Burkina Faso: NGO Report on Discrimination against older women

Parallel report submitted to the 47th session of the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in relation to Burkina Faso’s Sixth periodic report of States parties, CEDAW/C/BFA/6,October 2009.

Recommendations

We recommend that the CEDAW Committee:

Article 5: Measures to combat social and cultural behaviour conducive to discrimination against women

• Urge the Government to allocate increased resources to the Ministry of Social Action and National Solidarity (MASSN) to promote understanding and awareness of the underlying causes of witchcraft accusations and to provide support to effectively resolve individual cases of witchcraft accusations.
• Urge the Government to investigate, prosecute and punish acts of violence towards older women and other offences, including accusations of witchcraft, committed as a result of traditional beliefs in witchcraft under appropriate criminal laws, for example, murder, assault, damage to property, incitement and libel.
• Urge the Government to train law enforcement officials and the judiciary in dealing with alleged crimes related to witchcraft accusations.
• Urge the Government to provide free legal advice to older women affected by accusations of witchcraft so that they may seek redress through the legal system.

Please see full report attached: