Events

The Republic of South Africa Celebrates the 25th Year of the Adoption of the Day of the African Child

The Day of the African Child 2015 under the theme “25 years after the adoption of the African Children’s Charter: Accelerating our Collective Efforts to End Child Marriage in Africa”

Johannesburg, South Africa: 15 June 2015- The Day of the African Child (DAC) is commemorated every year on 16 June by Member States of the African Union (AU), to acknowledge the students of the 1976 Soweto Uprising – a day that contributed greatly to the eventual collapse of the apartheid regime. The day commemorates the violent action inflicted by police officials towardsunarmed school children, protesting against the unjust apartheid education system. The DAC also offers the opportunity for stakeholders across all spheres - governments, international institutions and communities - to address the rights of children as well as a continental awareness of the obstacles for attaining these rights. DAC 2015 commemorated the 25th Anniversary of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) and was dedicated towardsthe AU Commission’s commitment tothe eliminationof child marriage in Africa.

The DAC celebrations were aimed at: drawing emphasis toward the negative impact of child marriage and the advantageous outcomes of ending the practice. The fostering of an open discussion and greater awareness by stakeholders - at community, national, regional and continental level - in order to enhance and heighten efforts to accelerate the end of this practice. The need for best practices on ending child marriage in Africa was also highlighted at the tribute, as well as the need to provide a platform for advancing children’s participation in ending child marriage.

Further objectives of DAC 2015 included provision for visibility and advocacy as well as the support of youth projects to end child marriage in AU Member States, as such, stressing the importance of the collaboration of various actors to have more influence on advancing children’s rights.

DAC 2015 was a two day event, on 14th and 15th June 2015, which included a workshop for 100 children on 14 June. The children who participated in the event came from several member states such as Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The workshop was aimed at the development of a joint statement to be presented by the children at the beginning of the program. The workshop also included the objective of developing clear questions to guide the children during the Inter- Generational Dialogue and finally develop the Declaration for the Day of the African Child 2015.

A number of partners facilitated the workshop, which included DSA-AUC,ACERWC, UNICEF, PLAN and UNFPA.The workshop started off with the introduction of the agenda and objectives of the event, as well as the impact and principles of participation from children to foster child rights and end child marriage.
The second day of the commemoratory eventon 15 June commenced with a march from the Mandela House to the Hector Peterson Memorial Museumto honour the legacy of the children of the 1976 Soweto Uprising. The march was attended bychild representatives, RSA Government officials, the AUC, partners from UN and CSOs as well the community around Soweto. Upon reaching the Museum, Ms Faith Mazibuko from the Department of Social Development, Gauteng Province, RSA gave some welcoming remarks to set the tone of the event. To allow for a greater understanding of the commemoration, Ms NomsaMtshweni of the Department of Social Affairs Mpumalanga Province, RSA gave the background and context of June 16. To celebrate the lives and efforts of school children of the Soweto Uprising, Minister Bathabile Dlamini and 39 children, to mark 39 years for June 16, laid wreaths.

Appeals presented at DAC 2015 to ensure the eradication of child marriage This mission in Soweto (South Africa) on the 14 of June 2015, represented by the children of Africa, reiterated the effect of child marriage on the continent, and offered several requests to our governments, parents, guardians, communities, African Union and United Nations. The governments of Member states were implored to enact the laws that say no one will force a girl child into child marriage. The need for an in depth discussion or dialogue between parents and the governments about child marriage served as another key request brought forward by the children of Africa. The African child asked of its governments to facilitate the building of centers or safe havens for child marriage survivors. It is essential that the impact and importance of education be highlighted, and the children asked of our governments to provide them with schools, and offer encouragement for children to complete their education. Essentially, the governments of our African continent were requested to introduceprogrammes for children to enable them to express themselves,and ultimately, create laws and legislation that say NO! to child marriage.

The child participants at the DAC voiced themselves towards their parents, guardians and their community to ensure open discussion sessions as well as allow for the opportunityfor children to express themselves and provide protection, security and education for their children.

The children also requested the African Union and the United Nations, as key bodies, to develop model policies to declare a person who infects a child with HIV during child marriage, condemned a third degree criminal. The United Nations was requested to offer increased protection toward young girls, in order to prevent them from being married off to older men.Knowledge, such as statistic on child marriage is crucial, and the African Union should communicate with health care services in Member States to get such statistics.

