Quote of the Day
“To build a world of justice, we must be just.”
— Dag Hammarskjöld
Hammarskjöld said these words in a United Nations Radio address at the end of 1953.
There is an uncomfortable simplicity to them.
We often speak about justice as something governments, courts or international organisations must deliver. And they certainly have that responsibility. But Hammarskjöld turns the question towards us too.
It is easy to demand fairness when we are the ones being treated unfairly. The harder test comes when fairness benefits somebody we dislike. When the person being silenced holds an opinion we strongly oppose. When accountability reaches our political side, our family, our community or someone we admire.
Justice cannot mean one thing when we are hurt and another when somebody else is.
Perhaps that is where the work begins: not with asking whether we believe in justice, but whether we are prepared to practise it consistently.
Quote source: United Nations — Dag Hammarskjöld: The UN Years
Did You Know?
Africa now has a continental treaty specifically dedicated to ending violence against women and girls—but adopting a treaty is only the beginning.
In February 2025, African Union leaders adopted the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls, known as AU-CEVAWG. The AU describes it as a continental legal instrument intended to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls in both public and private life.
That sounds like the end of a long fight.
It isn’t.
For the Convention to enter into force, 15 countries must ratify it. The African Commission reported on August 17, 2026 that Ghana had become only the second AU member state to ratify it, after The Gambia.
That distinction matters.
Governments can gather in a room, agree that violence against women must end and sign an impressive document. But a woman being beaten in her home does not experience a declaration. A girl threatened with sexual violence does not experience a communiqué. A survivor trying to report abuse experiences the police station, the hospital, the court, her family and the community around her.
This is where international commitments meet ordinary life.
The African Union itself has acknowledged the gap. Its roadmap focuses not only on ratification, but on prevention, survivor protection, prosecution and putting the Convention into practice.
Africa has written another promise.
The question now is whether governments will turn that promise into something a woman can actually feel when she needs protection.
Sources
- African Union — Adoption of the Convention
- African Commission — Ghana’s August 2026 ratification
- African Union — Implementation and ratification roadmap
- United Nations — Dag Hammarskjöld: The UN Years
When should a continental promise be judged: when leaders sign it, or when the person who needs protection can actually rely on it? Continue the conversation in the Gender-Based Violence & Women’s Rights room →
Leave a comment