Pressure group calls on AU to ratify women's rights laws

A pressure group has accused African leaders of showing "indifference" to the plight of women, saying African women continued to suffer because laws put before the African Union (AU) a year ago to protect them had not been ratified.

"African leaders continue to pay lip service to the rights of women," said Faiza Jama Mohamed of Equality Now, a member of the group, which also includes Oxfam, the Centre for Research, Education and Development, Fahamu and the African Women's Development and Communication Network FEMNET.

The criticism was launched ahead of the AU summit when African heads of state will meet in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The pressure group is calling on them to ratify new continent-wide set of laws designed to protect women from abuse and suffering.

The Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa spells out key policies to protect women, and was formally adopted by the AU summit held in the Mozambican capital, Maputo, on 11 July 2003. Some 30 countries have signed the Protocol, but so far only Comoros has ratified it. Until it is ratified by another 15 countries, the laws it sets out will not come into effect.

The AU will for the first time hold a debate on the subject of gender at its summit due to open on 6 July.

As matters stand, African women are less likely to go to school than men, bear the brunt of the HIV/AIDS pandemic that claims 6,500 lives a day, and have fewer representatives in government.

The Protocol includes laws that prohibit female genital mutilation and others promoting the right of women to medical abortions in specific instances. Key laws on equal pay for equal work, and affirmative action to promote the equal participation of women in public office are also included.

The pressure group said these laws would ensure women's social, economic and political rights "in all spheres of society".

Mohamed said that unless the laws contained in the Protocol were enacted violations of women's rights would persist across the continent. "It is unacceptable that women’s and human rights
groups have had to press so hard for these rights to be adequately qualified," she added.

"It is the obligation of all governments to protect the rights of all their citizens – men and women," she told journalists at a press conference held at the UN Conference Centre in Addis Ababa on Tuesday.

"So long as this law remains on paper it is no use to African women. We need it to be implemented. We have not seen enough commitment from governments to putting women in their agendas as a priority," Mohamed added.