The frequent violation of the rights of women makes them
highly vulnerable, and reduces their ability to assert themselves and attain
their full potentials.
Forms of domestic violence against women, in particular, such as rape, forced and early marriage, wife battering, female genital mutilation are a serious cause for concern.
Many women in Africa, including in The Gambia, are in one way or the other subjected to one or more forms of domestic violence.
Violence against women is still a common practice in many communities in the country, and should be address with urgency.
We, therefore, call on stakeholders and relevant sectors, including the civil society organisations, to continue their sensitization campaigns to end gender-based violence in the country.
Domestic violence against women affects them either physically, psychologically and socially. In fact, according to some experts, it is the single major cause of injury to women on the African continent.
Many of the physical injuries sustained by women seem to cause them medical difficulties, as the women grow older.
Hypertension, arthritis and heart disease have been identified by battered women as directly caused or aggravated by domestic violence suffered early in their adult lives.
It is an undisputable fact that domestic violence denies victims their fundamental right to maintain control over their own lives.
For some women who are victims of domestic violence, they do not feel safe even in their homes, and live in fear and isolation.
