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The causal factors of the high HIV prevalence in young women and girls in Africa will be investigated this week.

Civil society organisations, United Nations agencies and other partners are working with the SADC Parliamentary Forum to hold the first ever Women's Parliament in Mahe, Seychelles this week 5 and 6 July.

The organisers say the parliament will bring together SADC female MPs and their counterparts from other parts of the world to critically discuss and sustain the engagement of parliaments to implement Resolution 60/2 of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) which focuses on women, the girl-child and HIV and Aids. Through Resolution 60/2, the UNCSW calls for full attention to the high levels of new HIV infections among young women and adolescent girls, and their root causes. As the Report of the United Nations' Global Commission on HIV and the Law noted almost exactly five years ago, such root causes include a country's body of laws concerning HIV and Aids.

The evidence indicates that an enabling legal environment, including one that ensures both the legal and practical equality of women and girls, is much more likely to result in lower rates of HIV infection than a punitive one that enshrines historical inequalities. Consideration of women and girls in the HIV discourse is a response to the high burden of disease among women and girls in the region and globally. United Nations statistics indicate that 51% of all adults living with HIV globally as of 2015 were women aged 15 years and older. In east and southern Africa, women account for more than half of the total number of people living with HIV.

Windhoek - Civil Society Organisations, United Nations agencies and other partners are working with the SADC Parliamentary Forum to hold the first ever Women's Parliament in Mahe, Seychelles next week from Wednesday to Thursday.

The organisers say the Women's Parliament will bring together SADC women members of parliament, and their counterparts from other parts of the world, to critically discuss and sustain the engagement of parliaments to implement Resolution 60/2 of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW).

The resolution focuses on women, the girl-child and HIV and Aids, which is still a major grim reaper claiming countless lives.

Through Resolution 60/2, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) calls on governments, international partners and civil society to give full attention to the high levels of new HIV infections among young women and adolescent girls, and their root causes.

As the Report of the United Nations' Global Commission on HIV and the Law noted almost exactly five years ago, such root causes include a country's body of laws concerning HIV and Aids.

The evidence indicates that an enabling legal environment, including one that ensures both the legal and practical equality of women and girls, is much more likely to result in lower rates of HIV infection than a punitive one that enshrines historical inequalities.

The SADC Parliamentary Forum is the deliberative body that brings together 14 National Parliaments in the SADC Region to discuss common issues affecting the SADC region as well as to support the regional integration agenda.

The first ever Women's Parliament got underway in Mahe, Seychelles on 5 July 2017 with strong calls for prevention, age-appropriate sexuality education, more involvement of men and boys, thinking outside the box and focusing on what works in responding to the global HIV epidemic.

The normally serene picturesque Eden Island was a hive of activity as SADC Women Parliamentarians, former Heads of State and Government, representatives of Civil Society Organisations, ordinary women and girls and other delegates gathered to discuss Resolution 60/2 of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) to discuss how to stop HIV infections, especially among women and girls.

Notable among the delegates were the President of Seychelles, Mr Danny Faure and members of the Champions for an AIDS-Free generation group: Former South African President Kgalema Mothlante; former Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba; and former Ugandan Deputy President Dr Specioza Wandira Kazibwe.

Zimbabwean lawmaker Monica Mutsvangwa, who is the Vice President of the SADC Parliamentary Forum, officially opened the Women's Parliament and called on Women MPs and their development partners to collaborate in stopping new HIV infections.

"This Women's Parliament is concerned with ending unacceptably high rates of HIV infection among women and girls. As elected representatives of the people, we have the power and the mandate to make a difference in the lives of all people, particularly women and girls. We can achieve this through our various roles and mandates that include representation, advocacy, law making, budgeting, oversight and shaping opinions on a plethora of issues," she said in a rousing speech which called, also, for more use of information communication technology.

Mutsvangwa said greater access to ICT had changed the way communities communicate and socialize their young. She called on MPs to adapt to the ICT revolution. She noted that with many people now "talking with their thumbs", socialisation of young people had been "outsourced to gadgets and social media".

She said in such a scenario, adults and the elderly faced being left behind.

"Let us think about how we can effectively engage with women and girls through the media of their choice. Information is power. Are we reaching our women and girls with information that can empower and protect them?"

