A study in Nigeria found that 16% of hospital patients treated for sexually transmitted infections were under five years old. (UNFPA)
Two million girls between four and 14 years old, are at risk of some form of female genital mutilation every year. In some countries, however, it is performed on infants under one year old. (UNICEF)
There remain many hidden facts about violence against girls in Africa ...
The African Child Policy Forum's Second International Policy Conference on the African Child: Violence Against Girls in Africa took place at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on May 11 and 12 2006.
This important two-day event that will featured a powerful and diverse group of policy makers, human rights activists, prominent Africans, African youth and international journalists. Attendees were able to obtain up-to-date information on the international effort, as well as best practices and strategies to take back to their organisations to effect attitudunal and policy changes toward violence against girls.
Just a few of the presenters who participated in the conference: H.E. Joaquim Chissano, Former Head of State of Mozamibque; Prof. Paulo Pinheiro, the Secretary-General's Independent Expert of Violence against Children; Dr. Yakin Ertruk, UN special Rapportuer on Violence against Women; Mr. Jean Baptiste Zoungran, Chairperson of the African Commitee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; and Prof. Jaap Doek, Chair of the UN Commitee on the Rights of the Child.
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The
international community now acknowledges
that violence against children is a serious
problem and cause of concern. According
to the World Health Organization (WHO),
as many as 40 million children under the
age of 15 are victims of violence every
year. Some four years ago, in its resolution
56/138, the United Nations (UN) General
Assembly, upon the recommendation of the
Committee on the Rights of the Child, requested
the Secretary-General to conduct an in-depth
study on the issue of violence against
children. The Secretary-General thus appointed
in February 2003 an independent expert,
Mr. Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, to direct
the study in collaboration with the Office
of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR), the United Nations Children’s
Fund (UNICEF) and WHO. This report will
be based on available evidence, information
and a series of regional consultations.
The
African Child Policy Forum (ACPF) is organised
a conference on Violence against
Girls in Africa to complement
and enrich this process. This conference
added the voices—particularly,
though not exclusively—of African
women, women activists and leaders to stop
violence against girls in Africa. These
voices were heard through a number of
channels, including this major Pan-African
conference on violence against girls in
Africa, where policy makers, human rights
activists, African youth and prominent
Africans, were present. The conference
was informed by a conference report,
testimonials, dialogue among the various
stakeholders and a special forum for children
and youth. A poll-based report on young
African women’s experiences of violence
against them were produced before the
conference. The outcome of the conference
were a declaration which will be submitted
to the UN General Assembly and used as
a vehicle for campaigning with African
governments to develop effective policies
and programmes against violence against
girls.
The
Context
Violence—physical,
psychological and sexual—is an especially
pernicious problem in Africa. Girls are
particularly vulnerable because of physical
differences, the influence of traditional
values, and tolerance of domestic violence
directed at them. African girls are victims
of early marriage and female genital cutting,
practices commonly found throughout many
parts of Africa.
Early
marriage puts African girls at risk of
contracting the HIV virus, since most husbands
are older and sexually experienced. According
to the Botswana Human Development Report
2000, girls under the age of 14 are
twice as likely as boys to contract HIV,
and three times more likely when they are
between 15-29 years old. African girls
also contract HIV as a consequence of rape,
exploitation and trafficking. In fact,
HIV and AIDS is not only a consequence
of violence against girls in Africa, but
also
a cause.
In many instances, the stigmatisation of
HIV and AIDS causes others to carry out
physical and psychological violence against
HIV/AIDS
sufferers because of their illness.
African
girls are further subjected to violence
in times of conflict since sexual violence
against women and girls is increasingly
being used as a weapon of war. In Sudan’s
Darfur region, for example, many women
and girls are raped, abducted and forced
into sexual slavery by the Junjaweed militias.
Girls in the conflict-ridden Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC), according to Amnesty
International’s 2005 report, also
suffer from sexual violence.
The
violence experienced by African girls in
conflict situations is a manifestation
of the discrimination and inequality they
experience in peace times—at home,
in schools and in the community. For example,
a March 2001 Human Rights Watch report
disclosed the widespread practice of rape,
assault and sexual harassment of girls
by male students and teachers in South
Africa. Various other reports note that
girls in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa
and Zambia commonly drop out of school
to avoid harassment by male students and
teachers.
