Faith Actors in Africa Recommend Gender Justice, Child Protection Laws to Curb Violence

Leaders of different faith organizations who attended the launch in Kenya’s capital Nairobi also resolved to build partnerships with research institutions and academia in order to strengthen the availability of evidence on the gender implications of health emergencies.

This, the leaders said, would help to inform gender-sensitive and responsive advocacy and programmatic interventions.

The faith-based organizations also resolved to convene religious institutions analysis of religious norms that propagate cycles of violence against women and children and to ensure that faith-based organizations are part of the referral pathways towards ensuring access to SGBV and child protection services throughout the health crisis and beyond.

It was noted at the launch that donors were shying away from supporting AACC and other faith organizations for what was described as their indirect role in promoting gender injustice.

“The donor community does not see religious leaders and actors as partners because of their belief in religious and cultural ideologies that indirectly contribute to violence against women and child abuse,” AACC officials note in the statement shared with ACI Africa. 

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Additionally, it was observed that women and children do not see churches as safe spaces whenever they go through injustices and violence.

Explaining the reluctance, AACC official say, “Churches and faith-based organizations are sometimes part of the power dynamics that perpetuate oppression and violence against women and children by upholding patriarchal norms and violent masculinities.”  

The faith-based leaders further highlighted the lack of consensus among religious actors on Sexual Reproductive Health issues affecting women and girls as one of the factors contributing to the laxity by the churches to curb SGBV. Such lack of consensus, they said, include sex education and use of contraceptives.

The position of many religious leaders toward harmful cultures such as child marriage and FGM are potentially shaped by the patriarchal cultures – and the faith actors lack spaces to influentially interrogate the retrogressive cultures, AACC observed. 

The religious actors and leaders at the conference therefore committed to collaborate with organizations and agencies that foster gender justice and children protection on all levels to increase religious leaders’ ability in ending SGBV and child abuse.

They also found it important to ensure that faith actors and their grassroots partners are updated on the existing SGBV referral pathways and are able to disseminate the same to facilitate access to SGBV services throughout the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.

“The faith actors need to ensure that the church owned health centers offer services and provide competencies to render a comprehensive response to sexual violence and its consequences,” the leaders resolved in their statement, and added, “This should include, counselling, shelters, hotlines, prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections such HIV, and provide pregnancy-related care for women and girls.”

They also expressed a commitment to ensuring that excluded women and girls including those from remote communities, disabled, displaced persons, migrants, refugees, and others have equal access to SGBV prevention and response during the health crisis.

The leaders resolved to discourage “out of court” settlements, which they said, continue to undermine justice and “re-victimize” SGBV survivors.

In a keynote address during the launch, the President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Dr. Samson Olasupo Ayokunle urged faith-based actors who attended the launch in Kenya’s capital to apply the principles of the Bible in dealing with the issues of gender injustice and child protection.

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“It is often said charity begins at home. The first and the right place for faith actors to begin to take action on Gender Justice and Child Protection is the church,” Rev.  Olasupo said in a statement that was Presented by Rev. Dr. Samuel Aderemi Olaleye Friday, November 27.

Rev. Olasupo urged faith actors on the continent to work with the leadership of the church to ensure gender equality and protection for children are practiced in the church.

Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.