Pauline
Hello, I'm Pauline Mukanza from the International Gender Champions Secretariat in Geneva. Today I'm delighted to speak to Gender Champion and founder Executive Director of Africa Legal Aid. Evelyn A. Ankumah. Africa Legal Aid is a women-initiated, women-led, and pan-African non-governmental organization based in the Den Haag hub, whose mission is to promote respect and accountability vis-à-vis human rights in Africa. By employing a holistic and inclusive approach to legal aid, AFLA aims to enhance legal awareness and facilitate access of African voices and perspectives when it comes to international justice. Welcome, Evelyn. And thank you very much for taking the time to record this podcast. This year, the IGC Global Board, implemented a network wide core pledge. This is the IGC gender-based violence pledge to stand for zero tolerance of gender-based violence, sexist attitudes and behaviors. You are committed to ensuring that women everywhere including women of color, can come forward with their own stories of gendered violence and discrimination, and give them access to national, regional and international justice to tell their stories. I was wondering if you could please tell us why storytelling is so important and ensuring that those stories are not just told but heard and how we can overcome them.
Evelyn A. Ankumah
Storytelling is a reader or listener, friendly way in which we share experiences to bring them closer to broader public. Storytelling is a means of mainstreaming lived encounters and our perspectives on those encounters. They could be classic gender-based violence, or new forms of violence against women, such as those perpetrated through the mass media, by political actors and the agents, as was my own experience, recounted in my book "Hague girls Part One: Fleeing". Telling us compelling, sensitive story is one thing, being heard is quite another. Traditionally, women and women's stories in particular, have not been heard. In fact, women's stories have been completely overlooked. And partly, because, in many circumstances, women's stories, particularly involving gender violence, whether in the home or on the battlefield, were too difficult to hear. People may not want to hear unfavorable stories about their idols, their heroes, and in some cases, their illustrious friends. But telling those stories can break down barriers, gender barriers, unconscious discrimination against women, Africans, people of color, people who do not bow to societal pressures, or to the powers that be. Another challenge to having our stories heard is a lack of access to established platforms. Oftentimes, what constitutes a compelling story is directed by traditional media. They create the news. But we need not to wait for Oprah, or Netflix, to provide us with a global audience. Start from wherever you are, with your family, rents, community, professional colleagues. Believe that yours is a story that had to be told. And it will stand the test of time.
Pauline
Thank you for that very truthful and compelling answer. And to follow up on that, stigmatization continues to be one challenge in storytelling, and tackling gender discrimination to ensure accountability and change.
Evelyn A. Ankumah
There are so many powerful stories that are not told. It is difficult to tell a story if it means reliving a tragedy, especially involving sexual violence. But the real tragedy is to be silenced. As I have already said, traditionally, women have been silenced. And even today, in many cultures around the world, women are silenced and shamed, because they are victims of sexual violence. The stigma should be on the perpetrator, or perpetrators, not the victim, not the survivor.
Pauline
Thank you for highlighting that very important point, that stigma should not be on the survivor at all. So what can fellow champions do to support societal wide changes so that survivors can feel safe to share their violent experiences? And how can the IGC GBV pledges support these endeavors?
Evelyn A. Ankumah
We must provide safe spaces for survivors to be able to share their experiences. We must offer dignified pathways for victims of heinous crimes to feel empowered. Let me give you an example: Africa Legal Aid has a strong presence in the human rights and international justice landscape. At a session of the assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court held in The Hague, we asked to make a brief statement at the plenary attended by government ministers, high level representatives of inter-governmental organizations, international organizations, and civil societies from all over the world. When the President of the assembly said "I now give the floor to the representative of Africa Legal Aid", I was not the one who walked up on stage. It was 23 year old Fatou Jellow, the former beauty queen who accused former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh of rape and testified against him before Gambia's truth, reconciliation and reparations commission. She told the global audience "My name is to Fatou Jellow, and I am speaking on behalf of African Legal Aid". And then she told her story about her encounter with theformer Gambian leader. This is how she concluded "I would like to be in the same room with Jammeh again. In a courtroom, this time". It was powerful. She got a standing ovation.
Pauline
Now, that's a very powerful, important story as well. Thank you for providing that platform for women who have experienced violence. And so I'm wondering what further obstacles do you see which prevent women's access to national, regional and international justice in the face of human rights violations? Do you have any additional recommendations to strengthen our system and ensure accountability, so that we can strive for change.
Evelyn A. Ankumah
Funding is a key constraint for women-led, especially African women-led, non-governmental organizations doing excellent work. There seems to be an unspoken rule that civil society organizations led by Africans, particularly African women, should work at community levels, and be occasionally given audience at national, regional and international levels by well-resourced groups led by men. This system needs to be reformed, if we are serious about strengthening women's access to national, regional and international justice. And if we are serious about gender equality and parity. In essence, if we are serious about ending discrimination in all its forms, which is often at the heart of human rights violations, we need to examine which voices are being heard, and which voices continue to be largely excluded, and take more than talking action to address it.
Pauline
Indeed, thank you very much for echoing that. We have to go beyond talking actions and take this issue of gender-based violence in the face of human rights violations very seriously. Executive Director Evelyn A. Ankumah, thank you very much for speaking with us today and sharing some insights regarding how to address GBV more effectively, both at an international and personal level.
Evelyn A. Ankumah
Thank you so much for having me.