2020 as the year for universal ratification, domestication and implementation.

What: Rallying African Union Member States to deliver on the commitment on 2020 as the year of the universal ratification, domestication and implementation of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol on Women’s Rights)

When: 17-18 November 2020, 1400 to 1600 hours EAT. Where: A series of virtual events. To participate register here-

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_QpIpnULDRw2NL9P_AeIk6w

Who: Convened by the African Union Commission led by the Women, Gender and Development Directorate, the events will bring together various stakeholders, including, among others Ministers and Experts responsible for Gender Equality and Women’s Affairs; the Pan-African Parliament; AU Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa; Civil Society Organizations, women’s rights organizations, women’s movements and youth organizations. The events will also be supported by the

Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR) Coalition.

Background

The Maputo Protocol has given rise to the adoption and promulgation of equally innovative and progressive legislation, policies and other institutional mechanisms to advance women’s human rights at a national level. To promote the ratification and implementation of the Maputo Protocol, the African Heads of State and Government, adopted in 2004, the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (SDGEA), in which they committed to ratify the Maputo Protocol to pave the way for the domestication and implementation of the Protocol alongside other national, regional and international instruments on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The upcoming events are part of the advocacy efforts for the universal ratification of the Protocol in line with the commitment by member states in 2009, for universal ratification, full domestication and implementation of the Maputo Protocol by 2020.

African Union Member States have made collective and individual commitments to the advancement of the rights of women and girls in Africa. While celebrating the gains made over the decade, the events will lay emphasis on the status of ratification, domestication and implementation of the Maputo Protocol, adopted by the African Union on 11th July 2003, as a result of intensive advocacy by many organizations from all over Africa, and entered into force on 25 November 2005. To-date it has been ratified by 42 of the 55 Member States of the African Union.

Of particular note is that AU Member States, at the time and consistently over the past decade, have committed to universal ratification of key human rights instruments on GEWE, including but not limited to the Maputo Protocol and the UN Convention on the

Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women. Significantly, AU Member States at the national and Regional Economic Community (RECs) levels have adopted domestic legislation and policies for the advancement of GEWE.

Unfortunately, with less than 2 months to the close of the 2010-2020 African Women’s Decade, thirteen (13) countries are yet to ratify the Maputo Protocol, a few countries have progressively domesticated and implemented the Maputo Protocol, but a majority hardly report on the progress made in implementation to the relevant organs such as the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC). As such accountability for and tracking of implementation of these commitments remains a major challenge on the Continent.

The events aim to among key issues;

- Define a clear roadmap towards universal ratification comprising redefined individual national commitments on the national process towards ratification, preferable

adopting an inclusive multi-sectoral approach and establish the set timelines for depositing instruments of ratification with the AU Commission.

-Popularize the ACHPR Guidelines for state reporting under the Maputo Protocol and with the AU Maputo Protocol Scorecard and Index while identifing challenges that hamper regular reporting and map out strategic support.

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