Relevant Literature

Relevant Literature on Human Rights in Africa

African Platform for Action adopted by the Fifth Regional Conference on Women

held at Dakar from 16 to 23 November 1994

IV. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES AND ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN

85. Accelerated actions to address the three core issues of the Platform for Action (equality, development and peace) must integrate the gender dimension into all political, social, economic and cultural activities for development. In improving the status, empowerment, participation and decision-making capabilities of women at all levels and in all spheres of life, it is imperative to eliminate social, cultural and individual attitudes and practices that perpetuate gender discrimination. Subordination and discrimination in legislation, as well as in political, economic and social relationships between women and men have to be eliminated wherever they exist. African Governments should take greater account of women's contribution, experience, talents, insights and creativity, in the shaping of the future of the continent. Although the post-Nairobi period has witnessed some improvements in African women's status, it is imperative that setbacks, continuing imbalances and new problems must be clearly identified. It is necessary to devise measures to accelerate the integration of the gender dimension into all political, social, economic and cultural activities aimed at achieving equality, development and peace.

A. Measures required

86. The measures and actions outlined in the following paragraphs have to be implemented at national, subregional and regional and international levels. The process of implementation has to involve a wide array and diversity of partners and actors in development, acting in close concert, collaboration and cooperation. Such actors include Governments, intergovernmental bodies (regional and subregional), international financial institutions, multilateral organizations, United Nations agencies, national and international non-governmental organizations and women's organizations. In all cases, however, national Governments in Africa have to act as leading agents in all actions meant to accelerate the advancement of women. But above all, women as the major stake holders will have to make special efforts to ensure the success of implementation of the African Platform for Action.

1. Women, poverty, insufficient food security and lack of economic empowerment

87. Rationale

The struggle against poverty, the economic empowerment of women and the promotion of sustainable livelihoods for women and youth is a moral, political and economic obligation and responsibility of national Governments and the international community. The poverty experienced by women and their dependants should not be seen only from a welfare perspective. Women and other people living in poverty represent an under-utilization of productive potential. Measures to reduce or eliminate poverty are major parameters of growth, empowerment and overall political stability. Women's deprived right to development should be explicitly recognized. This requires policies that are gender sensitive that accommodate the needs and interests of the women in poverty as defined and articulated by themselves. It also requires specific and gender-based anti-poverty policies, programmes and actions that are integrated into overall economic planning at local, national, regional and international levels. The realities of people and women in poverty are specific, complex, diverse and dynamic. Besides and beyond income poverty there are many other dimensions of disadvantages, deprivations and ill-being experienced by women and their dependants. These include social discrimination, exclusion, desertion, isolation, physical disability, vulnerability and deprivation. There is also the poverty associated with wars, famine, displaced persons and refugees, imbalanced trade relations and SAPs.

88. Objectives

(a) To mobilize women and youth to participate effectively in all aspects of the implementation of the Platform for Action, with particular regard to economic decision-making;

(b) To eliminate explicit and implicit discrimination against women in the economic sphere;

(c) To ensure the full participation and empowerment of women and girls in society in order to make full use of all human resources in the struggle against multidimensional poverty, particularly through the equal access by women to education, economic opportunities, including production and trade employment, public services, basic health-care services, reproductive health including maternal and child health care and family planning services;

(d) To provide greater and better opportunities at each stage of girls' and women's life for redressing the fundamental gender-based inequities;

(e) To eliminate the factors that accentuate poverty among women;

(f) To ensure that all sectors make a genuine effort to contribute positively to the employment of women;

(g) To recognize and support women's sustainable livelihood and other coping strategies in both the marketed and non-marketed sectors.

89. Proposed actions

(a) Women and Governments in collaboration and full partnership with non-governmental organizations, to organize pressure groups and networks to ensure the implementation of the Platform for Action;

(b) Enact and/or enforce laws that will remove barriers to the economic participation of women, particularly those which relate to property rights, asset holdings, inheritance laws, credit policies, labour and zoning laws and to export processing zones;

(c) Recognize the importance of the informal sector and make all efforts to support it as it is a major source of economic activity for women in both rural and urban areas and make all efforts to promote it;

(d) To adopt firm political commitment to develop the agricultural sector in order to ensure food security and food self-sufficiency along with appropriate measures such as allocation of financial, technical and human resources, and equitable food price policies;

(e) Provide rural women with the necessary means to participate in the process of economic growth by ensuring access to assets and increasing returns on those assets through land reforms, and the effective enforcement of related legislation, resettlement schemes, special credit opportunities, access to and information on markets, access to channels, marketing and managerial strategies and skills, training programmes, improved water connections to impoverished areas, improved agricultural extension for small farmers in general and women farmers in particular, techniques for processing agricultural products, rural roads upgrading and rehabilitation programmes. Special programmes targeted on the mobilization of rural and urban youth should be established and promoted. In all these activities, the gender perspective must be reflected;

(f) Improve the condition of women by providing basic social services, e.g., education, public health, nutrition and child-care facilities;

(g) Formulate and implement specific economic, food security and related policies in support of female-headed households;

(h) Provide land rights on an equitable basis for women and men in terms of ownership and utilization and monitor implementation;

(i) Reduce girls' and women's workload through, among others, provision of appropriate technologies for all aspects of farming and household tasks;

(j) Promote more equitable sharing of work and family responsibilities between men and women boys and girls;

