12/18/2023 0 Comments Fatou sambeDespite ostracism, demonization and death threats, she has held on. We salute the courage and resilience of Adji Sarr. We welcome the holding of the trial and believe in the calls for a free and fair quest for justice. Sonko’s remarks demonstrate an ableist discourse that reinforces the stigmatization of those who suffer from stroke. Men and women are surviving at the cost of physical damage and disability. To use such a qualifier on a Senegalese woman is degrading and the worst insult at a time when Black people all over the world are still fighting for our humanity against racial prejudice and racist violence.Īlso, stroke is one of the most common neurological diseases in Senegal which wreaks havoc among the population with the human, social and economic costs. Indeed, comparing Adji Sarr to a “Monkey” is a misogynous stereotype, a label that has historically been used by racist supremacists to degenerate and dehumanize Black people across the world. What is more, through his remarks, Sonko’s shortcomings on several emergencies and concerns of Senegalese and Africans are exposed. His audience and the country cannot be encouraged by leaders to promote the trivialization of an unjustifiable and heinous crime against which generations of women fought and continue to fight. That Sonko’s words were eagerly received and adored by a population mainly made up of young people is a grave concern, particularly for survivors of rape. All persons, no matter their background and status can be victims of rape. These remarks throw to the public the idea that there’s such a thing as a ‘perfect rape victim’. Despite the country finally criminalising rape in 2019, survivors are already facing many obstacles including cumbersome procedures, unsupported management of their traumas, and the scarcity of shelters, to name but a few. While one woman in three (1/3) is a victim of violence and abuse of all kinds, including sexual, only one woman in four (1/4) dares to initiate legal proceedings to seek compensation in Senegal. “ I don’t lack options to choose from”, a statement he refrained from in the French version of his speech.īeyond proving notorious, in line with the culture of racist and sexist stereotypes, these comments reinforce and normalize the culture of rape and are unworthy of a man who aspires to the highest office in our country. “I f I were to rape, it would certainly not be a monkey victim of a stroke ( dangin bu AVC ). In one of the problematic speeches full of intolerable remarks given on Wednesday evening May 24, Sonko said in Wolof: While Ndeye Khady Ndiaye, one of the co-accused in the trial despite her advanced state of pregnancy, presented herself, Ousmane Sonko, deigned to go to court. The hearing on May 22, which took place in the absence of the accused Ousmane Sonko, is a perfect illustration of this. The case in which the opposition leader Ousmane Sonko is accused of rape against Adji Sarr has been in the news for two long years and prompts us to question ourselves. The men and women leaders who claim to hold positions of responsibility are and will guarantee strict respect for these conventions and laws which guarantee the rights and dignity of the populations. Achieving the criminalization of rape in 2019 was a fight carried by all the living forces, women’s and feminist organizations of this country. The Constitution and laws of Senegal guarantee equality between women and men. At the African level, Senegal is one of the signatory States to the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, known as the Maputo Protocol. At the international level, Senegal is a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and its optional protocol. The fight for women’s rights in Senegal remains a fight that is certainly endless, but for which we do not shirk at any time.
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