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STATEMENT

BY

DR. KHABELEMATLOSA
DIRECTOR FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS
AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION

AT THE 476TH PEACE AND SECURITY COUNCIL

OPEN SESSION ON
INSTABILITY IN AFRICA: ROOT CAUSES AND RESPONSES

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA

16 DECEMBER, 2014

Your Excellency the Chairperson of the Peace and Security Council for the Month
of December and the Ambassador of the Republic of the Gambia
Excellencies, members of the PSC
Your Excellency, the AU Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is with great pleasure and honour for me to join this open session of the Peace and
Security Council on the theme Instability in Africa: Root Causes and Responses
focusing on two main topics namely: (a) Women, Peace and Security in Africa; and (b)
Income inequalities, Illicit financial flows and their impact in Africa. While both topics are
important, my task this morning is to share with you the perspectives of the Department
of Political Affairs on the first topic namely Women, Peace and Security in Africa. This
topic is both pertinent and timely and we are grateful to the PSC for dedicating an open
session to discuss it in some depth.

This Open Session of the PSC is taking place within the background of the AUs
renewed commitment towards greater gender equality illustrated by the declaration of
2015 as the Year of Womens Empowerment and Africas Development towards
Agenda 2063. The upcoming AU Summit in January 2015 will focus on this theme.
Additionally, 2015 marks other important milestone in the struggle for gender equality
globally and in Africa. It marks the 15th Anniversary of the United Nations Security
Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325, the 20th Anniversary of Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action, the 5th Anniversary of the adoption of the African Womens Decade
and its Plan of Action. More importantly, the year 2015 marks the kick-off point for the
implementation of both the Africa Agenda 2063 and the Common African Position on
Post-2015 Development Agenda, both of which emphsise gender equality and womens
empowerment for Africas sustainable human development.

Women represent more than 50% of Africas total population estimated at 2 billion
presently. Despite their numerical strength, women are not adequately represented in
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decision-making structures of most of the AUs 54 Member States including in the three
main branches of government namely the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary.
Although Africa has made commendable progress in its democratization drive over the
past three decades, one of the major democracy deficits on the continent relates to
gender equality and womens empowerment.

Very few AU Member States have

succeeded in achieving more than the minimum 30% of womens participation and
representation in decision-making structures of government. Of all the AU Member
States, Rwanda still stands out as a model of gender equality to emulate across the
continent. In Rwanda, 64% of the Members of Parliament are women; 40% of Ministers
are women; 38% of district councilors are women; women comprise 40% of the
judiciary; and 40% of Provincial Governors are women. If this Rwandas worldacclaimed record could be replicated everywhere in our continent, Africa will surely be a
better place both in terms of democracy-building and peacebuilding.
Talking about peacebuilding, it is worth noting that Africas conflict landscape has
changed since the end of the Cold War with the decline of inter-state violent conflict.
However, intra-state conflicts still pose a major challenge driving political instability and
state fragility on the continent. This is the case across the continent as illustrated by,
inter alia, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Central African Republic in Central Africa,
Libya, Mali etc. The cost of these conflicts and the instability they generate are
enormous in terms of lives lost, property destroyed, economic decline, displacement of
persons, and disruption of the social fabric of the nation-states affected. It is worth
noting that in these conflict situations, it is women and girls that bear the major burden
of the political instability. This is an irony given that women and girls are hardly the
major combatants in conflicts, yet they are the hardest hit social groups during wars.
This is a case of when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers most. Violent
conflict has devastating consequences, including widening gender gaps, which
exacerbates womens vulnerability and marginalisation. They frequently make up the
majority of displaced and refugee populations. They often have fewer resources to
protect themselves and are the victims of severe forms of abuse during and after armed

conflicts.1 As we have seen even with the Boko Haram abduction of school girls in
Nigeria, rape, forced pregnancies, abduction into sexual slavery and assault have
become deliberate instruments of war. This is why this open session is very important,
instructive and will serve as the much needed impetus for our efforts for the coming
year.