(k) Design special economic schemes for poor women, taking into consideration their multiple responsibilities. Efforts should be geared towards ensuring greater access by the poor to economic resources by forging links with existing facilities and creating new structures suitable to their needs; special economic schemes for poor women should reflect the reality of young women and girls who are forced to abandon their education in order to help take care of the family;

(l) Monitor the full implementation of the recommendations of the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty, with a special emphasis on women;

(m) Facilitate women's decision-making role at the levels of family, community, marketing organizations and the public/political spheres and improve their capacities to promote change and manage development in and through the public and private sectors;

(n) Strengthen local institutions' capacity to train women for environmentally sustainable economic activities;

(o) Transform African debt as a means of financing projects and programmes for the advancement of women;

(p) Give high priority to women for access to food resources made available through development efforts, and fully involve destitute women - particularly refugees, migrants and displaced - in the distribution mechanisms. Introduce measures to make displaced women productive;

(q) Introducing training programmes on regional and external trade operations for small and medium size enterprises;

(r) Within the context of trade promotion programmes at the national and regional levels, targeting of business women in the provision of business support services, including trade information and market intelligence, access to credit, packaging. PTA, COMESA and ECOWAS should provide technical support services on product design and adaption, technology transfers and quality control;

(s) Building capacity in national, subregional and regional trade organizations and business associations to effectively play their role as facilitators, particularly in providing advisory and trade services as well as information on market opportunities including follow-up to the Uruguay Round Agreement so as to promote private sector development and entrepreneurship among women;

(t) Promote programmes aimed at developing micro and small and medium-scale enterprises in production, trade and services, by providing women with training programmes in technical, management and external trade operations;

(u) Promote rural industrialization schemes, thus reducing rural/urban migration through the participation of women in the design, development, promotion and dissemination of food technologies;

(v) Promotion of agriculture-industry linkages through the development of micro, small enterprises in the agro-industries subsector;

(w) Set up an appropriate institutional framework on financial schemes to support programmes and projects for women;

(x) Governments should review their economic policies including structural adjustment programmes which impact negatively on services offered to women with a view to improving their socio-economic status.

2. Inadequate access to education, training, science and technology

90. Rationale

Universal access to basic and quality education for all women and girls is a fundamental right which requires the mobilization of existing and new financial and human resources from public, private and voluntary sources. African Governments must fulfil their commitment to the principles of the 1990 World Declaration on Education for All and to the goals and targets set by themselves in accordance with the Framework for Action to meet Basic Learning Needs. Education is a key factor in the development and well-being of all members of society, therefore priority must be given to the education of girls and women because of their past discrimination and marginalization. Education is also a powerful tool for the social, economic and political integration of women by promoting tolerance, democratic values, political awareness and respect for the human person. Its provision constitutes one of the primary responsibilities of African Governments and civil society. Special efforts need to be made by Governments in relation to the girl-child to ensure parity at all levels.

91. The improvement of women's activities and the development of their capacity to adapt to prevailing economic hardships also require the implementation of training programmes that meet their needs and involving them in scientific and technological developments.

92. Objectives

(a) To provide gender-responsive education and remove disparities from national policies and programmes for universal primary, secondary and higher education and adult literacy;

(b) To achieve gender equality in retention, quality and achievement in both formal and non-formal education by the year 2000;

(c) To take positive actions to encourage women, especially young girls, to enter new fields of science and technology which offer better job opportunities and career prospects.

93. Proposed actions

The Ouagadougou Declaration on the Education of Girls should constitute an important denominator of the proposed actions.

(a) Provide gender sensitive occupational and educational guidance and counselling services to girls at all levels of the education system in respect of career choices and personal development;

(b) Ensure that statistics on education recognize and analyse the issue of gender by appropriate disaggregation of all education data;

(c) Enact and ensure effective implementation of legislation to enforce a minimum basic education of at least nine years;

(d) Give incentives to families to minimize the opportunity cost of girls' education through provision of scholarships/bursaries for the education of girls and the establishment of child-care facilities for young siblings;

(e) Adopt gender appropriate curricula teaching of human rights and the integration of gender-awareness in all aspects of training programmes to eliminate stereotyping;

(f) Enact legislation for and give financial incentives to employers to provide functional literacy and training for unskilled women employees;

(g) Take positive action to promote women's interest in and benefits from scientific and technical education, thus encouraging women to enter non-traditional fields;

(h) To encourage cooperation among African women with the view to promoting sharing of experience in new and traditional technology;

(i) Promote the training and recruitment of female teaching, administrative and technical staff to achieve gender equity using innovations such as special financial incentives; and adopt favourable administrative measures and incentives to encourage them to work in rural areas;

(j) Improve access to schools and provide appropriate and community-based facilities, particularly in rural areas;

(k) Make available basic, civic literacy and functional literacy and life- skill programmes for women and girls;

(l) Promote rural industrialization schemes thus reducing rural-urban migration through the involvement of rural women in agro-based industries;

(m) Conscientize parents and the community at large to the importance of girls' education and the support they should be provided on a continuous basis using all means of information and communication;

(n) Make available appropriate technologies aimed at reducing the workload of women and girls, in order to provide more time for schooling and recreation;

(o) Provide technical and financial support to training programmes for women;

(p) Develop relevant and effective health education programmes for girls and women in both formal and non-formal education;

(q) Adopt strategies to halt the brain drain and to retain Africa's skilled human resources;

(r) Improve the level and status of women in traditionally female careers such as nursing and teaching;

(s) Provide training in gender analysis and gender planning to enable gender-responsive policy and programming;

(t) Promote pre-school education;

(u) Strengthen women's access to training by providing child-care facilities and incorporating child-care costs into training costs;

(v) Strengthen women's entrepreneurial capacity by developing mechanisms which will link the research of women scientists and technologists with the indigenous knowledge of women entrepreneurs.

