3.0 A Situation Analysis of Violence Against Women in Africa
3.1 A representative of the UN Women to Ethiopia, African Union and United
Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) gave a general overview of
violence against Women and Girls in Africa. The Post 2015 Development Agenda is
proposing four priority development outcomes as follows:a) Structural Economic transformation and inclusive growth;
b) Innovation and technology transfer;
c) Human development; and
d) Financial partnerships.
3.2 The Africa position paper emphasises that in order to achieve these development
outcomes, there are development enablers which should be given priority and one of
them is gender equality and women's development with specific focus on eradicating
violence against women and children; eradicating harmful traditional practices such as
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and early marriage; and eliminating gender based
discrimination in political and decision-making processes. Protecting the human rights
of all citizens, including universal and equitable access to quality health care with
special focus on vulnerable groups including children, the youth, people with
disabilities, people living with HIV and AIDS, have also been given prominence in
the future that Africa wants for its citizens.
3.3 Statistics reflecting the magnitude of violence against women and girls were
provided and they reflected that this is a pandemic of serious proportions in Africa,
taking various forms, often reflecting political, social, cultural, political and economic
diversities of our societies, cutting across borders, race, class, ethnicity and religion.
3.4 However, the emphasis of the presentations was not about statistics, but on what
you can DO to reduce the statics, i.e. TIME FOR ACTION. It was also not about
legislating and adopting policies against violence, but about taking concrete action to
implement national legislation and regional and international instruments pertaining to
gender based violence. It is about appreciating efforts to break the silence and raise
the visibility and profile of Violence against Women and Girls at the continental,
regional and national levels.
4.0 Causes of Violence
4.1 One of the presentations highlighted the fact that Gender-Based Violence (GBV)
in Africa, as elsewhere in the world, is a complex issue that has its roots in the
structural inequalities between men and women which perpetuates the power struggles
between men and women, girls and boys. The analysis goes on to say that women's
subordinate status to men in many societies, coupled with a general acceptance of
interpersonal violence as a means of resolving conflict, renders women
disproportionately vulnerable to violence from all levels of society. UN Declaration
on the Elimination of Violence against Women (1993).
4.2 During armed conflict, sexual violence is more prevalent as it is used by armed
groups and soldiers to torture civilians, extract information, proffer small arms and
light weapons, abduct girls and women as sex slaves and sometimes train them as
combatants.