The
conference focused on violence against
girls in Africa in the three settings that
are the principal areas of concern in the
Pinheiro report, namely children in:
• the
family
• school
• the community
Given
that child-to-child violence is prevalent
at school, in the community and at home,
the conference gave special attention
to child-to-child violence. In
addition, in view of the fact that some
problems are specific to Africa, the conference
will complement the scope of the Pinheiro
report as it covered settings characterised
by extreme forms of violence common to
Africa, such as in:
• the
workplace
• conflict and crisis situations
• situations of exploitation and trafficking
• the context of HIV and AIDS
Since
women and girls in Africa are the principal
victims, they should be on the vanguard
in the fight against all forms of violence,
and those directed against girls in particular.
Hence, this conference involved
women, women activists, women leaders and
adolescent girls in the ongoing consideration
of violence against them. It will add their
voices to the process, to the final outcome
and, more significantly, to the follow-up
to the debate on violence against children
that will take place in New York in 2006,
during the 61st ordinary session of the
UN General Assembly.
Finally,
this conference was held
in conjunction with the African Committee
of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of
the Child to ensure synergy with the work
and deliberations of the committee.
Objectives
The
overall objective of the conference was
to contribute to the ongoing international
effort to effect attitudinal and policy
changes towards violence against girls
in Africa. The immediate specific objectives
were to:
• provide
a platform for like-minded organisations
to work together and initiate an Africa-wide
movement against all forms of violence
against girls in Africa
• ensure that African views and positions, especially regarding girls,
are reflected in actions and resolutions taken by the African Union (AU) and
the UN in respect to violence against children
• initiate dialogue and formulate actions to be taken by various stakeholders,
particularly governments, to address the issue of violence against girls in Africa.
Outputs
include:
• a
conference report on violence against
girls in Africa
• a declaration against violence against girls for submission to the UN
General Assembly and the AU
• conference proceedings
Participants
Participants
include:
• leaders
and representatives of child rights organisations
• leaders and representatives of women’s organisations
• members of the Pan-African Parliament and national parliaments
• African policy makers
• the AU, the UN and concerned UN agencies
• African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
• members of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
Since
men are the principal offenders of certain
types of violence against girls, namely
sexual violence, the conference tried
to include as many men as possible. It
focused on the role of men in their
capacity as protectors of girls in Africa
rather than the perpetrators of violence
against them.
Conference
Format
The
conference took place in the framework
of the International Policy Conference
on the African Child, a biennial event
organised by the ACPF. The conference rationale
is to provide a forum for dialogue among
child rights activists, policy makers and
experts. The first conference was held
in May 2004 in Addis Ababa on the theme The
African Child and the Family. This
second conference will appropriately focus
on violence against girls in Africa, as
violence against children is the subject
of the special report by the UN Secretary-General
and a serious problem in Africa.
Prior
to the conference, The African Child Policy
Forum conducted polls in three countries in East and the Horn of Africa
in
order to document the personal experiences
of violence against girls. The polls
resulted in a report that will be shared
with conference participants.
The
conference culminated in
the adoption of a declaration to stop violence
against girls in Africa. This declaration
will be directed at the UN General Assembly,
the AU and African governments. It will
focus on the way forward and will thus
complement and look beyond the Pinheiro
report.
The
conference programme will include plenary
sessions and panel discussions.
There
were meetings of participants and representatives
of child rights', women’s and human
rights' organisations both before and after
the conference.
Child Participation
Children
and youth groups were given the opportunity
to participate in the conference and in
the process leading up to the event. They
presented and shared their experiences
and voice their opinions throughout the
conference. Representatives of the African
Youth Forum and various children’s
parliaments were encouraged to participate.
Partners
The
African Child Policy Forum organised
this conference in partnership with Plan
International,
one
of the world’s
leading child rights and development organisations.
Both
organisations wanted to involve as many
potential allies as possible in this very
important event. Organisations that participated include the office of the
UN Secretary General dealing with the study
on violence against children, the AU, UNECA,
UNICEF, UNFPA, Save the Children Alliance,
the Inter-African Committee on Traditional
Practices Affecting Women’s and Children’s
Health, the Pan-African Parliament, UNHCHR,
UNHCR, UNESCO, ILO, IOM, WHO, UNIFEM, Oxfam, World Vision, ISPCAN
and CCF.
Venue
and Date
The
conference took place from
May 11 – 12, 2006 at the the United
Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia. A meeting of child rights’,
women’s and human rights’ organisations
also took place on May 13, following
the conference.
Contact: conferences@africanchildforum.org.
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