3. Women's vital role in culture, the family and socialization

94. Rationale

Culture constitutes the totality of people's ways of life, values, moral principles, ideology, religion and social practices. A culture can thus be a force of liberation or oppression. Male-dominated ideologies in Africa have tended to use culture to justify oppressive gender relations.

But culture can also be a liberating dynamic force in African society through its various active institution. Governments should now repeal all negative stereotyped cultures that still hinder full advancement of women.

The total integration of women in all levels and activities of the society is a critical need which has to be met within the overall framework of the cultural fabric, the family and the various processes of socialization. In formulating policies, strategies, objectives and actions, the different components that promote the social and cultural integration of women throughout the entire life cycle have to be seen within a consistent framework because they reinforce each other and also promote the development of creativity of rural women. The identity of the woman as an individual has to be recognized and respected.

95. Objectives

(a) To promote the status of women in African societies through maintenance of social cohesion and a balance between universality and quality of the individual;

(b) To recognize and value the role of women in the diverse processes of socialization, particularly at the family and community levels;

(d) To remove the negative cultural attitudes and harmful traditional practices towards women's participation in public/political spheres through IEC programmes;

(e) To develop policies and laws that provide better material and moral support for the family, that contribute to its stability and that take into account its plurality of forms, particularly the increasing number of single-parent households;

(f) To establish social security measures that are focused on the social, cultural and economic factors behind the rising cost of child-rearing and education as well, to promote and design policies and programmes that are sensitive to the needs of the elderly in the society;

(g) To promote equality of opportunity for family members, especially the rights of women and children in the family;

(h) To promote sports and artistic activities among African women.

96. Proposed actions

(a) Mobilize boys and men to encourage and support the emancipation of girls and women for the development of African societies;

(b) Governments and community leaders must combat culturally biased male and female stereotypes through effective programmes of sustained education and communication, enactment and enforcement of appropriate legislation;

(c) Undertake effective sensitization and IEC programmes designed to change the attitudes and behaviour of African parents with regard to the sound construction of gender roles;

(d) Include in literacy programmes a component on socialization;

(e) Governments should create conducive environment for the development of associative networks for promoting family counselling centres with NGO and community involvement;

(f) Promote increased sharing of roles and responsibilities within the family through innovative media campaigns, school and community education programmes with emphasis on gender equality and non-stereotyped roles of both women and men within the family;

(g) Governments, in close consultation and cooperation with employers, should provide and promote means to facilitate compatibility between labour force participation and parental responsibilities especially for single-parent households with young children;

(h) African Governments should take effective actions to eliminate all forms of coercion and discrimination in policies and practices pertaining to marriages and the family in general. In particular, measures should be adopted and enforced to eliminate child marriages;

(i) Promote, develop and document the positive aspects of African cultures and heritage;

(j) Governments should implement the recommendations of the 1994 International Year of the Family;

(k) To enact legislation to protect women and girls from being ostracized from their immediate families and communities.

4. Improvement of women's health, including reproductive health and family planning and integrated population programmes

97. Rationale

Health care and population-related programmes should be designed to serve the needs of men and women at all ages and must include equal involvement of women in leadership, planning, decision-making, management, implementation, organization and evaluation of services. Governments, NGOs, United Nations agencies and other organizations should take positive steps to include women at all levels of population and health care systems, but above all to integrate population-related issues and health-care activities into overall human development policies and strategies from a balanced gender perspective.

In accordance with the 1994 principles adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development, everyone has the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Therefore, appropriate measures must be taken to ensure universal access to health care services, including those related to reproductive health care which encompasses family planning and sexual health for both men and women. Population-related policies and programmes must advance gender equality and equity and improve the quality of women's lives by enabling them to exercise their rights to plan and control their own fertility and to participate fully at all levels of the implementation of population and human development programmes.

98. Objectives

The objectives with regard to health, reproductive health care including family planning and population are to integrate fully population-related policies and balanced gender concerns into:

(a) Development strategies, planning, decision-making and resources allocation at all levels in order to meet the needs and improve the quality of life of present and future generations;

(b) All aspects of development planning in order to promote social justice and to eradicate poverty through sustained economic growth in the context of sustainable development;

(c) Another objective is to raise the quality of life for all people through appropriate population and human development policies and programmes targeted at the eradication of poverty and human resource development. Since women are generally the poorest of the poor and are at the same time key actors in the development process, a major objective is to eliminate all kinds of gender imbalances and discrimination against women as a prerequisite to eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable human development;

(d) To promote research on traditional medicine and health practices;

(e) Making budgetary allocations to women's health and issues commensurate with the critical and central nature of women's health;

(f) Ensuring equitable representation by women in professional and managerial positions in the health sector;

(g) Reduce maternal and infant mortality by 50 per cent by the year 2015;

(h) To improve post-natal facilities and provide free health care for children under five years of age;

(i) To promote the nutritional status of adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers.

