Rights groups decry rising violence against women in Africa
Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - Groups under the banner of Ghana-based ProHumane Afrique International Wednesday expressed "concern and dismay over the rising cases of violent attacks against women" across West African states.
The Accra-based International rights body, along with the Centre for Street Children and Child Trafficking Studies and Kaba Communications, based in the Gambia, and other partners expressed the concern in a statement released as part of commemorations of this year's International Women's Day marked recently.
"Isaac Mensah was recently attacked and stabbed by Daniel Botwe, a 19-year-old motorbike robber in Ghana," the group said in a statement released Wednesday.
"Meanwhile, in Gambia's commercial city of Serre Kunda, three women were violently attacked by robbers who escaped with mobile phones, cash and other belongings of the ladies."
According to the rights groups, the above mentioned incidents in Ghana and The Gambia are just but a few of the many cases of violent strikes by robbers who seem to be on the loose across West African countries. "Therefore, we, the rights groups and allies strongly urge our governments and their security agencies, particularly the police, to step up more efforts and do more towards fighting rising crimes.
"We believe that this ugly and unholy forces need to be checked against and caged forthwith. Such dangerous criminal elements should have no place or space in our modern civilized societies," the statement added.
As such, they reminded governments within the sub-region and beyond of their constitutional responsibilities of ensuring security and safety of all people living in their respective countries.
"Furthermore, we urge governments and their respective security agencies, especially the police, to double up efforts towards arresting the phenomenal menace of robbers.
"We will like to stress that all governments have sublime duty to provide adequate security/safety needs of the people they are supposed to serve. "This, we emphasize, our governments must see as their solemn responsibility and so be responsive to the collective security needs of all classes of people at all times," the statement said.
-0-PANA MLJ/RA 16March2022.
