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MEDIA ADVISORY
29 November 2006
Contact in Nairobi, Kenya: Faiza Jama Mohamed, +254-20-2719832
Contact in New York: Lakshmi Anantnarayan, +212-586-0906

Equality Now Convenes International Meeting of Women Lawyers from Across Africa

Expert Group Will Strategize Implementation of the African Union Protocol on the Rights of Women

What:  Leading women’s rights advocates from 23 countries across Africa will come together in Nairobi at a meeting convened by the international human rights organization Equality Now which is a member of the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR) Coalition. The meeting, coming soon after the first anniversary of the African Protocol on the Rights of Women, is intended to spearhead innovative legal strategies on how best to implement the Protocol in countries that have ratified it. Lawyers attending the meeting are mainly from countries that have ratified the Protocol. These include: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Comoros, Djibouti, The Gambia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Togo, and Zambia.  Also attending are lawyers from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Who: Faiza Jama Mohamed (Equality Now Africa Director), Commissioner Angela Melo (Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights),  Jessica Neuwirth (President of Equality Now), Jane Connors (UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights)

When:  6.00-8.00 pm on Thursday November 30, 2006

Where:  Media Reception at The Aquarist, Fairview Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya  

History: Following ratification by fifteen countries, the African Protocol on the Rights of Women came into force on November 25, 2005. In the past year an additional 5 countries have ratified the Protocol. Right from drafting the text, women’s rights groups across Africa have been the force behind the Protocol. Coming together under SOAWR, they have worked tirelessly to popularize the Protocol and educate the public about it, encouraged States to ratify it and demanded that once ratified, the Protocol be applied domestically.

A significant hurdle faced by women’s rights organizations has been getting State Parties of the Protocol to implement the standards set by it. Although the Protocol prohibits discrimination against women, there are many countries that have ratified the Protocol that blatantly discriminate against women in their laws as well as policies. Violence against women is another area in which greater government action, mandated by the Protocol, is urgently needed.  The upcoming meeting will be a venue to brainstorm test cases and other legal interventions to ensure that the laws of State Parties reflect the standards of the Protocol.

Equality Now is an international human rights organization that works to protect and promote the civil, political, economic and social rights of girls and women.  Equality Now’s Women’s Action Network comprises 30,000 groups and individual members in over 160 countries. Equality Now serves as Secretariat for the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR) Coalition which is composed of 23 organizations.