The child participants ultimately highlighted that with active participation and involvement from all platforms, organizations, civil society, governments, communities, structures and the children; as well as continental awareness, Africa may see the elimination of child marriage.

For further information, please contact
Ms. Nena Thundu | Social Affairs | African Union Commission | Tel: 011 5518 22 80 | Email:
THUNDUN@africa-union.org | #EndChildMarriageNow
Mr. Kenneth Oliko | Social Affairs | African Union Commission | Tel: 011 5518 22 23 |
E-mail: Kennetho@africa-union.org | #EndChildMarriageNow

Antananarivo, 02 June 2015 – “It is important to respect human rights particularly the rights of the child as a main component in the efforts against this harmful practice and Madagascar cannot progress unless we seriously address child marriage which is an impediment to our development" says Her Excellency, Mrs. Vohangy Rajaonarimampianina, First Lady of the Republic of Madagascar.

In her remarks, the First Lady noted that Madagascar has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, with devastating effects on the lives of the girls affected. There has been a downward trend in the rate of child marriage in Madagascar, following the law passed in 2007, setting the marriageable age at 18 for girls and boys alike. Previously, girls could be married at 14 and boys at 17. However, child marriage is still common, especially in rural areas where traditional marriage ceremonies are common; mostly backed by age long and strong affinity to social and cultural norms. Her Excellency stressed her full commitment that her office will continue to lead with stakeholders in ending child marriage in Madagascar by also strengthening the national policy to end child marriage.

Recent findings show that nearly half of all Malagasy women (48 per cent) aged 20-24 were married or cohabiting before the age of 18. One in nine girls are married by the age of 15 years. Child marriage has several harmful effects on the overall wellbeing of young girls who are not psychologically, emotionally and physically ready for conjugal life. It increases the probability of having children at a younger age, which increases the risk of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, maternal mortality and obstetric fistula. Complications of pregnancy and childbearing are the leading cause of death for girls 15-19 in Madagascar.

The launch of the campaign in Madagascar provides an opportunity to further the resolve of the government to continue working with partners, the police, policymakers, women’s associations, local communities and traditional leaders in order to raise awareness on and end gender-based violence, including child marriage. "We will encourage the need for providing girls the chance to be well educated and also the protection of girls who have already been married from abuse within the marriage", said the UNFPA resident representative- Mr Mamadou Dicko

The launch of the campaign which took place in Antananarivo with the official launch in the morning and panel discussion on ending child marriage in the afternoon, was also attended by Government representatives from different Ministries including the lead Ministry on the child marriage Campaign- Ministry of Population, Social Protection and Gender, members of communities affected by child marriage, representatives from the AU Commission, UNFPA, UNICEF and civil society partners. There were musical performances by the children and youth cultural groups, all focusing attention on the harmful tradition practice of children marriage. The closing remark was given by the Prime Minister- Mr Jean Ravelonarivo he reinforced the need for collective action and commitment by all attending stakeholders to end child marriage in Madagascar and work towards provision of equal opportunities to both boys and girls as they are the backbone of the country’s human capital. The Campaign was launched with a brief statement of commitment to ending child marriage in Madagascar by H.E. First Lady.

About the AU Campaign to End Child Marriage in Africa.

The campaign was launched at the continental level in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 29 May, 2014, during the Conference of Ministers of Social Development. It aims at ending child marriage by: (i) supporting legal and policy actions in the protection and promotion of human rights, (ii) mobilizing continental awareness of the negative socio-economic impact of child marriage, (iii) building social movement and social mobilization at the grassroots and national levels; and (iv) increasing the capacity of non-state actors to undertake evidence based policy advocacy including the role of youth leadership through new media technology, monitoring and evaluation among others.

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For further information, please contact
Ms. Nena Thundu; THUNDUN@africa-union.org
Mr. Kenneth Oliko; Kennetho@africa-union.org
pages.au.int/cecm | www.facebook.com/OurGirlsAfrika | www.twitter.com/ourgirlsau

THE 4TH PACC ADOPTED ITS REPORT AND FRAMEWORK OF ACTION

Johannesburg, South Africa- 27 May 2015 – Following three-day intense discussions, the Fourth Pan-African Cultural Congress (PACC4) adopted the draft Framework for Action and the Report of the PACC4. Both documents will be submitted to the 2nd Specialized Technical Committee Meeting on Youth Culture and Sport (STC-YCS2) to be held in 2016.

