PROTOCOL ON GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT
PREAMBLE
We, the Heads of State or Government of:
The Republic of Angola
The Republic of Botswana
The Democratic Republic of Congo
The Kingdom of Lesotho
The Republic of Madagascar
The Republic of Malawi
The Republic of Mauritius
The Republic of Mozambique
The Republic of Namibia
The Republic of South Africa
The Kingdom of Swaziland
The United Republic of Tanzania
The Republic of Zambia
The Republic of Zimbabwe
CONVINCED that the integration and mainstreaming of gender issues into the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) Programme of Action and
Community Building Initiatives is key to the sustainable development of the
SADC region;
NOTING that Member States undertook, in the SADC Treaty (Article 6(2)), not
to discriminate against any person on the grounds of, inter alia, sex or gender;
NOTING further that all SADC Member States are convinced that gender
equality and equity is a fundamental human right and are committed to gender
equality and equity and have signed and ratified or acceded to the United
Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women;
RECALLING that Member States reaffirmed their commitment to the Nairobi
Forward Looking Strategies (1985); Convention on the Rights of the Child
(1989); the Africa Platform of Action; the Beijing Declaration and its Platform
for Action (1995); and United Nations Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and
Security (2000); and resolved, through the SADC Declaration on Gender and
Development (1997) and its Addendum on the Prevention and Eradication of
Violence Against Women and Children (1998); to ensure the elimination of all
gender inequalities in the region and the promotion of the full and equal
enjoyment of rights;
TAKING COGNISANCE of the decision on gender parity taken at the
inaugural session of the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and
Government in July 2002 in Durban, South Africa, and the adoption of the
Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of