Various normative frameworks have been put in place at the national, regional and
continental levels aimed at providing a solid foundation for womens full participation
and equal representation in decision-making structures of the state. While various AU
Member States have developed national-level norms towards gender equality and
womens empowerment, the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) have also
developed their own normative frameworks towards the same goal. At the level of the
African Union the most notable shared values instruments developed towards achieving
gender equality and womens empowerment include the 2000 Constitutive Act of the
African Union; the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the
Rights of Women in Africa adopted by the 2nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the
Union in Maputo, Mozambique on 11 July 2003; the Solemn Declaration on Gender
Equality in Africa adopted by the 3rd Session of the Ordinary Session of the Assembly of
the Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 6-8 July 2004; and the 2007 African Charter on
Democracy, Elections and Governance.

These policy documents and instruments emphasise the need for enhanced women's
participation in governance and development processes to ensure strong democratic
governance institutions. They further recognize that womens equal participation is
essential to bringing about peace, stability and development on the continent, which are
at the core of the Africa Agenda 2063 and the Common African Position on the Post2015 Development Agenda. All said and done, even with the existence of these
normative frameworks at national, regional and continental levels, a big gap still exists
between norm-setting on one hand and the effective implementation of the norms on

M. Makumi, 1997. Women and Children in Conflict Situations: The Culture of Rights as a Missing
Link in Africa : Nairobi: CCR-WLEA. University of Nairobi; P.5

the other. This gap needs to be closed through visionary and transformative leadership
at national, regional and continental levels.
What then are the root causes for womens marginalization in democratization and
peace-building initiatives? These include the following, among others:
i.

Limited space for effective participation and low levels of womens representation
in political decision-making structures, which negatively affects womens ability to
derive full benefit from the political and democratization processes of their
countries;

ii.

Entrenched patriarchal ideology, attitudes, stereotypes and structural barriers

that inhibit womens participation and representation in decision-making
structures and conflict prevention, management and resolution mechanisms and
efforts;

iii.

The weakening of the womens movement as the political hub of the leadership
of the struggles for womens emancipation and gender equality;

iv.

Gender based violence against women and young girls, which continues to be
one of the most widespread crimes in Africa, and sexual and gender based
crimes are particularly higher in countries affected by conflict such as the Central
Africa Republic and the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo;

v.

The weak foundation of a culture of democracy and peace as espoused in both

the 2003 Protocol Establishing the Peace and Security Council and the 2007
African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.

Addressing these challenges must form part of the broader agenda of democracybuilding and peace-building on the Continent. In fact the Common African Position on
Post 2015 Development Agenda provides us a good menu in addressing the above
challenges:

1. The crucial role of women in conflict prevention and resolution, mediation and
peace-building efforts, and in the rebuilding of post-conflict societies must be
supported by strengthening their capacities, including leadership skills, and
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creating legal frameworks that protect their engagement in political and economic
decision making.
2. Provision of adequate resources to strengthen womens voices, and ensure full
and equal participation of women in all decision-making bodies at the highest
levels of government and in the governance structures of international
organizations, including by eliminating gender stereotyping in appointments and
promotions, and building womens productive capacities as agents of change.
3. Enhancing womens occupational mobility and eliminating gender-based wage
inequality; ensuring their access to and ownership of land and other productive
assets, credit and extension services and training; eradicating all forms of
violence against women and children, and harmful practices such as Female
Genital Mutilation (FGM) and early marriage; as well as eliminating gender-based
discrimination in political, economic and public decision-making processes.

In achieving these commitments, the role of women and young girls cannot be
overstated. At the regional level, it has been observed that women's full participation in
national and local politics, in the economy, in academia and the media is fundamental to
democracy and essential to the achievement of sustainable development and peace in
all contexts: during peace, through conflict and post-conflict situations, and during
political transitions. If a political system neglects women's participation and evades
accountability for women's rights, it fails half its citizens. Peace, stability and democracy
are fundamental pre-conditions for sustainable human development.

It is our firm belief that conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction as well as
developing strategic interventions that are aimed at silencing the guns in Africa by 2020
must be rooted on sturdy, resilient, participatory, efficient, effective and inclusive
governance systems. Such inclusive governance systems must be premised on a
democratic culture that fosters peacebuilding and development.

