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Chairperson
Honourable Minister of Social Welfare and National Solidarity
Representatives from the Organisation of African Unity
Honourable Ministers
Distinguished Delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen

I would like to start by extending my heartfelt thanks to you for inviting me to address you on a topic which is not only close to my heart, but which I believe is one of the most important keys to our future on the continent. I would also like to express my appreciation to the government and the people of Senegal who are hosting this meeting for the warm hospitality extended to my delegation and me since arrival.

The women in our ancient societies wielded a lot of power in the affairs of their communities, in both reproduction and production. They were the custodians of our culture and language. However, the power of women has been eroded by the wave of colonialism which gradually undermined our culture, our values and dispossessed us of the land in particular, and with industrialisation women were marginalised and discriminated against by the colonial administrations. They undermined women and relegated their role to the kitchen so to say. They were left to produce children with no proper means to bring them up.

The power was also eroded by the conflicts and wars which turned them into refugees. They became prey to preventable diseases. Women on this continent constitute the bulk of the poor, the refugees, and the sick including those suffering from HIV/AIDS. Research shows that 80% of women who are infected are faithful to their partners.

Young women are driven to prostitution and sex slavery by grinding poverty. Women are missing, or are few and far below in decision-making bodies like government, parliament, the clergy, industry, academic institutions, judiciary and sports, to mention a few.

As a result of all this women find themselves as being the majority of the poor, the ill, the ignorant. They do not have access to information or training and they are completely marginalised.

Women bear the brunt of all forms of discrimination. Racism, racial discrimination, class discrimination, religious discrimination, gender discrimination, xenophobia and all related intolerances are more vicious towards women.

Yet women are so crucial in all the matters of transformation, in all the matters of the recovery of the continent. There can be no African recovery unless women are part of developing the plan, implementing the plan and as beneficiaries of the plan.

Our continent needs the energy, the creativity, the organisational skills and the patience of women. Women are more than half of the population; they also produce and nurture the other half. Women are a critical and valuable resource.

In terms of the Durban Conference, there is international recognition that certain forms of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia are directed against women because of their gender. Examples include sexual violence against women during armed conflict, in detention and in refugee camps, the forced sterilisation of indigenous women and trafficking of women and girls.

The situation of migrant women and girls who had been trafficked have also been highlighted when the double-burden of gender-based and racial discrimination have been discussed.

Gender-based and racial discrimination affect women in contexts, including in relation to domestic violence, the impact of migration laws and in the context of the criminal justice system. With women being unable to access the criminal justice system and being subject to discriminatory policing practices, exacerbated by unsettled immigration status and fear of deportation, multiple disadvantages are created.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am therefore very glad that we are all to spend the next three days as women working out our positions and contribution to the conference on racism, racial discrimination xenophobia and all related intolerances. Without the strong voice of women Durban will not have the desired outcome and follow-up. Women are crucial, not only for the outcome, but also more importantly for the implementation of the programme of action.

The Senegalese poet and artist, Mrs Annette Mbaye Derneville, said, "The central role of a woman in social life is a fact of culture. She is the link, which holds together both the life of the family and of society. She is the source of production and of the exchange of social and cultural values. By her will alone she can be the source of change and of revolution or, on the other hand, she can be responsible for stagnation and retreat."

This is very true. With the full participation of women; the continent will indeed experience a social, cultural and economic revolution. Without their participation, it will sink deeper and deeper into an economic crisis, conflict and war as we are experiencing it today.

Mobilisation of women makes all this relevant to their day to day lives. They are the power.

We all have a responsibility, individually and collectively, in making the 21st century the African century. We owe it to the future generations and to those who liberated us. Of importance to us is the task that lies ahead of continuing to deal with Draft Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right on the Right of Women in Africa. To this end the Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights in Tripoli, Libya, met for two weeks of deliberations on broad human rights issues, especially relating to Africa. The NGO Declaration that was adopted at the above conference states, among others, the internal and cross border conflicts, refugees, internally displaced persons, poverty etc. point to the seriousness of this matter. This is a step in the right direction as we work towards the Protocol on Rights of Women.

We are truly of this continent and with no other home but Africa, we know that through our collective efforts, women, men and children, we will win. We know that the continent has had its setbacks, but we also know it to be true that the continent is slowly slouching towards her rebirth.

The success of the African Renaissance is intrinsically interwoven with the emancipation of African women. This is an African century; it is a hundred years in which the African woman has to be in the front line of the struggle for the renewal of our motherland. Surely as the day follows the night, so shall the cold and dark past of Africa make way for a brighter tomorrow?

Returning to your eminent son on this issue, Sheik Anta Diop ,who said, "The African who has understood us is the one who, after reading of our works, would have felt a birth in himself, of another person, impelled by an historical conscience, a true creator, a Promethean carrier of a new civilisation and perfectly aware of what the whole earth owes to his ancestral genius in all domains of science, culture and religion."

Women who have given so magnanimously to the well-being of humanity deserve the front-line role in our army for the African Renaissance.

We are confident that the African continent, which is the cradle of humanity, will rise to this challenge. The collective will of our ancestors saw the end to this slavery, we decolonised and liberated our entire continent and we defeated and destroyed the apartheid system.

The 21st century has to be an African century. Therefore the fight against racism, xenophobia and the elimination of conflict is critical. The creation of a non-sexist continent is a pre-requisite to the success of the continent. These struggles have to be fought both by men and women, side-by-side. The continent cannot claim the 21st century until the women are truly liberated.

We all have a responsibility, individually and collectively, in making this 21st century the African century. We owe it to the future generations and to those who liberated us.

Contact: Ms B Thokoane at 09221 820 15 15 (ROOM 561), Dakar, Senegal, 083 443 7740

Issued by Department of Foreign Affairs

19 June 2001