PHM-Exch> International Solidarity Call-Out: African Women's Sexual and Reproductive Rights Day

Tue Feb 1 21:17:03 PST 2011

International Solidarity Call-Out to all Health Rights, Women's Rights, Human Rights and Economic/Social Justice Activists and Movements, 

Friday February 4th is African Women's Sexual and Reproductive Rights Day! 

Across the African continent, from Cairo to Cape Town, women are mobilising for recognition and respect of their sexual and reproductive rights. On February 4th, women's and health rights advocates in communities throughout Africa will hold forums, dialogues with parliamentarians, participatory community theatre, and outreach programmes in schools and the streets to raise their voices for the recognition and respect of their rights to sexual and reproductive autonomy. Young women are taking leadership positions in the upcoming events, standing shoulder to shoulder with older generations of sexual and reproductive rights advocates, while men are also participating as important allies.

United in their actions as health, women's, sexual and reproductive rights defenders across the vast African continent, they are calling on the international community to note common concerning trends, including:

* A continued pattern of brutal sexualised violence against women, surrounded by a culture of impunity due to a lack of safe mechanisms for seeking justice and redress; 

*Verbal assaults, physical attacks, sexual harassment, death threats and criminal charges directed at those who speak out for legal, safe, accessible abortion, and  those who challenge patriarchal cultural and social norms, such as polygamy, child marriage, and female genital mutilation;

*Increasing incidences of HIV/AIDS amongst women, and  systematic stigmatisation, including targeted instances of forced sterilisation and coercive abortions;

* Arrest, torture, rape and murder targeting people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex (LGBTI), and those who defend the rights of LGBTI communities.  

* Continued lack of recognition of the sexual and reproductive needs and rights of diverse populations of marginalised peoples-including those with different abilities, minority ethnic populations, those who identify as LGBTI and sex workers. 

*Increased restrictions on access to essential sexual and reproductive health supplies and services, as a result of ideological and religious pressure, conditionalities imposed by international financial institutions, fewer donors willing to fund these services and control by multinational pharmaceutical companies.

 Now it is time to seize the opportunity to show your solidarity with women across Africa defending their sexual and reproductive rights!

1. Read the letter below that is addressed to the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR), the Court(AfCHPR) and Special Rapporteurs. On Friday, deliver this message by fax, email and phone the nearest Tanzanian and Ghanian Embassies to you. Addresses for these embassies can be found online by copying and pasting these links: 

<http://embassy.goabroad.com/embassies-of/Tanzania <https://mail.wgnrr.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://embassy.goabroad.com/embassies-of/Tanzania> > 

<http://www.accessgambia.com/information/embassies-overseas.html <https://mail.wgnrr.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.accessgambia.com/information/embassies-overseas.html> ?>

2. Continue to organise within your own community for respect for women's and health rights and for reproductive and sexual justice for all people. If there are Afro-descendants in your community, reflect on whether your work is inclusive of them, open to their leadership and to that of other diverse populations. Collective policy, legislative and community actions to address women's rights, health rights, sexual rights and reproductive rights from an inclusive, non-oppressive, human rights and social justice approach are important examples for others from around the world to hear and learn about. 

3. Join the ongoing vigils and solidarity actions in your community that support of the efforts of sexual and reproductive rights defenders from diverse walks of life in Egypt who have been exerting courageous efforts to win respect for their rights despite severe factors of repression. If greater respect for sexual and reproductive rights is won in policy and practice, it could serve as an example for other parts of the continent. 

4. Send us photos of your work and watch the Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights website as we post updates from across the African continent where different actions are planned.  tanya at wgnrr.org / www.wgnrr.org

For more information, contact:

Tanya Roberts-Davis 

Campaigns Officer, Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) 

Red Mundial de Mujeres por los Derechos Reproductivos 

Réseau Mondial de Femmes por les Droits Reproductifs 

13 Dao Street, Project 3 Barangay Quirino 3-A Quezon City, 1102 

Email: tanya at wgnrr.org Website: www.wgnrr.org <http://www.wgnrr.org/> 

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SAMPLE LETTER: PLEASE FEEL FREE TO MODIFY AND PERSONALISE THE MESSAGE, AND ADD YOUR NAME TO THE BOTTOM BEFORE SENDING.

