SALUTATIONS
- SADC PF Vice President, Hon M. Joanne Sabrina Tour
- Chairpersons of SADC PF Standing Committees and the RWPC
- SADC PF Treasurer, Hon. Mduduzi Matsebula
- Honourable Members of the SADC Parliamentary Forum
- Her Excellency Ms Boemo Sekgoma, SADC PF Secretary General
- Chinwe Ogbonna, the Deputy Regional Director of UNFPA East and Southern Africa Regional Office, representing the UNFPA Regional Director for UNFPA East and Southern Regional Office
- Ms Veronica Perzanowska, an Analyst with the Sida SRHR team based in Pretoria
- Judy Gitau, representing Faiza Mohamed, Equality Now DIRECTOR, AFRICA OFFICE
- Ms Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, former Africa Union Goodwill Ambassador for Ending Child Marriage
- Youth Representatives
- SADC PF Secretariat Staff and Staff of SADC National Parliaments
- Officials from UNFPA and Equality Now
- SADC Citizens and Partners joining us online
- Distinguished participants
I bring greetings from the President of the SADC PF, Hon Speaker Roger Macienne, with his sanction, I appear in my capacity as Secretary General to confer opening remarks to this august Joint Session of Standing Committees of the Forum.
Today, the Joint Session is convened to discuss yet another issue which is core to the Forum’s functions: that of domestication. If the primary function of parliaments is to enact laws, then the Forum is also mandated to adopt Model Laws at the regional level.
As you may be aware, Model Laws are forward-looking normative legal standards which act as benchmarks for regional parliaments and enable them to accelerate the process of domestic decision-making. Since most SADC Member States are dualist in nature, and thus regional norms are only persuasive unless incorporated by an Act of Parliament, the Forum does not stop with the adoption of a Model Law. It goes one step ahead to assist countries with the process of domestication in conjunction with its developmental partners, UNFPA the Forums all weather friend and Equality Now.
In this respect, this Joint Session today meets with the precise objective of discussing good practices, challenges and the way forward on domestication by considering 2 Model Laws which are inter-connected, namely the SADC Model Law on Child Marriage (2016) and the SADC Model Law on Gender-Based Violence (2021).
Comprehensive information on both Model Laws will be disseminated during the overview to be presented by myself some minutes later today, and those who are not acquainted with the Model Laws will have an opportunity to take cognizance of the gist of their substantive provisions.
Furthermore, this Joint Session will also consider the findings of the Scoping Assessment on the SADC Model Law on Child Marriage and its implementation in Eastern and Southern Africa, and take cognizance of Issue Papers in the form of policy briefs prepared by partners in collaboration with the Forum.
The rationale of this exercise is to generate further information and intel which would assist MPs of the Forum to devise and implement domestication strategies in order to spearhead the progressive application of the Model Laws at national level.
Indeed, before proceeding with domestication, it is necessary to understand the prevailing gaps and challenges which prevent the eradication of child marriage and GBV, and then work towards filling those existing gaps in collaboration with a multi-partnership framework at national level.
I am confident that the presentations today will be highly informative and will assist MPs to further understand the concept of domestication and ways to enhance legislative initiatives both for the SADC Model Laws and for related human rights treaties that have been ratified by most Member States.
As we proceed, I wish to highlight to this august audience that domestication is a topic that calls for ongoing intervention strategies. To address domestication, the Forum has established a dedicated high-level organ called the Regional Parliamentary Model Laws Oversight Committee, which is tasked with the function to monitor the implementation of Model Laws in collaboration with national Parliaments. The Committee is currently looking into the development of scorecards for the Model Laws and MPs will have multiple opportunities to interact with the Committee in the future.
The outcome of this Joint Session will also be submitted to the Oversight Committee to refine its domestication strategies at institutional level with regards to the SADC Model Law on Child Marriage and the SADC Model Law on GBV.
As we proceed, we need to bear in mind that Model Laws have the potential to trigger ripple effects within but also outside of Parliament.
More than being a Model, the Model Law acts as a guide for citizens, teachers, leaders, MPs and other stakeholders who have an interest in positive SRHR reform.
Model Laws have the power to ignite debates in the media and get the Government machinery moving forward to protect SRHR. Beyond being a legislative instrument, Model Laws are commonly used by MPs as advocacy tools in communities, schools or during public hearings.
