The Second Vice President of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), Hon. Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, MP, has called for a transformative approach to ending violence against women and girls, urging African governments and parliaments to move beyond legal reforms and embrace gender-responsive governance, budgeting and public
policy as the foundation for lasting social justice.
Second Vice President of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), Hon. Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, MP speaks at High Level Parliamentary and Multi-Stake-holder Dialogue on AU Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls.Officially opening the High-Level Parliamentary and Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue on the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (AU-CEVAWG), Hon. Agyeman-Rawlings said the newly adopted Convention presents Africa with a historic opportunity to confront one of the continent’s most persistent human rights challenges through decisive political leadership and collective action.
Addressing parliamentarians, ministers, African Union institutions, development partners, civil society organisations and representatives of regional economic communities, the Second Vice President reflected on the growing incidence of femicide and gender-based violence across Africa, describing it as an urgent continental crisis that demands an equally urgent response.
“Behind every statistic is a human life. Behind every headline is a grieving family, shattered dreams and communities left to bear the consequences of violence that should never have occurred.”
She noted that women and girls continue to experience physical, sexual, psychological and
economic violence in homes, communities, conflict situations and political spaces, often perpetrated by individuals known to them and too frequently endured in silence. “The African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls,” she said,
“must become a living continental commitment that ensures no woman or girl lives in fear, every survivor is treated with dignity and compassion, and every perpetrator is held accountable.”
