AU chairperson urged to help enforce rights protocol

Newly-elected Chairperson of the African Union Commission Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has been urged to encourage member-states to sign up to the protocol on the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.Susana Aryeetey, Director of Mobilization and Communication at the Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA-Ghana), told Xinhua in an interview Tuesday that it was necessary to ensure the protection of the rights of African women.“The AU has been championing human rights in a big way and I expect to see her (Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma) encouraging African countries to implement human rights and principles and also be able to sanction leaders who abuse human rights in their countries to serve as a deterrent to future leaders,” she stressed.Describing the Charter as a progressive instrument, Aryeetey called on Dlamini-Zuma to push other African countries to ratify the charter and implement same to safeguard the rights of women on the continent.“In many African countries, women, especially rural women, who form the majority of the African population, do not have the right to own land and that is something we really have to look at,” she said.“We should allow women to be able to access and own land because it actually helps to improve their livelihoods.” she added.The African Charter is a regional human rights instrument designed to reflect the history, values, traditions, and development of Africa.The Charter combines African values with international norms by not only promoting internationally recognized individual rights, but by also proclaiming collective rights and individual duties.The Protocol was adopted by the Second Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the AU on July 11, 2003, in Maputo, Mozambique, and entered into force on November 25, 2005.