8th African Union Pre-Summit on the African Year of human Rights, with Particular Focus on the rights of women.
• Her Excellency Dr Nkosazana Dhlamini-Zuma , Chairperson of the African Union Commission;
• Honourable Ministers;
• Senior Government Officials Present;
• Members of the Diplomatic Community ;
• African Union Commission and Regional Economic Communities Officials;
• My Colleagues from the United Nations Family ;
• Civil Society Organizations Representatives ;
• Members of the Press;
• Ladies and Gentlemen;
It gives me great pleasure and honor to be here as part of the official opening of the Joint Gender Pre Summit. I wish to thank the AUC for extending this invitation to UNDP
Allow me your Excellency to also take this opportunity to convey special greetings to you from the UNDP Administrator, Ms Helen Clark and Mr.Abdoulaye Mar DieyeDirector for the Regional Bureau for Africa.
As a long term partner with the AUC and indeed with African Member states, and working together at country level as well as regional level, UNDP is very honored and appreciative of thisvalued partnerships, without which we would not have an impact on the lives of our people in Africa.
Excellencies Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Joint Gender pre-summit has over the past years become a major gathering for the discussion of critical Gender and women in development issues and for mobilizing consensus and building partnerships among the continent’s stakeholders, to address gender inequality and promote the empowerment of women.
Excellencies, Ladies and gentle men
In UNDP you will find a committed partner. In the bid to eradicate poverty, gender inequality, violence, promote women’s rights, end hunger, we continue to work with the AUC, regional economic communities, member states and civil society at the country, regional and global levels to support the African development agenda. This work has led us to a keen appreciation of the realities and challenges facing Africa, but with optimism and underpinned by the transformative spirit of the African women, we believe we shall realize the Africa we want.
As UNDP we are working to with countries and all stakeholders to expand freedom of choice, economic opportunities and basic services for all African women and men. We encourage people to become active citizens, leaders and entrepreneurs, while assisting their governments to plan and deliver development objectives. In all of its activities, UNDP focuses on gender equality and women’s empowerment not only as human rights, but also because they are a pathway to achieving the well articulated Africa’s development agenda.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
The poor are disproportionately affected by lack of access to affordable energy services. UNDP established a regional initiative that is providing energy to 3.5 million rural dwellers in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. The scheme uses diesel and biofuel engines that relieve women and communities of the most difficult household tasks, liberating time and money for health, business, education and nutrition.
In order to ensure people have a voice in the democratic process, we support dozens of elections in Africa each year. In recent years, UNDP helped to conduct key elections in Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and will next month extending the support to Uganda
Achieving a critical mass of women in parliament is the best way to ensure national debates and policies reflect gender perspectives. UNDP continues to support non-partisan groups that advocate for the adoption of gender quotas in parliament.
This is just to mention a few.
Excellencies, Ladies and gentle men
The African women are the most vulnerable in society, most unfairly treated in the labour market. Girls and boys have lost their childhood to child labour, the continent has lost its much needed resource to human trafficking. African women, girls and boys continue to work in hazardous conditions.
Recent research by UNDP; articulated in the Global Human Development Report, highlights the urgent need for new policies, institutional reforms, and more equitable access to care services to address these major gender imbalances in paid and unpaid work.
We need to work together towards, equal pay for equal work for women and men;adequate provision of paid parental leave for both women and men; andtackle the harassment and social norms which exclude many women from paid work.
Sharing the burden of unpaid care work and enabling more women to enter the labour force on equal terms has wide benefits. It stands to reason that whole societies are worse off if half of their members can’t participate fully.Science and technology should form the basic focus of our education.
Excellencies, Ladies and gentle men
We need to work tirelessly towards and together to;
• Establish a new social contract between state, society, and private sector to improve social protection;
• Deepen co-operation between workers, businesses, and governments around and ensuring that the rights of the African woman, girls and boys are fully realized.
• Promotean adequate living wage, security in the workplace, and social protection for workers; especially women workers both in urban and rural areas;
• Reform laws that deny women paid employment opportunities and hinder their involvement and growth in entrepreneurship.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, as I conclude,
It is also critical and timely to once again encourage African states and development partners to increase their commitments to development in general and to women’s rights and gender equality in particular. This urgent call as enshrined in the UNDP Global Human Development Report 2015 towards the need to tackle one of the world’s great development challenges –creating gainful and decent employment, as a means to livelihoods for all in Africa. The report calls on all of us to focus on the need tobring about genuine transformation of gender relations, including through the active constructive participation of men and boys.
The African women are the most disadvantaged when it comes to both formal and informal employment. Their political, social and economic rights if not addressed and realized will undermine the achievement of the AUs Agenda 2063 and indeed the recently agreed Global Sustainable Development Goals, which together articulate the Africa we want. Women’s rights are human rights and therefore non-negotiable.
I hope that this Gender pre-summit will generate dialogue and debate on the challenges identified, as all previous pre summits have done and above all action packed interventions that are of a Common Position that is grounded in the realities of African women’s lives.
The Pre-Summit should also examine gender transformative approaches that challenge systemic patriarchy by promoting equitable relationships; challenging male gender norms; transforming traditionally accepted norms associated with being a man or a woman; and changing gender relations.
Finally, on behalf of UNDP – Regional Hub for Africa, I wish to assure the Chairperson of the AUC and indeed the African member states and citizens of the beautiful continent of the commitment of the UNDP to work together with all stakeholders towards the empowerment of women in Africa. But no one institution will manage this uphill task. UNDP is committed to the partnership with the African Union Commission and working with the Office of the Chairperson and all development partners to walk the talk, towards achievement of the rights of African women.
And to all my fellow members of the UN family, working as One UN is the way forward.
I thank you for your attention.
