Thousands of Senegalese women dressed in white to protest against violence towards women, in the wake of recent incidents in the west African country, protest organisers said on Friday.
"We have asked all women to dress today partially or entirely in white because white is the colour of mourning in traditional (west) Africa, in a show of protest against violence toward women," said Latyr Camara, spokesman for the Alliance for a New Citizenship (ANC), a coalition of Senegalese associations defending women's rights. According to Camara, the ANC launched this event following the death in October of a woman in her thirties who was beaten to death by her husband. He then dumped her body in a septic tank in the city of Touba, 200 kilometres (125 miles) east of the capital Dakar.
The husband was placed in police custody, but the incident provoked no reaction from authorities and was marked by general indifference, Camara said, adding that this kind of incident has become a frequent occurrence in Senegal.
"Yesterday (Thursday), a 17-year-old girl was raped and killed in Baobab (a Dakar neighbourhood). The media report cases of sexist violence or murders of women every week," he said.
Current figures measuring the scope of the phenomenon are unavailable, but experts say gender-based violence in Senegal can be traced to deep-rooted socio-cultural beliefs and religious misinterpretations that the Koran authorises men to beat their wives if they are disobedient. A law criminalizing violence against women was enacted in 1999, but activists say few people are aware of it.