Taking on violence against women in Africa
International norms, local activism start to alter laws, attitudes
By Mary Kimani
 |
Kenyan
women demonstrate against rape in Darfur, Sudan: Violence against
women is becoming an increasingly public issue across Africa. |
The incident was not unusual in Africa. In December 1998 a Kenyan police officer, Felix Nthiwa Munayo, got home late and demanded meat for his dinner. There was none in the house. Enraged, he beat his wife, Betty Kavata. Paralyzed and brain-damaged, Ms. Kavata died five months later, on her 28th birthday.
But unlike many such cases, Ms. Kavata’s death did not pass in silence. The Kenyan media covered the story extensively. Images of the fatally injured woman and news of her death generated nationwide debate on domestic violence. There followed five years of protests, demonstrations and lobbying by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as by outraged men and parliamentarians. Finally, the government passed a family protection bill criminalizing wife-beating and other forms of domestic violence.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), violence affects millions of women in Africa. In a 2005 study on women’s health and domestic violence, the WHO found that 50 per cent of women in Tanzania and 71 per cent of women in Ethiopia’s rural areas reported beatings or other forms of violence by husbands or other intimate partners.
In South Africa, reports Amnesty International, about one woman is killed by her husband or boyfriend every six hours. In Zimbabwe, six out of 10 murder cases tried in the Harare High Court in 1998 were related to domestic violence. In Kenya, the attorney general’s office reported in 2003 that domestic violence accounted for 47 per cent of all homicides.
‘No boundaries’
Domestic violence is a global problem. In Europe, estimates the WHO, violence in the home is the primary cause of injury and death for women aged 16–44, more lethal than road accidents or cancer. Indeed, “violence against women,” said then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1999, “knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth. It is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation.” And, he added, it is “perhaps the most pervasive.”
Violence against women goes beyond beatings. It includes forced marriage, dowry-related violence, marital rape, sexual harassment, intimidation at work and in educational institutions, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, forced sterilization, trafficking and forced prostitution.
Such practices cause trauma, injuries and death. Female genital cutting, for example, is a common cultural practice in parts of Africa. Yet it can cause “bleeding and infection, urinary incontinence, difficulties with childbirth and even death,” reports the WHO. The organization estimates that 130 million girls have undergone the procedure globally and 2 million are at risk each year, despite international agreements banning the practice.
Sexual violence is another problem. A local organization in Zaria, Nigeria, found that 16 per cent of patients with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) were girls under the age of five, a sign of sexual assault. In the single year 1990, the Genito-Urinary Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe, treated more than 900 girls under 12 for STDs. Such assaults, observes a WHO publication, put “African women and girls at higher risk of sexually transmitted diseases [including HIV/AIDS] than men and boys.”
There is more on this at the link below it will make you proud to be an American and want to keep your daughters close and hug them more often.
http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol21no2/212-violence-aganist-women.html
I don't have any daughters, but I understand what you are saying.
Young boys have it rough there too. I watched a film, can't think of the name right now, but the young men/boys were killed right away, and if they weren't, they were tortured, then killed. Then they would rape, torture, and many times kill the women.
This hurts my heart...I wish more people were aware of this....ones that actually care. I have met too many people that are aware, but they don't care, I feel myself getting hot just thinking about some of their comments.
It's not the victims who have died who have so much pain it is the ones who live that have to live with it everyday.They are not using you everyday war tactics they are using inhuman torture on women and children and leaving them maimed and with STD'S or disfigured and with life long mental and physical scares that can't be erased.
This is terrible, no question. And I think typical war tactics are just as horrible. People come back from war maimed, tortured, its never a good thing. I can't think of anything that justifies it. Especially in a 'modern' world. You'd think we could find a better way to deal with conflict by now....Even how to deal with those who DO use violence, how to fight back without killing ppl. ...Who knows? And it's always the poor, women, and children who really feel the brunt of any kind of war.