 Subject: Respect Women's Rights: For Review at the ACHPR and AfCHPR

To: [INSERT E-MAIL of the Gambian and Tanzanian embassies NEAREST TO YOU.] 

Cc: alapinireine at yahoo.fr;presidentoffice at african-court.org; cabinetsoya at afribone.net.ml; soyatom at yahoo.fr;  ladhp.ligue.africaine at wanadoo.fr; africaofficer at wgnrr.org; tanya at wgnrr.org

To the Ambassadors of the Gambia and Tanzania: 

On the occasion of the February 4th, "African Women's Sexual and Reproductive Rights Day", and in recognition of the recent launching of the "Decade of the African Women", we call upon you, the representatives of the respective hosts of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights(ACHPR) and African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (AfCHPR), to convey the following message to Mme. Reine Alapini-Gansou, Chairperson of the African Commission; Judge Gérard Niyungeko, President of the Court; Mme. Soyata Maiga, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women, and Mr. Mohamed Khalfallah, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders. 

As community advocates for health rights, women's rights, sexual rights and reproductive rights, we urge the Commission, Court and Special Rapporteurs to immediately prioritise addressing the widespread violations of sexual and reproductive rights across the continent.

State parties to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights are signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Convention Against Torture (CAT), the Covenants on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), as well as party to the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and the Beijing Platform for Action. Member states therefore have a legal obligation to ensure that all women have their human rights recognised and respected, including those to life, to be free from gendered violence, to the highest possible standards of health, and to be compensated when violations of these rights occur. In addition, we urge African state signatories to the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, to follow through with their obligation to uphold the rights enshrined in this document-with particular attention to those articulated in Article 3 (Right to Dignity), Article 4 (The Rights to Life, Integrity and Security of the Person), Article 5 (Elimination of Harmful Practices) and Article 14 (Health and Reproductive Rights). 

As women's, health and human rights organisations around the world mark "African Women's Sexual and Reproductive Rights Day", we are compelled to raise our voices in condemnation of the grim realities that African women from sister organisations report, including:  

*Verbal assaults, physical attacks, sexual harassment, death threats and criminal charges directed at those who speak out for legal, safe, accessible abortion, and  those who challenge patriarchal cultural norms, such as polygamy, child marriage, and female genital mutilation, including in Nigeria, the Gambia and Tanzania;

* A continued pattern of brutal sexualised violence against women - including in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Zimbabwe - and an overall phenomenon of impunity due to a lack of mechanisms for seeking justice and redress; 

* Arrest, torture, rape and murder targeting people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex (LGBTI), and those who defend the rights of LGBTI. The murder of David Kato in Uganda last month, the threats to the life and security of Alice Nkom in Cameroon reported in early January, and the cases of 'corrective rape' against lesbians in South Africa, are but a few recent examples noted by WGNRR members and allies. 

* Systematic stigmatisation of women who have HIV/AIDS, including targeted instances of forced sterilisation and coercive abortions, particularly in the context of Namibia.

* A continued lack of access to affordable, accessible reproductive and sexual health services, and unacceptably high levels of maternal deaths, many of which are the consequence of unsafe abortions. Community advocates across the region note the urgent need to address this dismal reality with political will and sustained financial resources.

It is within this context that we call on the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights as well as the Special Rapporteurs to take a proactive stance to 

-hold member states accountable to the obligations to recognise and respect the reproductive and sexual rights of all, 

-dedicate specific time to these concerns during country missions and regular national reporting sessions, 

-open up the processes of the Commission and Court to greater participation by civil society, including the diverse range of organisations advocating for the respect of sexual and reproductive rights, and actively supporting an end to the impunity that continues to prevalent in the widespread cases of sexual and reproductive rights violations.

We eagerly await news regarding how the Commission, Court and Special Rapporteurs will follow through on these requests. 

Respectfully,

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