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Note: This document is from the archive of the Africa Policy E-Journal, published
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Southern Africa: WomensNet
Southern Africa: WomensNet
Date distributed (ymd): 980401
Document reposted by APIC
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: Southern Africa
Issue Areas: +gender/women+
Summary Contents:
This posting contains the announcement of WomensNet in South Africa, a
new initiative aimed at fostering women's use of information technology
for policy-making and advocacy. It also contains the declaration on violence
against women issued by the Southern Africa Development Community conference
in Durban coinciding with WomensNet launch. For more sources on women's
rights in Africa, see
http://www.africapolicy.org/action/women.htm
The posting also contains links to recent articles on women in Zambia
and Kenya, published in the Nairobi-based AfricaNews electronic monthly.
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Women Have a New Web Address!
(Women'sNet 3/3/98)
For more information see: http://www.womensnet.org.za
On March 5, WomensNet will be launched in Durban and Johannesburg heralding
the country's first Internet training, support and information programme
designed by and for women. Womensnet.org.za is the online home of an initiative
where women can network in more ways than one. A project of SANGONeT and
the Commission on Gender Equality (CGE), WomensNet aims to get more women
using the information superhighway in meaningful ways.
For the Commission, this innovation offers a new way for women to get
involved with gender policy-making and monitoring.
The WomensNet launch in Durban on March 5 coincides with a Southern
Africa Development Community conference on preventing violence against
women in Southern Africa. With contributions from organisations across
the country, WomensNet has put together an online information centre on
violence against women, the only one of its kind in the region. It will
be a clearing-house of policy initiatives, violence against women resources
and statistics, as well as a place for women to lobby for better legislation
and safer communities.
It has taken less than a year and a half for WomensNet to move from
idea to reality. With two full time staff starting now, training, outreach
and information development will move into high gear. All of the initial
groundwork has been achieved through the active involvement of a national
Advisory Group and a hands-on Information Strategy Team. This team, who
had no previous Web development experience, created the initial web site
at a four-day workshop in December. SANGONeT, which for the past ten years
has been supplying electronic communication services to the country's non-governmental
organisation (NGO) community, is providing welcome technical assistance.
Critical to the WomensNet mission is increasing the number of women
with Web access. And while not many women have access to computers and
even fewer to the Web, this could change in the future. WomensNet plans
to work with the Universal Service Agency, the statutory body mandated
to provide telecommunications access to all South Africans, to make sure
that women are centrally involved in the planning of telecentres -- multi-purpose
communication centres being built in areas with limited telecommunications.
But WomensNet is not only meant for women in front of keyboards. The project
managers are quite happy for the material available on WomensNet to be
circulated on community radio and via newsletters, and will work with those
that are connected to reach out to those that aren't.
For further information please contact Maureen James at 27-11-838 6943
or 27-83-465 3224 and Gail Smith at 27-11-838 6943 or gailee@sn.apc.org.
WomensNet is launching its programme at three separate events.
Press kits will be provided.
On March 5th: In Durban at the Chelsea Conference Centre, Holiday Inn
Marine Parade, 13:00 to 14:00
In Johannesburg at the SANGONeT offices, 187 Bree Street, Longsbank
Building 13th Floor, 16:00 to 18:00
On March 12th: In Cape Town in Parliament, V454, Old Assembly 13:00
to 14:00
PROPOSED SADC DECLARATION ON THE PREVENTION AND ERADICATION OF
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN.
WE, the Ministers, Legislators, Government Officials and Representatives
of Non-Governmental Organisations, participating in the SADC Conference
on the Prevention of Violence Against Women, meeting in Durban, South Africa,
on 5 to 8 March 1998;
REAFFIRMING the strong links in our historical, socio-cultural, legal,
political and economic heritage, and the benefits to be gained from closer
regional cooperation and collective action;
RECALLING THAT:
1. SADC Heads of State or Government signed the SADC Declaration on
Gender and Development at their Summit in Blantyre, Malawi, on 8 September
1997, committing their countries to take 'urgent measures to prevent and
deal with the increasing levels of violence against women and children'.
2. Member states undertook, in terms of Article 6 (2) of the SADC Treaty,
not to discriminate against any person on grounds of gender;
NOTING THAT:
3. SADC member states have signed and/or ratified the United Nations
Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child or are in the final
stages of doing so; and
4. All SADC member states are party to the Beijing Platform for Action.
RECOGNISING THAT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN:
5. Reflects the unequal relations of power and value between men and
women, resulting in domination over, and discrimination of, women by men;
6. Is acknowledged by the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action
as a serious violation of fundamental human rights;
7. Includes physical and sexual violence, as well as economic, psychological
and emotional abuse:
- occurring in the family, in such forms as threats, intimidation, battery,
sexual abuse of children, economic deprivation, marital rape, femicide,
female genital mutilation, and traditional practices harmful to women;
- occurring in the community, in such forms as threats, rape, sexual
abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation, trafficking in women and children,
forced prostitution and women in armed conflict; and that
- perpetrated or condoned by the agents of the state;
DEEPLY CONCERNED THAT:
8. The levels of cases of the various forms of violence against women
and children continue to increase;
9. Existing measures to protect women and children against violence
have proved inadequate, ineffective and biased against the victims.
