A three-day meeting held in Kigali involving women of 11 countries from the African Network of Women Shelters (ANWS) called for action to women’s rights violence.
The eleven countries include Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Cameroon, Liberia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the host Rwanda.
Under the theme, “Women’s Safe spaces: To strengthen and uphold women and their families’ dignity”, the call-to-action urges governments, the civil society and aid agencies to their roles in ensuring relevant policies against gender based violence and violence against women are in place and their their implimentation on ground, as well as to ensure the availability to women’s shelters and safe spaces across Africa.
Participants visited the Kigali clinic of Hope and the Village of Hope to witness achievements made by Rwanda Women Network and shared differents stories of their countries regarding abuses of women’s rights but acknoledged that there is a progress in Africa as far as women now talk.
They realised that culture is still a barrier for many as they cannot change it.
The ANWS is an affiliate of the Global Network of Women Shelters (GNWS) which was founded in 2009 to united and strengthen the women’s shelter movement globally to make change to end violence against women and their children.
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