Implementation beyond banning: the prohibition of child marriage in Sierra Leone
Posted: 21 October, 2024 Filed under: Sorie Bangura | Tags: ACRWC, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, child education, child marriage, Child Rights Act, children’s rights, early marriage, educational level, end child marriage, girls, income poverty line, lack of investment, poverty, Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2024, reproductive health, Sexual Offences Act, Sierra Leone, teenage pregnancy, toilet facilities, Universal Periodic Review Leave a comment
Author: Sorie Bangura
Manager, Save the Children, Sierra Leone
In 2022, during the third cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Sierra Leone, the UPR working group urged Sierra Leone to ‘allocate adequate budgetary resources for the promotion and protection of children’s rights; harmonising laws to prevent and end child marriage, and undertaking comprehensive awareness-raising on the negative consequences of child marriage on girls; and enforcing the Child Rights Act and enabling the bill on the prohibition of child marriage.’ Fast forward to June 2024, Sierra Leone has enacted the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2024. The Act which prohibits and criminalises marrying anyone under the age of 18 also seek to protect the rights and development of girls which has long been violated and hindered.
The Deadly Intersection of Climate Change and Insecurity Hits Women and Girls the Hardest
Posted: 9 October, 2024 Filed under: Mary Izobo | Tags: Africa, climate change, climate-related disasters, climate-smart agriculture, conflict, conflict-affected regions, displacement, droughts, eco-tourism, economic opportunities, economic vulnerability, education, gender inequalities, girls, healthcare, Horn of Africa, increased hunger, insecurity, natural resources, political stability, poverty, renewable energy, resources, socioeconomic equality, violence, women, Women and Girls Leave a comment
Author: Mary Izobo
International Human Rights Lawyer, Gender Equality Advocate and Governance Expert
Introduction
In today’s world, climate change is no longer just an environmental issue. It is a catalyst for conflict and insecurity. What is often overlooked is how this toxic mix impacts women and girls the hardest, especially in fragile and conflict-affected regions. When water sources dry up, droughts wipe out crops, and the land becomes infertile, competition for dwindling resources becomes violent. Women-led and gender-sensitive climate action in Africa is key to sustainable peace, political stability and greater socioeconomic equality.
From the Sahel to the Horn of Africa to Southern Africa, climate change fuels conflicts over natural resources like land, food and water, turning communities and countries against each other. In all of this chaos, women and girls bear the brunt. The effects of climate change and insecurity exacerbate existing gender inequalities, especially in countries facing economic and social inequalities, political instability and resource scarcity.
Uganda’s new Sexual Offences Act fails to address the toxic culture of victim blaming
Posted: 2 July, 2021 Filed under: Elizabeth Kemigisha | Tags: consent, gender-based violence, girls, justice, sex, sexual activity, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), sexual assault, sexual crimes, sexual offences, Sexual Offences Act, Sexual Offences Bill, sexual violence, sgbv, toxic, Uganda, victim blaming, victims, women, women's human rights, women's rights 1 Comment
Author: Elizabeth Kemigisha
FIDA Uganda
On 3 May 2021, Uganda’s Parliament passed the Sexual Offences Act, 2021. This Act – which has been 21 years in the making – can be applauded for increasing protection and redress to survivors of sex-related crimes. The majority of MPs supported the Bill and its core purpose of combating sexual violence and consolidating laws of sexual offences, providing for punishment of perpetrators of sexual offenses, providing for procedural and evidential requirements during trial of sexual offences and other related matters. Many of the MPs agreed that if passed the Bill would fill the gaps that exist in the current laws making the legal framework more adequate and aligned with the international human rights standards that Uganda ascribes to. However, the final version of the Bill which was passed falls short of these international standards for the protection of human rights – and the rights of women in particular – on various fronts, including in its limited definition of rape, its failure to recognise marital rape and the criminalisation of false sexual accusations.
COVID-19 and the access to information conundrum in Africa
Posted: 10 April, 2020 Filed under: Hlengiwe Dube | Tags: Access to Information, barriers, corona virus, COVID-19, data costs, Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa, digital divide, disabilities, flatten the curve, girls, indigenous communities, information accessibility, internet, internet access, internet taxation, lockdowns, Model Law on Access to Inofmration in Africa, nationwide crisis management, older persons, Open Government Partnership, pandemic, PWD, right to health, South Africa, women, Zimbabwe 1 Comment
Author: Hlengiwe Dube
Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
As the world grapples with the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, the disease caused by the novel Corona-virus, Africa has not been spared. Although the rate of infection is still lower than the rest of the world, it is rising steadily. Governments across the world have initiated partial or nationwide crisis management measures including curfews, lockdowns, contact tracing, surveillance and testing to curb the spread of the virus, which has been coined as measures to ‘flatten the curve’. For these government-initiated emergency measures to be effective in curbing the spread of the virus, the public must comply with the government regulations. Access to information becomes very essential for the realisation of this objective and by extension other equally essential goals such as achieving the human right to health.
Violence against women and girls in Africa: A global concern to ponder on International Women’s Day and beyond
Posted: 8 March, 2018 Filed under: Kennedy Kariseb | Tags: Africa, conflict, education, empowerment, feminism, girls, human rights, international human rights, international law, International Women's Day, IWD, IWD2018, pandemic, sexual violence, SRVAW, treaty, UN, United Nations, VAW, violence, violence against women, women, women's human rights, women's rights, women's rights movement 2 Comments
Author: Kennedy Kariseb
Doctoral candidate, Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria
It has been four decades since the United Nations (UN) observed for the first time International Women’s Day (IWD) on 8 March 1975. Although there are traces of celebration of this day, dating as far back as 1909, its formal initiation came in the wake of the first World Conference of the International Women’s Year that took place in Mexico City, Mexico. Its object, as aptly argued by Temma Kaplan, is to mark ‘the occasion for a new sense of female consciousness and a new sense of feminist internationalism’.[i]
In a sense, 8 March is meant to be a day of both celebration and reflection for women the world over: a celebration of the gains made in enhancing women’s rights and the overall status of women globally, while reflecting and strategising on the voids and shortcomings still persistent in the women’s rights discourse. The occasion of the forty-third celebration of the IWD clearly marks an opportunity for feminist introspection on the broader question of violence against Women (VAW) and its regulation under international law. This is because while VAW is not the only form of human rights abuse women suffer, it is one in which the gendered aspect of such abuse is often the most clear and pervasive.
Female genital mutilation in South Africa
Posted: 7 June, 2012 Filed under: Barbara Kitui | Tags: childbirth, female genital mutilation, fgm, girls, harmful traditional practices, initiation, legislation, muthuso, postnatal care, South Africa, WHO, women, World Health Organisation 81 Comments
Author: Barbara Kitui
LLM (Human Rights & Democartisation in Africa) student, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is one of the cultural practises embedded amongst the Venda community of north-east of South Africa. Eight weeks or less after childbirth, Venda women undergo a traditional ceremony called muthuso. Muthuso is a process of cutting the vaginal flesh of the mother by a traditional healer. The flesh is mixed with black powder and oil and applied on the child’s head to prevent goni. Goni has been described as a swelling on the back of a child’s head. The Venda people believe that goni can only be cured using the vaginal flesh of the child’s mother. Women who experienced FGM stated that they bleed excessively after the ceremony. Moreover, the women stated that there is no postnatal care in Venda. Consequently, the women use traditional medicine and sometimes this leads to death because of substandard treatment.
AfricLaw 