CONSIDERING that Article 66 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights provides for special protocols or agreements, if necessary, to supplement the provisions of the African Charter, and that the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African Unity meeting in its Thirty-first Ordinary Session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in June 1995, endorsed by resolution AHG/Res.240 (XXXJ) the recommendation of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights to elaborate a Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa;

CONSIDERING that Article 2 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights enshrines the principle of non-discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnic group, colour, sex, language, religion, political or any other opinion, national and social origin, fortune, birth or other status;

FURTHER CONSIDERING that Article 18 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights calls on all States Parties to eliminate every discrimination against women and to ensure the protection of the rights of women as stipulated in international declarations and conventions;

NOTING that Articles 60 and 61 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights recognise regional and international human rights instruments and African practices consistent with international norms on human and peoples' rights as being important reference points for the application and interpretation of the African Charter;

 FIRMLY CONVINCED that any practice that binders or endangers the normal growth and affects the physical and psychological development of women and girls should be condemned and eliminated;

DETERMINED to ensure that the rights of women are promoted, realised and protected in order to enable them to enjoy fully all then human rights;

For the purpose of the present Protocol:

1. "African Charter" means the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights;
2. "African Commission" means the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights;
3. "Assembly" means the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union:
4. "AU'" means the African Union
5. "Constitutive Act" means the Constitutive Act of the African Union;
6. "Discrimination against women" means any distinction) exclusion or restriction or any differential treatment based on sex and whose objectives or effects compromise or destroy the recognition, enjoyment or the exercise by \women, regardless of their marital status, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in all spheres of life;
7. "Harmful practices" means all behavior, attitudes and/or practices which negatively affect the fundamental rights of women and girls, such as their right to life, health, dignity, education and physical integrity;
8. "NEPAD" means the New Partnership for Africa’s Development established by the Assembly;
9. "States Parties" means the States Parties to this Protocol;
10. "Violence against women" means all acts perpetrated against women which cause or could cause them physical, sexual, psychological, and economic harm, including the threat to take such acts; or to undertake the imposition of arbitrary restrictions on or deprivation of fundamental freedoms in private or public life in peace time and during situations of armed conflicts or of war
11. "Women" means any persons of female gender, including girls

Article 5

Elimination of Harmful Practices

States Parties shall prohibit and condemn all forms of harmful practices which negatively affect the human rights of women and which are contrary to recognised international standards. States Parties shall take all necessary legislative and other measures to eliminate such practices, including:

1. creation of public awareness in all sectors of society regarding harmful practices through information, formal and informal education and outreach programmes;
2. prohibition, through legislative measures backed by sanctions, of all forms of female genital mutilation, scarification, medicalisation and para-medicalisation of female genital mutilation, and all other practices in order to eradicate them;
3. provision of necessary support to victims of harmful practices through basic services such as health services, legal and judicial support, emotional and psychological counselling as well as vocational training to make them self-supporting;
4. protection of women who are at risk of being subjected to harmful practices or all other forms of violence, abuse and intolerance.

Article 7

Separation, Divorce and Annulment of Marriage

States Parties shall enact appropriate legislation to ensure that women and men enjoy the same rights in case of separation, divorce or annulment of marriage. In this regard, they shall ensure that:

1. separation, divorce or annulment of a marriage shall be effected by judicial order;
2. women and men shall have the same rights to seek separation, divorce or annulment of a marriage;
3. in case of separation, divorce or annulment of marriage, women and men shall have reciprocal rights and responsibilities towards their children. In any case, the interests of the children shall be given paramount importance;
4. in case of separation, divorce or annulment of marriage, women and men shall have the right to an equitable sharing of the joint property deriving from the marriage.

1. Women have the right to a peaceful existence arid the right to participate in the promotion and maintenance of peace.
2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure the increased participation of women:

1. in. programmes of education for peace and a culture of peace;
2. in the structures and processes for conflict prevention, management and resolution at local, national, regional, continental and international levels;
3. in the local, national, regional, continental and international. decision making structures to ensure physical, psychological, social and legal protection of asylum seekers, refugees, returnees and displaced persons, in particular women;
4. in all levels of the structures established, for the management of camps and settlements for asylum seekers, refugees, returnees and displaced persons, in particular, women;
5. in all aspects of planning, formulation and implementation of post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation.

3. States Parties shall take the necessary measures to reduce military expenditure significantly in favour of spending on social development in general, and the promotion of women in particular.

education and training;

b) eliminate all stereotypes in textbooks, syllabuses and the media, that perpetuate such discrimination;

c) protect women, especially the girl-child from all forms of abuse, including sexual harassment in schools and other educational institutions and provide for sanctions against the perpetrators of such practices;

d) provide access to counselling and rehabilitation services to women who suffer abuses and sexual harassment;

e) integrate gender sensitisation and human rights education at all levels of education curricula including teacher training.

2. States Parties shall take specific positive action to:

a) promote literacy among women;

b) promote education and training for women at all levels and in all disciplines, particularly in the fields of science and technology;

c) promote the enrolment and retention of girls in schools and other training institutions and the organisation, of programmes for women who leave school prematurely.

