Dr. Sarah Thomsen,Lead Policy Specialist for Health and SRHR, SIDA;

Dr. Bannet Ndyanabangi, Regional DirectorUNFPA East and Southern Africa Regional Office;

Ms Eva Jhala,Legal Drafter

Dear Colleagues and distinguished participants, It is with immense pleasure and gratitude that I welcome you to this Consultation in my capacity as Secretary General of the SADC Parliamentary Forum. This consultation today is being held with partners and friends of the Forum which include Sweden, UN agencies as well as development partners that have directly or indirectly contributed to human and social development in the SADC region through GBV related programmes and initiatives.

I. Why is the engagement with UN agencies and Donors important?

Since the establishment of the Forum more than 2 decades ago, regional and international partners of the Forum have been on the forefront of shared initiatives which have aimed to infuse best practices to the SADC region. This forms part of the Forum's commitment to implement SRHR and governance interventions, a culture of human rights through inter-parliamentary cooperation, and in so doing it was imperative to implement the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), and the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (1977), as well as the International Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1977). Certainly, similar legal norms have evolved at the regional level through the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (1986) and its Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, to cite a few. Indeed, through the diverse initiatives of the Forum, the SADC-PF together with its Member Parliaments have over the years succeeded to progressively incorporate international norms and best practices found in the instruments mentioned into domestic law, and this with the close collaboration of its developmental partners.

Dear Colleagues, friends and Partners; In this respect, Model Laws have always constituted an avenue to propel international and regional norms into the legislative calendar of Member States. SADC Model Laws, as we know them, have found their way into domestic legal systems within SADC, as well as acted as useful benchmarks and guiding references for legal systems outside of SADC and across Africa. In addition, SADC Model Laws have influenced domestic laws and regional frameworks across continents. In this respect, the visibility of the Model Laws as well as the impetus for advocacy of same have been largely heightened by developmental partners of the Forum, including the UN agencies and donors. Through partners, the Model Laws have known a ripple effect across the SADC region and outside of SADC borders.

I seize this opportunity to express gratitude to ALL partners who have left no stone unturned to contribute to develop Model Laws, produce advocacy content for the engagement of MPs, or go further by inviting the Forum to disseminate the Model Laws during thematic international meetings.

II. The SADC Model Law on GBV

Turning to topic, we are yet again developing a SADC Model Law today - the SADC Model Law on GBV - and this consultative process would not have been complete without your input and engagement.

As you may be aware, this consultation forms part of a series of consultations with stakeholders on the GBV Model Law and this engagement today will further contribute to the alignment of the SADC Model Law on GBV with best international practices that have been witnessed by partners and donors within SADC and beyond. To be certain, the exercise of alignment has already been conducted since the early preparations of the SADC Model Law by benchmarking the provisions with international and regional legal instruments, and the meeting of today will mainly seek to reflect and brainstorm on how to carry the Model Law forward. In other words, as we finalise the SADC Model Law as a bespoke legal instrument that neutralises GBV in the region, there is a need to consider how UN agencies and partners can assist the Forum to make early gains on the Model Law once it is adopted.

III. Why is SADC-PF concerned and leading the process?

Before I proceed to the post Model Law agenda, I wish to give further context to partners about how the SADC Model Law intertwines with other regional policies, and this in order to demonstrate that investing into post Model Law initiatives will also help fructify other initiatives that aim to promote SRHR and gender equality.

The SADC Model Law on GBV is an initiative that sprang from the stem of the Forum's Strategic Plan (2019-2023) . Indeed, the Strategic Objectives of the Forum are geared towards promoting gender equality, implementing public health and Universal Health Coverage, as well as guiding the SADC region towards a culture of human rights within a democratic context. You will certainly concur with me that there can be no human and social development in an environment that is polluted by GBV. Universal health coverage as well as the promotion of Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights do not sit well with GBV to any degree, and the right to physical integrity of individuals is for its part completely abhorrent of GBV. From this angle, it was opined by the Forum's membership that the Model Law on GBV could be the sword that could effectively vanquish cross-cutting social ills, and leave the way open for SRHR, human rights and UHC to finally thrive.

