PLEASE HELP END GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN AFRICA

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights welcomed the adoption of the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls, adopted on 16 February 2025, as a historic milestone in the collective fight for gender equality and human dignity and a reaffirmation of Africa’s commitment to eliminate all forms of violence that have long silenced, oppressed, and harmed women and girls across the continent.

This Convention recognizes "that violence against women and girls is a violation of their human rights and fundamental freedoms, and prevents their enjoyment of such rights and freedoms in all spheres of life." It acknowledges that "violence against women and girls continues unabated in Africa." It expresses the firm conviction that "all forms of violence against women and girls must be condemned and ended."

The World Bank estimates that at least two out of every five women and girls (42 per cent) in Africa experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes. UNICEF estimates that more than 79 million girls and women (over 1 in 5) in sub-Saharan Africa experience rape or sexual assault before turning 18. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa expressed concern about the pandemic of violence against women and girls and condemned the many high cases of gender-based violence and femicide, during his statement on National Women's Day on 9 August 2025. He noted that this criminality thrives in a culture of silence. 

The African Convention contains the most comprehensive definition of violence against women and girls of any international treaty, namely: "all acts perpetrated against women and girls that cause or could cause them verbal, emotional, physical, sexual, psychological, or economic harm, including the threat to take such acts, or to undertake the imposition of arbitrary restrictions on, or deprivation of, fundamental freedoms in the private and public spheres, or in cyberspace, in times of peace, armed conflict, transition, post-conflict, disaster, and post-disaster situations."

This historic Convention will be nothing more than meaningless words without any impact on the safety, security, human rights and well being of women and girls in Africa unless it achieves the universal signature and ratification by all African countries and enters into force as a binding legal framework. 

CALL TO ACTION

We urge all African Union Member States to sign and ratify the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls as soon as possible and no later than 16 February 2027, the second anniversary of the adoption of the Convention, and to follow up with the ratification and domestication of the Convention no later than 1 December 2027.

We commend Angola, Burundi, Djibouti, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Ghana, and Liberia for demonstrating their commitment to end violence against women and girls in Africa by signing the Convention and urge them to follow up with the ratification and domestication of the Convention as soon as possible.

Virginia Morris
Coalition for African Treaties Ratification