States Parties shall adopt and enforce legislative and other measures to guarantee women equal opportunities in work and career advancement and other economic opportunities. In this respect, they shall:

a) promote equality of access to employment;

l) recognise that both parents bear the primary responsibility for the upbringing and development of children and that this is a social function for which the State and the private sector have secondary responsibility;

m) take effective legislative and administrative measures to prevent the exploitation and abuse of women in advertising and pornography.

1. States Parties shall ensure that the right to health of women, including sexual and reproductive health is respected and promoted.

This includes:

a) the right to control their fertility;

b) the right to decide whether to have children, the number of children and the spacing of children;

c) the right to choose any method of contraception;

d) the right to self-protection and to be protected against sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS;

e) the right to be informed on one's health status and on the health status of one's partner, particularly if affected with sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, in

accordance with internationally recognised standards and best practices;

g) the right to have family planning education.

2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to:

a) provide adequate, affordable and accessible health services, including information, education and communication programmes to women especially those in rural areas;

2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to enhance the participation of women in the formulation of cultural policies at all levels.

1. Women shall have the right to live in a healthy and sustainable environment.

2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to:

a) ensure greater participation of women in the planning, management and preservation of the environment and the sustainable use of natural resources at all levels;

b) promote research and investment in new and renewable energy sources and appropriate technologies, including information technologies and facilitate women's access to and participation in their control;

c) protect and enable the development of women's indigenous knowledge systems;

c) regulate the management, processing, storage and disposal of domestic waste;

d) ensure that proper standards are followed for the storage, transportation and disposal of toxic waste.

Women shall have the right to fully enjoy their right to sustainable development. In this connection, the States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to:

c) that a widow shall have the right to remarry, and m that event, to marry the person of her choice.

1 A widows shall have the right to an equitable share in the inheritance of the property of her husband. A widow shall have the right to continue to live in the matrimonial house. In case of

remarriage, she shall retain this right if the house belongs to her or she has inherited it.

2. Women and men shall have the right to inherit, in equitable shares, their parents' properties.

Article 22

Special Protection of Elderly Women

The States Parties undertake to:

a) provide protection to elderly women and take specific measures commensurate with their physical, economic and social needs as well as their access to employment and professional training;

b) ensure the right of elderly women to freedom from violence, including sexual abuse, discrimination based on age and the right to be treated with dignity.

The States Parties undertake to:

a) ensure the protection of women with disabilities and take specific measures commensurate with their physical, economic and social needs to facilitate their access to employment, professional and vocational training as well as their participation in decision-making;

I. States Parties shall ensure the implementation of this Protocol at national level, and in their periodic reports submitted in accordance with Article 62 of the African Charter, indicate the legislative and other measures undertaken for the full realisation of the rights herein

recognised.

2. States Parties undertake to adopt all necessary measures and in particular shall provide budgetary and other resources for the full and effective implementation of the rights herein recognised.

The African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights shall be seized with matters of interpretation arising from the application or implementation of this Protocol.

1. This Protocol shall be open for signature, ratification and accession by the States Parties, in accordance with their respective constitutional procedures.

2. The instruments of ratification or accession shall be deposited with the Chairperson of the Commission of the AU.

1. This Protocol shall enter into force thirty (30) days after the deposit of the fifteenth (15) instrument of ratification.

Pending the establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, the African Commission on Human, and Peoples Rights shall be seized with matters of interpretation arising from the application and implementation of this Protocol.

Adopted by the 2nd Ordinary Session

of the Assembly of the Union

Documentation attached: a) Legal Opinion by {he Chief State Law Advise

International Law dated 14 November 2003

1. I The Second Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government adopted the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa during July 2003 in Maputo, Mozambique.

2.2 The Agreement will be signed by South Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia when Minister Nkosazana Diamini Zurna undertakes an official visit to Ethiopia from 17 to 20 March 2004. The Minister will sign the outstanding AU Protocols which South Africa has adopted but not yet

signed.

2.3 In terms of Article 231 (2) of the Constitution, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa is herewith submitted for ratification by Parliament. It is recommended that the matter be referred to the relevant Parliamentary Committees for scrutiny prior to ratification.

Although South Africa did not enter a reservation, discussion around this Article was very passionate. Several delegations proposed that the rights conferred on women in (&), (b) and (c) be exercised in partnership with the spouse. South Africa and others argued that the intention of Article 14 was to establish the individual right of a woman to make decisions about her health and

reproductive rights, and that these could therefore not be subject to the spouse's approval. In any event, these rights did not preclude discussion between the spouses.

There was also the argument that the Article be harmonised with provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). It emerged during discussions that the

provisions referred to in CEDAW related to Marriage and not Reproductive Health of the Women.

Although various countries indicated that Article 21 was already adopted at a previous meeting, South Africa argued that the Ministerial Meeting is not under any obligation to accept decisions of the Meeting of Experts, and that the last sentence of Article 21(1), which reads as follows, be deleted:

"In case of remarriage, she shall retain this right if the house belongs to

her or she has inherited it". Due to a lack of consensus the suggested

deletion was not adopted.

The debate on this Article centred around whether or not the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights or the Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights should have the competence to interpret the Protocol. The latter was confirmed.

2.5 The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples* Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa was adopted by the 2°" Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Assembly of Heads of State and Government in July 2003 in Maputo, Mozambique.