VZCZCXRO9064
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHDK #0783/01 1850947
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 030947Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0769
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DAKAR 000783 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR AF/W, AF/RSA, DRL AND INR/AA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PINR SCUL KJUS SG
SUBJECT: Fighting Domestic Violence in Senegal 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: On June 27, 2008 the Committee to Combat Domestic 
Violence against Women (CLVF) held its annual general assembly to 
review and assess the situation of domestic violence in Senegal. 
Participants, representing a wide swath of civil society groups, 
NGOS and foreign missions, focused on issues such as rape, education 
for young girls, domestic violence and the promotion of women in the 
political, social and economic arena.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The Committee to Fight Domestic Violence is a national 
non-profit organization that was created in July 1996 following an 
egregious domestic violence case that involved a woman who was 
beaten by her husband over a 22-year period in Diourbel (200 km east 
of Dakar).  CLVF's objectives are: to stop domestic violence and 
support female victims from all types of violence by reforming legal 
processes used to identify cases of domestic violence; to assist 
women to understand the social, medical, and legal implications of 
domestic violence.  Through its shelters, CLFV gives counseling and 
educates victims' families, legal and health authorities such as the 
police, hospitals, gendarmerie, and the courts about the 
consequences of violence.  They also develop modules on violence to 
educate victims and the community on the problems of domestic 
violence.  A Democracy and Human Rights Funds (DHRF) grant assisted 
CLFV to establish three new regional branches in Tambacounda, 
Ziguinchor and Louga in order to help them to support their fight 
against domestic violence in all its forms. 
 
 
Stories from the Field-Tambcounda 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU)  CLVF's Tambacounda branch has developed many activities 
including a workshop to train paralegals and a radio spots on rape 
and sexual harassment in schools.  As a result of this new 
awareness, the rapist of a fourteen year old girl was sentenced to 
two years in prison.  In another case, a 15-year girl was raped by 
her teacher and got pregnant.  Her rapist was also sentenced to two 
years in jail.  A good reason why regional branches are important is 
exemplified by an early marriage case where parents wanted to marry 
off their ten-year old daughter thus forcing her to drop out of 
school.  However, the school director contacted CLVF and a committee 
went to talk to the family about the dangers of having the girl drop 
out of school.  In this case the parents were won over by the 
arguments of the CLVF representative and they finally allowed the 
girl to continue her studies.  Today she is in a prestigious 
boarding school in Goree Island. 
 
Stories from the Field-Louga 
---------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) CLVF Louga's local branch is headed by a woman who herself 
was a victim of domestic violence and whose husband was sentenced to 
jail for four years.  In her speech she addressed the success of 
CLVF in breaking the silence around domestic violence, and urged the 
judiciary to do more in assisting victims.  She highlighted multiple 
problems facing women such as the fact that some guilty men get the 
help of their "marabouts" and are thus not prosecuted or when the 
abuser is a relative of the victim, whereupon a case is closed even 
before police or gendarmerie are aware of the problem.  Louga is a 
region that has a high rate of migration with many divorced women 
who had extramarital relations some of which sometimes results in 
unwanted pregnancies.  One of CLVF's modules is a family mediation 
module that explains the dangers of men going abroad for a long time 
and leaving their wives alone. 
 
Stories from the Field-Ziguinchor 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Because of the long conflict between the Senegalese Army 
and the rebels from the Mouvement des Forces Democratiques de la 
Casamance(MFDC), this region is characterized by high rates of 
violence against females and where girls as young as ten years old 
are regularly raped by both soldiers and rebels.  Since its 
inception in Ziguinchor, CLFV has provided a great deal of help and 
assistance to victims through counseling and shelters.  Yet, 
Ziguinchor CLVF faces many of the challenges that other branches do 
around the country.  For example, in a recent domestic violence case 
a wife's husband was sent to jail for two years instead of five 
because the two parties are related.  In addition to working on 
domestic violence, CLVF is also conducting workshops to educate 
local citizens about the dangers of Female Genital Mutilation 
(FGM). 
 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) One of the most important ways to measure the level of 
domestic violence is by measuring the effectiveness of the 
government and local NGOs in protecting and providing justice for 
the most vulnerable victims.  The encouraging news is that steps 
 
DAKAR 00000783  002 OF 002 
 
 
have been taken to address the issue and in most cases perpetrators 
are serving prison sentences for their crimes.  However, the most 
difficult part of addressing domestic violence is to bring about a 
change in cultural attitudes towards the problem.  In many cases the 
religious and cultural burdens of the resulting shame on a family is 
an impediment to the reporting of abuse and CLVF wants to overcome 
this by educating women about their rights.  On they underline the 
need for more shelters to host victims in order to give them proper 
counseling and a neutral environment in which they can recover. 
Furthermore, health workers, policemen and gendarmes must be 
encouraged to do their work by providing medical certificates or 
other proofs of abuse and facilitating victims' access to the 
judicial system especially in providing financial means to victims 
who can't afford lawyers. 
SMITH