African Union – ACHPR- 35th session – Banjul – may 2004 RESOLUTION ON THE SITUATION OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN AFRICA The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights during its 35th ordinary session held from 21st May to 4th June 2004 in Banjul, The Gambia, Considering the provisions of the UN Convention on the elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women and other regional and international human rights treaties relating to the rights of women; Recalling that the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union adopted the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa at its 2nd Ordinary Session held in July 2003 in Maputo, Mozambique; Noting that the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child entered into force on 29th November 1989; Noting further that the 11 Members of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child were elected by OAU Member States at the 37th Ordinary Session of the OAU Assembly of Heads of States and Governments held in Lusaka, Zambia in July 2001; Considering that the situation of the women and children in Africa needs to be thoroughly addressed; Considering that women and children are victims of multiple human rights violations; Considering deportation, slavery, child trafficking and the proliferation of street children in some countries of our continent; Considering the persistence of traditional practices that are harmful to women and children in some African countries (“talibes” children and genital mutilation); Concerned about widespread poverty among women and the stigmatization of women and children with HIV/AIDS; 1. Urges member states of the African Union to ratify the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa in order to facilitate its entry into force;