Great! To the ladies of FIDA-UGANDA, please ensure you give good legal representation to the lady of the moment, and also that the young girl gets all support she can get to get over this ordeal- .

Let us all say no to impunity, especially the one of the rape and beg variety. Let us ensure that justice takes its full course instead of compromising our daughters dignity and virginity for a few coins and goats. And seriously, to whom does all these 'compensation' money and goods go to? - To men, to the fathers, uncles, brothers; the village elders and opinion leaders. Here in Liberia, most rape cases get 'compromised' at the community level and police station.

But we are keeping watch, we are vigilant and we are monitoring all these cases to ensure that they dont get 'compromised' at whatever level. Away with any penis that dares defile our little girls; away with it.

INTRODUCTION

Is the criminal justice system in Kenya well equipped to protect women from gender-based violence? This a critical question because in July this year, the (SOA) is celebrating two years of existence having came into force on 21 July 2006.

It has been lauded as an evolutionally piece of legislation that provides for the prevention and protection of all persons from harmful and unlawful sexual acts. It expanded the definition of rape to comply with jurisprudence that is evolving from the international arena and introduces new crimes that did not exist in the previous legal framework.

Have you seen them
Those gender lenses of mine,
That I brought back with me
From Beijing 21 years ago?

I swear I packed them among
My souvenirs and memorabilia
As I took up that coveted appointment
As Executive Director of this
International NGO with its seat in Washington D.C

In this international arena, Siseranism rules
Only those familiar with Un-speak
Are allowed into the loop of privilege-
Where thematic topics change
With each passing season---
Making it a members-only-club.

We spend our days drifting from
One diplomatic cocktail to the next,
Intoning in our bland, technocrat language
Our double speak, which is no speak
Ever mindful about peoples
Diversity and sensibilities.

We are quite busy sister, trying to
Draft work plans and futuristic agendas
That will usher you into a new era.

So don’t remind me about that grass root talk
Of women in development (WID)
And gender and development (GAD)
So dinosaurian if you ask me!

Today’s buzzword is Women
Peace and Security (WPS)
Keeping and building peace
After men’s big ego’s have suffered
Deflating punctures in battlefields
Where spurts of blood sprout
Off your daughters life spring.

The article by Afua Twum-Danso, accurately reflects what is happening to children all over Africa. Here in Kenya, the Children's Act 2000 captures the ideals set by CRC - including the four key pillars of non-discrimination, best interest of child, survival and development, and the right to be heard and listened to - and yet this has not brought an end to the suffering of the majority of our children. Every day in our city streets, we meet street children and the children's department does not take a proactive role to put them into safe protective custody. In our schools, we have evidence of school dropouts, yet our Education Ministry does nothing about it. In our homes, we employ child domestic workers and pay them peanuts. Some times we assault, abuse and subject them to physical, emotional and mental trauma. When it becomes too much, some well-meaning estate mamas will organize rescue missions for these children in the full glare of the mass media, but that is as far as public awareness of the matter goes. We cannot be sure that these perpetrators see the light of day in a courtroom. We 'the people’ have set OVCs adrift in a sea of adversity; we view them as ‘other peoples concerns’. These ‘other people’ could be their aged grandparents or impoverished relatives or civil society. These are people who operate on shoestring budgets, barely enough to sustain themselves, let alone additional mouths. In research done in Kenya, South Africa and Uganda by Human Rights Watch, it is observed that ‘governments are content to let the poor help the poor rather than assuming responsibility for children whose families had been decimated by HIV/Aids’.

Despite the Protocol on the Rights of Women coming into force in November 2005, the event has gone unmarked in Kenya because of preoccupation with the referendum, writes Ann Kithaka. Concern about women's rights are not being taken seriously and impunity seems to be the norm.

24th day of November 2005 will remain an important day in the calendar of advancement of women rights in Africa. It is the day that the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (simply known as the Protocol on African Women Rights), joined a plethora of international treaties, convention, declarations, protocols and pacts that have been juggled at the international arena to ensure that all people access and enjoy a scoop or dollop of human rights at all cost. They declare, define, dictate, affirm and reaffirm the nature and parameters of these rights.
Yet here in Kenya, the day passed unnoticed, un-archived and un-applauded; perhaps because we were all under the electrifying grip of the referendum euphoria. No champagne bottles were cocked at five star hotels to mark its birth regionally.

Nationally, we are still in the throes of labor pains; our country is yet to ratify the protocol. Who knows; we might go the Niger way and beget a still born. (God forbid!)

Women of Kenya are in the dark about our country's ratification status and progress. Our women rights activists, civil society and national NGOs remain tight lipped; playing the cards close to their chests for reasons known to them. The only time we get to learn of this protocol is when we delve into the internet and encounter articles by activists like Roselynn Musa (1), Irungu Houghton (2), and Faith Cheruiyot (3) posted on the Pambazuka website. Yet how many of us have the privilege to access the internet for this information?

The truth is that even on the International Day for Women, which was celebrated on 8th March, no prominence was given to this protocol at the national level. No full-page advertisements were carried out in our daily newspapers to inform us about the protocol or other international laws that protect the rights of women. That is why our parliamentarians passed a watered down Sexual Offences Bill that took away the marital rape and sexual harassment clause in the false belief that they had the last word on the matter. How mistaken!

Somebody needs to jolt our men with the news that justice has gone global; and as argued by Betty Murungi it is time we 'locate ourselves within the global international law context' and move with the times. We cannot continue to live in isolation as the world matches on.

Most of our men, including politicians see the 'battle of sexes' every time they hear the word 'women rights and empowerment!'  Without reason and common sense, they will don themselves in full 'machismotic' battle gear and  ready themselves to do battle with 'them!', the 'them' being their poor mothers, daughters, sisters and wives, but do they know it?

They forget that women's position in society is the barometer that indicates its social progress. On this area, we are still at the bottom of the pile; see the percentage of women in our August house and positions of leadership! It's so pathetic.

Even without national laws being promulgated to comply with international law, any woman can shop for gender justice and equality at the regional and international courts. All that is required is awareness through empowerment.

The civil society must now disseminate information to the masses and stop the current trend of playing to the international gallery.  They must teach the rural women how to become activists in their own backyards; how to say no to marital rape and gender based violence. They must show our young women in schools and colleges how to say 'no' to sexual harassment and endemic FGM. They must mentor young girls to take over leadership reigns. Roselynn Musa ably argued that human rights should be taught in our schools. This will not only create an intergenerational dialogue but also break the gender barrier created by our patriarchal society.  With both girls and boys being brought on board at a malleable and pliable age, impunity, cynicism and gender clan-ism will be eradicated.

The question that the activists should be answering is this: when is human rights advocacy going to come out of the woods so that grassroots women can receive the message of their emancipation? It appears that today, empowerment is a reserve for the 'born' correct sisters in big towns and especially those who studied abroad.

I feel that it is time that we gave practical solutions to human rights violations, be it in the public domain or behind closed family doors.

All that is needed is a clear roadmap to the land of Canaan where equality and justice reign supreme.

As a person who works in our national criminal justice system, I am bewildered by the lack of pro- activism by gender activists (excuse the pun) in rape cases; they only appear on the scene after a rapist has been acquitted for lack of sufficient evidence. It's a classic case of appearing at the barn when the horse has bolted! It's a cliché but how appropriate.

They will cry 'wolf!' only when they know that it will put their name and organization in the papers; and will not bother to appear during the court trials. Have they heard about watching briefs and amicus curie appearances?

It appears that all their actions are geared towards pleasing international audiences and appear to have no scruples when they play Russian roulette with other peoples' dignity. It has become normal for women rights activist to expend all their energies in producing acres and acres of action plans and resolutions that end up on the spotless desks of their international donors and sponsors while doing zero to impart the same to those who need them most. I am yet to hear of any activists who have offered to interpret these international instruments into local dialects so that the message can reach the rural and slum woman.

In the meantime, impunity reigns supreme, making nonsense any progress made at these international gatherings. People who weld power, whether conferred by state machinery or societal norms use it to deny others their basic rights. They take advantage of our lethargic national detection and enforcement mechanisms to perpetuate human rights abuse. Our justice system appears impotent to do anything about it. Sexual offences have become legion; and it no longer matters whether you are male or female; everybody is game nowadays.

