The state of Women Peace and Security Agenda in Africa
The framing of the Women, Peace and Security agenda in Africa finds its history and origin in the Windhoek Declaration 2000 which led to the birth and adoption of UNSCR 1325. Since then, Africa has made progress in terms of providing legal and policy frameworks; establishing institutional mechanisms for implementation of the WPS agenda. Thirty of its member states have developed national action plans (NAPs) to implement the WPS agenda.
The AU and its member states have over the years have demonstrated a deep commitment to the WPS agenda and made considerable progress including in the establishment of strong and diverse continental networks of women leadership and mediators.
There is an increase in using gender-sensitive language in peace agreements.[1] The numbers of women, women’s groups, and gender experts who serve as official negotiators, mediators, signatories, witnesses, or advisory bodies have also been increased in the past years.[2] Nonetheless, women’s participation in peace processes remains low and progress in the implementation of policies and action plans is too slow. Financing and monitoring the implementation of developed laws and policies, NAPs remain weak. Implementation of most Regional and National Action Plans on WPS are not budgeted and hence their implementation is heavily dependent on donor funding.
According to the African Union Commission, the impact of the agenda on the lives of women is unclear due to the lack of monitoring of the progress, achievements, and weaknesses in the implementation of UNSCR1325 National Action Plans and related resolutions.[3] There is a limited effort by African member states when it comes to including gender dimensions in monitoring and evaluation of different sectors of peace and security.[4] African member states have also limited capacity when it comes to collecting and reporting gender issues in conflict-affected countries.[5]
Women’s participation in peace processes and politics is quite often symbolic and is often resisted by cultural norms. There is a lack of coordination and cooperation by different actors working on Women, Peace, and Security at the regional and national levels. Women’s civil society organizations working on peacebuilding, conflict prevention, and gender equality remain underfunded and not well integrated into the mainstream policy discussions on WPS in the region.
Women and girls continue to be targeted for sexual and GBV including rape and protection of women and girls from sexual and gender-based violence remains a key challenge during the conflict, post-conflict as well as in humanitarian settings in the region.
Online violence against women in politics and women activists centered on dis-information presented in the forms of insult, hate speech, information that is posted to embarrass and cause intentional damage to women in politics and women activists is another form of violation of women’s rights to freedom of speech and participation in public affairs.[6]
UNOAU Gender Unit
Posted on 25th January 2022
[1] https://wps.unwomen.org/resources/fact-sheets/Fact-Sheet-and-Key-messages-Global-Study-EN.pdf, page 2
[2] https://wps.unwomen.org/resources/fact-sheets/Fact-Sheet-and-Key-messages-Global-Study-EN.pdf, page 2
[3] AUC, Report on the Implementation of Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Africa, 2019.
[4] AUC, Report on the Implementation of Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Africa, 2019
[5] AUC, Report on the Implementation of Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Africa, 2019
[6] Tweets that Chill; Analyzing Online Violence in Politics, NDI 2019