Plus de 40 représentants de la Commission de l’Union Africaine , des gouvernements africains et du mouvement des femmes africaines se sont rassemblés à Addis-Abeba, Ethiopie, du 27 au 29 septembre 2005 en vue de discuter sur les stratégies de faire entrer en vigueur le Protocole à la Charte Africaine des Droits Humains et des Peuples relatif aux Droits des Femmes, sur la ratification universelle du Protocole, son appropriation et sa mise en ?uvre. Nous affirmons que le Protocole est en effet le fondement du véritable panafricanisme dans lequel les gens se retrouvent et de la réforme constitutionnelle et judiciaire au niveau national au bénéfice de la concrétisation des droits des femmes africaines.

Pambazuka News is the authoritative electronic weekly newsletter and platform for social justice in Africa providing cutting edge commentary and in-depth analysis on politics and current affairs, development, human rights, refugees, gender issues and culture in Africa.

We are looking for a motivated, independent and socially conscious individual to join our team as REGIONAL CORRESPONDENT (part-time). Responsibilities will include: Researching and writing material for the weekly newsletter and website; Researching, commissioning and/or interviewing relevant sources for articles to be published in the newsletter and on the website; Reporting on key events in the region; Monitoring of relevant information sources; Developing relationships with sources of information in your assigned region and extending the reach of Pambazuka News; Developing contacts with relevant media in your area and liaising with them where necessary.

The government of Tanzania has banned a local NGO from undertaking studies and publishing any articles regarding schools claiming it had been disparaging the country's education system and teaching profession, officials have stated. The Ministry of Education and Culture issued a circular on Tuesday prohibiting the NGO, Hakielimu, from "undertaking studies and publishing any articles regarding Tanzanian schools". The circular said the decision was taken because Hakielimu had repeatedly disparaged the image of the education system and the teaching profession through the media. The ministry also accused the NGO of repeatedly failing to comply with directives given by it. In response, Hakielimu said it had done nothing wrong as it worked within the laws of the land.

A government programme to provide primary school children with free lunches has been launched in Nigeria, to encourage parents to educate their children - and to ensure that pupils learn effectively. While a campaign to achieve universal primary education was started in 1999, it has become clear that poverty is still resulting in the exclusion of millions of children from the West African country's education system. The prospect of free lunches can make sending children to school a more attractive proposition for poor parents. According to Ayalew Abai, country representative in Nigeria for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), there is evidence to suggest that free school meals lead to increased attendance -- and better performance on the part of pupils.

The President of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, has taken the brave step of dropping fees for primary school, thereby making access to primary education easier for many children in the country. But what about the education sector's ability to cope with a sudden increase in demand for education? Are there enough teachers? Is there enough money? And, as the student to teacher ratio will inevitably increase, what happens to the quality of education these children will receive?

IFES' current program in Nigeria builds upon work that began with transitional elections of 1998-99, under which a newly established Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ushered in a civilian administration and a new era in Nigerian politics. Over the coming 3 years, the program will seek to leverage gains in the transparency, credibility, and efficiency of the electoral process, and to extend development of the process into new areas.

The Program Manager will direct the implementation and oversee all management aspects of a new community-based HIV/AIDS program in South Sudan.

On 4 October 2005, Q-FM radio reporter Wamunyima Walubita was forced to erase material from his tape recorder which documented his mistreatment by police in order to secure his release from detention. Walubita told the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia on 6 October that he was picked up by police while covering a riot by students from Evelyn Hone College, who were protesting against declining education standards at the institution.

The second 2006 issue of the Agenda journal will focus on Women and Culture. It is intended that in placing a gendered lens on culture, contributions to the issue will concern a rethinking and reclaiming of what culture means to women.

You can now listen to the MSP radio spots, featuring critical discussions on pressing South African municipal issues. When originally aired, these spots – available in five languages – reached an audience of 2.2 million people in South Africa, on both commercial and community radio. You can download them for your computer or MP3 player (a podcast) or you can stream these low-bandwidth files online. They can be found at: http://www.research-matters.net/en/ev-87793-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

AfriMAP (Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project) was established by the Open Society Institute (www.soros.org), in order to monitor and promote compliance by African states with the requirements of good governance, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. To foster new thinking and dynamic debate on good governance, AfriMAP is inviting papers on the theme of political participation in Africa.

The effectiveness of the law as a tool for realizing women’s rights has been, by some, called into question. Because of Africa’s complicated history with inequality between men and women, and the feminisation of poverty, using judicial institutions in order to apply rights on paper into realizable rights is contentious. Sibongile Ndashe asks: What can be done differently to make governments accountable in terms of this protocol in a manner that makes a different to women’s lives? She argues that litigation does play a role in the domestication of the Protocol, but that it can be used amongst other tools.

Strategic litigation (also known as test case litigation, public interest litigation, impact litigation or precedent setting litigation) is used to challenge laws that are in violation of human rights standards and norms, and can be useful because in the event that a case is won against a discriminatory law, that law or policy may be declared invalid. This means that at the same time as successfully winning a case, broader law reform can be made. Litigation has not been widely used in the fight for women’s rights, as it marks a radical departure from traditional methods of legal practice and is indeed, a large task for gender activists, as it involves working not only on women’s rights, but on the building of courts.