Investigations of gender based violence are carried out by police officers who have no specialized training in this area. Mothers who are usually the first to receive reports of defilement from their daughters will wait weeks before reporting to authorities when their husbands are away. Sometimes out of court settlements are carried out by the parents and a little girls virginity and sanity have been pegged at a few cows and coins. Public officers at the grass root level preside over these family meetings and due to complicity and ingrained attitudes allow 'reconciliation' to go ahead to avoid family conflicts. This is because most of the abusers are close family members.

Whenever the activists shout 'human rights violation' and 'infringement' the victims and culprits alike arch their eyes and say; 'there they go again; those lawyerly types who went to those Ivy League colleges abroad. They have nothing better to do than shovel foreign ideas at the expense of our traditional norms'.

Women rights proponents are treated frustrated middle aged women out to upset the status quo and some apple carts. In this scenario human rights discussions become confrontational, pitting this group against the other; husband against wife; captor against the captured; international law against national law; western culture against African culture. And when this happens, it is the most vulnerable members of our society who suffer.

It is sad that we are adept at paying lip service to these norms; we ratify international protocols and shelf the documents in our desk drawers without giving them teeth at the national level. The end result is that a husband who is battering his wife will taut her to 'call those human rights of yours to come and rescue you!' as he whacks her across the face.

It is true human rights can not be worn around the neck like a talisman; nor can they be waved around like a magic ward to stop the pedophile from preying on young girls and boys, but they can be invoked to curb impunity and restore dignity to all. They can be used to make us start to view ourselves as subjects and objects of international law; open our eyes to the broader tapestry of justice, equality and universality.

And this can only happen if we remodel our values, public policy and national ideals.

I dream of the day when woman rights advocacy will descend from the insulating warmth of five star hotel lobbies, descend to the village market, corner bar, church yard, chief's bazaar so they can benefit the lowly of the lowly.

1 (comments and analysis 2006-06-1)
2 (comments and analysis 2006-05-18)
3 (features 2006-06-15)

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at

The recent plane crash in the Marsabit District of Kenya in which fourteen of our must senior government officials perished while on a peace making mission serves to illustrate that women have continued to be marginalized in conflict resolution ventures; all the fourteen passengers were men.

This is not surprising at all, considering that men occupy 90% of senior government positions; and the affirmative action is yet to reach our august house. It is well documented that even at international forums, women have continued to be locked out from the negotiation table when peace accords and agreements are being made.

This puts to nonsense the various declarations (Windhoek Declaration); plan for actions (Nambia Plan of Action of Mainstreaming Gender Perspective in Multidimensional Peace Support Operations) and legal frameworks ( UN Security Resolution 1325 (2000) which lay down intrinsic details to be followed to ensure gender mainstreaming in peace processes.

The reality on the ground is that what the right hand gives, the left takes away, albeit inadvertently. A good example is the UN Security Resolution 1509 that created the UN Mission to Liberia (UNMIL). One of the mandates of the mission was to ensure that it paid particular attention to vulnerable groups such as ‘refugees, returning refugees, returning persons, women, children, and demobilized child solders’. (

This scenario has been replicated in other UN peace missions all over Africa. It is said that everywhere in the world, men make war and men make peace. Women on the other hand sit on the side lines and wait.

Here in Africa, so long as women fine tune their expected role of ‘vulnerable victims of war’ everybody will be happy; the war mongers watching from vantage spots behind battle lines for cease fire offers to start pouring in; the international press who are only too happy to shoot and beam sorry images; and a fatigued international humanitarian machinery.

Once the ball is set rolling, American dollars and peace negotiators will pour in from all corners of the globe and before long the war monger is catapulted from being a rebel without a cause to the revered title of ‘peace maker’. He will be flown into neutral grounds and booked into five star hotels as peace talks continue for months on end; in the meantime, women will be given food aid.

Meetings with government officials will be called in which village elders (all men) will be invited. Settlements in form of goats, sheep and cows will be reached and everybody will be happy.
With everything settled and agreed on, the peace makers will be flown back home in army helicopters and a group of transported and jubilant women will be waiting to receive him with song and dance.

If truth be told, not many women participate in these peace talks; the assumption being that they are not equipped with sufficient negotiation skills to maneuver their way around a predominantly masculine environment.

