VZCZCXRO7769
RR RUEHPA
DE RUEHDK #1169 1371131
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 171131Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5134
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAKAR 001169 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR DRL/PHD, AF/RSA AND AF/W 
PARIS FOR POL - D'ELIA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/15/2011 
TAGS: PHUM SOCI SG
SUBJECT: INFANTICIDE IN SENEGAL 
 
REF: 05 DAKAR 03019 
 
Classified By: DCM Robert P. Jackson for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
SUMMARY 
-------- 
¶1.  (U) Senegalese are appalled at increasing media reports 
of infanticide.  Though the practice seems to be limited, 
actual statistics are shaky.  Factors which might lead 
parents to resort to the practice include poverty, emigration 
of the father, incest, the Islamic practices of polygamy and 
expeditious divorce by the husband, and the lack of a 
systematic structure to assist pregnant women and place 
children for adoption.  END SUMMARY. 
 
MEDIA REPORTS OF INFANTICIDE 
---------------------------- 
¶2.  (U) We have reported previously on police reports of 
infanticide among wives whose husbands are long-time 
emigrants (Reftel).  Recently, the media have reported on 
other cases.  In January, one woman from an area just outside 
Dakar strangled the baby she had given birth to the week 
before, saying she did not want a child born outside of 
marriage.  The following month, a woman from a rural 
community near the Guinean border gave birth to a boy, whom 
she killed and buried in some bushes.  The woman was married 
to someone who had emigrated six years before. 
 
¶3.  (U) In each case, the police were alerted and the women 
arrested.  In fact, according to Nafissatou Diouf Mbodj of 
the National Association of Women Lawyers, there has been at 
least one such case in the courts of each region every year 
for the past five years.  However, Mbodj added that many 
cases never get reported, making the statistics unreliable. 
She said when cases do make it into the courts, judges often 
soften the punishment when they determine that a mother was 
suffering from extreme hardship.  The flip side of this 
problem is that some women end up in prison for years, and 
the fathers of their children never get prosecuted. 
 
ROOT CAUSES 
----------- 
¶4.  (U) Mbodj felt the most common cause of infanticide is 
poverty.  Yet, many instances are caused by husbands 
effectively abandoning their wives, either by emigrating or 
by acquiring additional wives, as permitted under Islam.  In 
her perspective, this made the problem more serious in areas 
such as Kaolack and Tambacounda, crossroads for people going 
back and forth between Senegal and its neighboring countries, 
as well as in the Islamic communities of Touba and Kolda. 
She said incest is another cause and is very common. 
Unfortunately, incest is never spoken of outside of families. 
 Again, there are no reliable statistics. 
 
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE 
--------------------- 
¶5.  (C) Ndeye Lissa Diop Ndiaye, in charge of child 
protection for the Ministry of Women, Families and Social 
Development, told us a comprehensive study and awareness 
campaign are needed.  According to her, though, organizations 
such as her own tend to get seized by one theme and ignore 
other issues.  Currently, so many groups have asked her 
Ministry to partner in efforts to combat trafficking in 
persons that, she contends, the Ministry has not been able to 
focus on other critical areas. 
 
¶6.  (U) Marie Louise Mbodj, also of the National Association 
of Women Lawyers, brought up the issue of lack of shelters 
for pregnant women or of a system to permit women to 
anonymously leave children at orphanages or hospitals. 
Senegal is a signatory to the International Adoption 
Convention but, according to Marie Louise, needs to tighten 
adoption policies, more strictly regulating who can adopt and 
how. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
¶7.  (U) Whatever the causes of this problem and - despite 
weak statistics - no matter how unusual, the results are 
tragic.  Not only is there a loss of life, but the women 
often give birth alone and use broken bottles to cut the 
umbilical cord, causing infection and, frequently, sterility. 
 They also suffer from psychological problems.  This is an 
issue that will require behavioral change, as Ndiaye 
indicated, and a more vigorous commitment from the GOS would 
help.  END COMMENT. 
JACOBS