Barrister Fabian Awhen

The African Women’s Health and Rights Day has its antecedent to the outcomes of the three world conferences. The World Conference on Human Rights (Vienna 1993); the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo 1994) and the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing 1995).

Majorly the conferences adopted consensus policy documents drawn by National Governments emphasising the importance of a wide range of women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights for overall social development.

In like manner, all forms of gender-based violence and violation were deemed unaccepted.

Also, of note from the outcome of the conferences is the fact that most African governments have signed the declarations as well as previous United Nations

Conventions to protect the rights of women and children.

Surely what all these actions portend is an admission that the issues concerning women’s rights have in recent years attracted critical attention because of the need to remove the impediments that have prevented equal development of the womenfolk with their male counterparts.

The issue of women’s rights is not an isolated one. This is because women’s right is part and parcel of the human rights which is provided for in statutory documents, nationally and internationally.

Thus, women’s right is not a new phenomenon in our society but the new interest generated by the struggle for gender equality arises from the abuses our women are subjected to.

These abuses include denial of access to resources and opportunity for self-advancement, sexual abuse, violation of women’s reproductive rights, torture, and other forms of degrading treatment meted to our women in the name of decrepit tradition.

Typical of such abuses are girl child marriage, female genital mutilation, wife battering, rape, and other forms of sexual abuse all of which have gone on without check because the perpetrators hide behind the veil of tradition, culture, and religion.

It is against this background that we see the marking of the African Women’s Health Rights Day with the theme: “Promoting the Health of African Women and Girls” as another milestone in efforts by National Governments to create a better political, economic, and social environment, which enables them to enjoy their lives without fear of control or coercion because of their sexuality or reproductive potential.

Here in Cross River State, the occasion has been marked under the auspices of the Girls Power Initiative in collaboration with the African Partnership for Sexual and Reproductive Health of Girls and Women with paper presentations on the policies and strategies that promote African Women and Girls Health.

We cannot but commend the efforts of the African Partnership for Sexual and Reproductive Health of girls and women and other agencies including the Girls Power Initiative in Calabar Cross River State for their collective action to fight against the obnoxious female genital mutilation practices that have left many girls and women prune to infectious diseases including HIV and AIDS.

From available records, the African Partnership for Sexual and Reproductive Health of Girls and Women has lived up to its bidding, particularly in upholding the philosophy of the African Women’s Health and Rights Day both in the choice of the theme and the activities put in place to mark the day, nationally and internationally.

The African Women’s Health and Rights Day is a day set aside by the African Partnership for Sexual and Reproductive Health of Girls and Women to create a consolidated African voice that aims at improving the status of African Women and Girls by promoting and protecting their Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.

The African Women’s Health and Rights was launched in Nigeria in February 2002 under the auspices of the Director of National Women Centre Abuja.

All said we commend the Girls Power Initiative for its good works over the years in promoting awareness and gender equality.

EteteOnline Team

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