For a courageous woman who may want to join the peace talks at the grass root level, her venture will prove to be a Herculean task. She will find cultural prejudices and gender role stereotyping coming in to thwart her noble cause. First she will be viewed as a stranger to the community whose alliance may lie elsewhere.

Secondly she is assigned a role where her value is that of natural care giver and nurturer who must be shackled to the private domain of communal life; she cannot transcend the cultural dichotomy and ascend into the public domain which is a reserve for men.

Even the odd militant woman activist will learn that gaining entry into the negotiation room is no guarantee that she will have a voice, vote or even a seat on the negotiation table.

Whatever settlements are reached after these peace talks do not translate into gains for many women; the ugly scars of war and trauma continue to haunt them.

This week holds two important events for African women. The 25th of November marks the start of the 16 Days of Gender Activism Against Violence, an international campaign meant to raise awareness about gender violence, strengthen the work of local organisations and demonstrate the solidarity of women around the world. Incorporating the International Day Against Violence Against Women (November 25th) and International Human Rights Day (December 10), the goal of the campaign is to link violence against women to the fact that it is a human rights violation. November 25 is also especially important for African women, as it is the day that the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa comes into force. Having been ratified by the requisite 15 African countries, this extremely important and progressive treaty has the potential to liberate and empower all African women to know and utilise their rights. That’s why A.N. Kithaka, in the article below, makes an eloquent plea for Kenya to ratify the protocol. Extolling the advantages that the Protocol will have on African countries, Kithaka argues that the work done by numerous groups around the globe is imperative to gender rights, and to leaving behind violence against women as a things of the past . below Kithaka’s article are a list of resources on 16 days and the Protocol - suggested websites, further reading, blogs and events. (French version available)

Women of Africa, we have cause to celebrate; the long awaited ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of the African Woman by the requisite 15 member states has just been announced. The Protocol will come to force soon (November 25). Those states that have deposited their instruments of ratification with the Executive Council will be at liberty to incorporate its provision into their domestic laws.

It has been a long journey; a journey and a battle well fought by national, regional and international lobby groups. Most of us were not aware of this but we are glad that their collective and consistent lobbying, cajoling and canvassing has finally born fruits. The Second Summit of the African Heads of Governments and States sitting in Maputo, Mozambique finally adopted the Protocol as a supplement to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. The only rider was that it had to be ratified by 15 states out of a possible 53 member states. The fifteenth state to deposit its document of ratification with the Executive Council did so on the 26th day of October, meaning that within 30 days from this date, the Protocol will come into force! It has been correctly taunted as the Green Card that will usher us to a new era. It not only guarantees us a wider spectrum of human rights specific to our needs as the much oppressed and repressed creature of the old (and new!) millennium, but also allows us to seek redress in the yet to be constituted African Court of Human and Peoples Rights. Unfortunately, Kenya is yet to ratify the protocol, perhaps due to the present national preoccupation with the referendum. Nevertheless, it will not be an up hill task to nudge the government towards the right direction - it appears malleable.

The big question is, how soon will women in Kenya join the proud list of those countries that have chosen to give their women an early Christmas gift by ratifying the document? How long will the women in Kenya have to camp on this renegade side of the Red Sea as they wait for the magic word 'ratification' to part the raging waters and usher them to that other side where gender discrimination, repulsive FGM, forced marriages and widow inheritance, domestic and sexual violence, etc. are a thing of the past? Not long, I hope.

We must join hands to lobby for this ratification at all costs. Only then can we rise and say “Eureka!” Otherwise we may as well be content to sit on this side for an eternity, as we watch our sisters from Cape Verde, Mali, Malawi, Lesotho, Comoros, Libya, Namibia, Rwanda, Nigeria, Djibouti, Mauritius, Senegal, South Africa, Benin, Togo and Gambia take the first steps into the soggy sea bed to personal freedoms.

After ratification and domestication; we must move to the next important stage: that of educating the masses on its benefits, without forgetting to bring on-board our dear fathers, brothers, husbands and sons. Some of the opposition being waged against the Wako Draft Constitution is because it promises equal inheritance rights to women, especially married women. One would think that the Draft is introducing new concepts into our legal jurisprudence, yet the Succession Act has been around since 1981!

