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ABOUT

The Women and Youth Educational Institute (WAYEI) is an Africa-wide organization dedicated to advancing the human and democratic rights of African women and youth in a society with a deeply rooted patriarchal culture inherited from the past and still perpetuated in various dimensions today. The WAYEI works with other global co-thinkers to mainstream women’s human rights in policies and politics. In this regard, we rely on international and regional human rights frameworks to strengthen previous gains of African women’s struggles for equality of rights, inclusion, political participation, and socio-economic equality.

INTERNATIONAL AND CONTINENTAL FRAMEWORKS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS

African governments have overtime crafted and adopted regional frameworks for the advancement of women, youth, and children’s rights, keeping with international standards and practices. For example, the Nigerian government has adopted several international women’s human rights frameworks, such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), Protocol to the ACHPR on the Rights of Women in Africa, AU Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, UN General Assembly Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Some of these frameworks were adopted in principle and are yet to be domesticated within national laws. However, women’s rights activists are also constantly confronted with the non-implementation of national and international frameworks for advancing women’s rights.

Within the Nigerian socio-political context, the 1999 constitution provides general coverage for the protection of women’s rights as human rights, wherein all Nigerians, male or female, are entitled by law to the dignity of the human person, nondiscrimination, quality education and employment opportunities. The 2006 National Gender Policy of the government also requires the mainstreaming of gender issues in formulating and implementing government policies and programmes. Also, the Violence Against Person (Prohibition) Act in the country prohibits all forms of violence against persons and provides protection and remedies for victims while prescribing punishments for offenders. As with other African countries, there are several legal documents asserting the equality of women in Nigeria, sometimes mirroring international covenants and charters on the same issue. While many women or women’s rights activists may be oblivious to this, the government also finds the non- implementation of these principles convenient.