The objectives on HIV/AIDS are to:

Control the scourge of HIV/AIDS by urging African Heads of State and Government to implement the Declaration on HIV/AIDS that they adopted in July 1992 in which they decided:

(a) To sensitize 95 per cent of the adult and youth population by 1995 about HIV/AIDS, how it is transmitted, how to protect themselves and others against it and also ensure that each government department of health will have prepared a plan of action on the control of the disease;

(b) To elaborate a plan of action on how to control HIV/AIDS in Africa;

(c) To sensitize women with a view to enable them to negotiate the practice of engaging in protected sexual practices without risk, especially when they know that their sexual partners are not doing so;

(d) To promote within the family and between partners the spirit of dialogue that permits mutual protection against HIV/AIDS and give the necessary support when one of them is infected with the disease.

99. Proposed actions

(a) Incorporate population and gender concerns into all national development strategies, plans, policies and programmes and ensure women's full participation as decision makers in these processes;

(b) To mobilize adequate resources for research, documentation and services relating to the impact of stress and risk-related to the environment on the health of women;

(c) Increase the accessibility, availability and affordability of primary health care services and reproductive health facilities and ensure that the design of health interventions takes into account women's specific health needs, multiple responsibilities and the demands on their time;

(d) Promote social justice and eradicate poverty through people-centred and sustainable economic growth policies so as to meet equitably the health needs of women of present and future generations;

(e) Promote safe motherhood by ensuring pre-natal, peri-natal and post-natal care for the mother's and child's health;

(f) Promote community-based family services aimed at informing on all choices of family planning methods in order to space, postpone or limit pregnancies, particularly in rural areas and involve men in this process;

(g) Plan IEC in the home and in all forums where the youth gather in order to promote family life education;

(h) Decrease maternal and infant mortality rate by 50 per cent by the year 2015;

(i) Prevent and reduce the incidence of and provide treatment for STDs;

(j) Actively safeguard the mental health of families through the provision of health laws, facilities and counselling; enact appropriate legislation to eradicate traditional practices which are harmful to girl's and women's health (e.g., female genital mutilation and child marriage).

On population and family planning:

(a) Provide safe, accessible, affordable and quality reproductive health care including family planning services to all those who need them without discrimination;

(b) Adopt and enforce measures to ensure that women and men can exercise their responsibility and right to decide freely the number and timing of births that they desire;

(c) Provide timely and accurate information to enable men, women and youth to make informed choices about their sexuality and health;

(d) Enlist the support of men in safeguarding the reproductive health of their sexual partners through sensitive and appropriate programmes that target men;

(e) Provide updated gender-sensitive training and information to health care providers to empower them to give compassionate, appropriate and timely reproductive health services to women at all stages of their life cycle;

(f) Ensure equal representation of women as key decision makers at all levels of population and health policy formulation, programming and implementation in order to ensure the incorporation of balanced gender concerns;

(g) Mobilize and allocate more financial and human resources to the health sector incorporating reproductive health and family planning and health sectors in order to reverse the observed decline in overall health and well-being of women, men, adolescents and children;

(h) Integrate reproductive health services in the primary health care systems and adopt innovative approaches which will involve communities as active participants as well as beneficiaries;

(i) Ensure better reproductive health including family planning coverage by adopting an integrated development approach through multidisciplinary activities in order to outreach rural families involving the joint efforts of social partners, NGOs and communities;

(j) Ensure targeted measures on AIDS in the field of awareness, information, education and protection.

Combat the spread of AIDS by accelerating the implementation of the 1992 Declaration on AIDS and the Child in relation to, inter alia:

(a) Working out a Plan of Action to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS;

(b) Ensuring that 100 per cent of every country's adults know how HIV is transmitted and how to protect themselves and others from infection;

(c) Mounting awareness-raising activities to ensure negotiating skills for women to practise safe sex techniques especially when they are aware that their spouses/partners are involved in high-risk behaviours;

(d) Organizing activities that promote caring relationships within families in a context in which partners will protect each other from HIV and provide support in the event that either partner develops AIDS;

(e) Provide financial support for scientific research on African pharmacopoeia for the intention of vaccines on AIDS and malaria.

5. Women's relationship and linkages to environment and natural resource management

100. Rationale

The development and maintenance of human habitat is not possible without the participation of both men and women. The economic agenda cannot be complete without focusing on land rights and ownership for women. Women are crucial in making a sound sustainable environmental programme. There is need to make women with disabilities visible in their role as managers and users of the environment.

101. Objectives

(a) To ensure that gender/population, environmental and poverty eradication factors are integrated in sustainable development policies, plans and programmes;

(b) To ensure that customary laws and harmful practices linked to religion that discriminate against women are reviewed and amended to include the rights of women to land;

(c) To create awareness among women regarding their dependency on the environment and how this impacts upon the natural resource base;

(d) To establish, strengthen and maintain institutions responsible for environment and women's issues;

(e) To mainstream environmental concerns into the planning and policy process, upgrade the work of women in natural resource management and to teach youth on what constitutes nature and respect for nature.