STRONGLY CONDEMN violence against women and children in all its forms.
WE THEREFORE RECOMMEND THE ADOPTION OF THE FOLLOWING MEASURES:
Legal
10. Enacting laws such as sexual offences and domestic violence legislation
making various forms of violence against women clearly defined crimes,
and taking appropriate measures to impose penalties, punishment and other
enforcement mechanisms for the prevention and eradication of violence against
women and children;
11. Adopting legislative measures to ensure the protection of, removal
of all forms of discrimination against, and empowerment of women with disabilities,
the girl-child, the aged, women in armed conflict and other women whose
circumstances make them especially vulnerable to violence;
12. Reviewing and reforming the criminal laws and procedures applicable
to cases of sexual offences to eliminate gender bias and ensure justice
and fairness to both the victim and the accused;
13. Reviewing, amending or repealing laws adversely affecting the status
of women, especially those concerning their legal capacity and access to
and control of productive resources;
14. Introducing, as a matter of priority, legal and administrative mechanisms
for women and children subjected to violence, effective access to counselling,
restitution, reparation and other just forms of dispute resolution;
15. Adopting such other legislative and administrative measures as may
be necessary to ensure the prevention and eradication of all forms of violence
against women and children;
Social, Economic, Cultural and Political
16. Promoting the eradication of elements in traditional norms and religious
beliefs, practices and stereotypes which legitimise and exacerbate the
persistence and tolerance of violence against women and children.
17. Introducing and supporting gender sensitisation and public awareness
programmes aimed at eradicating violence against women and children;
18. Encouraging the media to play a constructive role in the eradication
of violence against women and children by adopting guidelines which ensure
sensitive coverage of the issue, and avoid the perpetuation of stereotypes;
19. Introducing programmes and strategies for the eradication of poverty
and the economic empowerment of women and children.
20. Adopting and promoting policies and positive measures which ensure
the equal representation of women and men in positions of leadership and
power in all spheres of public and private life.
Services
21. Providing easily accessible information on services available to
women and children victims / survivors of violence, including women with
disabilities
22. Ensuring accessible, effective and responsive police, prosecutorial,
health, social welfare and other services, and establishing specialised
units to redress cases of violence against women and children;
23. Providing accessible, affordable and specialised legal services,
including legal aid, to ensure the just and speedy resolution of matters
regarding violence against women and children;
24. Providing easily accessible, affordable and, where possible, free
social, and administrative services for the empowerment of women and children
victims/survivors of violence.
Education, Training and Awareness
25. Introducing and promoting gender sensitisation training of all service
providers engaged in the administration of justice, such as judicial officers,
prosecutors, police, prison, welfare and health officials.
26. Undertaking and sharing research, the gathering of statistics and
other information on the causes, prevalence and consequences of violence
against women and children;
27. Encouraging the regional exchange of national , regional and international
best practices for the elimination of violence against women and children.
Integrated approaches
28. Ensuring that all these measures are implemented in an integrated
manner by all stakeholders.
Budgetary allocations
29. Allocating adequate resources to ensure the implementation and sustainability
of the above programmes.
WE FURTHER RECOMMEND THAT:
30. This Declaration, in appropriate form, be considered for adoption
by Heads of State or Government at their Summit in Mauritius in September
1998;
31. Regional policies, programmes and mechanisms to enhance the security
and empowerment of women and, of children, be adopted and their implementation
monitored;
32. Urgent consideration be given to the adoption of legally binding
SADC Instruments on Preventing Violence Against Women and Children, and
to ensure that these commitments are translated into tangible actions.
33. Pending the adoption of such instrument, the co-ordination and monitoring
of this Declaration be vested in Botswana, as the current regional gender
focal point, and the gender unit of the SADC Secretariat. Member states
should submit biannual progress reports to the SADC Secretariat.
34. SADC convene a Regional Conference, two years hence, on the same
central theme as in this Conference, to review progress made in the implementation
of the above measures and recommendations.
Recent articles from
Africanews: News and Views on Africa from Africa
Koinonia Media Centre, P.O. Box 8034, Nairobi, Kenya;
tel: +254.2.560385; fax: +254.2.57615; e-mail: koinonia@maf.org;
web: http://www.peacelink.it/afrinews.html
Africanews is a feature and news service owned and managed by African
journalists. It deals with culture, peace, justice, ecoloy, religion, gender
issues, sustainable development. Africanews ia part of the Koinonia Community
in a Nairobi slum, which also manages a street children project. Africanews
is published monthly and is available free by email and on the Web in English
or in Italian.
http://www.peacelink.it/afrinews/24_issue/p1.html
Kenya: Violence against women must end
http://www.peacelink.it/afrinews/24_issue/p3.html
Zambia: Government must implement gender policy
http://www.peacelink.it/afrinews/24_issue/p10.html
Action and Contacts (Forum for African Women Educationalists of Zambia)
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the Africa
Policy Information Center (APIC), the educational affiliate of the Washington
Office on Africa. APIC's primary objective is to widen the policy debate
in the United States around African issues and the U.S. role in Africa,
by concentrating on providing accessible policy-relevant information and
analysis usable by a wide range of groups individuals.
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