Consultations by African Religious Leaders and Women of Faith Recognize DPAC and Call for Advocacy on Issues Affecting Children.

African Religious Leaders and Women of Faith from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zambia gathered at Nairobi Safari Club in Nairobi, Kenya on 19-21 November 2010 under the auspices of the African Council of Religious Leaders — Religions for Peace (ACRL—RfP) to define and discuss their role in Peace Building, Conflict Transformation and the Millennium Development Goals’ (MDGs) implementation in Africa.

The Religious Leaders and Women of Faith called on their members to mobilize  different religious communities to continue confronting  issues related to violation of children’s rights particularly children in conflict situations; intensify advocacy for the formulation and enforcement of laws that combat practices that violate children’s rights such as Female Genital Mutilation/Circumcision (FGM/C); take advantage of existing international, continental, regional and national forums to advocate for children related issues like the day of Prayer and Action for Children (DPAC) which is celebrated every 20^th of November (to mark the UN Convention on the Rights of Children ) and continue to strengthen networking among religious structures at all levels on issues affecting children.

The religious leaders also called for the strengthening of existing collaborations between religious leaders at national and community level and the propagation of interfaith approaches to interventions in Africa and the incorporation of Peace and Conflict Transformation approaches into the education system.

The consultative forum was attended by among others Prof Abdulghafur El Busaidy, the chairman of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims, Sister Mariah Udorah ifechukuwu a member of the coordinating committee of the African Women of Faith Network (AWFN) and Dr Mustafa Ali the Secretary General, African Council of Religious Leaders.