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The brutal rape of a girl by her uncle in Sierra Leone became the rallying point of a campaign that prompted President Julius Maada Bio to declare the prevalence of badual violence urgently on Thursday national.
The five-year-old girl, whose identity has been kept secret for her own safety, is paralyzed at the waist since a 28-year-old parent raped her a year ago, crushing her spine.
"She may never walk again and I want revenge for what happened," her grandmother told Reuters, sitting next to the girl in her wheelchair at a medical clinic in Freetown.
"The man who did this ruined his life and deserves to spend his life in prison."
The aggression was one of the many unpunished victims in Sierra Leone, where until now crimes of a badual nature were punishable by up to 15 years in prison and few prosecutions have been instituted.
After months of campaigning activists, the president declared the national emergency and said that people found guilty of badual offenses against minors would be liable to life imprisonment.
"Some of our families practice a culture of silence and indifference to badual violence, leaving victims even more traumatized," Bio told a crowd at the State House.
"As a nation, we must stand up and fight this scourge."
According to police statistics, reported cases of badual and gender-based violence nearly doubled last year to more than 8,500, one-third of which involved minors. Activists, including First Lady Fatima Bio, say the actual numbers are much higher, with most cases never reported.
Gender-based violence is traditionally considered a taboo subject in Sierra Leone. Just 12 years ago, Parliament pbaded its first law on gender equality in 46 years of independence, as a result of lobbying efforts by women's rights groups.
The president's national emergency declaration is seen as a step in the right direction, but activists like Fatmata Sorie say progress must continue.
"We still need to think about how services for survivors are not accessible, especially for the poor," said Sorie, president of Legal Access, for women's strong desire for equality and social justice (LAWYERS) – a group of lawyers composed exclusively of women. providing free legal services to vulnerable women and girls.
"We have made a big step today, but it is a very complex problem that will require complex and permanent solutions," she said.
The implementation of these policies has been slow and the forces of order have been hampered by insufficient resources, which has fostered a culture of impunity.
In December, the first lady organized a demonstration in the capital to raise public awareness of this problem. She has since launched her "Hands Off Our Girls" campaign to raise awareness of violence against girls in West Africa.
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