102. Proposed actions

(a) Analyse the structural linkages between gender relations, poverty, environment and development and integrate demographic and gender factors into environmental impact assessments and other planning and decision-making processes aimed at achieving sustainable development;

(b) Undertake measures to enhance the full participation of women at all levels of decision-making to achieve sustainable use of natural resources;

(d) To develop relevant science curricula to incorporate current advances in science and technology and to provide for the integration of indigenous science and technology into mainstream teaching;

(e) Develop and make available appropriate and affordable technologies, introduce and educate women, especially rural women, on the application of alternative sources of energy which effectively reduce women's workload while protecting the environment;

(f) Promote, design and disseminate information on appropriate housing and necessary hygienic conditions in rural and urban areas in order to enhance the internal environment;

(g) Legitimize, promote and replicate women's understanding and knowledge systems on the environment as well as their traditional techniques for resource utilization in support of their productive and reproductive functions;

(h) To introduce legal reforms that protect women's rights that ensure women's access to natural resources;

(i) To develop housing infrastructure, potable water, electrification and roads in rural areas;

(j) To ban the dumping and import of toxic waste and solid waste as well as industries that pollute the environment and ensure that waste-generating energy using technologies are not dumped in Africa;

(k) Women and youth should be fully integrated in afforestation programmes and environmental preservation.

6. The political empowerment of women

103. Rationale

The empowerment and autonomy of women and the improvement of their political, social, economic and health conditions are highly critical areas of concern for the Platform for Action. The full participation and equal partnership of both women and men is required in all aspects of development.

Women in Africa receive much less formal and informal education than men, and at the same time, their knowledge, talent and abilities to cope with a highly adverse environment are hardly ever recognized. Women's inherent knowledge, talent and organizational and managerial abilities should be fully recognized as attributes for their active participation in politics and decision-making processes. Similarly, the power relations that impede women's full participation and attainment of healthy and fulfilling lives operate at many levels of society and they should be fully recognized and adequately addressed.

104. Objectives

(a) To promote solidarity among women of all ages and social background;

(b) To initiate and implement policies and programmes that are designed to improve women's access to secure livelihoods and economic resources, alleviate their heavy responsibilities and tasks with regard to farm and housework and child care, and remove legal impediments to their full participation in public life;

(c) To raise political and social awareness through effective programmes of civic education and mass communication and ensure that women are given responsibilities at the social, cultural and political and trade union levels;

(d) To improve the status of women in order to enhance their decision-making capacity at all levels in all spheres of life;

(e) To promote a democratic and harmonious partnership between women and men in order to achieve equality at all levels;

(f) To increase the numbers of women politicians and parliamentarians and trade union leaders.

105. Proposed actions

All development partners and actors should act to empower women and should take concrete actions to eliminate inequalities between men and women by:

(a) Establishing mechanisms and strengthening chances for women's full and equal participation and equitable representation at all levels of the political process, power structures and decision-making in each community and society, and enable women to articulate their concerns and needs;

(b) Adopting appropriate measures to improve women's ability to earn income beyond traditional occupations, achieve economic self-reliance and ensure women's equal access to the labour market and social security systems. The private sector should support these measures;

(c) Adopting specific measures including affirmative actions to redress past and present imbalances between women and men;

(d) Mobilizing and sensitizing both women and men, NGOs, political parties and pressure groups including trade unions to support and promote and encourage women candidates at all political levels and support women aspiring to political careers, identify and encourage them to take part in politics and governance. The selection must be based on careful consideration of their commitment of candidates to promote women's interests;

(e) Documents to institute legislation that protects and promote the status, rights and well-being of women with disabilities and to ensure their effective representation in decision-making;

(f) Governments should appoint more women - at least 35 per cent - with due regards to their competence decision-making positions in key ministries, such as foreign affairs, defence, finance, economic planning and development;

(g) Information and training particulars should be provided to motivate women to participate in the political process. Political parties and pressure groups should encourage women to take part in local and national elections, and other competitive leadership situations;

(h) Taking further action to correct the low representation of women at the regional level and in the United Nations system, particularly at decision- making levels;

(i) Adopt specific measures to ensure equal participation of women in decision-making at the community level;

(j) To invite parliamentarians, politicians, and all concerned institutions to promote and implement a Plan of Action adopted by the Inter-Parliamentary Union to reduce the disparity between men and women in political life.

7. Women's legal and human rights and women with special needs

106. Rationale

Nearly 20 years ago, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was adopted. As of 20 May 1994, 20 African countries had neither ratified nor implemented it. And among those which have ratified many have entered reservations which limit the socio-economic status of women.

The African Platform for Action urges firm political commitment and concrete action towards the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.

In most African countries, violence against women in domestic, private or public places has increased to alarming levels. This is further exacerbated by gender bias in the administration of justice, conflicts which arise between the rights of women and certain traditional and customary practices, cultural prejudices and extremism as well as armed conflicts. Governments are urged to put an end to this unacceptable situation.

Women's rights are universal and indivisible from human rights. The equal status of African women and their legal and human rights should be integrated into the mainstream of African Governments' legislative, judicial and administrative bodies. The African Platform for Action endorses and urges action towards the eradication of all forms of discrimination against women, whether overt or covert. It also supports the universal ratification and implementation by all States of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

In line with the Vienna Declaration (para. 38), this Platform stresses the importance of working towards the elimination of violence against women in public and private life, the elimination of gender bias in the administration of justice and eradication of any conflicts which may arise between the rights of women and the harmful effects of certain traditional or customary practices, cultural prejudices and religious extremism and armed conflict. The Platform further endorses the view that violations of the human rights of women in situations of armed conflict are violations of the fundamental principles of international human rights and humanitarian law.

