SEVERAL male organisations have called on the African Union to prioritise the safety of women and children against rape and abuse across Africa.
Members of United Nations secretary- general Ban Ki Moon's Network of Men Leaders and members of the MenEngage Alliance and the Athena Network, have called on the AU, its regional bodies and member states to take urgent action in ensuring that this decade improves women's lives and brings an end to the endemic violence faced by women and girls across the continent, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Last year the AU declared this decade, 2010-20, the African Women's Decade. Between July 30 and August 4, nearly 500 women and girls, and some boys and men, were raped in and around the village of Luvungi in the Eastern DRC in a campaign of ongoing terror waged by armed groups who use rape as a weapon of war.
The announcement followed a decade in which African heads of state signed numerous commitments to ensure protection for women from sexual violence in situations of armed conflict and to increase women's leadership and involvement in peace-building in conflict and post-conflict settings.
These binding commitments include the 2005 Maputo Protocol, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in October 2000, and UNSCR 1820, which addresses the issue of sexual violence, in June 2008.
African Union must intensify protection of women and kids
SEVERAL male organisations have called on the African Union to prioritise the safety of women and children against rape and abuse across Africa.
Members of United Nations secretary- general Ban Ki Moon's Network of Men Leaders and members of the MenEngage Alliance and the Athena Network, have called on the AU, its regional bodies and member states to take urgent action in ensuring that this decade improves women's lives and brings an end to the endemic violence faced by women and girls across the continent, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Last year the AU declared this decade, 2010-20, the African Women's Decade. Between July 30 and August 4, nearly 500 women and girls, and some boys and men, were raped in and around the village of Luvungi in the Eastern DRC in a campaign of ongoing terror waged by armed groups who use rape as a weapon of war.
The announcement followed a decade in which African heads of state signed numerous commitments to ensure protection for women from sexual violence in situations of armed conflict and to increase women's leadership and involvement in peace-building in conflict and post-conflict settings.
These binding commitments include the 2005 Maputo Protocol, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in October 2000, and UNSCR 1820, which addresses the issue of sexual violence, in June 2008.
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