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Solidarity for African Women’s Rights Campaign ........................................................................................................................ 47 1.3. Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa Gender Is My Agenda Campaign .......................................................................................................................................................... 51
The Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (SDGEA) is a non-binding agreement adopted by the Heads of State and Government of Member States of the AU during the Third Ordinary Session of the Assembly in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in July 2004.193 In adopting the SDGEA, the Heads of State and Government reaffirmed their commitment to mainstreaming the principles of gender equality at the continental level, identifying as priority areas HIV/AIDS, women’s rights to participation in peace processes, the recruitment of child soldiers and girl children as sex slaves and trafficking in women and girls, among other concerns. Since passing in 2004, the SDGEA has been used as a reporting framework on the state of gender equality and women’s empowerment in Africa.194
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In particular, the SDGEA calls on Heads of State and Government to address the issue of violence and gender-based discrimination against women and girls at the national and regional level. It builds on the principles enshrined in Article 4 (l) of the Constitutive Act of the AU,195 as well as the Dakar Platform for Action (1994); the Beijing Platform for Action (1995); the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) (1979); the African Plan of Action to Accelerate the Implementation of the Dakar and Beijing Platforms for Action for the Advancement of Women (1999); the Outcome Document of the Twenty-Third Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (2000); UNSCR 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security; and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003).
1.3.1. Structure of the Solemn Declaration
The SDGEA is divided into six thematic areas: Health; Peace and Security; Governance; Human Rights; Education; and Women’s Economic Empowerment.196 In particular, it calls on Heads of State and Government to:
■ Adopt gender-specific measures to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and implement both the Abuja and the
Maputo Declarations on Malaria, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious Disease (para 1); ■ Promote women’s rights to meaningful participation and representation in peace processes and post-conflict reconstruction in Africa, as per UNSCR 1325 (2000), and ensure that women are appointed as representatives for roles at the AU and similar platforms (para 2); ■ Adopt a public campaign, within a year of the Declaration, to combat and prohibit the recruitment and abuse of child soldiers and girl children in Africa as wives and sex slaves (para 3); ■ Conduct public campaigns, within two years of the Declaration, that aim to eliminate GBV and trafficking in women, and reinforce legal and social mechanisms that aim to positively influence the behaviour of African society towards the protection of women from impunity for crimes committed against them (para 4); ■ Promote gender parity at all levels, from the AUC to all the other organs of the AU, including the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development and the RECs, as well as at the national and local governance levels (para 5); ■ Promote and protect women’s rights as human rights, including adopting legislative measures and raising awareness in order to ensure women’s right to development (para 6); ■ Adopt and implement legislative reforms to protect women’s rights to land and property ownership and inheritance, and guarantee the right to adequate housing (para 7); ■ Adopt gender-specific measures to ensure women and girls have access to quality education, particularly in rural areas, as a way to achieve the targets under “Education For All” (para 8).
Paragraph 9 encourages states to sign and ratify the Maputo Protocol, while Paragraph 10 establishes AIDS Watch Africa as a unit under the Office of the Chairperson of the AUC. AIDS Watch Africa is responsible for reporting annually on the situation of HIV/AIDS on the continent and promoting the production of anti-retroviral drugs at the local level in African states.
Paragraph 11 calls for the establishment of a women’s trust fund to pool resources for the furtherance of the women’s rights agenda. Paragraphs 12 and 13 require the submission of annual reports to the Heads of State on progress in implementing the principles of gender equality and gender mainstreaming enshrined in the SDGEA.
1.3.2. Implementation of the Solemn Declaration
The SDGEA is widely regarded as “the most strategic reporting instrument deployed by the AU in the promotion of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Africa,”197 and is a powerful tool for increasing accountability and “ownership of the gender equality agenda”198 at the national and regional level. Under Paragraphs 12 and 13, the SDGEA requires States to submit annual reports on progress made in adopting, strengthening and implementing laws and policies that address GBV and discrimination against women and girls.199 The reporting obligations listed are a way for states to share best practices and solutions to challenges met in enhancing gender equality and to identify areas of improvement.200
To support Member States in their reporting obligations, the ministers responsible for gender and women’s affairs, at the first AU Conference of Ministers, held in October 2005,201 adopted two key documents: the Implementation Framework of the SDGEA and the Guidelines for Monitoring and Reporting on the SDGEA. The Implementation Framework in particular called on states to, inter alia;
■ Adopt, strengthen and effectively implement legislation that holds perpetrators of GBV accountable for their actions; ■ Raise awareness about GBV violence and its causes and consequences by engaging in community dialogue; ■ Adopt strategies that effectively and adequately respond to the needs of victims and survivors of GBV; ■ Train and support law enforcement and media personnel on how to handle and report on cases of GBV with sensitivity; ■ Enact and enforce measures to eliminate and punish trafficking in women and girls and harmful practices such as
FGM, among others.
The SDGEA was adopted primarily because of the AU’s concerns regarding women’s status in African societies and the negative impacts of HIV/AIDS among girls and women, conflict, poverty, harmful traditional practices, displacement, VAW, exclusion from politics and decision-making and limited access to education and health care, among other concerns.
