RECENT EVENTS & ACTIVITIES

June 28-29, 2004

National Discussion on Sharia and Women’s Human Rights in Nigeria

BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights organized this two-day meeting in Abuja with participants from different parts of the country and resource persons from both within and outside the country.

The objectives of the National Discussion were as follows:

• To follow up on earlier discussions and programmes on the issue of women’s human rights
• To correct the wrong notion that women’s human rights cannot be discussed in relation to sharia in particular and religion in general
• To promote and protect the rights of women under the present dispensation of Sharia
• To create the necessary atmosphere for discourse on women’s human rights

1st Session: Woman’s Human Rights and Sharia Implementation in Nigeria by  Mufuliat Fijabi and Aisha Lawal BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights

2nd Session: Islam, Human Rights and Child Marriage by Hameed Agberemi, Centre for the Social Study of Islam in Nigeria

Session 3: Dress Code – The Malaysian Experience by Masjalisa Hamza, Sisters in Islam

Session 4: Hudud and Women’s Human Rights Dr Farid Esack University Professor and ERS Chair, Ethics/Religion & Society, Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH.

Session 5: Divorce: An Issue for Women in Nigeria by Sherifat Hussein-Abubakar,College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies, Ilorin, Kwara State.                    

Session 6: Child Custody by Fatima Seedat, South Africa

Session 7: An Overview of the Judicial Sector and the Challenges of Sharia Implementation by Justice Abdul Mutalib Ambali, Sharia Court of Appeal, Ilorin, Kwara State.

 Seasoned Discussants did a summary of each paper at the end of each presentation. Time was also set aside for discussing some of the issues raised in the presentation. The discussions centered on several issues. The key learning points are as follows:

• That women’s human rights should continue to be discussed against the background of Sharia implementation in Nigeria
• That in implementing Sharia there should be guarantee for the protection and promotion of women’s human rights
• That women should be involved in the planning and implementation of programmes that affect them
• That a number of women are vulnerable to a lot of injustice resulting from the lack of access to justice and the inexperience of some of the judicial officers especially at the lower courts
• That conservative interpretation of the sources of laws generally affects the attitude of the society to women
• That women and children are a vulnerable group and as such issues relating to them should be treated with the attention it deserves.
• That more of this type of forum should be created for further discussion and strategic planning for the way forward.

The two-day discussion ended with a call on the government to step up action on the promotion and protection of women’s human rights under the systems of laws operational in Nigeria.

May 13, 2004

BAOBAB organizes one-day workshop for female Journalists

BAOBAB For Women’s Human Rights on May 13^th 2004 organised a one-day workshop for female journalists on "Reporting Human Rights from a Gender Perspective". The workshop, which took place in BAOBAB’s conference room, had twenty-two journalists from different media houses in Lagos in attendance. The objectives of organizing this workshop were: to contribute to the empowerment of women in the media, to improve on the working relationship between BAOBAB and the media and to see how we can assist journalists in writing gender-balanced stories.

The one-day workshop focused on understanding human rights and the concept of gender. Some Newspaper articles were identified and examined from a gender perspective with emphasis on the need to pay attention to the use of language in order to avoid discriminatory words. The discussion also recognized the need to write balanced stories that do not appear discriminatory against any sex.

A session was also devoted to a look at some of the international instruments which Nigeria has signed and ratified. This includes the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women. The need to domesticate these instruments was restated.

At the end of the workshop participants expressed their appreciation to BAOBAB for organizing this type of workshop and emphasized the need to organize more, stressing that other NGOs should also organize similar workshops to improve the capacity of journalist. Emphasis was also laid on the importance of making information available to the media on various developments in the area of women’s human rights in particular and human rights in general.

 May 6 & 7 2004

BAOBAB organized a two day evaluation workshop for grass root women. It was aimed at evaluating what they learnt at the leadership training they had attended and how they put their vision into action. The evaluation workshop helped us to know if we should strategize or not.

  March and April 2004

Gender and Leadership training – Between March and April 2004, three (3) leadership training workshops were organized in Zaria and Ife for women in the informal sector and postgraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife.

The aim of the leadership training programme is to develop culturally sensitive and appropriate education and training tools that enhance women’s leadership skills and empower them to participate in decision making process at local, national and global levels.

  March 28-April 4 2004

  The  annual National Outreach Planning Meeting was held in Lagos from March 28-April 4 2004 with two members of the each outreach team in attendance. We ran a full paralegal training as well as e-mail training within this period.  The planning meeting geared towards building the capacity of outreach team members in the use of e-mail/Internet and training of paralegals.

   March 10, 2004

To mark this year’s March 8^th International Women’s Day, BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights and the British Council invited legislators in Lagos State to a one-day workshop on “Domesticating the Principles of CEDAW in Lagos State.” 

The main aim of the workshop was to formulate a framework for the domestication of the principles of the Convention on the Elimination of forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in Nigeria. It was also aimed at working with the Media to create awareness on the importance of CEDAW as a tool for social change in the society.

  February 4 2004

On 4^th February 2004 BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights joined women all over the world to celebrate African Women’s Health and Rights Day, in commemoration of the 10^th Anniversary of International Conference on Population and Development. The theme of the year’s celebration is “I Celebrate Protest Demand – A decade of celebrating progress and reclaiming rights” The day’s celebration was jointly hosted by BAOBAB for Women’s Human’s Rights and Amanitare (African partnership for the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of women and girls – an initiative of RAINBO). Representatives of the media, policy making agencies, educators NGOs and health practitioners, were invited to a workshop to discuss the progress made so far and to deliberate on other issues requiring attention to ensure that by year 2015, the mandate for the programme of action would have been met. The goal of the workshop was to enhance the awareness of the public, health care providers and policy makers on women and their rights to sexual and reproductive health.

February 27 and 28 2004

Kwara state outreach team had a Legal Literacy Workshop on Violence Against Women for grassroots women in Kosubusu, Baruten local government area of Kwara State. It was enlightening, educative and participatory.

January and February 2004

Gender and Leadership training – Between January and February 2004, three (3) leadership training workshops were organized in Zaria and Ife for traditional birth attendants, women in the informal sector and non-academic staff members of Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife.

The aim of the leadership training programme is to develop culturally sensitive and appropriate education and training tools that enhance women’s leadership skills and empower them to participate in decision making process at local, national and global levels.