked.

In the African context, the African union anemphasized that, over the years, the AU had adopted a comprehensive human rights architecture that provides mechanisms for both preventing and addressing violence against women and children in armed conflicts, including international instruments such as the UN 1325 resolution. In that same meeting the Council urged Member States to include progress on the implementation of the Protocol on the Rights of Women within their annual reports to the Assembly of the African Union as required by the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa. The Council also encouraged civil society to contribute, in the most appropriate manner, to the implementation of the Protocol on the Rights of Women and the African Charter on the Protection and Welfare of the Child and to participate actively in the overall efforts aimed at promoting peace, security and stability, in conformity with the provisions of article 20 of the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the AU.

As the UN 1325 tenth year anniversary dawns, the African women's decade was also launched in Nairobi on October 15th 2010 in accordance with the African Union Assembly Declaration that designated 2010 -2020 as the African Women's Decade. The AU event was launched with an event and series of forums in Nairobi with a theme “Grassroots Approach to Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment ‘'. In attendance were African Union Commission and Civil Society organizations of Africa. Prior initiatives taken by the African union, specifically the assembly, include: The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa adopted in 2003 in Maputo; and the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa adopted in Addis Ababa in July 2004, which requires States to respect normative standards on women's human rights.

The official concept note and the road map for the launch of the African women's decade state its objectives comprehensively as: To preserve and build on the African women's strength in the women's movement and leverage on global and regional political goodwill for the advancement of African women; To usurp the opportunity for African women to provide leadership in rejuvenating the global women's movement, with a focus on youth and grassroots women; and To maintain the drive for empowering African women and marshal resources for the performance and relevance of the Decade.

The goal and aim of the AWD as disused in the road map for the AWD, in concrete terms, are the execution of commitments on gender equality and women's empowerment from the grass roots, through national and regional to continental level and advancing gender equality by reinforcing equal partnerships between men and women between 2010 and 2020.The document also stresses the issue that in order to achieve the listed goals, existing instruments should be strengthened and supported through an inclusive grassroots bottom-top approach.

Over the decade, ten thematic areas have been identified that will be emphasized and highlighted annually: Fighting Poverty and Promoting Economic Empowerment of Women and Entrepreneurship; Agriculture and Food Security; Health, Maternal Mortality and HIV/AIDS; Education, Science and Technology; Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development; Peace and Security and Violence against Women; Governance and Legal Protection; Finance and Gender Budgeting; Women in Decision Making; and Young Women's Movement.

The initiative should be considered as a step in the right direction with regards to empowering women, mainstreaming gender issues, extending protection of civilians and advancing peacekeeping with an emphasis on women and young girls; the women's decade should also be giving detailed emphasis to the implementation of relevant programmes, as that are well managed, closely monitored and regularly reported on with involvement at the grass root level.

The African women's decade, as planned, should be the decade of opportunity for African women through the practical, moral and legal realization of a Grassroots Approach to Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment that ought to set the stage for enhanced peace, security and equality of opportunity for women everywhere in the decades ahead.