Co-organized from 25 to 27 May 2015 at the Sandton Convention Center, by the African Union Commission, in collaboration with the Department of Arts and Culture of the Republic of South Africa as part of its Africa Month Celebrations, the 2015 edition of the PACC was held under the theme:

“Unity in Cultural Diversity for Africa’s Development.”

The debate focused on the theme of PACC4; the cultural Diversity and Human Rights; the culture for Peace and Cultural Diversity as well as cultural Diversity and cultural governance. The approach to inventorying artists, professional and cultural structures and cultural infrastructures to inform cultural policy development and post 2015 Development Agenda for Culture have been discussed. The meeting shared as well views on the ways and means to improving understanding and cooperative relations; the issue of language as a depository and vehicle for cultural diversity and factor in Africa’s development and integration. The presentation of the Agenda 2063 communication strategy constituted an opportunity to discuss the appropriate approach to communicating Africa’s transformation in view to reach the main stakeholders: the African citizens. (The presentation of the Agenda 2063 communication strategy available on the AU Web Site: www.au.int.)

The participants highlighted the need for Africa to put an end to the suppression of cultural expression of one group by another and for African culture to be domesticated where other cultures tend to dominate in African communities, calling for the diminishment of the distance between cultural conferences and people at grassroots level for the latter to be able to participate effectively. An appeal
was done to the AU to provide structures for the contributions of civil society to be incorporated more effectively and in this regard, the establishment of national chapters of ECOSOCC were considered as critical. The meeting stressed the necessity to expand and promote local arts and cultural festivals, and to invite participants from other countries to foster integration and tolerance between cultures.

The meeting specified that diversity and Human Rights are crucial pillars supporting cultural development in Africa, while culture is an important tool of human heritage with power to strengthen social cohesion as a fundamental pillar for achieving lasting peace and development for any nation. It embraces freedom and democracy and it should be considered how arts and culture can be used for cultural diplomacy in dealing with conflicts, noting that a model culture policy for Africa is proposed, containing the elements of institutional structures and decision making, arts policy domains and instruments stressing that a database and mapping of existing artistic trends is important for each country.

The participants underlined the need for education to be mobilised to realise linguistic rights; to use African languages in all levels of society. The meeting underscored that Africa should understand its history, to be able to start new creative industries and use its creativity to enhance the African economy. The meeting called for the improvement of culture governance, training, decentralisation, policy advocacy for creative solidarity and partnership all over the world.

The PACC4 stated that Africa should strive for linguistic equity in order to catalyse acceleration of indigenous languages that have remained in the periphery of the development agenda stressing that there are several barriers that still need special attention: Trade barriers, language barriers, visa, official collaboration between African countries, Infrastructure challenges.

Some critical recommendations were made. They include:

 Develop a culture of accepting one another through embracing diversified cultural expressions within the context of Human Rights principles;

 Promote and advocate the strengths of African diversity and incorporate it in the education curriculum;

 Promote African languages and introduce them in the school curriculum,

 AU must commit to the use of African languages in its meetings;

 Leadership should lead by example in using and promoting their African languages;

 Adoption of a Pan-African Language;

 Focus on children and young people, to educate them about cultural activities and socialise the children to develop national pride;

 Define steps to achieve African aspirations, more specifically aspiration 4 and 5 dealing with a peaceful continent, culture and heritage, respectively, following the adoption of Agenda 2063;

 Establish Platforms for interaction with indigenous groups at community level and other fora such as PACC;

 Establishment by Ministries of Culture of a research structure and ensure close relationship with Arts Faculties at universities for the purposes of developing and evaluating cultural policies.

 AU Member states should improve their planning in culture, also at local level;

 Protect Minority cultural groups in all countries and raise awareness of their cultural rights;

 Redress the economic returns of what artists are paid for their work;

 Establish dedicated offices or desks for culture in regional and continental bodies;

 Set up a forum of artists and policy makers in all countries for good governance of cultural policies;

 Mobilise wwealth of Africa for the development of Africa;

 Make efforts to understand African history and use African creativity to enhance the African economy and develop new creative industries.

 Advocate for creative solidarity and partnership all over the world;

 Move culture to the centre of sustainable development;

 Identify preconditions for Agenda 2063 to succeed and put together an operating environment for Africa’s Cultural Sector to prosper;

 Accelerate the ratification and domestication of relevant conventions and charters (Only 8 countries have ratified the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance);

 Promotion of cultural diplomacy;

 Accelerate the renewed attention on developing the African Cultural Common Market;

 Set up greater partnership between the cultural and creative sector and governments;

 Reduction of the dependency on foreign funders, and exploration of diversified funding models within Africa;

 Encourage regional and continental cultural and technical exchange through enhanced communication technologies;

 Reduction of the obstructions to the mobility of artists, cultural goods and services within regions, and within the continent;

 Envisage a Visa free for all Africans.

