Four Women’s Associations submit progress report to the Commission
February, 2012
The Tigray, Amhara, Oromia and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Regional States’ (SNNPRS) regional women’s Associations; said in their progress reports submitted to the Commission that they were working aggressively to put and end to the various mal practices prevalent in their respective regions which include among other things, FGM, early marriage, mingi (killing of a baby if it first grows upper teeth instead of the lower one) and trafficking in women.
According to the progress report of the Amhara Women’s Association; the association had been able to organize several awareness creating trainings in selected zones for 141 heads of the Association and 75,390 residents at kebele level on international human rights principles and mechanisms of combating mal practices in the region. It has also managed to establish human rights and gender clubs at 12 schools with the mission of acquainting students with the adverse consequences of traditional harmful practices and the essence of human rights.
The SNNPRS’ Women’s Association’s report on its part has said it has been providing trainings of trainers on ways of curbing pervasive harmful practices that have been notorious for violating human rights in the region to members of the said Association drawn from 23 kebeles of Sidama Zone, regional and zonal governmental officials, and justice bodies. According to the report, the Association had also organized training on combating mingi for officials of South Omo, Gamogofa, Walayita and Derashe Zones where the practice is severe.
Oromia Women’s Association has also reportedly making efforts to sensitize the region’s government officials on putting an end to the ever growing practice of trafficking in women in the region. To such an effect, it has organized trainings to 523 officials drawn from members of the State Council, concerned regional executive organs of the State, heads of town administrators, justice bodies and other concerned participants drawn from 18 woredas (districts).
The Association has also organized a conference on the same subject matter at those districts where such problems have been relatively higher which wound up in the region’s executive bodies preparing “Regional Action Plan for Combating Trafficking in Women”.
The Tigray Women’s Association was also said to have organized trainings on ways of tackling harmful practices for leaders of the Association drawn from 35 districts of all the seven zones in the region. What is more, the Association was able to use existing development organizations’ facility to reach out to the grass root.
These four associations have received from the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission a sum of 1,000,000 (one million) Birr in order to assist them in their efforts to cut back harmful practices and related issues and their present reports have been part of the agreement to do so in view of the execution of 33% of the financial assistance they received from the commission.