The African Network of Women Shelters (ANWS)
Kigali Call to Action
We, the members of the African Network of Women Shelters (ANWS) Steering Committee and partners
from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Zimbabwe;
Recognizing the outcomes of 1stand 2ndConferences of the Global Network of Women Shelters (GNWS)
held in Edmonton-Canada in September 2008 and Washington DC–USA in February 2012;
Observing that violence against women (VAW) remains one of the major challenges in Africa and
globally;
We welcome the 57thSession of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and States’
consideration to address the challenge under the theme “Elimination and Prevention of All Forms of
Violence Against Women and Girls”;We also affirm the Statement of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women/Africa at the forthcoming 57thSession of the Commission on the Status of Women;
We note the following:
Violence against women is a major obstacle to women attaining equality, development and peace, and
prevents women from enjoying their human rights and fundamental freedoms and a life of dignity free
from oppression. Many women want to escape the violence and find refuge and safety because their
homes or communities are unsafe. But the vast majority cannot find refuge and safety. They may seek
safety and peace by going to safe spaces, such as shelters, refuges, women’s centers, or transition
homes, to seek peace and safety. In these spaces, women and their children who have had violence
perpetrated upon them could find refuge, compassion, resources, and assistance.
Women’s centers and safe spaces, where they exist in Africa, provide life saving services to women
fleeing violence, often working in dangerous places with minimal support, resources and protection.
Cultural barriers often inhibit these centers from operating openly and this means that victims often
face a lifetime of discrimination, stigmatization, poverty, and increased risk of further victimization.
As set out in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action in 1993, Member States asserted that
“gender-based violence and all forms of sexual harassment and exploitation…are incompatible with the
dignity and worth of the human person, and must be eliminated.” Since then, States have reaffirmed
their commitment to ending violence against women through the adoption of the Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence against Women (CEDAW). Others include the Beijing Platform for Action, the
agreed conclusions of the 42ndand 51st sessions of the CSW, and UN Security Council resolutions 1325,
1820, 1888, 1889, and 1960, and UN Security Council Resolutions 1261, 1379 and 1612 on children in armed conflict.
In Africa, States have committed to the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on
the Rights of Women in Africa, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, and the Great
Lakes Region Protocol on the Suppression and Prevention of Sexual Violence Against Women and
Children.
Despite these commitments, violence against women and children persists as a widespread and
pervasive human rights violation. States have clear and concrete obligations under their constitutions
and international commitments they have signed and ratified to prevent such violence, prosecute and
punish perpetrators, and provide redress and relief to victims and survivors of violence. In addition
states that have not ratified also have a moral obligation to sign and ratify all treaties and protocols
geared towards ending violence against women and girls.
We emphasize the lack and/or inadequate provision of women’s centers and safe spaces in States across
Africa. The African Network of Women Shelters therefore calls on African governments to:
enact and implement policies and legislation to establish and support shelters and safe spaces
for women and girls in Africa;
strengthen political will and invest and allocate funds for survivors of violence to guarantee
service provision and access safe spaces and refuges. We note the importance of women driven
shelters and safe spaces in women survivors’ confidence building, and thus the need for their
support with appropriate infrastructure to offer holistic interventions with prevention on GBV
and women empowerment programs.
We call on governments to maintain accountability and transparency in State reconstruction by
including women's needs and priorities, women's human rights including access to justice, and
representation and participation in peace processes.
We call on governments and civil society to provide confidential and secure domestic and sexual
violence interventions and provision of specialist services that meet the needs of a diversity of
women, including the disabled, elderly and refugees, who are currently underserved by existing
services.
We call on governments, civil society and aid agencies to:
o strengthen policies and decrees and their facilitation as related to VAW and genderbased violence,
o ensure the policies are fundamental in initiating and sustaining women’s centres and safe spaces,
o are holistic, integrated and include community level awareness raising programmes done in a rights-based, gender and culturally sensitive manner, and
o integrate gender-based violence in school curricula as a means of primary prevention.
We encourage Governments to put in place mechanisms to coordinate and harmonize service
provision by various Government departments and civil society organizations in health, education, economic development and other social services. This should include monitoring and
evaluation
We urge governments, civil society and aid agencies to focus on strengthening and supporting
women-to-women shelter exchange learning, documentation, collection and management of
data which is essential for providing improved holistic responses.
Done in Kigali on this 5th day of December 2012.