The Full report and the Framework of Action available on the AU web Site: www.au.int. HMC/WM

For any inquiry, please contact:

Esther Azaa Tankou | Head of Information Division| Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission | Tel: +251911361185 | E-mail: Yamboue@africa-union.org

Angela Martins| Head of Culture Division | Department of Social Affairs | African Union Commission | Tel: +251912960577 | E-mail: MartinsA@africa-union.org

Ms. Zodwa Mpanza | Deputy Director of International Relations | Department of Arts and Culture, South Africa | Tel: + 27 82 884 3322| Email: ZodwaM@dac.gov.za

Media contact: Ruphus Matibe | Email: ruphusm@dac.gov.za | Tel: +27 83 608 27 80

Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@african-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

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Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn calls for the development of African Roadmap for malaria elimination

Nine African countries on target to achieve Millennium Development Goals targets on Malaria

Addis Ababa – 25th April 2015: The Chairperson of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance and Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, His Excellency Hailemariam Desalegn made a call for the continental body to develop an African Roadmap to eliminate malaria by 2030.

“The transition from Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals should also sustain the gains we have made and move towards malaria elimination as advocated in our Africa 2030 agenda to eliminate malaria” said Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in a statement delivered on his behalf by Ethiopian Health Minister Dr. Kesetebirhan Admassu during the Big Push to Defeat Malaria by 2030 high level dialogue hosted at the African Union Commission headquarters to commemorate World Malaria Day.

This year’s commemorations come at a pivotal moment when the progress in responding to malaria in Africa includes a 54% decline in malaria mortality rates and a reduction of malaria mortality rates among children by 58% since 2000. Algeria, Botswana, Cape Verde, Eritrea, Namibia, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, South Africa and Swaziland are on track to MDG 6. Increased political commitment and increased funding have helped to reduce malaria incidence by 34% in Africa. In spite of these tremendous results however Africa continues to account for 82% of malaria cases and 90% of malaria deaths worldwide.

“We should work in unison to ensure that the US$1 billion of the estimated annual continental resource requirement is fully funded to ensure that the high-burden African countries are able to replace expiring long-lasting insecticide treated nets” said Dr. Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko, the Commissioner for Social Affairs.

There were exponential increases in funding and implementation for malaria control programmes over the past decade. International disbursements for malaria control significantly increased, rising from less than US$ 0.5 per case (US$ 100 million total spend) in 2000 to more than US$ 8 per case in 2012 (US$ 1.84 billion total spend). These increased funds were focused on Africa. During the meeting various ambassadors underscored the need for more education and research on more tools to address malaria control beyond the use of nets.

The review of the Abuja Call this year recommended its extension to 2030 in line with the 2013 Abuja Declaration which outlines key actions to defeat malaria. Africa has already demonstrated this deep reflection and pace setting through the African Common Position on the Post 2015 Development Agenda and the reengineering of Africa’s health priorities in the context of a new health architecture better prepared for disease surveillance and response. Plans to establish the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention are already at an advanced stage.

This year the commemorations are being celebrated under the theme “Invest in future, defeat malaria”. The meeting was attended by Ambassadors accredited to the African Union, Universities and various development partners.
AMT/
For further information contact

Ms. Afrah Thabit| | Information and Communication Directorate | African Union Commission | Tel: (251) 11 551 77 00 | | E-mail: thabitma@africa-union.org | Web: www.au.int|Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

Mr. Tawanda Chisango I AIDS WATCH AFRICA (AWA) Program Advocacy & Partnership Expert | Social Affairs | African Union Commission I Mobile +251934167052 | E-mail: chisangot@africa-union.org | Web www.au.int I
Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

African Union The African Union spearheads Africa’s development and integration in close collaboration with African Union Member States, the Regional Economic Communities and African citizens. AU Vision An integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in global arena. Learn more at: http://www.au.int/en/

About the African Leaders Malaria Alliance-The African Leaders Malaria Alliance is a ground breaking coalition of 49 African Heads of State and Government working across country and regional borders to achieve near-zero malaria deaths in Africa by 2015. Learn more at http://www.alma2015.org

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