MIDRAND – The third vice-president of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) Loide Kasingo, who is also Namibia’s National Assembly Deputy Speaker says it is becoming increasingly evident that Africa needs to come up with solutions to bridge the gap between laws, legal frameworks and their implementation to address the problem of gender based violence.
Kasingo made the remarks during the two-day 2013 Women Parliamentarians Conference of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) in Midrand, South Africa.
Addressing more than 100 delegates mainly parliamentarian women from all over Africa, she stressed that PAP realises that such a vice which takes many forms threatens the health, dignity, security and peaceful existence of Africa’s women and girls, further exposing the inequalities between men and women.
“We are aware that women represent an untapped resource in developing the continent and that it is incumbent on all of you, especially parliamentarians, to engage in such discussions that aim to create an enabling environment for the fulfilment of the aspirations of women and girls and also to create a platform where decisions that impact on women’s lives can be reviewed and evaluated for the promotion of the advancement of women on our continent,” Kasingo noted.
Parliamentarians tackled issues of women and girls against violence relating to early marriages, sexual violence both in homes and in armed conflicts, and mortality deaths among other widespread topics.
However, Dr Julitta Onabanjo, Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in the East and Southern Africa Region Office revealed that Namibia is regarded as one of six countries with the lowest child marriage standing at 10 percent among Algeria, Djibouti, Rwanda, South Africa and Swaziland.
In African countries, more than 40 percent of women aged 20-24 were married before they reached the age of 18.
One out of nine girls in developing countries is forced into marriage before age 15. In Chad and Niger, more than one in three girls married before her 15th birthday. In Ethiopia, one in six girls is married by the age of 15.
The conference which ended on Saturday and was held under the theme, “Responding to violence against women and girls in Africa” sought for African parliaments to move away from legislation to effective enforcement.
Further, Onabanjo revealed that by 2030, almost one in four adolescent girls will live in Sub-Saharan Africa where the total number of adolescent mothers under 18 is projected to rise from 10.1million in 2010, at 2million adolescent births per year, to 16.4million in 2030, which is 3.3 million adolescent births per year.
Births to girls under age 15, she said, are projected to nearly double in the region in the next 17 years, from 2 million a year to date to about 3 million a year in 2030.
“Physically immature first-time mothers are particularly vulnerable to prolonged, obstructed labour, which may result in obstetric fistula. We must note that still 165 000 women continue to die annually in Africa due to pregnancy and related causes. And most tragic is the fact that these deaths could be prevented. We also know that one in 39 Sub-Saharan African women aged 15 to 49 years will die in the process of giving life. In Sweden, the life time risk is one in 14 100 women,” Onabanjo noted.
As PAP’s third vice-president, Kasingo assured delegates that the African organisation as the voice of the people is committed to the promotion of the general wellbeing of the people it represents, including the vulnerable and often marginalised. Adding that PAP has endeavoured to make women and girls issues an integral part and also a priority of the PAP annual calendar.
She also underscored the crucial role of parliamentarians, particularly women in influencing high level decisions to promote the welfare of women, children and vulnerable groups and to mobilise all stakeholders to achieve such objective.
By Albertina Nakale