WUNRN
MAURITANIA
L'Association
des Femmes Chefs de Famille (AFCF)
Partner organization of Women's
Learning Partnership - WLP
WLP
Partner in Mauritania, AFCF, Condemns the Coup d’Etat and Calls for Restoration
of Constitutional Government in Mauritania
August 7, 2008
WLP Partner in Mauritania, L'Association des Femmes Chefs de Famille (AFCF) strongly condemns the coup d’état that took place in Mauritania on Wednesday August 6, 2008 in contempt of the democratic choices expressed by the people of Mauritania after a long period of dictatorship and instability.
AFCF - L'Association des Femmes Chefs de Famille
L'Association des Femmes Chefs de Famille (AFCF) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) with over 5,000 members. The primary mission of AFCF is to promote human rights and to defend the rights of women and children; bring about support for women in precarious situations, particularly those who are the head of the household; create a network of associations who fight for the improvement of living conditions of women heads of household and their children; and contribute to the emergence of an active solidarity amongst women of different social classes and fight for equality amongst men and women.
AFCF aims to promote the legal, social, and economic empowerment of women in general and particularly of those in rural locations. The organization advocates for the improvement of the 2001 Personal Status Law and strives to ensure that protections under the current law are accessible to women in Mauritania. AFCF supports the participation of female heads of households in action for social change through training activities and provides services to and women in difficulty.
AFCF is currently active in Nouakchott, in Assaba, the Brakna, the Gorgol, the Guidimakha, Dakhlet Nouadhibou, Rosso, Inchiri, Atar, Tagant and the two hodhs.
AFCF is a member of the NGO collective of Mauritania and the Childhood of Mauritania network, and is an accredited organization with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.
_______________________________________________________________________
UN
Secretary-General Ban Voices
Deep
Regret at Mauritania Coup d'Etat
UN News
Service (New York)
6 August
2008
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced his deep regret at today's overthrow
by military leaders of the Mauritanian Government led by President Sidi Mohamed
Ould Chiekh Abdallahi.
"The
Secretary-General calls for respect for the rule of law and for the immediate
restoration of constitutional order in the country," Mr. Ban's
spokesperson said in a statement.
Mr. Ould
Cheikh Abdallahi was elected President after multi-party democratic elections
last year.
______________________________________________________________________
Mauritania: Moves Towards Political
Empowerment for Women
IRIN
April 1, 2008
Mauritania
is often held up as a beacon when it comes to the proportion of women elected
to political office - a 20 percent minimum quota was instituted in 2006 - but
experts told IRIN once in power many women are still sidelined from taking important
political decisions.
“While the
quota is a major step forward, changing the situation of Mauritanian women is
still a slow process because their colleagues discourage them from leading on
issues,” Aminettou Mint Ely, head of the local non-governmental organisation
(NGO) Association of Women (AFCF), told IRIN.
“As a
result, many of these women cannot fight to overturn discriminatory laws in the
country… such as those barring working women from claiming a pension, or paying
elected women less than men for the same posts,” she said.
In the 2007
municipal council elections, women were voted into 37 percent of seats - or
1,120 out of 3,688 - and 18 percent of parliamentarians are women, but women
make up just three out of 27 ministers.
Even this
marks progress - while Mauritania ranks 111 out of 128 countries on the World
Economic Forum’s 2007 global gender gap index, when it comes to political
empowerment its ranking rises to 74 partly because of its efforts to boost
women’s presence in government.
Starting
point
Mahnaz
Afkhami, president of the Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP), thinks quotas are
a good starting point. “Of the 13 countries globally with the highest
proportion of women in government, all have implemented quotas,” she told IRIN.
“But they
are not the end-goal… Alongside them, we also need to break down cultural
stigmas and train these women to become good leaders.”
Kadiata
Malick Diallo, deputy in the National Assembly who has been involved in
Mauritanian political life for 30 years, said that while the president may
endorse the quota, not all male members of parliament are on board.
By way of
example, she told IRIN: “People often overlook women when they choose members
to form permanent standing committees.”
She
continued: “Some [men still] think the quota is anti-democratic and promotes
mediocrity. But mediocrity is not the exclusive preserve of women.”
Creating
strong leaders
But for
Hildegard Schoerry, good governance adviser with German development agency GTZ,
the problem also comes down to a skills shortage. “In 2007 most elected women
in municipal councils were illiterate… as were many of the men.”
These women
were not used to speaking out or making decisions publicly.
To address
this, GTZ worked with the Secretariat of State for Women’s Affairs (SECF), the
WLP and local NGOs AFCF and Forum for Human Rights Organisations (FONADH) in
the southern regions of Hodh el Gharbi and Guidimakha to build up women
councillors’ leadership skills.
They trained
councillors in how to lobby for change, how to lead a political decision-making
process, how government works, and the basic national and international laws
concerning women.
As a result,
“councillors’ behaviour is starting to shift and they are starting to show
determination in fighting for their cause,” said Schoerry.
In both
districts where the training has taken place, the 20 percent quota has been
surpassed.
Next
steps
The next
goal, for Diallo, is to see the quota extended beyond elected office to other
influential arenas such as the civil service and the judiciary.
And when
these quotas are reached, she hopes the goalposts will shift again. “The 20
percent quota is a milestone, but our ultimate goal is equality,” she told
IRIN.
To change
things on this scale they will need the endorsement of powerful men across the
political and religious spectrum, said Schoerry. They have made some headway on
that front - Muslim leaders have already officially endorsed the quota by
declaring the Koran does not forbid women from taking political office.
But for
WLP’s Afkhami, before they focus on expanding the numbers, they need to make
sure the leaders that are in place are up to the job. The next step is to look
beyond the numbers, to address the quality of leadership these women adopt.
“We need to
train these women to be democratic, principle-based communicative leaders,” she
told IRIN, “in order to build what we want - an inclusive democratic process in
Mauritania.”
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