Adopted in February 2025 by the African Union, the new Convention on the Prevention of Violence against Women and Girls is late to come into force. Only six Member States have signed it, none has yet ratified it. In view of this, several civil society organizations, including Oxfam Senegal, AWLN and the Association des Juristes Sénégalaises (AJS), are calling for an urgent mobilization. In a declaration published in Dakar on 29 July, they recall that every day, millions of women and girls in Africa are victims of physical, sexual, economic, psychological, digital and institutional violence. These acts of violence are perpetuated by impunity, structural injustices and a patriarchal system still tolerated. “We reject silence, waiting and inaction”, reads the document received by PressAfrik. The signatories welcome the adoption of the Convention as an acquis des luttes féministes, carried by les survivantes, jeunes militantes, femmes rurales et urbaines, but deplore its lack of effect without ratification. Among their main demands to the African States “the signature and ratification without delay of the Convention, the effective implementation via dedicated budgets, ambitious laws and transformative public policies, the involvement of survivors and young feminists in all stages of execution, the end of impunity for the perpetrators of violence. I’m not sure.
African Convention on Violence against Women: the OSCs call for immediate ratification