Most women have refused to enforce their rights, even when assured that the law is on their side. Others do not want the incessant fights over meager family resources with hostile male relatives; visits to infamous land offices make many cringe. They prefer to hide behind the mask of traditions as they denounce their shares in favour of their brothers.

Men fear losing control over their mothers, sisters, wives and daughters. They subscribe to the primitive belief that the only way to subjugate and subdue a woman is by denial of basic rights and freedoms; and application of gender-specific violence; rape and physical assault being the most popular today. In our mother's days, denial to basic and secondary education was the weapon of choice, and being forced to resign from paying jobs in favor of 'staying-at-home –to-take-care-of-the-children' edicts. Even today's educated man wants to confine his woman to that perpetually smoky room called the kitchen (after work, that is!).

Dissenters are deserted, attacked, maimed and killed with impunity. Those lucky enough to escape and fend for themselves are given cold treatment by a society that brands them prostitutes, husband grabbers and social failures. Any property they acquire in their single state will be grabbed or inherited by their estranged husbands, brothers, uncles and fathers. Any children they leave behind, especially girl children, are mistreated, forced to leave school and become house girls, or married off to total strangers who profess kinship to their parents. Sometimes they are shunted off to rural areas where they are forced to undergo abhorrent traditional rites. Would it not be better for governments to facilitate the fostering of such children so that they can continue to live in the manner and style they were accustomed to when their mothers were alive?

That is why advocacy groups must do more than just lobbying for adoption of international legal instruments; they must help women from rural areas apply them to improve their lots and those of their children. Atieno from Ahero, Wanjiku from Waithaka, Kalekye from Katse and Naliaka from Narok must be facilitated, both materially and intellectually, so that she is aware of her basic human and women’ rights and how these can be enforced at the national, regional and international courts of justice. Let us gang up and apply the shock therapy to disgorge men from their entrenched prejudices; let us wean them from the present retrogressive and chauvinistic mindset that has been passed from generation to generation.

In his play, ‘Measure for Measure’, Shakespeare introduces a character called Angelo. He is the law enforcer who brokers no-nonsense deals when it comes to matters of justice. He refuses to temper justice with mercy and holds that the law must be obeyed to the letter - at the beginning of the play, anyway. What happens later is for the curious to find out. He is famously quoted as pontificating that 'we must not make a scarecrow of the law, setting it up to catch birds of prey till custom finding it harmless makes it their perch and not their terror'.

Our advocacy skills and efforts must translate to visible changes in the lives of our people; they must not remain mere 'open sesame' to donor funds; let us canvass for enactment of laws, but let us not leave them to be mere scarecrows that are set up to frighten birds of prey, and…men!

* A. N. Kithaka is an Advocate in Kenya.

* Please send comments to

Supporting organisations of the campaign for the ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of Women

African Centre for Democracy And Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) http://www.acdhrs.org/
Akina Mama wa Afrika www.akinamama.org/
Association des Juristes Maliennes http://www.justicemali.org/ajm.htm
Cellule de Coordination sur les Pratiques Traditionelle Affectant la Sante des Femmes et des Enfants
Coalition on Violence Against Women http://www.equalitynow.org/english/index.html
FAHAMU http://www.fahamu.org
FAMEDEV-Inter-African Network For Women Media, Gender and Development
FEMNET - African Women's Development and Communication Network http://www.oxfam.org.uk/
Sister Namibia
Union Nationale des Femmes de Djibouti
Voix de Femmes http://www.voixdefemmes.org/
University of Pretoria Center for Human Rights http://www.chr.up.ac.za/
Women's Rights Advancement and Protection Alternatives
Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) http://www.wildaf.org/
Resources
16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/16days/home.html
Peace Women http://peacewomen.org
Akina Mama wa Afrika http://www.akinamama.org/
Equality Now http://www.equalitynow.org/english/index.html
FEMNET http://feministafricansisters.blogspot.com/
Diary of a Mad Kenyan Woman http://madkenyanwoman.blogspot.com/
Black Looks http://www.international-alert.org/publications/121.php
Trafficking in Women and Children in Africa http://www.unicef-icdc.org/publications/
African Experiences of Transnational Feminism http://www.feministafrica.org/2level.html

