A men’s conference in the Democratic Republic of Congo was called by former Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi and the head of the AU Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat on Thursday 25th November, to assess the success of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) since coming into effect in 2005. 

Member States of the African Union adopted the Maputo Protocol to advance and safeguard the rights of women and girls across the continent, however Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) is rampant and was exacerbated under COVID-19.

To date, 42 countries have signed and ratified the Maputo Protocol. 

BBC reports that this conference results in a new AU campaign - the so-called Kinshasa declaration - which aims to help member states build their own positive masculinity campaigns, asserting that “involving men leaders to engage other men can make a key contribution in changing attitudes and in transforming structural and institutional inequalities that contribute to VAWG.”

Positive masculinity is about promoting a healthier and emotionally aware view of what it means to be a man in an effort to stop harmful attitudes.

Thirteen member states have yet to ratify the Maputo Protocol on ending violence against women and girls - they are: Botswana, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.