The African Network of Women Shelters Call to Action

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.