AFRICA: Women Human Rights Defenders Adopt Banjul Declaration

Women human rights defenders meeting in Banjul as a prelude to the 48th Ordinary session of the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) have adopted a declaration which would further their work and press for their protection.

The meeting, which attracted participants across Africa, Asia and Latin America, was held between the 4th and 6th November 2010 at the Kairaba Beach Hotel.

The Banjul Declaration, as the declaration would come to be known, saw the women rights defenders committing themselves to strengthening networks among themselves and developing inter regional solidarity groups with the support of the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights studies (ACDHRS), the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), the International Coalition for Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDS) and Conectas Direitos Humanos and other organizations that are ready to support women human rights defenders work.

According to them, they are also committed to strengthening themselves by building networks for their support at national, regional and international levels as a mechanism for protection as well as a platform to interact with special rapporteurs on women human rights defenders of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Right (ACHPR) and the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders.

The women human rights defenders also harped on the need for sensitization and training of women defenders in all areas related to protection and the promotion of their work, particularly the sensitization of their immediate environment, through the incorporation of instruments for their protection into domestic laws and their access to the media and other means of communication.

According to them, the increasing numbers of women human rights groups have accentuated fear about any change to status quo in some quarters and this has given rise to accusations that they are promoting Western values.

The declaration further considers that women are still victims of the constraints of culture, traditional and the patriarchal structure of the society which confine them to a limited role and stigmatize them in their daily activities and highlighted the need to undo the specific threats and attacks faced by women human rights defenders in their daily work against the backdrop of increasing conflicts, repressive government and social fundamentalism.

With a view to effectively protect women human rights defenders, the participants at the Banjul meeting also designed a number of strategies to sensitize the broader population including men, community, traditional and religious leaders on specific challenges women human rights defenders face particularly with men in their efforts to use cultural approaches to highlight the challenges of women and women human rights defenders and to promote and strengthen quality documentation which enhances the effective works of the regional and international special rapporteurs.

They also made a call on the African Union to include the protection of women human rights defenders in the new strategy of human rights in Africa and to support women who struggle with justice because of the work they carryout, citing the case of the GAMCOTRAP in The Gambia as an example.

They requested special rapporteurs on women rights and human rights defenders of the African Commission to conduct a joint research on social fundamentalism and to take ownership of the goals and objectives of the African Women Decade 2010-2020 and to be involved in its effective implementation at the local, national, regional and international levels.

The women human rights defenders further requested the African Commission to set up a mechanism between the special rapporteur on women's right and human rights defenders to give particular attention to the case of violation against them and to promote collaboration amongst them across regions to share experience and best practices to improve protection system in international and regional mechanisms.