This notwithstanding, the SDGEA’s success has been curtailed by the lack of (or slow) reporting by Member States.202 For instance, only a total of 13 Member States submitted reports for consideration in the 10th annual report on the implementation of the SDGEA.203
The lack of funding has significantly curtailed the ability of coordinating bodies such as the WDGG and the Africa Union Women’s Committee (AUWC) to address the concerns of non-reporting AU Member States, thus preserving the status quo and limiting the successful implementation of the SDGEA. Despite the SDGEA’s potential for increasing state accountability in the realisation of gender equality, adherence to the requirements of state reporting has remained low. Six years since the adoption of the SDGEA, the AUC Chairperson on implementation of the SDGEA denounced the “snail pace reporting and or lack of reporting by 37% of Member States”204 as an emerging challenge to the successful implementation of the SDGEA’s objectives.205
To address the above concerns, the Chairperson and the Women and Gender Development Directorate (WGDD) organise workshops and training for non-reporting Member States, in order to inform them of reporting procedures and address any questions.206 Established in 2002, the WGDD leads, guides and coordinates the AU’s efforts in achieving gender equality and realising the goals and priorities of the SDGEA.207 Along with the Africa Union Women’s Committee (AUWC), an advisory body established to bolster gender equality and increase the meaningful inclusion and effective participation of women at decision-making levels, the WGDD coordinates the continent’s progress towards gender equality, by working with government, civil society actors and other stakeholders within the framework of the SDGEA and the Maputo Protocol.
By December 2017, a total of 28 Member States had submitted their reports for the 12th report of the AUC Chairperson on the implementation of the SDGEA for 2016,208 the highest number of reports submitted for consideration since reporting began in 2006.209 According to the AUC Chairperson, Senegal has remained the most consistent with reporting, followed
closely by Mauritius.210 Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau and Morocco were called on to submit their Initial Reports, while the WGDD was commended for its efforts in capacitating Member States in the submission of their reports and tackling the “reporting fatigue” that often prevents consistent reporting.211 As of December 2017, a total of 51 Member States (94%) had submitted their initial reports to the AUC Chairperson for consideration, as illustrated below;
States that had submitted reports by 2017 (51 states)
Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Comoros, Chad, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sahrawi Republic, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Somalia, South Sudan, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Morocco
States that had not submitted reports by 2017 (4 states)
1.4. Important Developments in Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment since 2004
The AU has taken multiple steps to include women and girls in the continent’s development agendas. Aspiration 6 of the 2063 Agenda, a continent-wide strategic framework to transform Africa into a “powerhouse of the future,”212 highlights the need for a people-driven Africa and calls on the AU to ensure that no child, woman or man is left behind or discriminated against on the basis of age, gender, religion, economic status, political orientation, ethnicity, etc.213 Article 3 of the Protocol on Amendments of the Constitutive Act of the AU recognises women’s important role as drivers of social and economic change and calls on states to “ensure the effective participation of women in decision-making, particularly in the political, economic and socio-cultural areas.”214
Since the adoption of the SDGEA in 2004, the AU and its organs have been instrumental in developing frameworks, strategic documents and implementation strategies to ensure gender is mainstreamed at the regional level, including the following.
1.5. African Union Scorecard
The AUC, with the technical support of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), publishes an African Union Scorecard, an innovative measure intended to complement the progressive African Gender and Development Index launched in 2004 and track the implementation of various key frameworks adopted to ensure gender equality and women’s empowerment.215 The Scorecard is also used to amalgamate and showcase best practices. For instance, the 2016 Scorecard commended Rwanda for its use of affirmative action to ensure women’s meaningful participation in decision-making processes on issues that concern them.216 The country has been internationally recognised for having a majority of women in parliament.217
Most recently, the AU launched the African Union Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (“the GEWE Strategy”) 2018–2020, a framework for inclusive growth that aims to amplify women’s voices, strengthen their agency and foster participation and protection across the following four pillars:218
■ Pillar 1: Maximising opportunities, outcomes and e-tech dividends ■ Pillar 2: Dignity, security and resilience ■ Pillar 3: Effective laws, policies and institutions ■ Pillar 4: Leadership, voice and visibility
The GEWE Strategy is unique in that within each pillar are outcome indicators to ensure the mitigation and elimination of factors that inhibit efforts to achieve the goals of the SDGEA.219 To realise the objectives of the GEWE Strategy, the WGDD commenced work on three key implementing documents: an Operational Plan, a Results Framework and a Harmonisation Matrix. These aim to guarantee the effective and successful operationalisation and implementation of the GEWE Strategy, given the various specific contexts and priorities of Member States and RECS.220
GENDER IS MY AGENDA CAMPAIGN
The SDGEA has inspired multiple civil society campaigns for gender equality in Africa. One year after its adoption, in July 2005, women’s groups and CSOs in Africa created the Gender Is My Agenda Campaign
(GIMAC) to increase the participation of civil society in the monitoring and implementation of the SGDEA. 221
The campaign was created during the Sixth Women’s Pre-Summit Consultative meeting in Tripoli, Libya, and officially launched in June 2006 at the Eighth Women’s Pre-Summit held in Banjul, Gambia. Under the coordination of Femmes Africa Solidarité, annual Pre-Summit Consultative Meetings to the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government are held to “collectively advocate, on one side, for the implementation of the SDGEA by the Heads of State, and on the other side, to inform and mobilize the civil society around
the SDGEA.”222
In 2012, GIMAC, with technical and financial support from UNECA, developed the Solemn Declaration Index to strengthen its reporting mechanisms relating to SDGEA implementation. 223 The AU adopted the Index during its 25th Ordinary Session in Johannesburg, South Africa, in June 2015.224 The AU Union specifically resolved to:
■ Conduct a five-year progress review of the AWD, including monitoring and tracking progress towards its goals; ■ Foster the harmonisation of multi-sectoral efforts to achieve gender equality and encourage multiinstitutional platforms for peer review, mutual learning and mutual accountability; ■ Bolster institutional capacities to increase efficiency in data collection and its analysis, generation and management, at the national and regional level, to support evidence-based strategic planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