Pambazuka News Special Editions on the Protocol
Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa: A Pre-condition for Health and Food Security
Challenges of Domestication: The Protocol To The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on The Rights of Women in Africa
Women and Sustainable Development -
Female Genital Mutilation -
Female Refugees - http://www.baobabwomen.org/upcomingevents.html
South Africa – Women’s Net http://womensnet.org.za/16Days/calendar.shtml
Agenda in Durban, South Africa Contact [email][email protected]
Kenya – COVAW http://www.covaw.or.ke/
Ghana – Ark Foundation http://www.arkfoundationgh.org/news/home.htm
International Calendar http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/16days/kit05/calendar.html

Sourit femme d’Afrique, sourit!
A. N. Kithaka
Cette semaine, deux évènements importants pour les africaines auront lieu. Le 25 Novembre marquera le début des seize jours d’activisme contre la violence à l’égard des femmes, une campagne internationale créée dans le but de sensibiliser l’opinion à la violence contre les femmes, de renforcer le travail des organisations locales et de démontrer la solidarité des femmes dans le monde entier.
Incorporant la Journée internationale pour l’élimination de la violence à l’égard des femmes (le 25 Novembre) à la journée internationale des droits de l’homme (le10 Décembre), le but de cette campagne est de relier la violence à l’égard des femmes au fait qu’il s’agit d’une violation des droits de l’homme. Le 25 Novembre possède également une signification importante pour les Africaines dans la mesure où il s’agit du jour ou le protocole entre en vigueur relatif aux droits de la femme en Afrique. Ayant été ratifié par les 15 pays africains nécessaires, ce traité extrêmement important et progressiste possède le potentiel d’émanciper les Africaines et de leur offrir la puissance que donne le fait de connaître et d’utiliser ses droits. C’est pourquoi A.N. Khitaka, se lance, dans l’article ci-dessous, dans un éloquent plaidoyer pour la ratification du traité par le Kenya. A.N.Khitaka vante les avantages que le traité offrira aux pays d’Afrique, elle assure que le travail effectué par de nombreux groupes dans le monde entier est d’une importance vitale pour les droits des femmes ainsi que pour faire de la violence contre les femmes une chose du passé. Au-dessous de l’article de A.N. Khitaka se trouve une liste de ressources sur les seize jours et sur le protocole : sites suggérés, lectures conseillées, blogs et évènements.

Femmes d’Afrique, nous avons une raison de nous réjouir, en effet nous avions longtemps attendu la ratification du protocole relatif aux droits de la femme en Afrique par les 15 pays nécessaires d’Afrique : elle vient d’être annoncée. Le protocole entrera bientôt en vigueur (le 25 Novembre). Ceux des états qui ont déposé leurs instruments de ratification auprès du Conseil Exécutif auront la possibilité d’en incorporer les articles au sein de leur droit national.

Ce fut un long voyage ; un voyage et une bataille bien menés par des groupes de défense des droits de l’homme nationaux, régionaux et internationaux. La plupart d’entre nous l’ignoraient, mais nous sommes maintenant ravis que leurs pressions, cajoleries et démarchages aient fini par porter leurs fruits. Le second sommet des chefs d’états et de gouvernement se tenant à Maputo, au Mozambique a finalement adopté le protocole comme supplément à la Charte africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples. La seule clause additionnelle était qu’il devait être ratifié par au moins 15 états sur les 53 états-membres possibles. Les 15 états à déposer leurs instruments de ratification auprès du Conseil Exécutif l’ont fait le 26e jour d’Octobre, ce qui signifiait alors que le traité devait entrer en vigueur à 30 jours de cette date ! Il a été correctement décrit de façon plaisante comme la « Carte Verte » qui inaugurera une ère nouvelle. Non content de nous garantir une palette élargie de droits humains répondant spécifiquement à nos besoins de créatures les plus lourdement opprimées et réprimées de l’ancien (et du nouveau !) millénaire, il nous permet de chercher réparation auprès de la future Cour africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples. Malheureusement, le Kenya n’a pas encore ratifié le traité ; c’est peut-être dû à la préoccupation actuelle vis-à-vis du référendum. Cependant, pousser du coude le gouvernement dans la bonne direction ne devrait pas se révéler une tâche insurmontable : il a l’air influençable.

