Please click the links below to view key international gender resolutions, and those with specific regard to Africa.
Formalised on 15 September 1995, the Beijing Declaration embodies the commitment of the international community to the advancement of women and to the implementation of the Platform for Action. The Platform for Action aimed to ensure that a gender perspective was reflected in all policies and programmes at the national, regional and international levels. The principal themes of the Beijing Declaration were the advancement and empowerment of women in relation to women’s human rights, women and poverty, women and decision-making, violence against women and other areas of concern.
From 1-12 March 2010, the Commission on the Status of Women undertook a fifteen-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Emphasis was placed on the sharing of experiences and good practices, with a view to overcoming remaining obstacles and new challenges, including those related to the MDGs.
Click here to download a PDF of the full text.
Adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, the CEDAW is often described as an international bill of rights for women. It defines what constitutes discrimination against women, and because it is a treaty, countries that ratified it are formally bound to put its provisions into practice. Among its provisions are that women be allowed equal access to, and equal opportunity in, politics and public life, as well as education, health and employment.
Click here to download a PDF of the full text.
In the face of increasing levels of global poverty, disease, hunger and inequality, and with the arrival of the new millennium, world leaders adopted the Millennium Declaration in September 2000 to fight world poverty and ensure a better life for all by the year 2015. UN member states developed the eight MDGs, in which they confirmed a commitment to:
Click here to download a PDF of the full text.
Neither UN SCR 1325 or 1820 includes clear mechanisms for monitoring implementation and ensuring accountability. To address this gap, the UN Secretary-General asked for the formulation of National Action Plans (NAPs).
Since 2005, the following countries have adopted NAP: Austria, Belgium,Chile, Côte D’Ivoire, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Liberia, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sierra Leone, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda (on resolutions 1325 & 1820), United Kingdom. Several more countries are in the process of developing and adopting NAPs.
Through the development of National Action Plans, some common themes have emerged as critical:
FAS is greatly involved in the NAPS in the Mano River Region.
Unanimously passed on 31 October 2000, this was the first Security Council resolution to recognize that women are not only victims of war, but also active agents in peacebuilding. Resolution 1325 is now officially international law, meaning that it is legally binding on all UN member states. It calls on the UN, member states and other parties to include women and women’s organizations when they negotiate and implement peace agreements and reconstruction efforts, as well as to protect the safety of women in conflict and post-conflict situations.
Click here to download a PDF of the full text.
This resolution requested that the “United Nations Secretary-General appoint a Special Representative to provide coherent and strategic leadership, to work effectively to strengthen existing United Nations coordination mechanisms, and to engage in advocacy efforts, inter alia with governments, including military and judicial representatives, as well as with all parties to armed conflict and civil society, in order to address, at both headquarters and country level, sexual violence in armed conflict, while promoting cooperation and coordination of efforts among all relevant stakeholders, primarily through the inter-agency initiative ‘United Nations Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict’.” It was co-sponsored by more than 60 UN Member States.
Click here to download a PDF of the full text.
This resolution aimed at strengthening the implementation and monitoring of SCR 1325. It calls for the establishment of global indicators on SCR 1325, reiterates its mandate for increasing women’s participation and reinforces calls for mainstreaming gender perspectives in all decision-making processes, especially in the early stages of post-conflict peacebuilding.
Click here to download a PDF of the full text.
This resolution focuses on women, peace and security by confronting sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict situations. Key provisions of the resolution recognize a direct relationship between the widespread and/or systematic use of sexual violence as an instrument of conflict and the maintenance of international peace and security; commit the Security Council to considering appropriate steps to end such atrocities and to punish their perpetrators; and request a report from the Secretary General on situations in which sexual violence is being widely or systematically employed against civilians and on strategies for ending the practice.
Click here to download a PDF of the full text.
In September 2010, West African countries adopted the Dakar Declaration which aims at implementing in the best way the UN SCR 1325. The declaration stresses the need for the effective participation of women in peace processes, the protection of women and girls from conflict-related sexual violence and a reduction in conflicts through the greater involvement of women in preventive diplomacy. It also emphasizes the importance of adequate care and humanitarian services during the relief and recovery periods after conflicts, disasters or other crises.
At the regional level, African NGOs have successfully lobbied and advocated for greater recognition of women’s rights at the AU. As a result of their efforts, the Protocol was adopted at the Second Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly in Maputo, Mozambique, in 2003 and contains 32 articles relating to the protection of women’s human rights in Africa.
Included in this Protocol are specific protections for women in armed conflicts and for women’s rights to peace and sustainable development, among others. The Protocol entered into force in 2005 after being ratified by 16 member states.
Click here to download a PDF of the full text.
In July 2004, the AU met for its Third Ordinary Session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. During the summit, the heads of state adopted the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa, which affirmed the commitment of member states to the task of mainstreaming gender into the AU’s approach to health, human rights, education, economic development, governance, and peace and security. This was the first time a continental organization took ownership of gender mainstreaming at the highest level, prioritizing issues such HIV/Aids and the recruitment of child soldiers.
In ratifying the Solemn Declaration, the AU agreed to:
Click here to download a PDF of the full text of this key declaration.
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