Reflections on The African Women's Decade

The African Women's Decade (2010- 2020) to be launched regionally in October 2010, would coincide with the time that the women's movement worldwide is marking significant landmarks on gender equality and the empowerment of women. This year, the world is reviewing thirty years of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Again Women (CEDAW), fifteen years of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA), ten years of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, six years of the adoption of the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (SDGEA), and five years since the coming into force of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, just to mention, but a few. A pointer to the fact that as far as women's rights in Africa are concerned, we have reached a stage where implementation has to be given greater attention.