La grande question est la vitesse à laquelle les femmes du Kenya viendront s’ajouter à la fière liste des pays qui ont choisi d’offrir à leurs femmes un présent de Noël avant l’heure en ratifiant le document. Combien de temps les femmes du Kenya devront elles attendre de ce côté renégat de la mer Rouge que le mot magique de « ratification » ouvre les flots rageurs et les projette sur l’autre rive, là où la discrimination contre les femmes, la répugnante Mutilation Génitale Féminine (excision), les mariages forcés, la pratique du lévirat, la violence sexuelle et domestique sont des choses du passé ? Pas longtemps j’espère.

Nous devons à tout prix unir nos efforts dans un lobbying visant à obtenir cette ratification. Alors seulement pourrons-nous nous lever et nous écrier « Euréka ! » Sans cela, nous pourrions tout aussi bien nous contenter de rester éternellement sur cette rive pour regarder nos sœurs du Cap-Vert, du Mali, de Malawi, du Lesotho, des Comores, de Libye, de Namibie, du Rwanda, du Nigeria, de Djibouti, de l’île Maurice, du Sénégal, d’Afrique du Sud, du Bénin, du Togo et de Gambie faire leurs premiers pas sur le fonds marin détrempé qui les mènera vers la liberté de l’individu.

Après ratification et domestication nous devrons progresser vers la prochaine grande étape : celle de l’éducation des masses à ses bénéfices, sans oublier de prendre à bord nos chers pères frères, époux et fils. Une partie de l’opposition au projet Wako de constitution vient du fait qu’il promet des droits d’héritage égaux aux femmes, surtout aux femmes mariées. C’est à croire que ce projet introduit de nouveaux concepts dans notre système juridique, et pourtant le « Succession Act » existe depuis 1981 !

La plupart des femmes ont refusé de faire valoir leurs droits, même une fois assurées que la loi était de leur côté. D’autres ne veulent pas d’incessantes querelles au sujet de maigres ressources familiales avec des membres masculins de la famille. La perspective de se retrouver dans une sordide officine de province en fait reculer beaucoup. Celles-là préfèrent se réfugier derrière le masque des traditions en renonçant à leur part en faveur de leurs frères.

Les hommes craignent de perdre le contrôle de leurs mères, sœurs, femmes et filles. Ils adhèrent à la croyance primitive selon laquelle on ne peut dompter et soumettre une femme qu’en la privant de ses droits et libertés essentiels ainsi qu’en appliquant une forme de violence spécifique à sa féminité, le viol et l’agression physique en étant les moyens d’expression les plus populaires aujourd’hui. Du temps de nos mères, leur arme de prédilection était le refus d’accorder aux femmes une éducation primaire et secondaire; elles étaient également contraintes à démissionner de leurs emplois rémunérés par des décrets du type « mère au foyer avec enfants ». Même l’homme éduqué d’aujourd’hui tente de confiner sa compagne dans cette pièce perpétuellement enfumée qu’on appelle la cuisine (après le travail, bien entendu).

Les récalcitrantes sont abandonnées, attaquées, blessées et tuées en toute impunité. Celles qui ont la chance de s’en sortir et de subsister par leurs propres moyens sont traitées en parias par une société qui leur colle une étiquette de prostituées, de voleuses de maris et de rebuts de la société. Tout bien qu’elles acquièrent sous leur statut de célibataire sera saisi par les maris, frères, oncles et pères dont elles sont séparées ou leur sera offert en héritage. Tout enfant laissé derrière elles, sont maltraités, les petites filles surtout sont forcées à devenir servantes, ou bien l’on s’en débarrasse en les mariant à de parfaits inconnus se faisant passer pour un membre de la famille de leurs parents. Parfois on les expédie à la campagne où elles doivent subir d’odieux rites traditionnels. Ne vaudrait-il pas mieux que le gouvernement facilite l’adoption de tels enfants, de façon à ce qu’ils puissent continuer à vivre dans le style et la manière qui était les leurs du temps où leurs mères étaient encore en vie ?

