by Patience Zirima – SANF 08 No 47
Justice ministers from southern Africa met recently to consider the regional draft Protocol on Gender and Development in the last stage of consultations before it is presented to Heads of State and Government at their Summit in August.
The draft Protocol will be discussed by the Standing Committee of Senior Officials and the Council of Ministers of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) who meet from 10-12 August and 14-15 August respectively before it is presented to Heads of State and Government when they meet 16-17 August in South Africa.
Although the draft Protocol was discussed by the Heads of State and Government at the previous Summit in Lusaka in 2007, they referred it back to Member States for further consultation at national level.
The consultation process seeks to ensure that the draft Protocol that is submitted to Summit is solid and that Member States reach a consensus so that the document can be adopted.
Consultation with a wide range of officials in key ministries such as gender, justice, foreign affairs and finance will ensure practical ownership of the document and remove any misunderstandings that may arise from issues raised in the document, particularly on implementation.
SADC leaders made it clear at their previous meeting that they want a realistic protocol that can be implemented and monitored, and not just words on paper.
Once signed, the Gender Protocol is expected to speed up the process of achieving gender equality and equity, and improve the status of women in the region as well as addressing emerging gender issues and concerns.
The draft Protocol has specific time-bound goals and targets to ensure accountability in addressing inequalities in constitutional and legal rights; governance; education and training; productive resources and employment; gender-based violence; health; HIV and AIDS; peace building and conflict resolution; and in media, information and communication.
Most constitutions in the region recognise formal equality of men and women before the law, but in the area of constitutional rights, the draft Protocol not only suggests that state parties endeavour to enshrine gender equality and equity in their constitutions by 2015, but also ensure that these rights are not compromised by any laws and practices.
In the region, women suffer discrimination due to non-uniform marriage and divorce laws, the application of customary property laws that still favour men’s ownership of land, violence against women and lack of equal access to education. The draft proposes that SADC Member States ensure that women and men enjoy equal rights and are regarded as equal partners in marriage by enacting and adopting appropriate legislative measures.
The draft Protocol also addresses emerging issues of concern in the region such as trafficking of women and girls and proposes legislation to prevent trafficking in the region by 2015. This proposal comes against the background that no country in the region has specific legislation on trafficking of women and children and the absence of a specific legal framework hampers both the effective protection of victims and the prosecution of offenders.
In an effort to protect women and men against HIV and AIDS, the draft Protocol recognizes the need to take account of “the unequal status of women, the particular vulnerability of the girl child as well as harmful practices and biological factors that result in women constituting the majority of those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS.”
The draft Protocol therefore mandates state parties to develop gender sensitive strategies to prevent new infections, ensure universal access to HIV and AIDS treatment as well as develop and implement policies and programmes, by 2015, to ensure appropriate recognition of the work carried out by caregivers, the majority of whom are women.
Among contentious issues that needed to be ironed out, as identified by gender ministers when they met in April ahead of the justice ministers’ meeting, were that the language used in some of the articles is too mandatory.
Another concern was that the draft Protocol imposes enormous financial obligations on state parties, which they may be unable to fulfil.
However, some stakeholders still view the draft as rather weak insofar as obligatory language such as “ensure” has been removed in favour of “endeavour.”
Another issue of concern is that key issues addressed in the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development signed in 1997, including legal protection from marital rape and a broader definition of disability rights other than health, have been removed from the draft Protocol.
The gender ministers agreed to a national advocacy strategy at various political levels to ensure strong support for the adoption of the Protocol.
A Protocol is the most binding of SADC legal instruments and if the Gender Protocol is approved, it would ensure attainment of gender targets set within the timeframe 2010-2020 and would mark a turning point in which SADC Member States move towards delivery of promises made on gender equality and equity in the region.