Model Laws are also used by Civil Society Organisations to disseminate the desired norms, for instance the need for children to pursue Comprehensive Sexuality Education in schools, or the need for GBV complaints and proceedings to be conducted in confidentiality. These norms are enshrined within the Model Laws. Model Laws thus equip social activists with the right tools for them to pursue with advocacy work at grass roots level and convince faith or religious leaders as well as citizens to adopt a change of mindset.
Since Model Laws are adopted by elected Parliamentarians of the SADC region during the Plenary Assembly of the Forum, they are democratic instruments made at regional level. In other words, they reflect the will of SADC citizens, and have regional legitimacy.
Since they are adopted by MPs as leaders within their communities, Model Laws also have powerful demystifying abilities in that they demonstrate that topics such as child marriage or gender violence are no longer unspeakable taboos. Indeed, if MPs can talk about them, and legislate through a Model Law, then citizens no longer feel ashamed to ring the alarm and report SRHR infringements to the relevant authorities.
Model Laws also ensure that Parliaments are concerned of regional and international agendas for sustainable development. Since Model Laws are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), they ensure that Parliaments are not led astray and are concerned with the main issues or gaps which need to be addressed for the sustainable agenda 2030 or the Global Goals to be fulfilled. Surely, at regional level, it would be impossible to implement the Vision of Africa Agenda 2063 if child marriage is not addressed or if women are still living harsh inequalities through GBV or other SRHR infringements.
It is often said that Model Laws can be a game changer for the region. More than this, Model Laws can actually be the endgame for SRHR infringements, provided we all act in a concerted manner as partners to ensure progressive domestication.
Honourable Members and distinguished participants,
Before I end these opening remarks, I wish to emphasise that “consistency” is perhaps the most important word to keep in mind as we discuss domestication of Model Laws. Consistent SRHR advocacy by MPs in favour of domestication can yield immediate, medium-term or long-term results.
Sometimes, it is difficult to predict when the results will finally be harvested since much depends on competing Government agendas and the domestic context. Yet, it has been observed that consistency in Model-law advocacy by MPs on SRHR has never failed in the long run.
The advocacy for the domestication of the Model Law on Child Marriage has been taking place since 2016, much was debated and deliberated, and then spontaneously we have witnessed a wave of legislative endeavours mushrooming in the SADC region since 2020 to fix the legal age of marriage at 18.
As we discuss domestication of Model Laws and await further progress at national level, we therefore call for consistency and resilient patience.
With these words, I am confident that you will be firmly grounded in the ensuing deliberations and I encourage you to interact openly with our resource persons and partners today.
Hon. Members, Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Allow me on behalf of the SADC PF to pay a parting tribute to Ms Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, the outgoing AU Goodwill Ambassador on Ending Child Marriages, for the momentous work undertaken during her eminent mandate.
Thanks to her consistent and assiduous efforts, significant progress has been made in ending child marriages in Africa in the past years.
Ms Nyaradzayi has interacted abundantly with Standing Committees under the auspices of the SADC-PF and has contributed to Parliaments integrating the theme of ending child marriage into their work plans.
Moreover, she has engaged with SADC-PF representatives on the Model Law on Ending Child Marriage and promoted its domestication at national level. She was behind a number of legislative and oversight initiatives whereby Parliamentarians, religious, and traditional leadership have been motivated to prohibit the civil or religious marriage of individuals under 18 years old, as well as prevent harmful practices such as child betrothals. She has stoically taken up the mantle in championing inter-generational women’s leadership and rights, including the fight against early child marriage
Under her watchful guard, thousands of children have been saved from child marriages and other related human rights violations.
It is thus with a sense of accomplished work that we pay tribute to the departure of Ms Nyaradzayi in her role as AU Ambassador. She has set the bar very high and has activated a dynamic momentum for us to continue the fight to end child marriages in Southern Africa and beyond.
We wholeheartedly thank her for her invaluable contributions to the region and for assisting the SADC-PF to pursue its coveted goal to end child marriages once and for all. The name “Nyaradzai” must have been divinely ordained as she has been a source of comfort for the millions of women and girls whose cause she has relentlessly fought for over the past two decades.
May I at this juncture crave your indulgence for all of us to rise and applaud our daughter of the soil as an honour to a heroine of our time.
I wish you a pleasant joint session and I thank you for your kind attention.
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Ms B.Sekgoma,
Secretary General,
SADC-PF
10th May 2023
