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Instruments of the AU
(k) recognise and enforce the right of salaried women to the same
allowances and entitlements as those granted to salaried men for their
spouses and children;
(l) recognise that both parents bear the primary responsibility for the
upbringing and development of children and that this is a social function for
which the state and the private sector have secondary responsibility;
(m) take effective legislative and administrative measures to prevent the
exploitation and abuse of women in advertising and pornography.
Article 14: Health and reproductive rights
1.
States parties shall ensure that the right to health of women, including
sexual and reproductive health is respected and promoted. This includes:
(a) the right to control their fertility;
(b) the right to decide whether to have children, the number of children
and the spacing of children;
(c) the right to choose any method of contraception;
(d) the right to self-protection and to be protected against sexually
transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS;
(e) the right to be informed on one’s health status and on the health status
of one’s partner, particularly if affected with sexually transmitted infections,
including HIV/AIDS, in accordance with internationally recognised standards
and best practices;
(f) the right to have family planning education.
2.
States parties shall take all appropriate measures to:
(a) provide adequate, affordable and accessible health services, including
information, education and communication programmes to women especially
those in rural areas;
(b) establish and strengthen existing pre-natal, delivery and post-natal
health and nutritional services for women during pregnancy and while they
are breast-feeding;
(c) protect the reproductive rights of women by authorising medical
abortion in cases of sexual assault, rape, incest, and where the continued
pregnancy endangers the mental and physical health of the mother or the life
of the mother or the foetus.
Article 15: Right to food security
States parties shall ensure that women have the right to nutritious and
adequate food. In this regard, they shall take appropriate measures to:
(a) provide women with access to clean drinking water, sources of domestic
fuel, land, and the means of producing nutritious food;
(b) establish adequate systems of supply and storage to ensure food
security.
Article 16: Right to adequate housing
Women shall have the right to equal access to housing and to acceptable living
conditions in a healthy environment. To ensure this right, states parties shall
grant to women, whatever their marital status, access to adequate housing.
Article 17: Right to positive cultural context
1.
Women shall have the right to live in a positive cultural context and to
participate at all levels in the determination of cultural policies.
2.
States parties shall take all appropriate measures to enhance the
participation of women in the formulation of cultural policies at all levels.