Currently there are a number of ways that constitutions have permitted laws to act against women: the claw back clause exempts certain laws from being subject to the right to non-discrimination provided for by the constitution; the provision of rights to be equally applicable can sometimes be turned over in the event of a tension, in favor of the strongest right, and finally; some constitutions pre-empt inconsistency and therefore give preference to some rights over others. In addition, in some cases, in what is known as legal dualism, it is impossible to use international instruments if they have not yet been domesticated, but have been ratified, by that particular country. The Bangalore Principles come into use here – if an uncertainty, ambiguity or obscurity arises in a case, a judge may seek guidance in the general principles of international law, or those accepted by the community of nations.

Strategic litigation can be a powerful tool, but key to its use in the case of the Protocol is a women’s rights responsive judiciary – one who understands women’s inequality in all of its complexities. In addition, a strict separation of the governmental powers of judiciary, legislature and executive is important, in order that each area may fulfill their constitutional obligations. It is necessary not only to engage government, including state departments, but in order to be truly successful litigation must also reach out to research institutions, community based organizations and feminist scholars.

In her conclusion, Ndashe argues that the implementation of the Protocol through strategic litigation depends on various parties, not simply lawyers. There is a need to co-ordinate efforts so that the many complex and varied aspects of women’s rights are represented.

* This is a summarised version of a paper presented at a conference on the Ratification and Domestication of The African Union Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on Rights of Women in Africa. The conference, held between 27-30 September in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was co-convened by the African Union Commission and the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights Coalition (SOAWR). The full length versions of all papers presented at the conference will be released in book form in January 2006.

* Summarized by Karoline Kemp, Commonwealth of Learning Young Professionals Intern, Fahamu

* Please send comments to

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The government of Tanzania has banned a local NGO from undertaking studies and publishing any articles regarding schools claiming it had been disparaging the country's education system and teaching profession, officials said on Wednesday. The Ministry of Education and Culture issued a circular on Tuesday prohibiting the NGO, Hakielimu, from "undertaking studies and publishing any articles regarding Tanzanian schools".

We are looking for a highly motivated and resourceful individual with a genuine commitment to development and advocacy, seeking to work in a cutting edge development agency. The postholder will be responsible for managing the programme in Zimbabwe, en- suring the delivery of programme plans. S/he will have pivotal role in defining development policy and priority areas for CIIR's work in the country, working together with partners, de- velopment workers and other stakeholders.

"Reports in the month of July were considerably fewer due to the continuation of Operation Murambatsvina as most NGOs are involved in relief work for the victims of the Operation. As the Operation continued, perennial victims, Porta Farm residents, were again targeted for eviction. Reports are that the residents were evicted and asked to go where they wanted to, but many of them had nowhere to go. Others were reportedly taken to Hopley Farm but before they could settle down, the Minister of Local Government, Dr Ignatius Chombo is said to have told them that there were no longer any available stands at the Farm so all the other people had to move on elsewhere. The Human Rights Forum condemns the manner in which the evictions at Porta Farm continue to be executed and notes that it is the duty of the Government to provide housing for its citizens." The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has released its political violence report for July. Contact [email protected] for a full copy of the report.

In 1990, Burkinabe linguist Benoit Ouoba used his own funds to set up a teaching programme with a difference: it focused on using local languages to develop literacy, rather than the customary French. Fifteen years later, the 'Tin Tua' method of teaching has significantly improved literacy in the eastern Gulmu region where it was introduced, attracting the attention of international donors in the process. Tin Tua, meaning 'Let's Develop Ourselves by Ourselves', is drawn from Gulmancema - one of the most widely spoken languages in Burkina Faso.

Intelsat has been selected by the African Virtual University (AVU) as its strategic communications partner in an initiative to establish a higher education bandwidth consortium which will make Internet bandwidth more widely accessible to African universities. Using Intelsat's GlobalConnexSM Internet Trunking Service, this initiative will deliver cost-effective, reliable bandwidth to students, academics, and other users at 11 universities and two consortia in six African countries, initially.

The Star has suspended news reporter Alameen Templeton because he testified on behalf of the state in the so-called lion murder trial in Phalaborwa, according to a report in the newspaper. The paper is to investigate his decision to testify. His testimony on Thursday was led in sentencing deliberations during the trial of Mark Scott-Crossley and Simon Mathebula for the murder of Nelson Chisale, who had been thrown into a lion's enclosure and killed. Templeton was immediately pulled off the case because his impartiality had been compromised by his testimony.

The International Foundation for Science (IFS) is an independent international research council that is based in Stockholm, Sweden. The mission of IFS is to strengthen the scientific research capacity of developing countries in science fields related to
the sustainable management of biological and water resources. Since 1974, IFS
has provided support to more than 3500 IFS Grantees in some 100 countries
in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean.