2019: UNwomen, IPAC launch task team on implementation of charter of democracy

Fri, Nov 2, 2018 | By publisher


Politics

UNWomen , Women in Politics Forum and the Inter-party Advisory Committee (IPAC) have set up a Task Team to monitor the implementation of Women Charter of Democracy by political parties ahead of the 2019 elections.

Inaugurating the team on Friday in Abuja, the IPAC Chairman, Mr Peter Ameh, said a meeting was held earlier with UNWomen for political parties to discuss matters on promoting women political participation.

Ameh said that two major outcomes were adopted by the meeting.

“These were adoption of the charter of demands for political parties to support women’s participation in 2019 general elections and establishment of a Task-Team for implementation of charter of demands.

“Specific responsibilities of the task team will include supporting IPAC to monitor and follow up gender considerations in political Parties and other electoral spheres as electoral processes unfold toward the 2019 general elections.

“This is with regards to promoting women’s political participation and the team will also review overall progress of the implementation of signed charter demands on women’s participation by political parties.

“Review and evaluate implementation and give recommendations on addressing challenges and strategies to improve the performance by political parties,’’ he said.

The chairman said that the team was also expected to explore and enhance specific activities and areas of cooperation of promotion of women’s participation and representation by political parties.

He said that it would also serve as a platform for further dialogue and consensus-building within political parties and enhance coordination between various entities on women’s political empowerment and leadership.

“I request that members of the committee take this job seriously to ensure that the confidence we all have in them will lead to better and greater women participation at all levels, ” he said.

Ameh said that it was too early for Nigeria as a nation to have collective amnesia on the huge contributions of women to her democratic leadership and development.

This, he said, was because women had proven themselves in the area of management and governance through past engagement in government and management positions.

He said that everyone benefited when women fully participated in economic and political decision making because women stood as a formidable unit of nation building.

Ameh urged stakeholders to synergise to support women to attain positions they had not been able to take full advantage of due to certain obvious natural and artificial barriers.

UN Women Nigeria Country Representative, Ms Comfort Lamptey, said that Nigeria was a party to a number of international and regional gender equality instruments and the country had also adopted a National Gender Policy.

Lamptey, however, said that implementation of the policy instruments and other initiatives including the women’s manifesto championed by the Nigerian women had not resulted into equality of participation and representation between women and men.

“We as UNWomen stand and remain committed to support the government and the women of Nigeria to translate many of the commitment made into implementation.

“This is to enhance the development agenda because we at UNWomen know that if we have more women in politics it enhances development.

“So, apart from the commitment that Nigeria made we also have a lot of things to do to promote women because the reality of the Nigerian situation is a call for concern.’’

This ,Lamptey said, was because Nigeria was one of the countries with the lowest number of women representation and participation in political structures in the African region.

She said that this undermined the role of Nigeria as a leader in the region.

She said that the power of women lay in their votes and urged them to use their number to demand for inclusion in political offices.

Lamptey said that the UNWomen would continue to support and advocate for the inclusion of women in politics and governance in Nigeria. (NAN)

– Nov. 2, 2018 @ 16:45 GMT |

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