Africa Legal Aid:
Breaking the Silence, Commemorating International Day on Elimination of Violence against Women

As part of its on-going Gender Justice Campaign, and to commemorate International Day on the Elimination of Violence against Women, Africa Legal Aid will convene a Gender Forum from 24-25 November at the Peace Palace in The Hague. Breaking the Silence has been chosen as the main theme of the Forum to emphasize undertreated and unrecognized areas of Gender Violence emphasizing the African perspective. The Forum will raise awareness on the need to expand the list of offenses that constitute Gender Crimes to include those that are of real and practical significance to women in Africa in particular, and to promote accountability and end impunity for violence against women in all its forms. View program

Documentaries on Gender Violence

The Forum will feature two documentaries- Sutura and Fascinalaa - of the Sene-Gambian Producer Mariama Khan. Viewing of both documentaries will be followed by a panel discussion and a discussion with the public. Mariama Khan’s first documentary film with subtitle: ‘What Judges need to know about Rape and Justice in Senegal’ premiered in November 2008. The film features the voices of rape victims, lawyers, activists, and psychologists, all on crimes of sexual violence. It is a documentation of the Know Your Rights ‘community dialogue’ program. One is struck by how 50% of a population in a relatively peaceful country, live in terror of Rape, not in times of war, but during peace time.
Khan’s latest documentary film Fascinalaa or Unholy Vows treats divorce as one of the hardly discussed forms of gender based violence. It depicts the prevalence, manner, nature and impacts of divorce as a means of violence against women in Senegalese society. The film explores issues of domestic violence, economic violence, psychological violence, child custody and how women live with the impacts of these forms of violence, especially in a situation where men abuse the religiously sanctioned possibility of polygamy.

African Perspectives on Gender Justice

What is the African Perspective, or rather, what isn’t in view of the disproportionately high number of cases on international justice and gender violence originating from Africa? This
is paradoxical. On the one hand the progressive jurisprudence and lessons on gender justice become part of Africa’s contribution to international criminal law. On the other hand it reinforces views and perceptions that Africans are targets rather than participants of international justice. Discussions on African perspectives will address the crime of forced marriage, crimes of an economic nature, as well as structural and widespread gendered crimes committed during peace time.

Human Trafficking and Gender Violence

The Forum theme on Gender Trafficking will highlight the old problem of human trafficking, dating back to slavery. More specifically, trafficking of African women to the West, and why this phenomenon should be treated not only as a form of exploitation but also as a contemporary form of slavery: another tool of violence against women of Africa and other less developed nations. Gender trafficking as a social phenomenon is hardly discussed in debates on Gender Violence. The discussion is often limited to criminality of prostitution and illegal migration. It is time to break the silence and open up the debate on Gender Trafficking!

Marginalized and Undertreated forms of Violence against Women

The discussion on marginalized and undertreated forms of violence against women will address gender based discrimination and violence that are seemingly contemporary in nature but substantively, the offenses are as old as humankind. They include violence against women in sports, gendered forms of violence perpetrated through the media including those of a sexual nature.

Nightmare of Media Rape

The Forum concludes with a Reading by Gender Scholar and Advocate, Dr. Pinkie Mekgwe, on Nightmare of Media Rape. Citing examples from Zambia, South Africa, Malaysia and Ghana, Dr. Mekgwe makes the case that with increased tabloid and U-Tube Reporting, violence against women, perpetrated by the media are on the rise. She advocates for recognition of Media Rape as an emerging and contemporary form of violence against women.

Final call for Registration

Join us at the Peace Palace, The Hague, from 24-25 November, and help break the Silence on Violence against Women in all its forms! Due to Security at the Peace Palace, prior registration is required by noon on 23rd November. You can register at www.africalegalaid.org or at gendernetwork@africalegalaid.org.

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Header image by Riccardo La Valle

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