Dr Jessie Kabwila, Chairperson of the Regional Women’s Parliamentary CaucusDr Jessie Kabwila, Chairperson of the Regional Women’s Parliamentary Caucus
Dr Jessie Kabwila, Chairperson of the Regional Women’s Parliamentary Caucus

Malawian Member of Parliament Dr Jessie Kabwila, the Chair of the Regional Women's Parliamentary Caucus, also spoke during the official opening. She emphasised the critical role women in politics play to ensure that Parliaments are inclusive and take women's needs into consideration.

She called for strategies to increase the number of women Members of Parliament whom she said had the capacity to make a positive difference in the lives of women and girls but lacked the numbers to do more through their legislative mandates.

"The first step in the political empowerment of women is to ensure a critical mass of them is elected to Parliament through an electoral system, proportional representation system where all political parties use 'Zebra' listing," Kabwila said.

She said once women were elected or appointed to Parliament, strategies and structures were necessary to ensure that they were supported.

"Once women are elected to Parliament, what tools are available to promote women's empowerment from within the institution? Issues of women's sexual reproductive health and rights will remain a pipe dream if we don't assist women to get into party politics and ensure that they are empowered to deliver on their mandate."

Kabwila said the objective of the Women's Parliament was to set out a crisp agenda as part of the implementation of Resolution 60/2 and facilitate the overarching objective to tackle the high rate of new infections among young women and adolescent girls in the SADC region.

Seychelles National Assembly Speaker Patrick Pillay officially welcomed the delegates to Seychelles and encouraged them to use the opportunity to forge positive relationships and fruitful engagement.

"We in Seychelles are extremely happy to welcome the SADC PF Family. We hope you will take the opportunity to deliberate on the issues at hand and have exchanges with other Members of Parliament from fellow SADC countries."

Ms. Buumba Malambo, a young Ward Councillor from Zambia, challenged Parliamentarians present to represent "the hidden voices" - women and girls who are living in poverty, forced into marriage with limited access to basic education and health and who lack decision making powers due to patriarchy.

"This is why we are here; to make policies that are going to help these traumatised girls. These are the hidden voices that we must fight for. This is why against all odds I stood as Councillor, entered the harsh patriarchal world of Zambian politics, making me one of two female Councillors in a Council of 16 Councillors."

Malambo also called for good education policies to ensure that young girls have a better chance of moving out of poverty to be able to provide for themselves and their families.

"Education removes the dark cloth of ignorance from a girl child and gives her the opportunity and the light and hope that come from education," Malambo said.

Speaking at the same occasion, Mr Charles Chauvel United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Team Leader for Inclusive Political Processes with the Bureau of Policy & Program Support, said public representatives have a responsibility to align their activities with a commitment to end HIV and AIDS.

"Parliamentarians through their constitutional responsibilities of law-making, oversight of government activity and representation of the people have a fundamental role to play in ensuring that their procedures in Parliament and outside of it are fit for purpose to achieve the eradication of discriminatory standards and norms [so that we eradicate] HIV and AIDS," Chauvel said.

 

* Otae Mkandawire is the Communications Specialist at UN Women South Africa Multi-Country Office while Moses Magadza is Communications and Advocacy Specialist at SADC PF

MAHE, SEYCHELLES - Delegates to the first ever Women's Parliament which ended here on July 6 2017 have called for sustained engagement over issues dealt with during the Parliament.

The SADC Parliamentary Forum, the Regional Women's Parliamentary Caucus (RWPC) and other cooperation partners, notably ARASA, organized the Women's Parliament, which sought to rally female Members of Parliament around Resolution 60/2 on the status of Women, Children and the Girl Child. Resolution 60/2 seeks to end HIV infection among women and girls.

The major outcome of the Women's Parliament was the Mahe Declaration which summarises deliberations that took place during the two-day Women's Parliament. The Mahe Declaration captures resolutions on specific action that needs to be taken to address the various issues that were discussed.

It is widely accepted that women’s empowerment and gender equality is one of the major challenges facing the SADC region and the world in the 21st century.

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The Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) was established in 1997 in accordance with Article 9 (2) of the SADC Treaty as an autonomous institution of SADC It is a regional inter-parliamentary body composed of Thirteen (14) parliaments representing over 3500 parliamentarians in the SADC region. Read More

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