Panafrican News Agency

UN demands Cape Verde' gives priority to gender equality

Praia, Cape Verde (PANA) - The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has recommended that the Cape Verde Government give priority consideration to gender equality, PANA learned on Friday from reliable sources in Praia.
 

The Committee also asked the government to "create a separate entity, fully authorized and adequately resourced" to address these issues in the country, the sources said.
 

According to the final recommendations on Cape Verde, issued this week in Geneva, Switzerland, CEDAW should have the necessary conditions "to be able to coordinate and monitor" the implementation in the country of the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of discrimination against women.
 

Cape Verde's compliance with this international treaty was evaluated between 1 and 13 July in Geneva, during sessions at which the country presented and defended the 9th periodic report - 2013-2017.
 

The report issued by the Committee recommended that the Cape Verdean authorities increase public awareness on the issue, particularly for women in rural and urban areas, as well as women immigrants.
 

One of the concerns of the Committee in the context of access to justice, is the lack of legal training in respect of human rights as provided for in the Convention.
 

Trials in gender-based discrimination cases are not easily accessible to the public and there is no mechanism within the judiciary to receive complaints of gender-based discrimination, experts warn.
 

The Committee was also concerned that the data on judicial cases collected by higher judicial authorities "do not specify the characteristics of the victim or the perpetrator, such as gender among other variables".
 

These data would make it possible to analyze cases of discrimination or violence against women.
 

The report indicates that prosecutors receive an average of 2,500 complaints a year for violence against women in Cape Verde.
 

"In 2018, the eight gender cases involved women who had left their partner," says the document.
 

The CEDAW report also regrets the high prevalence of child sexual abuse cases in the archipelago, with girls representing 95% of the victims.
 

The document also draws attention to the practice of unmarried couples, which leads to child marriage, which "affects girls up to the age of 12", so that experts call for more public education programs about the negative effects of discriminatory stereotypes and these practices.

-0- PANA CS/DD/CJB/IS/KND/VAO 26July2019