by Patience Zirima – SANF 07 No 37
As SADC Heads of State and Government meet for their annual Summit in Lusaka, Zambia in mid-August, one of the expected outcomes is the adoption of the Protocol on Gender and Development.
The SADC Protocol on Gender and Development will provide a legal and institutional framework for the region to accelerate implementation of the commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment. A Protocol is the most binding of SADC legal instruments.
Ministers for gender and women’s affairs from the 14 SADC member states endorsed the contents of a Gender Protocol at a meeting on 20 July in Maputo, Mozambique.
The protocol has several measures to address the attainment of commitments to gender equality, justice and women’s empowerment in SADC.
These include specific 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 the media, information and communication.
On constitutional and legal rights, the proposed targets include making sure that all discriminatory laws in SADC member states are reviewed, amended and/or repealed by 2015.
To ensure equal participation by women and men in economic policy formulation the protocol proposes that member states establish gender-responsive budgets by 2010, and enact legislative measures prohibiting the dismissal or denial of recruitment of women on grounds of pregnancy.
Denial of full pay and other benefits to women while they are on maternity leave will be prohibited once the protocol is adopted. Member states will be required to offer a minimum three months fully paid maternity leave and facilitate the introduction of a minimum one month paternity leave.
To strengthen measures to address gender violence, member states will be expected to enact and enforce legislation prohibiting all forms of gender-based violence by 2015.
Against the background of increased incidence of new forms of gender-based violence such as trafficking, the protocol proposes that member states adopt specific legislative provisions by 2010 to prevent human trafficking.
This is especially critical because even though trafficking of women and children is addressed under various laws, no country in southern Africa yet has specific legislation on trafficking.
To address the increasing effects of HIV and AIDS, member states will be expected to put in place more provisions to protect men and women from HIV infection. The draft protocol calls on countries to intensify research on preventive methods and devices targeted at women, such as female condoms, and disseminate full and accurate information on appropriate devices to women.
This comes from a realisation that in southern Africa, women are the worst affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic because of unequal power relations between men and women.
In recognition of the United Nations Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security that looks at increasing women’s participation in conflict resolution and peacekeeping, member states will be required to ensure equal representation by men and women in key decision-making positions in conflict resolution and peace-building processes by 2015.
The protocol will also incorporate commitments from all regional, global and continental instruments to which SADC is a party such as the Beijing Platform of Action, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Millennium Development Goals, the African Union Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and the Rights of Women in Africa.