Since Parliaments are the exclusive sovereign authorities that are empowered to legislate in SADC Member States, it thus stands to reason that all GBV policies need to be channelled through Parliament if such policies are to have any legal effect. The SADC Model Law on GBV was thus perceived as a legal remedy that would constitute the pinnacle of regional efforts towards eliminating GBV.

Eliminating GBV in the SADC region would thus assist the Forum to draw one step closer to the implementation of UHC and to build the foundations for the democratic drive to be accelerated and reinforced.

IV. How does the Model Law on GBV fit within other regional initiatives?

Since you as international and regional partners are also involved in other regional initiatives concerning GBV, it is felicitous for me to emphasize that the SADC Model Law on GBV is not a self-standing regional measure in the midst of other SADC initiatives. Indeed, the Model Law is in harmony with the broader SADC Regional Strategy and Framework of Action for Addressing GBV (2018 -2030), which many of you have indeed contributed to finalise. Whereas the SADC Regional Strategy for GBV calls for human rights compliant legislative provisions which outlaw all forms of GBV, the SADC Model Law on GBV can is an extrapolation of the Regional Strategy which aims to facilitate the establishment of enabling GBV legislative frameworks in Member States. The Model Law reiterates the gender-related objectives under the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality, the Beijing Declaration, as well as Aspiration 6 of Africa Agenda 2063 on women and youth empowerment. The Model Law on GBV is thus poised to act as a catalytic accelerator for the GBV commitments taken by Member States under the various international covenants I mentioned earlier.

V. Is soft law important?

On this note, I wish to add that the efficacy of SADC Model Laws to facilitate domestication is undisputed. As partners operating at the regional level, it is no secret that we all struggle on the issue of domestication of treaties and norms. Since most Member States are dualist in nature, international law has to be domesticated by an Act of Parliament for it to have any binding effect at the national level. In this respect, the SADC Model Law on GBV too will need to be domesticated. However, the Forum has already planned ahead for the domestication process in tandem with its Oversight organ, the Regional Parliamentary Model Laws Oversight Committee (RPMLOC) which is mandated to monitor the domestication of Model Laws developed by the Forum.

Therefore, the adoption of the Model Law by the Plenary Assembly of the Forum will augur a new dawn for domestication of GBV norms.

VI. Why is stakeholder consultation with UN agencies and donors important: the Post Model Law Agenda

Dear colleagues and distinguished participants, Having spoken on the germane importance of the Model Law, I now wish to say a few words on the Post Model Law Agenda, in which the Forum will require your input and reflections. As you are all aware, the Model Law is not an end in itself but the beginning of a promising journey. If we want progress to be made, we must invest now for gains to be made later. We therefore require your input on how best the Forum can enhance its partnership framework and benefit from donor resources to advance the Model Law further through programmes and initiatives that ensure domestication and enforcement. Whether it is by the development of advocacy materials, media articles or sensitisation campaigns, the Model Law on GBV needs to be vulgarised within the SADC region. The Forum is in favour of innovation and is currently considering all forms of advocacy materials, including animated videos and comics, to fulfil the post Model Law agenda and ensure that GBV best practices infiltrates into domestic legal systems.

VII. The effect of the Forum's transformation

At the same time, I am pleased to inform UN agencies and donors today that the Forum's transformation into a SADC Parliament has been approved in principle by the 41st SADC Summit of Heads of States and Government on the 18th August 2021. This means basically that the Forum will ascend to a SADC Parliament within an estimated period of 2 years when the SADC Protocol Establishing the SADC Parliament has been ratified and adopted by Member States. The SADC Parliament will then become an institutional organ of the SADC under Article 9(1) of the SADC Treaty. This welcome development augurs well for the Model Laws of the Forum as the SADC Parliament will have further thrust to push for domestication in collaboration with its Member Parliaments. Partners present today are thus invited to reflect on how best they can contribute and participate in the Post Model Law development agenda, such that the momentum of the Model Law is not lost and culminates into tangible results against the backdrop of the transformation of the Forum.

