Within its mandate for advocacy and coordination of UN System and international support for peace, security, human rights and inclusive development in Africa, the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA) places a special emphasis on gender equality and the empowerment of women.
Over the years, African Governments, regional and sub-regional organizations have made significant commitments towards gender equality and women’s empowerment, including through:
- the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003), and
- the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (2004).
Following the adoption of the African Union Gender Policy in 2009, African leaders launched the African Women’s Decade 2010-2020 and the Fund for African Women to accelerate the implementation of all commitments on gender equality and women’s empowerment on the continent.
A Cross-cutting Pillar of Agenda 2063
At the 24th Summit of the African Union , held on 23-31 January 2015 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, African Heads of State and Government adopted Agenda 2063 , the continent’s 50-year structural transformation and development agenda. The Agenda’s sixth Aspiration is:
“An Africa where development is people-driven, unleashing the potential of women and youth”.
Inter alia, it calls for Africa to work towards full gender equality and the empowerment of women in all spheres of life.
In further recognition of the important role of women and girls in driving the achievement of Agenda 2063’s wide-ranging economic, environmental, socio-cultural, political, scientific and technological goals, the Summit declared 2015 “The Year of Women’s Empowerment and Development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063.”