TRES/010/10/2011: Resolution on Women’s Rights in Africa
We, the participants to the NGO Forum in the 50th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and 24th African Human Rights Book Fair held from 19th – 21st October, 2011 in Banjul, The Gambia
Recalling that women’s rights are protected by the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and further affirmed by the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa.
Recalling that the African Union has declared 2010-2020 to be the Africa Women’s Decade therefore prioritising the advancement of women’s rights
Recalling that State obligations in relation to the rights of women in Africa are monitored by the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights to ensure that the rights of women are promoted realised and protected in order to enable them to enjoy fully all their human rights as guaranteed by the Charter and the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa.
Recalling that women’s rights have been recognised and guaranteed in all international human rights instruments, notably the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and its Optional Protocol, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, as being inalienable, interdependent and indivisible human rights
Recognising that effective advancement of women’s rights in Africa is dependent on the ratification and domestication of the African Charter, the protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa and State’s use of the Reporting Guidelines
Alarmed that the women in Africa are still disproportionally suffering from gender based and sexual violence without effective remedies, especially in conflict and post-conflict situations
Alarmed at the high maternal mortality rate in Africa occasioned by unsafe abortion and lack of access to health facilities and services
Condemning the continued negligence of African States in actualising the rights of women in Africa
Urgesthe African Commission through the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa, prioritise the mandate of assisting governments with implementation of policies towards promotion and protection of the rights of women in Africa, particularly under the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa and to
Urge all African Union States to take immediate steps to respect and protect the rights of Women in Africa by:
- Reforming all discriminatory laws against women and enforce laws that uphold the rights and dignity of women as guaranteed by the African Charter and further by the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa
- Reducing the high rate of maternal mortality in Africa by ensuring provision and access to reproductive health care including safe abortion services as stipulated by the Protocol on the Rights of Women in:
- Enacting legislation and policies as measures towards effecting their obligations in the African Charter and the Maputo Protocol and ensuring its implementation
- Putting in place effective legislation that criminalises sexual and gender based violence and having in place policies that aim to manage the prevention of sexual and gender based violence;
- Lifting reservations placed on the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, which defeat the realisation and promotion of women’s rights as intended by the Protocol. Kenya is among state parties that had entered reservations on Article 14 (2) (c) and Article 10 (3) while Uganda also reservations on Article 14 (2) (c).
- Ensuring that all women have access to justice and effective remedies where their rights under the African Charter and the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa have been violated
Done in Banjul – 21st October 2011
