Amongst the participants was the new United Nations Special Rapporteur for VAW, Rashida Manjoo.

The aim of the conference, hosted by the University of Zambia’s Law Faculty, Amanitare and Masimanyane, was to establish a communication link between the activists and the UN.

 

Participants discussed the laws that related to sexual violence and also revealed the state of VAW from five different regions of the continent.

 

They also analysed the strategies for ending impunity and seeking reparation. The conference gave the activists an opportunity to draft a strategy that will allow them to continuously engage and maintain communication with Manjoo and the UN.

 

According to Masimanyane’s human resources manager, Micky Xanywa, all countries involved in the meeting are said to be experiencing similar women’s rights issues.

“The problems that we face involve the attitudes of the people and the patriarchal society we live in,” she said.

 

Xanywa believes that open communication is the key to overcoming these problems.

“We need to talk openly about issues and communicate with those who will have an impact on them, such as the government,” said Xanywa. “We need to find something common that we can act on so that it can have weight.”

 

Xanywa emphasised the importance for women’s organisations in Africa to work together in order to share ideas.

"We need to form focus groups so that we can learn of solutions from other countries," she said.