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  21st PRE-SUMMIT CONSULTATIVE MEETING ON GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN THE AFRICAN UNION

 

January    2223,    2013    Addis    Ababa,    Ethiopia

    

   GENDER IS MY AGENDA CAMPAIGN  

 

    

We, representatives of African civil society organizations and African women and youth leaders meeting under the umbrella of the “Gender is my Agenda Campaign” (GIMAC) at the  21st  Pre-­‐Summit  Consultative  Meeting  on  Gender  Mainstreaming  in  the  African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 22-­‐23 January 2013;

 

Welcoming     the decision of African Heads of State and Government to devote the 20th Ordinary Session of the Summit of the African Union to the theme, “Pan-­‐Africanism  and African Renaissance;

 

Recognising      African   women’s   active   contributions   to   Pan-­‐Africanism   and   African

Renaissance  as  the  AU  celebrates  its  50th  anniversary,  and  the  critical  role  of  gender

equality in Africa’s development;

 

Recalling the African Union Gender Parity Principle (2002), the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003), the Solemn  Declaration on  Gender Equality  in  Africa  (2004), the  African  Youth  Charter (2006) and United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 (2000);

 

Welcoming  the  vision  of  the  Chairperson  of  the  African  Union  Commission,  Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-­‐Zuma, of “A Prosperous Africa at Peace with Itself;

    

Urge     the  Assembly  of  Heads  of  State  and  Government  to  consider  and  adopt  the

following recommendations:

 

1.  Include women as key partners in peace, mediation and negotiation processes in the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mali, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan.

 

2.  Protect the rights of women in conflict and end impunity for sexual and gender-­‐ based violence, and allocate financial resources towards reparations, medical and trauma services for survivors of sexual and gender-­‐based violence.

 

3. Ensure  women’s  equal  participation  in  all  spheres  decision making, and the equitable distribution of resources in the post-2015 development framework.

 

4.  Enact and implement legislation for women to access land and actively involve women farmers in the design of adaptation strategies to address the impact of climate change on agriculture.

 

5.  Facilitate access to land, credit, training and new technologies to encourage youth participation in agriculture.

 

6.  Improve quality of education at all levels, and prioritize the education of girls in Science, Mathematics and Technology through appropriate scholarship programmes.

 

7. Develop a certification process to monitor the application of gender equality principles in the private sector.