Author: Women Leaders for Development Network
2020 is the year in which the international community marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995). An important milestone will be reached in the achievement of the sustainable development goals of the 2030 Agenda.
2020 is therefore a pivotal year for accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, everywhere in the world.
Civil society organizations (CSOs) have played an essential role in the development and shaping of international and regional instruments relating to women’s rights. Despite these contributions, women’s rights are threatened by various political decisions and agendas aimed at restricting, reducing and undermining women’s ability to fully enjoy their rights.
States parties have abdicated their role in implementing and integrating the various provisions of the women’s rights treaty. Vulnerable and marginalized groups continue to have little access to the protection of the law, despite the existence of regional instruments enshrining fundamental rights.
Women continue to face structural, administrative and legal obstacles to the full enjoyment of their rights. The institutions responsible for protecting these rights at sub-regional level are also limited by a lack of coordination and restrictive individual access provisions, among other inhibiting factors.
It should be remembered that, in view of concerns about the coronavirus affecting the whole world, the Commission on the Status of Women met in March, suspending the session until further notice. But this situation should not cause us to lose sight of the objective or the progress made to date.
We are convinced that this is the best season to continue and intensify advocacy for the acceleration of governmental actions in favor of gender equality in West Africa.
There are opportunities to increase the role of CSOs in promoting and protecting women’s rights, not least the growing interest of CSOs in regional women’s rights mechanisms and how they can be used effectively. These mechanisms, including CEDAW, the Maputo Protocol, Resolution 1325 and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, are open to civil society participation. However, there is considerable scope for improving civil society participation to ensure that these mechanisms have a greater impact at regional, sub-regional, national and local levels.
With this in mind, women’s rights organizations are undertaking a review and assessment of progress made in implementing the Beijing Resolution in Africa.
National reviews
In early 2019, UN member states have been invited to undertake comprehensive national reviews involving broad consultations with different stakeholders, in particular women’s rights organizations. The reviews include an assessment of progress made and challenges encountered in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and how this affects gender equality, the empowerment of women and girls, and its contribution to the full achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular through a gender the perspective.
The reports cover trends, achievements and remaining gaps and challenges, as well as future plans to accelerate implementation at national level.
To date, 138 member states have submitted national reports.
How to get involved:
Review government review reports.
Collaborate with other women’s rights organizations to draft a shadow report highlighting civil society and feminist perspectives that your government report may have ignored.
