Mali
25.03.03
Urgent Interventions

Mali - Press Release - Violence Against Women

PRESS RELEASE


The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) expresses its concern regarding violence against women in Mali at the Seventy-Seventh Session of the UN Human Rights Committee


Geneva, 25 March 2003

The UN Human Rights Committee will today begin its examination of the implementation of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights in Mali. In its alternative country report entitled "Violence against Women in Mali," which has been submitted to the Committee, the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) expresses its grave concern at reports of violence against women in the private and community spheres.

Mali has ratified most major international and regional human rights treaties and its Constitution proclaims to defend the rights of women. However, many facially discriminatory laws continue to exist in Malian legislation. These discriminatory laws relate to a woman’s inability to pass on her Malian citizenship to her child, women’s rights in marriage, the minimum age of marriage for women, and women’s rights in divorce and widowhood. The discriminatory laws reflect a societal attitude towards women as inferior. The government of Mali has attempted to rectify some inequalities by passing new laws, such as in the area of women’s access to property, but due to the prevailing social attitudes and a lack of political will, such laws have not been successful in guaranteeing women’s rights in Mali.

OMCT is deeply concerned by reports that forced marriages continue to occur in Mali, despite a law requiring consent from both partners before a marriage can legally occur. Early marriage is another practice that is common in Mali, with 22% of women being married before the age of 15. Such marriages leave women vulnerable to violence because they are often powerless in the union and disadvantaged because of their age and their gender. Early marriage often means that girls discontinue their schooling and often leads to adolescent pregnancy, which can have adverse health consequences because the girl is not yet physically or psychologically mature enough to bear children.

OMCT is equally disturbed by the practices of dowry payment, polygamy and female genital mutilation. Dowry payment is the practice whereby a husband must pay a price for his wife. Such “purchasing” of women is common in Mali and relegates women to little more than a piece of chattel. Additionally, 43% of women in Mali live in polygamous marriages, which allow a husband to take more than one wife. This type of marriage can have serious negative emotional and financial effects on a woman and violates her right to equality. In Mali, 94% of women have experienced female genital mutilation (FGM). FGM has been condemned by health experts around the world as damaging to a woman’s health, both physical and psychological. Malian law both implicitly and explicitly condones all of these practices and OMCT urges the Malian government not only to repeal all laws justifying such practices, but also to criminalize such practices and raise awareness about the harms that accompany such practices.

In Mali, women are also at risk of violence within the home, with domestic violence being an accepted part of daily life. Women in Mali rarely report such violence because of social pressure to stay silent and the lack of an effective mechanism to encourage and protect women who report, with no government services offered to victims of domestic violence. The government’s failure to protect women in the home is also demonstrated by the fact that marital rape is not a crime under Malian law. OMCT is troubled that Mali has yet to enact comprehensive legislation concerning domestic violence nor has the government criminalized marital rape. Additionally, OMCT considers that the Malian government must take serious efforts to raise awareness about domestic violence as a crime, ensure that women are knowledgeable about their right to be free from such violence and make remedies easily available to victims.

Overall, OMCT’s report concludes that while Mali has a duty under international law to act with due diligence to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish all forms of violence against women, irrespective of whether this violence is committed by public or private individuals, this obligation has not been adequately implemented at the national level.


For copies of the alternative report on “Violence against Women in Mali” or for further information on OMCT’s programme on Violence against Women please contact Lucinda O’Hanlon at + 41 22 809 4939 or loh@omct.org.