107. Objectives

(a) To empower women with knowledge about their rights, and the ability to attain them;

(b) To remove discriminatory and oppressive laws and practices by enacting laws and ensuring their implementation;

(c) To ensure that conventions, treaties, instruments and charters on women's rights are implemented. This, inter alia, includes the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Declaration on the Rights of the Child (Dakar Consensus), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention against torture, other inhuman or degrading treatment and the Abuja Treaty;

(d) To assess implications of certain penal codes with regard to women's and children's rights;

(e) To eradicate gender bias in law enforcement and the administration of justice;

(f) To increase the participation of women at decision-making levels and the administration of justice.

108. Proposed actions

With regard to women's legal and human rights, action should be taken to:

(a) Urge Governments which have not yet done so to sign and ratify without resolution the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the African Charter for Human and Peoples' Rights and other legal instruments concerning women and organize campaigns to this end;

(b) Adopt strategies for effective national implementation and consolidation of internationally accepted norms and standards on women's rights;

(c) Reform the judicial system to make it more responsive to gender issues and establish and/or strengthen institutions to support and assist women to enjoy their rights;

(d) Socialize boys and girls to develop awareness and respect for the equality between the sexes;

(e) Eliminate violence against women and girls and the negative image portrayed by the media and encourage the latter to report on women's legal issues and to create public awareness on the violation of human and women's rights;

(f) Provide accurate information on the situation of women to human rights bodies and widely disseminate information on women's rights;

(g) Promote legal literacy and build on the existing initiatives by NGOs to create the necessary infrastructure for reaching women at all levels; and develop indicators to evaluate the impact of legal literacy programmes;

(h) Introduce and/or strengthen the concepts of human and women's rights at all levels of formal and non-formal education;

(i) Guarantee the right of all women to buy, sell, own, inherit and administer property and the absolute right to work;

(j) Introduce the right of petition through the preparation of an optional protocol to the Convention to provide for complaints procedures and increase resources to provide training, advisory services and technical assistance in the implementation of the Convention. The OAU should also introduce the right of petition through the adoption of an optional protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights;

(k) Develop indicators to evaluate the impact of legal literacy programmes;

(l) Set up mobile legal clinics and paralegal services in rural and urban areas to help women understand the provisions and the correct interpretation of laws.

The media should report on women's issues and collaborate with other partners to create public awareness of human and women's rights.

With regard to violence against women, particular attention should be given to:

(a) Adopt and promote the strategic objective to eliminate violence against women, and review existing legislation with a view to making necessary changes to deal with violence;

(b) Provide training and orientation to police and judicial personnel, doctors, social workers, nurses and others to recognize abuses perpetrated against women, and develop national strategies to address the causes of violence through the education system and the mass media;

(c) Organize shelters and support groups and undertake campaigns against violence as well as providing legal assistance to women faced with violence;

(d) Support the work of the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, and monitor the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, as well as the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (adopted by the General Assembly in December 1993);

(e) Monitor the situation of violence against women by developing appropriate indicators.

Women with special needs

109. Rationale

Traditionally in Africa, the aged have long been cared for by the extended family system and other community arrangements. However, urbanization, mobility, civil and ethnic strife, frequent droughts and families have weakened and disrupted the extended family system and communal ties.

Most existing systems in the region provide inadequate protection for women with disabilities, the old, widows, internally displaced persons, refugees, and female-headed households. Informal community- and family-based arrangements are weakening. The demand for social and health services increases, since health problems and costly medical technologies are concentrated among the old and the disabled.

110. Objectives

(a) To develop special programmes for women with special needs and, in doing so, to ensure the active contribution of the women themselves in the planning, design and management of such programmes;

(b) To develop programmes for the disadvantaged and vulnerable women that reflect a true understanding of the underlying needs of each group and which must be both equitable, efficient and culturally appropriate;

(c) To provide social assistance in kind to the poorest groups in society, including disabled and aged women who may not be covered by contributory plans, taking into account their vulnerability stemming from their diminished ability to work;

(d) To encourage informal support systems and offer incentives to families to continue the caretaking of their older and disabled relatives;

(e) To create institutional and policy mechanisms to encourage greater performance of such valuable services such as care for the disabled and ageing populations.

111. Proposed actions

(a) Ensure that women with special needs have access to adequate food, water, shelter, clothing and health care through the provision of income, family and community support and self-help;

(b) Give women with special needs the opportunity to work or to have access to other income-generating opportunities;

(c) Facilitate the integration into society of women with special needs and their active participation in the formulation and implementation of policies that directly affect their well-being;

(d) Ensure that women with special needs benefit from community care and protection in accordance with each society's system of cultural values;

(e) Ensure that women with special needs are able to enjoy human rights and fundamental freedoms, including full respect for their dignity, beliefs, needs and privacy;

(f) Continuously monitor programmes designed and implemented for the groups with special needs, and periodically evaluate them in order to ensure that they are reaching their intended beneficiaries.

