Sierra Leone Telegraph: 3 July 2021:
The proposed Kinshasa Declaration, launched this week at the Generation Equality Forum in Paris, outlines concrete actions for African Union member countries to advance gender equality in Africa by 2030.
The proposed Kinshasa Declaration calls for doubling the number of women’s organizations that can access funds from national economic stimulus programs and external funding.
A delegation of African women led by Madame Gisèle Ndaya, Minister of Gender, Family and Children of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madame Julienne Lusenge, gender expert on the Panel of Experts in charge of accompanying President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo during his presidency of the African Union for 2021/2022 shared the proposed Kinshasa Declaration on the fringes of the Generation Equality Forum which ended in Paris yesterday 2nd July.
The proposed Kinshasa Declaration, drafted during the Conference on Gender Equality held in Kinshasa on June 10, is the result of a large mobilization of pan-African groups including youth, civil society, researchers, government officials, activists, and international organizations.
One of the main objectives of the conference was to show the collective capacity of the participants and organizers to foster a more just world, where gender equality is no longer a struggle but a reality for future generations.
The proposed Kinshasa Declaration builds on existing texts on gender equality in Africa and a series of new recommendations. Its goal is to encourage the member states of the African Union to expand their actions in favour of gender equality and to put in place strong systems to evaluate progress.
For the Minister of Gender, Family and Children of the DRC, Ms. Gisèle Ndaya, this declaration offers concrete proposals for the member countries of the African Union.
She highlighted that “one of the key recommendations of the declaration is to campaign for a quota system of at least 40% of women, including 10% of young women under 35 years of age in national government bodies, and in elective and nominative positions, by 2030, in order to increase the rate of women’s participation in decision-making bodies on the African continent. ”
Julienne Lusenge, member of the Panel of Experts in charge of accompanying the DRC during its chairmanship of the African Union for the year 2021/2022 said: “This proposed declaration makes a crucial contribution to the AU Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment by proposing concrete actions and tools for measuring success towards gender equality in Africa by 2030.
“Through this proposed Declaration, we call for, among other measures, the development and strengthening of human rights and culture of peace curricula in at least 50% of primary and secondary schools, including the integration of age-appropriate information on existing laws, conventions, and action plans with a focus on gender equality and positive masculinity by 2030. ”
According to the delegation, the proposed Kinshasa Declaration will be shared with African Union stakeholders, member states, civil society, international organizations and relevant bodies within African governments after the Generation Equality Forum.
The objective is to the adoption of this Declaration at the next meeting of the African Union in 2022.
About the Panel in charge of accompanying the DRC during its presidency of the African Union for the year 2021/2022:
Created within the Office of the President of the Republic as a specialized ad hoc unit, the “PANEL” is responsible for accompanying the Democratic Republic of the Congo in its chairmanship of the African Union for the 2021-2022 period. It is placed under the direct authority of the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is governed by the provisions of Ordinance No. 20/144 of October 30, 2020 on the establishment of a Panel to accompany the term of office of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as Chairperson of the African Union for the year 2021-2022. https://PanelRDC-UA2021.cd.
Gentlemen – Guess who’s back to bite,chew gnaw,and spit out those Enemies of Progress who have always been known to wince, whine bark in pain,yet in vain? Its that young fearless matchless, ruthless Brookfield’s agile cub that protects the fragile ewe lambs from merciless wolves.(lol)
Honorable Abdul Rashid Thomas please forgive my absence on this glorious forum; My Nubian queen was entangled in an inheritance family dispute and I had no other choice but to get deeply involved. And strangely while I was by her side helping her to cope, an old project of mine that I had concluded was lost came back like a boomerang crashing on my doors bearing me huge financial rewards that I never dreamed was possible so I had to nurture and give it my wholehearted attention like a loving mother that was once again reunited with her lost child.
Its feels fantastic to be back in the arena of brave Gladiators with utterances that resemble durable iron shields and aphoristic, words of truth that could be seen as gleaming sharpened swords; Shout out to the Mayor of Freetown; Wishing you a speedy recovery and a loud applause also to Special Agent Young 4na for the admirable, considerate efforts of yours to provide much needed assistance to people with disabilities – Bravo bro! You are my kind of guy – the Quintessential Sierra leonean Gentleman – thoughtful, intelligent, focused and kind; We need someone like you holding a very high office in Sierra Leone…my only Precious Home.
This proposal by the DRC Minister for gender, family and children Mrs Gisele Ndaya campaign, or proposals for more African women’s representation in our national governments across the African continent is inspirational, and commendable on her part. In terms of the treatment of women, the DRC stands accused of having one of the worst records in the way the country, and its social and political set up treats their women. Rape epidemic is one of the worst in the continent. This 40% proposals are just aspirational, it doesn’t rhymes with the reality and experiences of African women in the misogynist dominated African culture. A study by a sewdesh based think tank on African women representation, the international institute for democracy and electoral assistants found that “women occupied 24% of Africa’s 12,113 parliamentary seats in the upper and lower houses up from 9% in 2000”.Certainly women are not carrying hammers and breaking the invisible glass ceiling as we will like them to.
The report went on to say “Africa has increased the number of women in Parliament but still set to miss a global goal of gender parity in politics by 2030″I think some African men has been a huge disappointment in ruining the lives of millions of their fellow Africans, by encouraging, engaging, and orchestrating Corruption in an industrial scale in our mineral rich continent, where put to good use, ever African family should have a decent standard of living. Maybe is time we pass a law in all of Africas Parliaments with a target of 50% women’s representation . Once we set that goal, we will see the changes we all want to see.