This is so heartbreaking and I wish the world would do something to intervene and stop this. I get ill hearing about this kind of thing and what goes on there. Just can't understand why more people are either not aware of it or just don't seem to care. It's so wrong.
Awareness and outrage along with passing this on to others is a good start.Then maybe we can gather to help in someway to help all involved
If any one lives in the San Diego area...
http://www.mrdsd.org/Default.htm
| Whoever kills a person without his being guilty of murder or of creating unrest in the land is as though he kills the whole of mankind. And whoever saves a person it is as though he saved the whole of mankind. (Quran 5:32) |
The Greatest Humanitarian Tragedy in Decades. Muslims are dying while the world merely watches...
The Crisis in Darfur Sponsored by
The San Diego Chapter of Muslims Rescuing Darfur
Presentations by Cable TV Talk show host and the Imam of the Masjidul Taqwa Br. Adam Jeffers
Advisor, Muslim Students Association, San Diego State University And Human Rights Activist
Judgment on Genocide: The International Citizens' Tribunal for Sudan |
Everything in Darfur needs to be stopped. Its HORRIBLE over there. And its so sad because there are SO many people who do not care. This is a new s/n for me, a lot of nosey people getting into my business, I had to change it. But I made a lot of posts about Darfur & it might have got 10 replies, the majority saying forget them, we need to take care of ourselves. I made a group for Darfur & had like 2 members. So sad. :(
I wish I could go... But I'm up in Seattle.
Quoting tericared:
If any one lives in the San Diego area...
http://www.mrdsd.org/Default.htm
FREE EVENT!The Crisis in Darfur
1:00pm - 3:00pmSunday, December 17, 2006
Masjidul Taqwa2575 Imperial AvenueSan Diego, CA 92101
For more info: (619) 871-0524or (858) 722-3075
DIRECTIONS from ICSDTake I-805 SOUTHTake I-8 WESTTAKE I-5 SOUTHGet off on EXIT 15ALEFT on IMPERIAL AVEAfter 25TH STREETMasjid is on your rightNext to the Police Station
Whoever kills a person without his being guilty of murder or of creating unrest in the land is as though he kills the whole of mankind. And whoever saves a person it is as though he saved the whole of mankind. (Quran 5:32)
The Greatest Humanitarian Tragedy in Decades. Muslims are dying while the world merely watches...
The Crisis in Darfur
Sponsored byThe San Diego Chapter of Muslims Rescuing Darfur
Presentations by
Cable TV Talk show host and the Imam of the Masjidul Taqwa
Br. Adam JeffersAdvisor, Muslim Students Association, San Diego State University
And
Human Rights ActivistJudgment on Genocide: The International Citizens' Tribunal for Sudan
Here is another site with some great articles about the British Muslims on Darfur..On the right side of the page are more links to check out...
KHARTOUM — In what is being described as the first Muslim political peace initiative for peace in Darfur, a British Muslim delegation is sponsoring a grassroots initiative for peace in the troubled region.
Everyone in here seems eager to help and check my other post (The war no one is talking about) more supporters there. Here are ways to help them out,.what a great holiday for them.
www.savedarfur.org/
www.wfp.org
www.dec.org.uk.
www.msf.org
- www.oxfam.org.uk
- www.savethechildren.org
www.care.org
www.medair.org/en_portal/index.php
Quoting lovinmykiddo07:Everything in Darfur needs to be stopped. Its HORRIBLE over there. And its so sad because there are SO many people who do not care. This is a new s/n for me, a lot of nosey people getting into my business, I had to change it. But I made a lot of posts about Darfur & it might have got 10 replies, the majority saying forget them, we need to take care of ourselves. I made a group for Darfur & had like 2 members. So sad. :(
Pruitt Proposes New Rule Defining What Science Can Be Used By EPA
- cowgirlsr2
on Nov. 16, 2009 at 2:13 AM