Despite the law criminalizing it, rape takes on alarming proportions in Senegal with its lot of consequences including pregnancy. In the latest ANSD report, we note that a little more than 30% victims of violence against women are minors under the age of 16. Yesterday, the International Human Rights Federation invited the State to respect its commitment, 20 years ago, to authorize medical abortion in the event of incest or rape.
Cases of rape and incest have become recurrent in Senegal. On January 12, the country woke up in shock with the case of a 9 -year -old girl living in Joal raped by her Koranic master who should send her knowledge and guide her on the right way.
More dramatic, rape was followed by a pregnancy endangering the little girl. Long before, in March 2023, the Senegalese were already in the stir and the consternation with a rape case on 27 girls aged 6 to 15 living in the Diourbel region by a Koranic master. A phenomenon that is gaining momentum with victims who bring the consequences of these atrocities for life.
Yesterday, the International Human Rights Federation held a meeting to invite the State to react to this scourge that women live and to respect its commitment to allow medical abortion in the event of incest or rape.
She said that this resurgence of violence against women and children is highlighted by the ANSD which, last November, on the occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Violence with regard to Women, had published a report on the situation of violence against women. The document 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, continues this human rights association, 17.3% of women aged 15 and over said they had been victims of sexual violence outside the union at least once in their lives …
More than 30,000 women use clandestine abortion
Even children under the age of five do not escape it. In 2022, the Association of Senegalese lawyers was able to note that, out of 331 victims of rapes identified, the 43% were between 4 and 14 years old. In this wake, between 2016 and 2017, the Dakar infant and family guidance center counted 97 cases of rape followed by pregnancy, with an average age of 11 years, 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 Association of Senegalese lawyers (AJS) and in close collaboration with member organizations, Raddho , the LSDH and ONDH, led, in December 2023, a mission of documentation on sexual violence and the application of the Maputo protocol ratified by Senegal in 2004.
-The vice-president of ONDH, Fatou Habibatou Samb, to recall that the State signed and ratified the Maputo Protocol before emphasizing that the new regime, which speaks of rupture with its slogan “Jub-Jubbal-Jubbiketi”, should respect his commitment to support the girls who suffer these atrocities.
“If only for young girls who, in the morning, leave their house and their parents to go to school, are sexually assaulted along the way and are often forced to suspend their schooling and follow a pregnancy at risk In their lives, the State must be able to respect its commitments, ”argued the human rights defender.
She argued that this documentation mission gave birth to the report entitled “Double penalty: the survivors of rape and incest constraints to continue their pregnancy in Senegal”. The document analyzes obstacles to the legalization of medical abortion in case of incest or rape and provides recommendations. She continues that it emerges from this report that, each year, more than 30,000 women and girls risk their lives and freedom by abortionally abortion.
Present at the meeting, the consultant lawyer Ndèye Oulimata Sène said that in the document, it is clearly indicated that clandestine abortion is one of the main causes of maternal deaths in Senegal and that women have recourse, when they survive , put up to two years’ imprisonment. In 2024, 11% of the prison population concerned the facts of abortion and infanticide. “This is the second cause of incarceration of women and girls,” said project manager at the Association of Senegalese lawyers.
She added that following the dissemination of this report, last September, 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 for their Present the conclusions of the report and make them aware of the need to apply the Maputo protocol to help medical care for women and girls victims of rape or incest followed by pregnancy.
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