8. Women in the peace process

112. Rationale

Peace is a prerequisite for the advancement of women. According to the Kampala Action Plan, if peace is to be attained, conflicting factions in society must be reconciled and not polarized. The African traditional way of resolving conflict is often more relevant to our current problems than adversarial methods of adjudication in which there is a winner and a loser, and the winner takes all. Peace is not just the absence of war, violence and hostilities but a situation in which all people have equal access to economic and social justice, and to the entire range of human rights and fundamental freedoms, in which the environment is protected.

Women fleeing from conflict situations should receive special attention to protect the human rights, ensure access to basic facilities and provide them with opportunities to become self-reliant.

Without peace in the countries of the African region, none of the proposed actions in this Platform can be implemented. It is imperative that African Governments work towards the resolution of the conflicts currently plaguing the region but above all, women must be regarded as crucial stake holders in the search for peace and must be included as active participants and contributors in all mechanisms for conflict resolution, particularly the OAU mechanism for conflict prevention, management and resolution.

113. Objectives

(a) To accelerate and enhance the involvement of women including refugees and internally displaced in conflict prevention, management and resolution and peace process;

(b) To promote awareness and recognition of internally displaced persons;

(c) To include more women in the higher hierarchies of the armed forces and the diplomatic service so that they can participate effectively in decision- making regarding peace process;

(d) To ensure the protection of women, children and refugees during wars and other kinds of conflict;

(e) To reduce systematically military expenditure and channel it to economic activities for women;

(f) To stop the planting of landmines in agricultural fields and bombings in order to ensure the safety of women and children;

(g) Educate women to increase their capacity in peace building and conflict resolution.

114. Proposed actions

Peace making, maintenance and education is a life-long process that is based on the concept of partnership between men and women and between people. It expounds and advocates the necessity of eradicating all types of violence in society, at the family land community levels. In this connection, the proposed actions are to:

(a) Reduce expenditure on armaments and "defence" and reallocate the financial resources so saved to improve science and technology for peaceful development and social services especially for women. OAU jointly with the United Nations should establish mechanism to monitor and expose the profit-motivated sale of arms to African countries;

(b) Reinforce those aspects of culture which enhance the status and importance of women in the peace process;

(c) Identify potential situations of violence in a timely way and take preventive measures to avert it instead of responding only when fighting has actually broken out;

(d) Strengthen the representation of women in peace negotiation mechanisms and support the establishment of women-for-peace networks accredited to OAU, the United Nations and their national, subregional and regional institutions;

(e) Develop and support programmes to introduce, promote and sustain peace;

(f) Recognize and support the national machineries of women and NGOs to work as pressure groups and mobilize necessary action to ensure that women achieve a critical mass at the national cabinet level in key ministries and departments and in international organizations that make or influence policy with regard to matters related to collective security and peace;

(g) Put into place mechanisms to ensure the development and reinforcement of democratic and political rights especially to support grass-roots women's networks;

(h) Support OAU so that it can play a more active role in averting, managing and resolving conflicts and participating in peace-keeping endeavours. To this end, member States are urged to contribute to its Peace Fund for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution, as well as establish early-warning mechanisms spearheaded by women to act to avert conflict;

(i) OAU and ECA should be fully supported to review, monitor and appraise the implementation of the Kampala Action Plan on Women and Peace and to regularly convene conferences to assess progress and promote implementation;

(j) African Governments should ensure gender parity in peace negotiations and conflict resolution and take concrete steps to provide both men and women with necessary training in this area;

(k) Refugee victims of sexual violence and their families should be provided with adequate medical and psycho-social care, including culturally appropriate counselling;

(l) The "Review conference on the 1980 Inhuman Weapons Convention" should categorically prohibit the use of landmines in all armed internal and international conflicts;

(m) African Governments should be encouraged to enact legislation prohibiting enlisting of minors in armed conflicts in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Peace education

(a) Make peace education, human rights and humanitarian law a compulsory component of the school and college curricula and syllabi;

(b) Educate emergency service givers and peace keepers to respect the human rights of women, children, displaced peoples and refugees, and sensitize them about criminal and civil procedures in relation to peace and peace making;

(c) Organize seminars to sensitize community leaders and women on the important role women should play in developing a culture of peace in the family and in society;

(d) Young people, and especially girls, should participate in all conferences and fora devoted to peace;

(e) Women to be educated in their civic rights and sensitized about criminal and civil procedures and enact a law to prosecute peace offenders;

(f) Encourage rehabilitation centres to ensure that the knowledge and professions of displaced and refugee people are utilized;

(g) Regional research and training institutes to carry out research on the role of women in the peace process and to identify and analyse policies and action programmes.

9. Mainstreaming of gender-disaggregated data

115. Rationale

Proper implementation and monitoring of the Platform for Action require information, data and continuous research for updating information. Furthermore, women as stake holders need to have knowledge and the statistics with which to assert their rights to mobilize for change and to make informed choices. In addition, the concept of mainstreaming and integration requires development of indicators and guidelines to guide policy makers, planners and the actors in the socio-economic, cultural and political sectors.

116. Objectives

(a) To effect research as a necessary component for the development of knowledge towards the understanding of gender issues in Africa;

(b) To develop data and tools that can evaluate and quantify work, including women's work in agriculture, in the home and in the community and marketed and non-marketed production;

(c) To mainstream the use and application of gender and age disaggregated data by policy makers, planners and programme implementers in all sectors;

(d) To undertake time budget studies, develop and use other methodologies to produce qualitative and quantitative data to value women's non-market and unpaid work with particular emphasis on participatory action research;

(e) To establish in all member States reliable and updated databases on women;

(f) To achieve visibility of women at all levels and in all types of databases;

(g) To ensure that information is disseminated to reach all women.

