5 questions to Matrine Chuulu - regional Coordinator of Women and Law in
Southern Africa (WLSA), based in Zambia
What are the obstacles which you meet as a woman in your fight for
women's rights?
There are many violations of women's rights here in Southern Africa and
the struggle is very hard. At times, you even feel your life is threatened,
especially when you work on cases that are linked to the government. This is
very stressful and sometimes you feel like dropping everything. But we cannot
give up. We have made some progress: there are more and more institutions and
laws to protect women. But there is still a very- long way to go in terms of
enforcement.
Why are you engaged in the campaign " Africa for women's rights –
Ratify and respect! "?
We chose to get involved in the Campaign because we are the people that
are on the ground. We experience women's rights violations in our every day
life. We have all these instruments on women's rights but they are not
implemented, so something needs to be done. This campaign will enable us to
have more impact to get these instruments enforced.
What do you think are the priorities in Southern Africa to improve
respect for women's rights? What key demands would you make to the President of
Zambia (Rupiah Banda), as regional Coordinator of WLSA, and as a
woman?
One of our main priorities is to stop violence against women. We are
particularly preoccupied with the issue of human trafficking. We are currently
leading a campaign to raise people's awareness about this problem, because we
anticipate that things will get worse during the World Cup next year. We want
to protect women and children from sexual exploitation during this period. We
have made preliminary investigations and we know that women have already been
taken from Zimbabwe to South Africa to work in the sex industry, as
prostitutes. We also know that lodges and hotels are advertising women to their
clients who are planning to come for the World Cup. We also work to
prevent violations of women's economic rights, to make sure that they have the
necessary resources to provide for themselves. If I met our President, I would
ask him to increase efforts to empower women economically, so that they are
able to support themselves. Currently, women are forced to depend on their
husbands and when they are abused they have no escape. I would also call for
more centres to be built to provide refuge for women victims of violence and
increased efforts to ensure women's access to justice.
If you could change a one thing (a law, a policy, a practice) for
the women in Zambia, what would it be?
We would like Zambia to pass a law on domestic violence. We are pushing
for that right now. We also need to put an end to negative customary laws, in
order to stop violations such as early marriage and genital
mutilation.
See the Red Light 2010
Campaign website against human trafficking exploitation and abuse of women
and children in Southern Africa.
