(IRIN) - Women in Ndele, a remote town in northern Central African Republic, are making a stand for their rights. The local chapter of the national women’s organisation, OFCA, has launched a campaign to alert women to their rights on issues such as female genital mutilation/cutting, early marriages and polygamy.

More than 15 percent of women in conflict-ravaged northern CAR are estimated to have experienced some form of gender-based violence, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Ndele’s women used the occasion of the opening of an OCHA office in the town in late April to make their case to the Minister for Social Affairs and the Family, Solange Pagonendji N’dakala.

“We live in a traditional society which still looks down upon us. Our rights are ignored, we are victims of violence and our young girls are not spared either,” said Marguerite Zanaba, head of the local chapter of the organisation. Continue Reading »

In Birao, in northeastern CAR, women and children have been particularly affected by what they nervously call “the events”, the fights between the rebel forces of the Movement of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR) and the government forces.
In their own words, the women of Birao talk about the attacks on their villages, their escape, their pain and their memories.

First woman

“During the battle, I was giving birth. I took my daughter on my back and walked until Am Dafock… I reached Am Dafock at night. In the morning I had given birth… a baby boy. My husband went the other way. Me, I took the children of my dead brother. Three boys. Their mother went back to her parent’s.” Continue Reading »

On March 8th, in celebration of International Women’s Day, over 1,500 women gathered in the streets of Paoua. The city situated in the tormented north-western quarter of the Central African Republic had been shaken by fights between rebel and government forces and by population movements. But on this particular day of celebration, internally displaced women, along with women coming from many surrounding villages, paraded along the crowded city streets, carrying the slogan: “invest in girls and women”.

After the parade, Marie Noudjougoto from one of Paoua’s Farmers Organizations spoke in the name of all present women, when she said: “Show your faith in women by bringing us peace and security on the way to the market, to school, to the fields, to water sources, to health centres and to hospitals. Continue Reading »

Several thousands of women and young girls have endured rape and other sexual violence in the conflict-torn north of the Central African Republic (CAR). Research suggests that sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) strikes well over 15 percent of women and girls in the region.

Rape cases are being reported in northern CAR on a weekly basis. The most recent reports mention two twelve-year old girls, who were raped while searching for firewood in the bush near their shelter. A local newspaper also described the ordeal of a thirteen-year old girl assaulted earlier this month on her way to sell palm oil at a market. Health workers in the western province of Nana-Mambéré have expressed shock at the increasing number of rapes of women and girls. Continue Reading »

HDPT’s Info Bulletin no 39 (November 19 - November 26) is out - with detailed information on current humanitarian and development activities in the Central African Republic. It contains a current overview on the most important developments and news from within and about CAR. Continue Reading »

Gender inequalities in the Central African Republic persist. They are so deeply ingrained that significant positive change will probably take decades. Some facts from a government briefing paper on gender issues in CAR below. (It is well worth looking at other sources as well.):

• The share of illiterate women (68 percent) is substantially higher than that of men (46 percent)
• Net school enrolment is about 37 percent for girls against 44 percent for boys, these are some of the lowest rates in Africa
• More than 14 percent of women in urban areas have been subjected to sexual violence
• Women in urban areas are more than twice as likely to suffer from HIV/AIDS than men (infection rate 11 percent against 5 percent)
• CAR’s maternal mortality rate is among the world’s highest (1,355 per 100,000)
• Only 11 out of 105 members of parliament are women
• Only 10 percent of all judges are women
• Women remain argely uninvolved in the management and control of financial resources

Humanitarian and Development Partnership Team member UNFPA was recently reinforced by a Gender Advisor, supported by the GenCap initiative, to ensure a gender sensitive and equal approach in all humanitarian operations in the Central African Republic.

For photos of vulnerable women in CAR and to read the brief on gender, go to the next page. Continue Reading »