117. Proposed actions

(a) Facilitate national central bureaux of statistics to incorporate gender statistics units in their structures and to ensure that member States establish information and resource centre for women;

(b) Improve the collection and dissemination of gender and age disaggregated information on target groups and target areas in order to facilitate the design of focused programmes and activities consistent with the identified needs;

(c) Ensure and facilitate the mainstreaming and application of gender and age-disaggregated data by development agents and member States and to establish networks for the exchange of gender disaggregated information;

(d) Strengthen the data gathering capability of women machineries and sectoral gender focal points;

(e) Improve skills for the collection of gender statistics and issue guidelines and indicators for data and information development for and about women;

(f) Enhance the capacity and strengthen the advisory, coordinating, operational and research roles of the African Centre for Women;

(g) Empower women through the research process by developing research capacity that will be participatory, accessible and informative.

Women, information, communication and arts

118. Rationale

The media's role as a powerful tool of national development cannot be underestimated. Although information is one of the strongest tools for empowerment of women, access to the media and to other sources of information is limited. Most media is targeted at urban areas, while the majority of women live in the rural areas. In addition, stereotyped portrayal of women as objects rather than people still continues, which impede the contribution and participation of women to the development process.

Most of the available information do not correspond to the real practical needs of the majority of women especially in the rural areas. Materials and demonstration written for and about women as well as those written by women remain inadequate, information centres are insufficient or lacking.

Women have limited or no access to information about their legal and human rights, opportunities for development and/or other tools for their empowerment. Positions of power of formal authority are the main common denominators among those who have the greatest access to or get to speak through the different channels of the media. Since women are not in positions of power in society and have limited formal authority, they are largely invisible in the media. The challenge now is to gather more information and to devise strategies to begin to shift the media and society in a direction that is more developmental, gender equitable and positive.

119. Objectives

(a) To increase women's access to and use of the media and information;

(b) To increase women's participation in the management of the media so as to facilitate the use of media to provide women's positive contribution to society.

120. Proposed actions

(a) Governments to adopt gender-awareness programmes at all media training institutions and media organizations targeted at both men and women media practitioners;

(b) Affirmative action policies in favour of women to be introduced at all media organizations;

(c) Provide funds for training of women in journalism, film and video making and in specialized areas, e.g., science, technology, environment, economics, politics and related subjects;

(d) Sensitize media managers and practitioners to increase coverage on women's activities;

(e) Promotion of media literacy programmes;

(f) Introduction of media monitoring units that ensure positive portrayal of women in the media and hold the media accountable when it propagates negative stereotypes of women or exploit women and girls in pornography;

(g) Enhancing the role of the traditional and modern communication media to promote gender equality;

(h) Develop and strengthen alternative forms of media, e.g., story telling, drama, especially in the rural areas;

(i) Introduction of community radio stations as a way of increasing women's access to and use of the media;

(j) Governments to undertake research studies on the impact of the content of media product especially violence on television;

(k) Governments to encourage consumer boycotts on products whose advertisements portray women negatively;

(l) February 25 of every year to be celebrated as a special day for Women and the Media;

(m) Running themes for the International Press Freedom Day (May 3) to also focus on media women, portrayal of women by the media;

(n) African Governments to come up with a new criteria of what news is and this should be incorporated into curriculum of journalism training schools. The current definition weighs heavily on "bad news is good news";

(o) Research and documentation on gender and media issues as well as research related to gender, media and culture to be undertaken;

(p) Review of media policies to be done to ensure that these are gender-responsive and committed to the goal of democracy and freedom of expression for all participants in society.

The girl-child

121. Rationale

The girl-child of today is the woman of tomorrow. In order that she may grow up with the health, confidence and education necessary for her to take her place with dignity and equal to man in society, special attention needs to be focused on her.

The girl-child with disabilities needs the special help of Governments to ensure that she has access to all the special devices needed, even when her family is poor.

122. Objectives

(a) To eliminate discrimination of girls in the areas of education and training, health and nutrition;

(b) To advocate for elimination of negative cultural attitudes and practices against women and girls;

(d) To sensitize the girl-child about social, economic and political issues and problems.

123. Proposed actions

(a) Undertake research on the situation of girls. Information and data should be disaggregated by gender and age to provide a basis for action;

(b) Create awareness on the disadvantaged situation of girls among policy makers, implementors and communities;

(c) Review policies and legislation to ensure the promotion of girls in matters pertaining to education, health and early marriage;

(d) Support NGOs and community-based organizations in their efforts to promote changes in practices and attitudes towards women and girls;

(e) Provide education and skill training after primary education to increase girls' opportunities for employment. The education of the girl-child with disabilities should be free and compulsory to ensure that her needs are met;

(f) Support sex education beginning in primary school;

(g) Review school curriculum and text books to include gender equality;

(h) Promote public information for equal treatment of women and girls regarding nutrition, health care, education and participation in decision- making;

(i) Mobilize men and boys to promote girls' and women's status and to work towards equal partnership between girls and boys and women and men;

(j) Provide opportunities for pupils who become pregnant while at school to enable them to continue with their education. 2/