February 11th 2011, at the World Social Forum, Dakar, Senegal
In this year, 2011, the World Social Forum joins with the peoples of Africa for the third time, following Mali in 2006 and Kenya in 2007.
We, women from different parts of the world who have gathered in Dakar, recognize that uniting our strengths will eventually bring change.
We commit to strengthening resistance everywhere against systems that exploit and exclude.
We name our struggles for income, food, an environment that can support us and a social order in which we work together to solve these crises.
As women, we call for the world’s dominant economic model to be changed because it is a system that generates increased poverty for people and in particular for women.
As women, we struggle for respect for and defence of the principles of justice, peace and solidarity.
We therefore commit to building alternatives. We cannot accept that attempts to maintain the current system are made at the expense of women.
We say no to intolerance, to the persecution of sexual diversity and to cultural practices that undermine the health, body and soul of women.
We condemn all kinds of violence against women, in particular, femicide, the trafficking of women, forced prostitution, physical violence, sexual harassment, genital mutilation, early marriage, forced marriage, rape, rape used as a systematic weapon of war, and impunity for those who commit these acts of horror against women.
We say no to a society that scorns the rights of women by not allowing them access to resources, land, credit, and employment in dignified conditions.
We say no to the purchase of weapons which use resources that should be invested in social, health and educational programs.
We say no to armed conflicts, wars and occupations. We say YES to a just peace for oppressed peoples.
We condemn a society that excludes women from access to knowledge and education, and where women are marginalized and discriminated against in decision-making.
We commit to strengthening our struggles for economic, political and cultural sovereignty of our nations.
We want the cancellation of odious and illegitimate debts.
We want a citizen’s audit that allows for people to be compensated.
We also demand the effective implementation of the Tobin tax.
We demand food sovereignty for peoples and the consumption of local products.
We demand the right to use our traditional seeds and to have access to land and productive resources.
We want a world where men and women have the same rights, the same opportunities to access knowledge, primary and higher education, literacy and decision-making positions, and the same rights to work and fair salaries.
We want a world in which states invest in the health of women and our children with a special focus on maternal health.
We demand the ratification and effective implementation of all international agreements, in particular, International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions 156 and 183.
We demand access to information.
We stand together with all women victimised by war, political oppression and natural disasters.
We stand in solidarity with the millions of women and children refugees and displaced persons.
We recognize all the struggles of all the women in the world and see their demands as ours: what happens to one of us happens to all of us. This is why we commit to standing together to attain these objectives.