Yesterday inside the San Patrignano community took place the first day of the Positive Economy Forum organized to discuss issues of positive economics. After dinner Bineta Diop dedicated a speech to the guys/girls in the program, which saw the founder and President of “Femmes Afrique Solidarité” and Time magazine, in 2011, of the 100 most influential people in the world at her best. « I’m happy about the transformations that are taking place in San Patrignano and proud of your invitation ».
About the role and status of women in Africa, Bineta says: «Unfortunately still in many countries women are considered second class citizens, they are denied many basic human rights. This despite being the backbone of the society».
The Special Envoy of the President of the African Union Commission for women’s peace and security has, then listed the reasons that led to the founding “Femmes Afrique Solidarité”: “I had a conventional education. My mother instilled in me good family values and ethics and in light of what I have learned, I suffered a lot and I still suffer because of the status of a women in Africa “.
It’s a lot the battles that Bineta cotinueses to take on: “I was guided by a mentor, a man, a human rights activist, I followed him all over the world: in countries devistated like Rwanda, Liberia, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where there is still fighting. In these territories what the women have to go through because of the war and their bodies, through the rape and the exploitation, it is used as a tool to destroy the whole fabric of society. Africa is rich, has mineral resources, land and water, but there is no human development. For this you need to change the paradigm, putting pressure on Governments to change the laws and help to prevent it. We did it in Liberia as a vital role in the peace process. Only in this way and by transforming education, will you be able to eliminate the corruption and combat the ignorance that accepts such practices and stop inflation. I met girls abducted and raped by Boko Haram, the Islamic fundamentalist group that terrorizes Nigeria, and when I asked them what they wanted from the future they have all expressed the firm intention to continue studying».
Bineta Diop, talking about the relationship between man and woman, she concluded: “the transformation cannot take place without the involvement of men, because it is they who have the strength to make it possible. We need to dialogue because they know deep inside what are our aspirations and needs. Over the next 50 years, the African continent can be at peace and prosperous and civilized development of the populations will contribute to the wealth of the whole world».