I wish to end by saying that the Forum has always been an fervid enabler of participatory democracy, and today your contributions as participants is also a means for the Forum to promote participatory democracy at the regional and international level. Today, the world is a global village with technology binding us together, and in this global village, participatory democracy entails that the views of stakeholders at the regional and international level are as important as views garnered at the national level. This meeting is thus important because you are important to us as well-wishers of the Forum, and the safe custodians of democracy at the regional and international level.

On this cheerful note, I wish to thank you again for your attendance today, and I wish you all a pleasant session.

Thank You.

Ms B.Sekgoma, Secretary General, SADC Parliamentary Forum 21st September 2021

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Statement by the Secretary General During Stakeholder Consultations for the GBV Model Law – Un Agencies and Donors, On 21st September 2021

Honourable Members and distinguished participants, Mr Stanley Nyamanhindi- Chief Executive Director of the SADC Lawyers Association;

Ms Eva Jhala our distinguished Draftsperson. Members of the Media;

Members of the TWG, here present;

Colleagues from SADC PF and National Parliaments

It is with immense pleasure that I greet you today at this validation meeting of the SADC Model Law on GBV with MPs of the Regional Women Parliamentary Caucus and other relevant Standing Committees of the Forum. Just a few days ago, we have wrapped up the stakeholder consultations, and the speed with which we have progressed to refine the Model law and finalise all draft provisions is commendable.

We have come a long way and have made commendable strides. Today marks yet another important milestone in the review and consultative process of the SADC Model Law on GBV as we are submitting the Model Law after consultations duly made to the consideration of the RWPC and other Standing Committees of the Forum. Accordingly, it is today that the Model Law will garner inter- parliamentary consideration and approval at the level of the Forum. After this intervention session, and several, the last step would then be to table the Model Law on GBV to the 50th Plenary Assembly Session of the SADC-PF.

Why is the consultation meeting with SADC PF MPs important?

I wish to highlight that today, this Session constitutes a crucial step because it is indeed the RWPC and other Standing Committees which initiated the thrust to develop a SADC Model Law on GBV. Over the years, the RWPC has been on the frontline to implement initiatives that aim to prevent discrimination on the basis of gender. The first-ever Women’s Parliament in Seychelles in 2017, the Gender Responsive Oversight Model (GROM), gender mainstreaming and gender-based budgeting, are all initiatives that emanate from the ardent efforts of the RWPC as well as other Committees such as the Gender Equality, Women Advancement and Youth Development Committee (GEWAYD), and the Human and Social Development and Special Programmes Committee (HSDSP).

Finally, with GBV becoming more and more prominent in the SADC region, it was a joint recommendation by the RWPC and other Standing Committees that gave rise to the need for the SADC Model Law on GBV.

We are therefore handing over to the organs of the Forum the technical work accomplished through wide consultations with GBV stakeholders at the regional level. The validation meeting of today represents the valuable steppingstone to the 50th Plenary Assembly.

In addition, I wish to draw to your attention that besides the recommendations of the RWPC and the Standing Committees of the Forum, the SADC Regional Strategy and Framework of Action for Addressing GBV (2018 -2030) also calls for the enactment of human rights compliant legislative provisions which outlaw all forms of GBV. The SADC Model Law on GBV has thus embodied this feature of the Regional Strategy and has reiterated the principles of the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality, the Beijing Declaration, as well as Aspiration 6 of Africa Agenda 2063 on women and youth empowerment. Today, I am thus pleased to say that both regional and international efforts on GBV are on the same wavelength and pointing to the same direction.

