Theme: Ending Violence against Women and Girls: Action to Guarantee Women’s Safety in Africa

What: Policy Dialogue on Ending Violence against Women and Girls to rally more actions to protect and secure women and girls against gender-based violence. The meeting will look at the latest data of cases of GBV, funding and social protection issue among others.

When: 10th December 2020, 1100 to 1300 hours EAT.

Where: A virtual event. To participate register here-
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_f7XNq6BHQqypjKNh6G1rtA

Who: Convened by the African Union Commission through the Women, Gender and Development Directorate and UN Women, OHCHR, UNFPA, the Policy Dialogue will be a multi-stakeholder event to mobilize the commitment of AU Member States and other stakeholders to ensure that the public health crisis does not deprioritize the rights of women and reverse the achievements made in advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Background

Humanitarian crisis such as COVID 19 have a disproportionate impact on women and girls, amplifying pre-existing inequalities. These vulnerabilities further exacerbated as COVID 19 act as a driver of conflict and inflame social instability, fuel distrust and misinformation and amplify pre-existing inequalities from high protection risks, limited access to social protection programmes including emergency response plans, human rights violations, increase in transnational and organized crime, trafficking of women, access to health services and increased domestic violence, including sexual extortion, exploitation and abuse as well as exclusion of women from decision making processes.

The African Union (AU) views Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) as one of the critical impediments to women’s realization of their fundamental rights including the rights to life, human dignity, peace, justice, socio- economic and political development. Protection from VAWG in Africa is encapsulated in various binding and non-binding legal instruments of AU such as the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (SDGEA), the African Women’s Decade 2010-2020, the AU strategy on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment etc. Moreover, Agenda 2063 commits AU Member States to end violence and discrimination against women and girls as well as to end all harmful social norms and customary practices that promote violence and discrimination against women and girls in Africa

Despite these comprehensive legal instrument, VAWG still continues and has even increased during the COVID-19 lockdowns and movements restrictions.

For further information please contact:

Doreen Apollos, Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission | E-mail: ApollosD@africa-union,org | www.au.int|Addis Ababa | Ethiopia