Incidents linked to GBV in Mali rose by 57 pct between January, August
Bamako, Mali (PANA) - Incidents linked to gender-based violence (GBV) recorded in Mali between January and August 2019 rose by 57 percent, compared with the same period last year, official sources told PANA here Thursday.
This year, 2,143 cases, 98 percent of them involving women and girls, were reported by the information management system linked to GBV, according to the representative of TrustAfrica, Cheickna Siby, main consultant of a survey carried out by the NGO in the Malian regions of Mopti (centre), Koulikoro (north-east) and Bamako district.
This was revealed during a session to present the results of that survey at a workshop held on Tuesday in Bamako.
According to the consultant, the secondary data gathered from several services showed 470 GBV incidents, including 100 percent of women and girls, adding that in Mali, 9 percent of women and girls were victims or survivors of gender-based violence.
Siby deplored the non-availability and accessibility of services to respond to violence against women, adding that despite the multiplication of initiatives, 54 percent of the national territory was deprived of appropriate services in this area.
According to him, all communities of the visited localities think, without exception, that GBV, whether inside or outside the family, has serious psychological, physical and social consequences.
The survey showed that in three Malian circles, Mopti, Kati and the Bamako district, women were more and more victims of violence, especially inside their families.
“There are sociocultural and economic barriers that weigh on the happiness of women: that is to say Malian cultural realities (contempt to women, women submission, and men’s superiority compared to women, men’s jealousy, and women marginalization), illiteracy and poverty of communities and the lack of economic activities for women,” the survey said.
Trusafrica carried out the survey with a concern to identify the need to strengthen efforts made to prevent and eradicate gender-based violence.
The workshop was held within the framework of a two-year project which objective is to deal with gender-based violence as a persisting obstacle to the empowerment of francophone women in West Africa, particularly in Mali, Senegal and Burkina Faso.
TrustAfrica identified a need to strengthen efforts to prevent and eradicate gender-based violence and to invest in it through the change of social norms, research, technical assistance and capacity building.
At the end of the workshop, local and national actors unanimously agreed that women were facing several difficulties such as being sidelined by men or making them inferior to men.
To eradicate GBV, Siby recommended the inclusion of female social movements and women’s rights groups into civil society.
He also called for measures to improve the legislative, political and social environment to conform with international conventions, particularly through the withdrawal of discriminatory practices, application of existing laws and the adoption of the new law on gender, policies and strategies favorable to the protection and promotion of women’s rights.
-0- PANA GT/TBM/MSA/RA 24Oct2019