The extent of consultations made

As a recap, I wish to point out that separate consultations were held with human rights commissioners, SADC lawyers, SADC jurists, SADC chief justices and judicial officers, as well as Chairpersons of Parliamentary Committees at national level, SADC Line Ministries and police representatives. You will note that the breadth and depth of the GBV consultations will be reflected where appropriate in the relevant legal provisions which have been worked out to mirror best international practices and to equally befit the SADC context.

In this regard, I wish to seize this opportunity to thank the relevant regional bodies, CSO’s and other stakeholders who have made this wide consultation possible, including the SADC Secretariat as an institutional partner within the SADC family, the Southern African Chief Justices’ Forum, the SADC lawyers Association, and the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation, to cite but a few. We will be engaging with Regional Parliamentary bodies, the UN agencies, Donors, Magistrates, Legal aid Officials and Prosecutors, and closing Consultations on the 8th of October, 2021.

The GBV Model Law within a Bill of Rights Honourable Members and distinguished participants,

Most of you will aware that the SADC Model Law on GBV is not the first Model Law of the Forum. Indeed, the Standing Committees of the SADC-PF were part of the process leading to the SADC Model Law on HIV, the SADC Model Law on Child Marriage in 2016, and the SADC Model Law on Elections in 2018. These Model Laws constitute a regional SADC Bill of Rights and the Forum is now adding to, and consolidating,its Bill of Rights with the SADC Model Law on GBV being the pinnacle of GBV related initiatives.

I wish to emphasize that all the Model Laws adopted so far are based on similar principles of human rights and democratisation, and that the Model Laws speak to each other. In other words, the Model Laws reinforce one another and whilst each Model Law is based on its own thematic content, they should be read as a whole. The SADC Model Law on GBV is thus being brought forward against the backdrop of other Model Laws which have already proved their efficacy in domestication and incorporation at national level. The SADC Model Law on GBV is thus intended to tighten domestic legal provisions with respect to protection of the human right to health, the human right to physical integrity and the human right to life, all of which form part of the objective of the Forum to preserve a culture of respect for human rights in accordance with its Strategic Plan (2019- 2023). Since GBV is germane to infringements of a number of human rights, the SADC Model Law on GBV is thus sealing the cracks and pitfalls with respect to the deficiencies that affect both genders and expose them to GBV across the SADC region.

What next?

Honourable Members and Distinguished Participants,

I now wish to end by saying a few words on the way forward.

After the adoption of the SADC Model Law on GBV, the Forum will not stop here. Indeed, the adoption of the Model Law should be pictured as the beginning of a new process rather an end in itself. The Forum will continue to monitor the Model Law through the Regional Parliamentary Model Laws Oversight Committee, which as you are aware, consists of the Honourable Chairpersons of the RWPC and Standing Committees. While information on domestication continue to be gathered by the relevant Standing Committees in collaboration with national Parliaments, the progress on monitoring will be conducted at high-level by the Oversight Committee. I am pleased to share that a Scorecard has already been developed for 1 Model Law and other Scorecards will be developed, including for the Model Law on GBV. The provisions of the Model Law together with the momentum of the Oversight Committee are bound

to make a difference in domestication endeavours in the years to come. All along, the impetus for domestication must be maintained by Parliament and this validation meeting of today thus foreshadows the beginning of the domestication process.

Conclusion

Honourable Members and distinguished participants, With these words, I wish to invite you to engage freely and frankly with the legal drafter and facilitator for this validation meeting. Today, the Forum will be making history by validating the first GBV Model Law of its kind in the SADC region. As regional legislators, you will be making history by approving a Model law that can influence the lives of over 250 million inhabitants. May the SADC region continue to prosper under your parliamentary leadership!

On this cheerful note, I wish you all a pleasant session.

Thank You.

Ms B.Sekgoma, Secretary General,

SADC Parliamentary Forum 16th September 2021

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Statement by the Secretary General for the GBV Model Law – Validation Meeting with Joint Sittings of the RWPC and Standing Committees, On 16th September 2021