Since its establishment in 2006, gender equality is a fundamental principle of the International Conference
on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR). In the founding document of the ICGLR, the Dar es Salaam Declaration
on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region, heads of ICGLR governments and states of
the Republic of Angola, Republic of Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Rwanda, Republic of South Sudan, Republic of
the Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania, Republic of Uganda, and the Republic of Zambia commit to “(a)
dopt deliberate policies and mechanisms for promoting gender equality at all levels and in all sectors, at the
national and regional levels, in accordance with the Millennium Declaration, Resolution 1325 (2000), of
the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), of the African
Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, additional protocols on the rights of Women in Africa, the Beijing
Plan of Action and the African Union’s Declaration on Gender Equality”.