Declaration pronounced in Dakar, January 24, 2025.
On January 12, 2025, Senegal woke up with sad news: a 9 -year -old girl living in Joal, a rape victim committed by an adult in charge of her education, awaited a child.
This case is preceded by rape facts denounced in March 2023 by 27 girls living in the Diourbel region, aged 6 to 15.
This resurgence of violence against women and children was highlighted by the ANSD who, in November 2024, on the occasion of International Day for the elimination of violence against women, published a report On the situation of violence against women. This report indicates that 31.9 % of women aged 15 and over underwent at least one form of violence (physical, psychological, sexual or economic) in the past 12 months. In addition, 17.3% of women aged 15 and over said they had been victims of sexual violence outside union at least once in their lives.
Relative to victims of sexual violence, in 2022, the association of Senegalese lawyers was able to note that, out of 331 victims of rapes identified, 43 % were between 4 and 14 years old. In addition, between 2016 and 2017, the Dakar infant and family guidance center identified 97 cases of rape followed by pregnancy, with an average age of 11, only in the Dakar region.
It is in this context of multiplication of violence against women and girls that the International Human Rights Federation (FIDH), in partnership with the AJS and in close collaboration with its member organizations, Raddho, LSDH and Ondh, in December 2023 conducted a mission of documentation on sexual violence and the application of the Maputo protocol ratified by Senegal in 2004.
This documentation mission gave birth to the report entitled “Double penalty: the survivors of rape and incest forced to continue their pregnancy in Senegal” which analyzes the obstacles to the legalization of medical abortion in the event of incest or rape in Senegal and provides recommendations for the authorities to comply with their commitments in matters of women’s rights.
It appears from this report that, each year, in our country, more than 30,000 women and girls risk their lives and their freedom by abortionally abortion. Clandestine abortion is one of the main causes of maternal deaths in Senegal and women who have recourse, when they survive, run up to two years’ imprisonment. In 2024, 11% of the prison population concerned the facts of abortion and infanticide, it is the second cause of incarceration of women and girls. Following the dissemination of this report in September 2024, and in consideration of the new political alternation, the FIDH, its member organizations (LSDH, ONDH, RADDHO) and the AJS wished to meet the new authorities to present the conclusions of the report to them And make them aware of the need to enforce the Maputo protocol to help the medical management of our women and our daughters of rape or incest followed by pregnancy.
In conclusion to the mission of advocacy which ends today, the FIDH, its three member organizations in Senegal -LSDH, ONDH and Radddho-, as well as their longtime partner the AJS, ask the Senegalese government:
-– to take the legislative and judicial arrangements necessary for better protection of women and girls victims of physical, sexual, psychological, economic violence;
– to set up an effective system of legal and judicial assistance of victims of rape and incest, in particular by the establishment of a legal assistance service specifically dedicated to their support;
– to take the legislative measures necessary for the compliance of national provisions to the commitments made in 2004 by the Senegalese State by unreservedly ratifying the Maputo Protocol whose article 14 provides for access to medical abortion to the victims of rape and incest, or when the life or health of the mother or the fetus are in danger;
– to ensure the effectiveness of the application of sentences pronounced against the perpetrators of violence against women and girls.
The FIDH and its member organizations (LSDH, ONDH, RADDHO), in partnership with AJS, greet militants with remarkable courage who continue their fight for the legalization of medical abortion in Senegal in the event of incest or rape and fight for the universality of the rights of women and girls despite the many threats and attacks against them.
In 2025, it is urgent that the government is expressed on the subject, guaranteed compliance with the rule of law and conducts concrete actions for the promotion and better protection of women’s rights.
Senegal owes it to little girls and women in the country. He engaged there 20 years ago.
