Baobab for Women\u2019s Human Rights (BAOBAB), an NGO, has called for the promotion of the human rights of women in Anglophone West-African (AWA) countries.<\/P>
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BAOBAB\u2019s Executive Director, Ms Bunmi Dipo-Salami, made the call during a virtual regional convening of state and non-state actors in AWA with the theme, \u201cChanging the course of women\u2019s rights in West Africa with the Maputo Protocol\u201d.<\/P>
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Dipo-Salami noted that the Maputo Protocol (MP) recognised all human rights as women\u2019s rights including the right to life, dignity, integrity, security, health and reproductive rights, access to justice, women\u2019s political participation rights, among others.<\/P>
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\u201cThe Protocol is against all forms of gender-based violence such as limited access to properties and Child marriage.<\/P>
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\u201cIt also helps in access to education and health care for women in Africa.<\/P>
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\u201cThe protocol has done much since it came into force. However, there is still much to be done to ensure that women\u2019s rights are fully protected and realised in practice,\u201d she said.<\/P>
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She added that to achieve the ultimate goal of the protocol \u201cwhich is that women and girls in Africa can fully enjoy their rights\u201d, it should be incorporated in domestic laws to enable its full implementation in the region.<\/P>
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Similarly, Ms Olamide Falana, Special Adviser to Ondo State Governor on Gender, attributed some of the challenges in acceptance and implementation of the protocol to issues around cultural divides.<\/P>
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Falana, while referring to Article 14 of the protocol on the rights of women\u2019s health, said that the discussion around safe abortion in Nigeria stemmed from cultural and religious perspectives where women did not have full autonomy over their bodies.<\/P>
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She said: \u201cIt is one thing to have the protocol accepted, it is another for it to be a tool that everyone is willing to work with and use across cultural divides within a nation.<\/P>
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\u201cAs such, women still require consent from a man over issues pertaining to their bodies.<\/P>
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\u201cThough the protocol also speaks to the right of access to medical care, several factors affect a woman\u2019s access to medical care.<\/P>
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\u201cYou can only demand medical care when it is available within your community. When it is not available, your right is limited,\u201d she said.<\/P>
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Also, Mrs Olubunmi Adelugba, Speaker, Ekiti State House of Assembly, recalled that the MP was introduced to Nigeria by the African Union (AU) as an attempt to protect and promote women\u2019s rights in West Africa.<\/P>
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Adelugba stressed the importance of political will in domestication and implementation of laws that improved the lives of women and girls.<\/P>
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She noted that Ekiti had established some forms of laws for the protection of women as contained in the provisions of the MP.<\/P>
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\u201cThese laws are always active but the only problem they face is lack of reporting by the victims of injustices who are mainly women and girls.<\/P>
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\u201cAnd this happens due to religious and cultural beliefs stigma. It is only when a case is reported that such laws will be in effect,\u201d she said.<\/P>
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Ms Hanna Forster, Executive Director, African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) from Gambia, said lack of technical knowledge and expertise on reporting was a challenge that \u201cpersists across the five AWA countries.\u201d<\/P>
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Forster, therefore, urged CSOs to sharpen their skills and become conversant with the guidelines developed by the African Commission for shadow reporting.<\/P>
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She also stressed the need to simplify and translate the protocol, as well as litigate and bring cases to the African Court of Justice and Human Rights or the ECOWAS Court of Justice if member states fell short of their commitments.<\/P>
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Also, Ms Lilian Ibeh, Programme Officer, Alliances for Africa (AFA) Nigeria, harped on the need for more strategies that would help the domestication of the protocol leveraging data, the media, and partnerships to address the issues.<\/P>
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NAN reports that the meeting was organised by Baobab with support from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) through Equality Now and the Solidarity for African Women\u2019s Rights (SOAWR).<\/P>
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The project is being implemented by the Initiative for Gender Equality and Development in Africa (IGED-Africa), Ghana; Young Liberian Women Organisation for Improvement (WOFIM), Liberia.<\/P>
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Others are Alliances for Africa (AfA), BAOBAB for Women\u2019s Human Rights and Women\u2019s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA), in Nigeria.<\/P>
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The virtual conference was part of a Joint Cluster Advocacy Campaign by the AWA member organisations of SOAWR, a coalition of over 80 civil society organisations working across 33 countries in Africa.<\/P>
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The regional convening had in attendance 50 participants from the five AWA countries \u2013 The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.<\/P>
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Source: News Agency of Nigeria<\/P>
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Baobab for Women\u2019s Human Rights (BAOBAB), an NGO, has called for the promotion of the human rights of women in Anglophone West-African (AWA) countries.BAOBAB\u2019s Executive Director, Ms Bunmi Dipo-Salami, made the call during a virtual regional convening…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n