High-Level Panel: Maputo Protocol
'From Ratification to Domestication and Implementation'

EVENT INVITATION

Sonke Gender Justice, MenEngage Africa, UHAI-EASHRI, the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA) and the African Women's Development and Communications Network (FEMNET) will host a high-level panel webinar 19 August 2021, to reflect on the opportunities and challenges considering the Maputo Protocol’s 18th Anniversary. The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, popularly known as the Maputo Protocol, was adopted in 2003, by Members of the African Union with the sole aim of upholding the rights of womxn and girls in Africa. Lauded as one of the most comprehensive and legally binding human rights instruments it has contributed to shifting the trajectory on the promotion and protection of women’s rights in Africa. Despite its progressive protections, to date, only 42 countries have signed and ratified the Maputo Protocol.

Purpose of the webinar

The purpose of the webinar is to reflect on the progress and challenges women and girls
continue to face since the inception of the Maputo protocol. It will also project into the future, facilitating our collective imagination on where we want to go as a continent and look at other opportunities presented by the Protocol to attain these envisioned futures. The webinar will also explore advocacy opportunities for effective implementation of the Protocol and accountability from governments, especially in lieu of ongoing crises related to COVID-19, and garnering collective action for change.

Date: 19 August 2021
Time: 15:00-17:00pm Central Africa Time. (See here for your time zone.)
Language(s) English

Speakers

• To reflect on the state of womxn’s rights on the continent, and particularly reflect on progress and challenges in the implementation of the Maputo Protocol.
• To identify/ unpack various opportunities to further advance womxn’s rights especially within the COVID and post COVID context; and
• To share strategies and ideas on how to hold the government more accountable
  for the effective implementation of the Maputo protocol.

High-Level Panel

Keynote: Dr T Mofokeng, UNSR on Special Rapporteur on the right to physical and mental
health

Panellists: Sibongile Ndashe, Executive Director - ISLA
Memory Kachambwa, Executive Director - FEMNET
Kenyan Minister Hon Nadia Abdallah - Cabinet Administrative Secretary for ICT and Youth
Affairs
Mpiwa Mangwiro, Regional Campaign Specialist, Sonke Gender Justice
Cleopatra Kambugu, Director of Programmes, UHAI-EASHRI TBC – West Africa partner

Moderator: Masana Ndinga-Kanga, Programmes Director, Sonke Gender Justice
Join us as we share strategies and ideas on how to hold governments more accountable for the effective implementation of the Maputo protocol

More Information

For more information about this webinar, please contact: 

Given Sigauqwe, Communication and Strategic Information Manager, on [email protected].