Bibeau supports sexual reproductive health, rights

NaijaAgroNet:

The Canadian Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, Marie-Claude Bibeau, has announced funding of up to $20 million to organizations supporting sexual and reproductive health and rights, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Minister revealed this while participating in the She Decides high-level international conference in Brussels, Belgium, saying that Canada’s investment will support five organizations that have a proven track record of delivering results in the area of the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls.

According to her, these organizations must provide critical sexual and reproductive health services and information that advances gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in the developing world.

NaijaAgroNet also gathered that the funding is part of Canada’s comprehensive approach to closing existing gaps in reproductive rights and health care services for women.

Canada, NaijaAgroNet reports, remain committed to supporting access to the full range of sexual and reproductive health services and information.

This includes strengthening national health systems, investing in contraceptives, family planning and comprehensive sexuality education, supporting women’s right to choose safe and legal abortions, and access to post-abortion care.

 “Sexual and reproductive health and rights are human rights. All women have the right to choose whether and when they want to have children, and how many. The empowerment of women and girls everywhere in the world begins with their right to be in control of their bodies,” Bibeau said.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that an estimated about 225 million of the world’s women and girls have an unmet need for modern contraception.

Whereas, NaijaAgroNet reports that maternal mortality is unacceptably high with the global record showed that about 830 women die from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth every day. Just as every year, an estimated 22 million women and girls worldwide put their lives at risk by undergoing unsafe, clandestine abortions.

Nkem Nweke/GEE

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Pix: Claude Bibeau - Canadan minister

Anambra speaker, Rita Maduagwu says property rights for women non-negotiable

NaijaAgroNet:

The Speaker of the Anambra State, House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Barrister Rita Maduagwu, has said that property rights for Nigerian women is no longer negotiable, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Maduagwu in a lecture entitled “Property Rights of Women, Nigerian Perspective,” to the Anambra State Women Association Lagos (ASWAL) at the Colonedes Hotels Ikoyi, Lagos, to mark the 25 years of the association, said that constitutionally, this issue has been taken care of over 17 years.

Rt. Hon Maduagwu also identified cultural inequalities and gender barriers to property rights ‎drawing comparisons in Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa customs.

She cited extant laws to drive home her argument for equal opportunities, and pointed out that the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has abolished most of the discriminations against women.

She further said that the abolition affords Nigerian women to own properties in the country.

NaijaAgroNet notes that Anambra State Women Association Lagos was formed 25 years ago by Anambra women resident in Lagos with the aim of promoting peaceful coexistence among ndi-Anambra,  welfare of the members  to enlighten women on their roles  towards building Anambra State and to help the vulnerable and the poor in the society to name a few.

Ozo Nweke Ozo/GEE

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ActionAid mobilises West Africans for Kilimanjaro standup on land rights

NaijaAgroNet:

A global movement known as ActionAid International is mobilising West Africans from six countries in the region for the Kilimanjaro Initiative Caravan expected to attract some 30,000 women and youth to stand up for Women’s Land Rights, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Disclosing this at a just concluded media training workshop organized by the Africa Media Initiative (AMI) and World Bank in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, the Africa Advocacy Officer, ActionAid International, Mr. Buba Khan, is working on mobilizing an estimated 30,000 women and land activists to participate in the international programme on land rights for women.

He said that ActionAid, a global movement of people working together to further human rights for all and defeat poverty is partnering other stakeholders, like Oxfam to deliver on this.

Also, he said that the nine-month project will see to a global Key Change Promise (KCP) towards boosting women access and control to land and natural resources.

As said by him, people expected to benefit from this initiative include some 300,000 women, youths, activists, artists, ActionAid, media and other partners, while women and youth in six countries are being targeted for wider community impact in specifically six West African countries.

Khan equally said the multi-country Kilimanjaro Initiative involves Senegal, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and Nigeria.

This, he explained is the part of the decentralized actions and events expected to take place in about 16 countries across the continent of Africa, namely Mozambique, South Africa, Congo DRC, Tanzania, Morocco, Tunisia, Kenya, Seychelles, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Togo, Senegal, Nigeria, Namibia and Cameroon.

He used the opportunity to drum media support and participation for the initiative through adequate publicity, which will encourage African women to stand-up for their rights on various issues of social emancipation including land for the rural women farmers.

+Remmy Nweke just back from Abidjan/ED, Ops.

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