In other words,

interventions must be more comprehensive and should include fostering a culture of

efficient and effective democratic institutions and peace. Overall, a holistic governance
response to Africas violent conflicts should ensure that the culture of efficient and
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effective democratic institutions that deliver on inclusive development and peace are
inextricably linked.
In achieving this, Africans women and girls have incontrovertible roles that must be
given the much needed support. At this point, permit me to share with you a few
preliminary reflections on key success factors to ensure inclusion, engagement and
participation of women in attaining durable peace, security and sustainable
development as well as strengthening democratic governance:
1. A holistic understanding of the vulnerability and challenges women face in
conflict situations and their role in building democratic governance and peace on
the continent. This is in part recognition of the fact that women suffer the most in
times of conflict and yet they remain relegated at the periphery of initiatives
aimed at building peace and democratic governance.
2. An acknowledgement that women are change agents with skills, capacities and
abilities to positively contribute to pre, during and post conflict situations. This
therefore calls for practical strategies that will enhance effective participation of
women in conflict resolution, peace building and strengthening democratic
governance to ensure stable and peaceful societies.
3. Empowerment of women to equally participate in efforts to prevent and resolve
conflicts; maintain and promote peace and security; as well as take an active role
in the political processes of their countries. This will help facilitate the reversal of
womens marginalization and abuse of their rights.
4. Visionary and transformative leadership at the highest level of the state
accompanied by the provision of solid constitutional, legislative and institutional
mechanisms to guarantee the protection and promotion of womens rights both in
peace time and during armed conflicts and address impunity and crimes
committed against women and girls during conflict situations as a deterrent for
future occurrences.
5. Involvement of women in peacebuilding and post conflict reconstruction efforts
aimed at promoting post conflict reconciliation and social cohesion as key pillars
in Transitional Justice processes and initiatives.

6. African Union should strengthen accountability mechanisms to ensure that

Member States implement legal commitments of the rights and welfare of women
and girls. Specifically, the year 2015 should be used to advocate for the
ratification and strengthening of administrative and financial measures as well as
structures for the domestication and implementation of the Maputo Protocol by
Member States.
7. Members States should establish or strengthen existing gender responsive
policies, machinaries, and projects aimed at eradicating discrimination and
marginalization of women and girls in democracy building and peace-building
initiatives.
8. With respect to increasing womens participation and representation in political
decision-making, the electoral model in place in each country is critical; evidence
shows that winner-take-all electoral models such as the First-Past-The-Post have
tended to inhibit gender equality, unless if combined with effective gender quotas
as in Tanzania; while Proportional Representation models have proved
facilitative of gender equality as illustrated by Rwanda, South Africa,
Mozambique, Angola etc;
9. Affirmative action measures of various including reserved legislative seats and
quotas play a catalytic role towards gender equality and womens empowerment
and should be encouraged as one way of addressing gender equality in AU
Member States;
10. Since governmental power is accessed through political parties, it is in these
institutions that women must play meaningful and leadership roles. It is
imperative, therefore, that internal democracy within political parties is
encouraged to open up space for women to play their meaningful leadership
roles. Besides their effective and meaningful presence in political parties, women
should play influential and leadership roles in civil society, media, academia,
Community-Based Organisations, faith-based organisations and the private
sector.

As part of our efforts under the African Governance Architecture, the 2015 High Level
Dialogue on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance in Africa will also be dedicated
to the theme Womens Leadership and Political Participation for Africas SocioEconomic Transformation. We strongly believe that the real essence of womens
participation and representation in decision-making in Africa goes far beyond sheer
numbers in governance institutions such as the parliament, the judiciary and the
executive branches. It rests in the critical mass of women being present in all these
three key arms of government (but also including the public service, local government
authorities, the security establishment, the economy, the media, the academia, civil
society sector etc). The real essence of womens empowerment and gender equality
also rests in efforts that seek to guarantee the sustenance of democracy, strengthen
governance and promote as well as guarantee the human rights of women and girls in
Africa. The critical mass of women in government institutions including in the public
service and the security establishment ought to be accompanied by effective power and
authority for these women to make real change by influencing and crafting policies,
which sustain the momentum of gender equality.

I thank you for your attention.