Parliament to ratify AU Convention on Ending Violence Against Women this year
President John Dramani Mahama has said Parliament would this year ratify the AU Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (AUCEVAWG) to protect the Ghanaian girl child and offer equal opportunity to young girls and women.
The AUCEVAWG, a comprehensive legal instrument for the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls on the continent, was adopted in February last year at the 38th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government.
Speaking at a High-Level Breakfast Meeting on Financing and Reaffirming Africa's Gender Commitments, a side event at the 39th AU Summit yesterday, Friday, February 13, 2026, President Mahama lamented the slow progress by AU member states in ratifying the convention.
“In February 2025, this Assembly adopted the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls, a historic step, and yet progress has been slow.
“Ghana has signed the convention and we've initiated steps to ratify it.
This session of our Parliament is going to ratify the convention. I urge all member states to sign and ratify this convention before the end of 2026,” he said
The President said members states could not afford delays, stressing that the violence against women and girls had a great economic impact on the continent.
“Violence against women and girls is not only a moral outrage. It is an economic catastrophe costing Africa billions annually in health care, lost productivity and justice expenditures, while devastating families and communities,” he said.
Ratifications
President Mahama, who is also the AU Champion on Gender and Development Issues, stressed that the ratification of the continental instrument would be a clear declaration that violence against women had no place in the Ghanaian and African societies in general.
He stated that the AU instruments on gender were not merely gender frameworks, but cornerstones of Africa's human rights and development architecture, adding that, “frameworks matter, but political will matters more”.
The President urged nine member states yet to ratify the Maputo Protocol, an AU human rights instrument legally guaranteeing wide-ranging rights for women, without delay, with 46 member states already adopting the instrument adopted in 2003.
Gender focused initiatives
The President touted the gender focused initiatives of the nation in the education and economic sector aimed at reenforcing the country’s effort in achieving gender equality.
“We've achieved gender parity in school enrolment and improved completion rates for girls. In our 2026 budget, we allocated GH₵401 million, which is almost equivalent to over $40 million, to capitalise the Women's Development Bank.
“The largest such allocation targeted at expanding affordable credit, financial literacy, and enterprise support for women, particularly those in the informal and vulnerable employment,” he said.
“We instituted the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty League, the school feeding programme, free sanitary pads for school girls and free tertiary education for persons with disabilities.
“Parliament has also enacted the Affirmative Action Gender Equity Act of 2024, setting binding targets for women's representation at 30 per cent by 2026, 35 per cent by 2028, and 50 per cent by 2030. This requires dedicated budgetary allocations for gender programmes,” he said.
Gender index, advocacy
The President affirmed that while the African Gender Index score of 0.505 reminded the continent of the long way ahead, it also reinforced the urgency of sustained collective action.
“At a time of global uncertainty, economic shocks, climate crisis, conflict and growing resistance to gender equality, Africa must stand firm. Gender equality is non-negotiable,” he said.
The President called for a strong political leadership and advocacy, resource mobilisation, policy coherence, accountability and monitoring as well as partnership and collaboration.
He urged all African Heads of States and Governments to, by 2028, adopt a gender-responsive budgeting with a defined minimum allocation for gender equality.
“Let us commit to urgent certification and implementation of the AU Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls, supported by costed national action plans.
“Let us raise financial and economic inclusion to ensure women and our youth to enjoy equal access to finance, assets, markets, decent work and economic decision-making.
Let us convene a high-level stock-taking summit to publicly report on our progress, reinforce accountability and celebrate our success stories,” the President said.
