Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

The Agony of African Women: Why Are They Crying?

Aminatou Haidar of the Western Sahara has been on hunger strike for three weeks to protest her treatment by the governments of Spain and Morocco. The people of the former Spanish colony have been fighting for independence over thirty years.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

The agony of African Women: Why are they crying?

Thursday, November 25th, 2010

Action needed to stop acts of violence against women.

Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. On paper, women suffer series of violence; at first glance we do not have a criminal justice system that should protect African women and girls from violence.

Violence against women touches Uganda just as it does every other African nations. Gender-based violence is a global pandemic that cuts across all borders – ethnic, racial, class, religious and educational level.

Violence against women impedes economic development, threatens peace and prosperity, and inhibits full participation in civic life. For every woman who has been beaten in her own home, for the millions of women who have been raped as a weapon of war most especially in DR Congo, for every girl who has been attacked on her way to school, (South Africa) for all of the children – girls and boys – who have witnessed this brutality, for more than 3,000 accused witches, mostly women, live in Ghana’s six witch camps in unenviable conditions, we must do better.

We must stand up to the impunity that often leaves the most egregious perpetrators unaccountable for their crimes. We must redress the poor status of women and girls around the world which renders them undervalued and vulnerable.

On this International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, In-depth Africa join with the world community in calling for an end to these abuses.

- Olu Abejide for In-depth Africa.