Concept Note High Level Meeting during the 60 th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women: Africa s Year of Human Rights with a particular focus on the Rights of Women: Opportunities & Challenges Venue: UNHQ, Conference Room 12, New York Time & Date: 10am 1pm, Thursday 17 March 2016
I. Background The year 2016 has been declared by the African Union as the African Year of Human Rights with a particular focus on the Rights of Women. This followed the AU s theme of 2015, namely Year of Women s Empowerment and Development towards Agenda 2063. This shows the AU s continued commitment to human rights and its specific focus on women empowerment and gender equality. The focus on human rights is pertinent after the adoption in 2015 of two major global and regional agendas, namely the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union s Agenda 2063. Both agendas now need to move from commitment to action, and the focus on human rights underpins their implementation. The AU s theme of 2016 is well timed: 2016 marks the 35 th anniversary of the adoption of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights in 1981; the 29 th anniversary of the operationalization of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights in 1987 and also the 10th anniversary of the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights. 1 Project 2016 of the African Union was initiated to serve as a flagship project to guide the celebration of the AU theme of the year. In that light, the Continental Conference on the Protection of Human Rights in Africa to take place in November this year will produce a 10-Year Action Plan on the promotion and protection of Human Rights on the Continent, in line with the first Ten- Year Implementation Plan of Agenda 2063. 2 Moreover, promoting respect for human rights is one of the core mandates of the United Nations and defines its identity as an organization for people around the world. UN entities take every opportunity to reaffirm the focus on human rights as mandated by the Charter and UN resolutions. At the United Nations, 2015 also marked the 20 year anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action as well as the review of the ground-breaking UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security and the adoption of Resolution 2242 to further advance this agenda. The focus on human rights, including women s rights is all-encompassing.. Human rights underpin both Agenda 2030 and Agenda 2063 and therefore the theme is highly relevant for Africa today. The High Level Meeting will therefore focus on the whole spectrum of human rights, from social, cultural to economic and political, so no-one is left behind. II. Thematic Focus The desire for a thematic discussion on human rights in Africa and women s rights in particular, is pertinent due to the fact that the continent continues to face challenges in addressing women s rights. Populations in Africa and especially women, similar to women everywhere, continue to experience human rights violations in the areas of employment, marriage, sexual and reproductive health, education, and in the context of conflict. Women s voices go unheard during formal peace negotiations, disarmament as well as during rehabilitation and peace building. Economic empowerment of women is a huge priority on the continent, as the growing African economies need the productive capacity of their full 1 Concept Paper: Declaration of 2016 as Africa Year of Human Rights, African Union, December 2015. 2 Ibid. 2
labour force, but women in Africa for example lack access to means of production, like land, capital and collateral. Furthermore, a large burden on the fulfilment of the human rights of African women is related to poverty, and the feminisation of poverty. Discrimination and harmful practices towards women undermines efforts to ensure the equal enjoyment of their human rights. The theme of this event also seeks to underline that equality between women and men is inextricably linked to peace and security; equal access and full participation of women in power structures and their full involvement in all efforts for the prevention and resolution of conflicts are essential for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security. 3 Hence, the discussion of human rights and peace and security is intrinsically linked. The implementation of the outcomes and recommendations of the three major reviews in 2015 (the UN Peace Operations Review, the UN Peacebuilding Architecture Review and the UN Security Council 1325 High-level Review) provide new opportunities for promoting and protecting women s human rights in conflict and post-conflict situations. Currently 16 of the 48 countries that have adopted national action plans for resolution 1325 are in Africa. 4 Therefore aspiration 6 in Agenda 2063 of An Africa whose development is people driven, relying on the potential offered by African people, especially its women and youth is pertinent. People in Africa have the right to development, education and health, and the fulfilment of all human rights is prerequisite for the successful implementation of both Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda. The Ten-Year Implementation Plan of Agenda 2063 is committed to achieve full gender equality and significantly empower women in Africa by 2023 at the national, regional and continental levels, which echoes the global objective of SDG 5 to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Furthermore, the AU Agenda also aims to provide equal economic rights for women by 2025, including the rights to own land and inherit property. In light of this ambition, it is important to recognise that progress has been made till date, and equal representation of women, especially in political leadership is better in Africa than in many other parts of the world, as 15 African countries are listed among the top 37 countries where women make up more than 30 percent of national parliaments. Also, Africa is the first continent to underscore the importance of monitoring and accountability efforts - such as the recently launched African Gender Scorecard - for measuring progress and accelerating implementation of the continent s ambitious gender parity commitments. A high level panel discussion on how to protect, promote and secure the human rights of people, and especially women in Africa, needs the input from leaders at the continental and global level. National ownership and responsibility for implementing the agendas that make human rights a reality are essential, as well as public-private partnerships which can support home-grown initiatives. Furthermore, resources need to be mobilised so that gender equality 3 Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhur, High Level Advisory Group for the Global Study, UN Women Video Interview, 2015. 4 Burundi, Cote d Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Uganda 3
and women empowerment can be adequately financed. This includes domestic resource mobilisation from the African continent, as well as ODA and private sector support at the international level. III. Objective The objective of the event is to engage decision makers in an open and frank discussion on the opportunities and challenges related to human rights implementation in Africa and in particular women s rights. Experiences and strategies for implementation need momentum and support from within Africa and beyond. Therefore, the meeting will bring together highlevel policymakers and experts from both the African continent and international arena. The theme is closely linked to the global and regional agendas, and the event will address messages, proposals and recommendations of how to integrate the theme within the new agendas. The outcome of the meeting will be published and advocated further, especially as this event takes place on the margins of the 60 th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women. IV. Format of the Meeting The meeting will be a three-hour panel discussion, hosted by the Under-Secretary General and Special Adviser on Africa and the Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights with opportunities for the audience to pose questions and make comments. V. Outcome The key messages of the event will be published and feed into the 60 th Commission on the Status of Women. VI. Participants Participants in the event will include a wide range of key, high-level stakeholders, including Ministers, Government officials, and senior officials of United Nations system entities, civil society, academia, and the diaspora. VII. Partners OSAA and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights are co-organising this event. Furthermore, partners include the Department for Public Information, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa as well as the African Union. Furthermore, experts from African member states will be invited to benefit from their expertise on this thematic area. VIII. Venue & Date The Meeting will take place during the 60 th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women on 17 March 2015 from 10am-1pm in Conference Room 12 at the UNHQ in New York. 4
IX. Contact information For more information about the High Level Meeting, kindly contact: Ms. Jaspreet Kindra Public Information Officer Office of the Special Adviser on Africa Tel: (+1) 917-367-2041 Email: kindra@un.org Ms. Marieke Hounjet Associate Economic Affairs Officer, Office of the Special Adviser on Africa Tel: (+1) 917-367-4412 Email: hounjet@un.org Mr. Jean-Claude Kalume Misenga Human Rights Officer, New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Tel: (+1) 917-367-6967 Email: kalumemisenga@un.org 5