RE: Womens Economic Rights> COMMUNIQUE

["majadhun" <majadhun@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear people: I am the director of the Commonwealth human rights initiative
and write to ask how I can get in touch with the convenor of this
conference. I would like to offer a brand new report on economic and social
and cultural rights in the Commonwealth which we have produced. It has very
practical materials on how to adopt a rights based approach and would go
very well with the conference you are having. We also have an office in
Ghana which would be very interested in presenting at this meeting. Please
do let me hear from you.

Maja Daruwala
Director
COMMONWEALTH HUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVE
F1/12A, Hauz Khas Enclave,
New Delhi 110016

Home Email: majadhun@xxxxxxxx
Office Email:  chriall@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Home  Tel:  (91-11)6868961 or 6861193
Home Fax:  (91-11)6861193
Office   Tel:  (91-11)6864678 or 6859823
Office Fax:   (91-11)6864688
Website:       www.humanrightsinitiative.org

 -----Original Message-----
From:   womenseconomicrights-conference-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:womenseconomicrights-conference-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx]  On Behalf Of
jjowa@xxxxxxxxxxx
Sent:   Thursday, September 27, 2001 3:59 PM
To:     womenseconomicrights-conference@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject:        Womens Economic Rights> COMMUNIQUE

Dear Participants,
Please find below the communique for your vetting.

COMMUNIQUE OF THE 1ST NIGERIA INTERNET INTERACTIVE
CONFERENCE ON THE ECONOMIC RIGHTS OF NIGERIAN WOMEN
FROM 9TH AUGUST-8TH SEPTEMBER, 2001.

The Workshop was funded by World Bank Country Office,
Nigeria.

The Theme of the Conference was on the Economic Rights
of Nigerian Women

The Conference Objectives were:-

1. To sensitize Nigerian national institutions - the
Presidency, National Assembly, State Governments,
National and State Planning Commissions, Federal Office
of Statistics, Local Governments, Organised Private
Sector (OPS), Industries and Corporations, Federal and
State Ministries, Federal and State Owned Corporations
on the Economic Rights of Nigerian women.

2. To map out strategies for gender mainstreaming in
the implementation of the National Poverty Eradication
Programme (NAPEP).

3. To form a lobby group for ACTION on the
implementation of Women's Economic Rights in all
aspects of national development policies and programmes.

The following papers were presented:

1.   THE ECONOMIC RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN NIGERIA - from
rhetoric to action - MRS. NOGI IMOUKHUEDE - Lawyer and
Project Co-ordinator of Women's Rights Watch Nigeria.

2.   MICRO-CREDIT AS A TOOL FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION OF
NIGERIAN WOMEN - OUR EXPERIENCE - MR. GODWIN
EHIGIAMUSOE - Co-ordinator, Lift above Poverty
Organisation (LAPO).

Participants were made up of 220 national NGOs and
international organisations.  Being an interactive
internet conference participants delibrated issues
online and made contributions to the conference theme.
At the end of the conference participants made the
following observations and recommendations:

1. The conditions of Nigerian women remain critical
especially in:
   a. The increasing burden of poverty;
   b. limited access to education;
   c. violence against women;
   d. limited participation in decision making;
   e. persistent discrimination and violation of
      women's and girls rights.

2. Women perform multiple roles as mothers, producers,
home managers, community organisers, social and
cultural leaders.  These demands, coupled with the
limited opportunities available to them in our society
have further impoverished them.
WHEREFORE the conference declares that:-
a. poor women are disadvantaged and do not benefit from
   the services of formal financial institutions.
b. That the poor are not necessarily lazy.
c. That the socio-economic situation of the poor would
   improve if credit is added to support their physical
   labour and skills.
d. That poverty is reinforced by factors such as large
   family size, malnutrition, ignorance, diseases and
   social injustice.
e. Small groups have tremendous influence on
   co-operating individuals.

3. Declares that the poor and unheard constitute the
bulk of marginal workers in the informal economy and
most of these are women.  Women workers have to cope
with an unfair share of domestic chores in the care
economy - cooking, water fetching, child bearing and
rearing, wood fetching, care of the aged and the sick,
with no national welfare scheme or support. This unfair
economic arrangement disempowers women.

4. The conference believes that micro-credit is a vital
tool for economic empowerment which is crucial to
poverty alleviation.

5. The conference emphasizes that there is an absolute
need for various levels of the Nigerian Government
collaborating with the NGOs, CBOs and Civil Society
Organisations in the implementation of its programmes
and policies.  The conference states that NGOs and CBOs
being peoples organisations can be effective structures
for the implementation of NAPEP.

This could be realised by NGOs acting as:
a. On-lending institutions;
b. Mobilization agents;
c. Monitoring agents.

6. The conference declares that the strenghts of micro
finance includes:
i. Exclusive focus on the worst victims of poverty and;
ii. Flexibility of its delivery structures and
processes.

7. Declares that there is a gender gap in Nigeria,
where women lag behind men in all socio-economic
indices.  That the Federal Government of Nigeria
through her policies and programmes should close the
gap by gender mainstreaming of all legislations,
policies and programmes.  It is a strategy for making
womens as well as men's concerns and experiences an
integral part of the design, implementation, monitoring
and evaluation of the policies and programmes, in all
political, economic and societal spheres so that women
and men can benefit equally and inequality is not
perpetuated.  The ultimate goal is to achieve gender
equality.

8. The conference declares that the Federal Office of
Statistics (FOS) must have a gender perspective in all
data processed into statistics which is vital for
national planning, monitoring and evaluation.

9. The conference lauds Nigeria's rich cultural
heritage but declares that culture is dynamic and is
subject to change.  The conference declares that all
cultural practices like Punitive Widowhood Rites, Forcd
Marriages, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)e.t.c
discriminate against women and are a violation of their
Fundamental Human Rights as enshrined in the 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Furthermore the conference declares that all customary
laws that prevent inheritance of women are a violation
of their economic rights and stunts national
development.

10. The conference recommends that education of the
girl child is the key to economic and intellectual
empowerment of the Nigerian woman.  Education frees a
person from poverty, ignorance, preventable disease,
suppression and oppression.
The conference lauds the Universal Basic Education
Programme of the Federal Government of Nigeria of free
and compulsory education for all children.  This is in
consonance with the UN Convention on the rights of the
child.  The conference joins all other groups in
asserting that Education and Health should top the
priority items in National Planning and 2002 Budget.

11. The conference announces the formation of the
Nigerian Women Economic Rights Monitoring Group, a
pressure group to monitor the formulation and
implementation of the Nigerian Government policies and
programmes as it affects Nigerian women.

Its mandate is to:-

a. To sensitize our national institutions on the
importance of gender mainstreaming in order to bridge
the gender gap in Nigeria and achieve gender equality
and equity.

b. To monitor the formulation of Governments
legislations, policies and programmes to ensure that a
gender perspctive is always included.

c. To monitor the Nigerian Government implementation of
their policies and programmes so that women benefit
equally as men and gender inequality is not
perpectuated.

d.  To sensitize the Nigerian public on gender issues
in order to cause an attitudianl change from gender
perspective of the Nigerian women to gender equality
and equity in Nigeria.

12.  The conference declares that all customary laws
that prevent inheritance of women are a violation of
their human and economic rights and militates against
national development.

Thanks
MRS. NOGI IMOUKHUEDE
FOR COMMUNIQUE DRAFTING COMMITTEE.
---
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