25 signatures reached
To: East African Community, Civil society organisations
Endorse and implement legislation against gender-based violence in East African Community (EAC)
We call upon the East African Community to endorse and implement international and regional legislation against sexual and gender-based violence by supporting civil society.
The EAC Partner States have ratified the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW 1981) and 15. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2008), which have effectively become part of EAC Partner States laws by virtue of the act of ratification. EAC Partner States are also signatories of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR 1948).
This petition draws from the commitments EAC Partner States have made in Article 6(d) of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community (2000) to adhere to the principles of democracy, the rule of law, accountability, transparency, social justice, equal opportunities, gender equality, as well as recognition, promotion and protection of human and people’s rights founded upon the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (1986)
The EAC has further developed the EAC Gender Policy (2018) that places the elimination of gender-based violence in all settings as a core goal for all governments and stakeholders and the economic empowerment of women in the region as a major pathway to development.
We, therefore, call for the enforcement of the following actions:
-The Partner States make sure that a coherence of CSOs, public sector and duty bearers in East Africa is established within county, national and regional-level institutions according to policies to ensure structured and reliable service delivery to survivors of gender-based violence, avoidance of siloing of CSOs and inclusion in decision making.
-The Partner States strengthen civil society through established regional institutions, such as The East African Civil Society Organizations’ Forum (EACSOF), to reach a harmonised gender policy implementation and resource distribution across CSOs in East Africa.
Why is this important?
Lightup Impact is a network of civil society organizations in East Africa working in gender and health. Elimination of gender-based violence cannot be achieved without strong civil society organizations to transform social practice, drive policy change and hold duty bearers accountable. This places the advocacy and deep engagement of civil society at the core of transformative and sustainable change in the elimination of violence against all genders.
Civil society organisations support marginalised communities to participate and influence societal development and public decision-making. Civil society has an important role to play in achieving gender equality and sustainable development goals towards safe and secure, peaceful and inclusive societies. Institutional development of CSOs is needed to adapt to the challenges in different levels of society to respond to the needs posed by gender-based violence.