(ThyBlackMan.com) The women working in Addis-Abeba (Ethiopia) in the Africa Union Commission Headquarters are not happy at all. Since the beginning of the year 2018, a collective of 37 of them officially wrote and sent 2 memorandums to the African Union Chairperson, Mr Moussa Faki. Effects of #MeeToo Campaign? They complain about discrimination based on gender accusing Mr Smail Chergui, Algerian head of “peace and security” department to not allow women to have access to some high level responsibility positions.
In January 25th 2018, they signed a first memo in which they described a very dark situation of treatment to women in the institution. “Neglected in having better positions”, “dismissed without explanation”, “victim of daily discrimination”, “professional apartheid” are the words they used in the letters the South African journal Mail&Guardian could receive from a diplomatic source. They clearly expressed so “We, female employees of the AU Commission,
are totally appalled by the entrenchment of professional apartheid against female employees in the commission”, “Morale across the commission, especially among us female employees, is at its lowest and will continue to fall down for lack of remedy in sight”.
In a second memo in February 14th, signed by 5 human resources department managers, they added more critics as “sexism”, “toxic”, “a particular men club”, “a poisonous situation” in the department, which is “too male-heavy in the upper layers”, “There was a regular dismiss of the high graduated women of the institution, the elders were dismissed”, “This practice by the [peace and security] commissioner of job reservations in favour of his preferred male persons, which excludes and humiliates females, should be abolished once and for all. It should be made a crime in the AU.”
Chergui is accused of abusing his powers to select his preferred candidates for positions, interfering recruitment process “The commissioner habitually single-handedly reviewed the shortlists, changing the listing order, removing some names and [adding] others, and the process became endless … his actions and lack of upholding legality have brought a key department almost to its knees”. Chergui has reacted denying all the accusations to him.
He worried about a man he claimed to be the source of these accusations, a man who has not been chosen for an independent panel to recruit one department new head. Chergui said via Twitter “It is an invention by someone who is not member of the commission. That has nothing to see with gender discrimination”. He declared his support to gender equality “@AU_Chergui My sister @AUBinetaDiop and I explored options to advance the #women, peace and security agenda in #Africa”.
Ebba Kalondo is Faki’s spokesperson. He responded to a journalist “While I cannot comment on the contents or veracity of the internal correspondence you refer to, the African Union Commission chairperson has a zero tolerance to any form of harassment. Gender equality and the empowerment of women within the organization is a key commitment underpinned [by], amongst other things, the January 2018 heads of state summit which decided to set a target for gender parity within all levels of the organization by 2025. Every allegation by anybody anywhere within the organization is taken seriously and is thoroughly investigated. And each allegation is a reminder that much work remains to be done to ensure equal rights in the workplace”.
The collective revealed that the rising of Madam Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as the first women Head of the institution was a good sign congratulated by the experts but unfortunately the discrimination against women did not change inside despite of the theme of “ decade 2010-2020 dedicated to gender equality in the African Union”. Mr Kwesi Quartey, the deputy president of the African Union apologized to the women and promised an investigation about the case. Considered as one of the most involved personality in the gender equality, The Rwanda head of state, President Paul Kagame now President-in-office of the AU was contacted by the collective to find a solution.
Source: http://www.africtelegraph.com and http://www.africanews.com
Staff Writer; Abu-Jahlil Astrid Chacha
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