African Union: update on progress.

• Author: Wandia, Mary

The AU came into being when two thirds of the members of the former Organisation of African Unity (OAU) signed the Constitutive Act of the AU in July 2001, The AU was formally launched in Durban, South Africa in July 2002, replacing the OAU. One of the key differences between the AU and the OAU is that the AU is conceived as a union of peoples rather than the leaders of Africa. Women were virtually absent from the former OAU, holding no positions of influence within the OAU during its 39 years of existence. A notable departure from the OAU is therefore the inclusion of principles of democracy, gender equality, good governance, human rights and the rule of law in the Constitutive Act. Building on those principles, pan-African Networks: Abantu for Development, African Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS), the African Leadership Forum (ALF), Akina Mama was Afrika, Equality Now, the Federation of African Women in Education (FAWE), Femme Africa Solidarite (FAS), the Forum for Community Development (FDC), Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) and the African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) have been lobbying member states of the African Union to mainstream gender in all structures of the AU.

The networks met and organised from 2002, resulting in the Durban Declaration (2002), the Dakar Strategy (2003) and the Maputo Declaration (2003). The Durban declaration resulted in the adoption of a gender parity proposal for the AU Commission by the Heads of State and Government. The Dakar Strategy and the Maputo Declaration proposed further recommendations for gender mainstreaming and women's political participation in all structures of the AU and it's specialised mechanisms.

As a result of advocacy by the networks the following achievements have been made. The First Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State of the AU in 2002 recognised the contributions of African women and CSOs. The Assembly affirmed the pivotal role of women and recognised that the objectives of the AU could not be achieved without the full involvement and participation of women at all its levels and in all its structures. It therefore called on the African women's movement to participate in the regeneration of the African continent through the AU.

The Assembly also made a number of decisions to advance the mainstreaming of gender in the AU. The Commission of the AU, which will drive the agenda of the AU, will have 50 percent representation of women. Noting that gender cuts across all the portfolios of the Commission, the Assembly approved the creation of a Gender Promotion Directorate in the Office of the Chairperson to coordinate all activities and programmes of the Commission. It was further agreed that the recruitment of senior administrative, professional and technical staff of the Commission must uphold the principle of gender equality.

The Second Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State of the AU in 2003 implemented the decision on election of commissioners taken in 2002 and elected five women to the AU's Commission, including Saida Agrebi of Tunisia Commissioner Human Resources Science and Technology, Bience Philomina Gawanas of Namibia Commissioner Social Affairs, Julia Dolly Joiner of the Gambia Commissioner Political Affairs, Rosebud Kurwijila of Tanzania Commissioner Rural Economy and Agriculture and Elisabeth Tankeu of Cameroon Commissioner Trade and Industry. The Assembly also adopted the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa.

However, although women's political participation has improved at the level of the AU's Commission and the Assembly has approved the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and...