Gender: NGO Urges 10th Assembly to Domesticate Maputo Protocol

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

A non-governmental organisation, BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights, has called on the leadership of the 10th National Assembly to as a matter of urgency, domesticate the Maputo Protocol, to improve the lives of women in Nigeria and Africa at large.

The Executive Director of the group, Ms Bunmi Dipo-Salami, who made the call in a statement yesterday to mark the 20th anniversary of the Maputo Protocol, said the call became imperative as a country can prosper only when the lives of women are meaningfully impacted.

On the theme: ‘Accelerating Promises for African Women and Girls’, which was in commemoration of the two decades of significant milestones, Dipo-Salami noted that it has been 20 years of uncertainty, 20 years of slow progress, and 20 years of sustained advocacy to actualise the raison d’être of the treaty.

According to her, “On this occasion of the 20th anniversary of the protocol, BAOBAB calls on the leadership of the National Assembly, through its President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, to consider its domestication.

“Domesticate the protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa in the interest of Nigeria.”

The executive director recalled that on July 11, 2003, in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, the African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government adopted the protocol. She said the Maputo Protocol defined the rights of women and girls across Africa, and pointed out that just two years later, the protocol entered into force as a result of the efforts of the members of the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR) coalition.

Dipo-Salami, who is also the chair, 20th Anniversary Planning Committee of SOAWR, stated that the protocol is considered as one of the world’s most comprehensive and progressive women’s human rights instruments, and the coalition ensured the ratification of the instrument by the 15 countries as required.

She pointed out that the universal ratification of the Maputo Protocol would guarantee full protection for all women and girls in Africa, and consequently improve the prosperity of member states.