C’est la raison pour laquelle les groupes de défense des droits de l’homme se doivent de faire davantage qu’exercer un simple lobbying pour l’adoption d’instruments légaux internationaux ; ils doivent aider les femmes des zones rurales à les faire appliquer afin d’améliorer leur lot quotidien ainsi que celui de leurs enfants. Il faut faciliter l’existence d’Atieno d’Ahero, de Wanjiku de waithaka, de Kaleyke de Katse et de Naliaka de Narok à la fois matériellement et intellectuellement pour qu’elles puissent prendre conscience de leurs droits de base en tant qu’êtres humains et en tant que femmes et de la façon dont il est possible de les faire respecter devant des tribunaux régionaux, nationaux et internationaux. Unissons nos forces afin d’appliquer une thérapie de choc qui obligera les hommes à renoncer à leurs préjugés les plus enracinés ; corrigeons-les de l’actuel état d’esprit rétrograde et phallocrate qui leur a été transmis de génération en génération.

Dans sa pièce intitulée Mesure pour mesure , Shakespeare introduit un nouveau personnage nommé Angelo, le régent qui rend de dures sentences en matière de justice. Il refuse de mêler la miséricorde à la justice et déclare que la loi doit être suivie à la lettre : au début de la pièce en tout cas. Nous laisserons aux curieux le soin de découvrir ce qui se passe ensuite. Lors d’une réplique célèbre, il pontifie sur le fait suivant : « l’on ne doit point faire de la loi un épouvantail, le préparant à attraper des oiseaux de proie, jusqu’à ce que l’habitude le leur faisant juger inoffensif ils en viennent à en faire leur perchoir au lieu de leur terreur ».

Notre dextérité et nos efforts dans la défense d’une cause doivent se traduire par des changements visibles dans les existences des gens de notre peuple ; elles ne doivent pas rester un simple « Sésame » pour nos donneurs de fonds, militons pour la promulgation de lois, mais ne les laissons pas devenir de simples épouvantails à oiseaux de proies et ... à hommes !

*A.N.Khitaka est défenseur des droits des femmes au Kenya

*Prière d’envoyer vos commentaires à :

Organisations soutenant la campagne pour la ratification du protocole relatif aux droits de la femme

African Centre for Democracy And Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) http://www.acdhrs.org/
Akina Mama wa Afrika www.akinamama.org/
Association des Juristes Maliennes http://www.justicemali.org/ajm.htm
Cellule de Coordination sur les Pratiques Traditionelle Affectant la Sante des Femmes et des Enfants
Coalition on Violence Against Women http://www.equalitynow.org/english/index.html
FAHAMU http://www.fahamu.org
FAMEDEV-Inter-African Network For Women Media, Gender and Development
FEMNET - African Women's Development and Communication Network http://www.oxfam.org.uk/
Sister Namibia
Union Nationale des Femmes de Djibouti
Voix de Femmes http://www.voixdefemmes.org/
University of Pretoria Center for Human Rights http://www.chr.up.ac.za/
Women's Rights Advancement and Protection Alternatives
Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) http://www.wildaf.org/
Resources
16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/16days/home.html
Peace Women http://peacewomen.org
Akina Mama wa Afrika http://www.akinamama.org/
Equality Now http://www.equalitynow.org/english/index.html
FEMNET http://feministafricansisters.blogspot.com/
Diary of a Mad Kenyan Woman http://madkenyanwoman.blogspot.com/
Black Looks ns/121.php
Trafficking in Women and Children in Africa http://www.unicef-icdc.org/publications/
African Experiences of Transnational Feminism http://www.feministafrica.org/2level.html

Editions spéciales de Pambazuka News sur le protocole
Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa: A Pre-condition for Health and Food Security
Challenges of Domestication: The Protocol To The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on The Rights of Women in Africa
Women and Sustainable Development -
Female Genital Mutilation -
Female Refugees - http://www.baobabwomen.org/upcomingevents.html
Afrique du Sud – Women’s Net http://womensnet.org.za/16Days/calendar.shtml
Agenda à Durban, Contact Afrique du Sud [email][email protected]
Kenya – COVAW http://www.covaw.or.ke/
Ghana – Ark Foundation http://www.arkfoundationgh.org/news/home.htm
Calendrier international