COMESA

8. UNECA, “ECOWAS – peace, security, stability and governance”, https://archive.uneca.org/oria/pages/ecowaspeace-security-stability-and-governance). ECOWAS adopted the Dakar Declaration on the Implementation of UN

Security Council 1325 in September 2010. It implemented the Network on Peace and Security for Women in the

ECOWAS Region in 2009, with the purpose of coordinating and optimising the role and initiatives of women in conflict prevention, peacekeeping, security and the promotion of human rights, particularly for women and other vulnerable groups for a sustainable peace in the ECOWAS region (EGDC, 2011, “Gender training manual, module 5: Gender Peace, Democracy and Security – Creating an Equitable, Safe and Secure Society”. 9. The ECOWAS Standby Force is a standby arrangement made up of military, police and civilian components and that is consistent with Chapter VIII of the UN, which provides for regional peace and security arrangements.

A partial legal basis is given by Article 21 of the ECOWAS Protocol Relating to the Mechanism for Conflict

Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peacekeeping and Security of December 1999.

1. COMESA has a Gender and Social Affairs Division, mainstreaming gender in all COMESA programmes and projects to ensure equitable access to resources, opportunities, services and benefits for women, men and youth (https://www.comesa.int/gender-social-affairs-division/#:~:text=The%20Gender%20Policy%20is%20also,%2C%20 credit%2C%20technology%20and%20information). 2. In 2002, COMESA implemented the Gender Policy with the objective of having Member States facilitate the sensitisation of customs officials on women and girls’ rights. The current guiding document for women and girls’ rights and gender equality is the revised COMESA Gender Policy of 2016. The policy has the goal of creating “an enabling policy environment for mainstreaming gender perspectives in all policies, structures, systems, programs and activities of COMESA Member States and the Secretariat towards gender equality, women and youth empowerment and social development.” 3. It is hard to say if the gender policy has an M&E component because it is currently offline. 4. COMESA struggles with funding for its gender-related programmes, and a low prioritisation of gender in its national budgeting frameworks. In 2017, in the 37th meeting of the Committee on Administration and Budgetary, the Secretariat noted that the proposed the decline in the 2018 annual budget for the COMESA Secretariat and its agencies by US$10 million dollars as several cooperating partners grants concluded (COMESA, 2018, “Proposed annual budget drops”, Press Release). 5. COMESA has no framework of engagement with CSOs and participation of CSOs has been almost non-existent.

Emphasis is placed on private sector participation (CUTS International, 2015, “From COMESA-EAC-SADC to TFTA”, https://cuts-accra.org/pdf/From_COMESA-EAC-SADC_to_TFTA_Integrating_the_Voice_of_the_Civil_Society_in_

Eastern_and_Southern_Africa.pdf). 6. COMESA’s court does not have the competency to hear individuals on human rights violations but serves to settle disputes arising from the COMESA Treaty (https://ijrcenter.org/regional-communities/common-market-foreastern-and-southern-africa-court-of-justice/). 7. COMESA’s court works on women’s role with regard to trade but it does not hear human rights violations. 8. “To strengthen peace and ensure stability, COMESA set up the structures for the engagement of both State and non-State actors, and also strategic stakeholders across borders. Its conflict prevention programme is one of the established mechanisms to avert conflicts from breaking out by dealing with structural and economic instigating factors. In this context, the three primary programmes are: COMESA Conflict Early Warning System that is a part of the

African Union Continental Early Warning system; WAR Economy Component of the Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution Strategy for the Eastern and Southern Africa Region; and the Regional Political Integration and Human

Security Support Programmes that aims to tackle post-conflict management issues for countries emerging from conflict not to relapse. An example is the current six Trade Information Desks that successfully serve the purpose of trading for peace and stability in conflicted border posts” (UNECA, “COMESA – peace, security, stability and governance”, https://archive.uneca.org/oria/pages/comesa-peace-security-stability-and-governance). 9. COMESA does not have a standby brigade.