Côte d’Ivoire alone recorded 9,607 cases of gender-based violence in 2024, affecting 7,950 women and 3,290 children, according to official figures
ABUJA, Nigeria, July 19, 2025/APO Group/ --
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Centre for Gender Development (CCDG), in partnership with the Ministry of Women, Family and Children, has initiated a national training workshop on the prevention of and response to gender-based violence (GBV) and sexual harassment from Thursday 26 to Saturday 28 June 2025 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
As part of the implementation of the regional strategy adopted in 2021 to eradicate violence against women and girls in the community, the three-day meeting brought together judicial, health and social actors with the aim of strengthening their skills and coordinating a holistic approach to the care of victims of violence. The aim was to strengthen participants’ skills in the prevention, detection and management of GBV and sexual harassment.
Speaking at the opening, Moussa Diarassouba, Chief of Staff representing the Minister for Women, stressed the urgency of taking action. “These overwhelming figures are voices crying out for justice, redress and protection. Inaction is no longer an option,” he warned. He called on judicial actors to guarantee access to justice and fight against impunity, including health professionals to become more involved in the medical and psychological care of victims, and social workers to support survivors in their social and economic reintegration.
The ECOWAS Resident Representative in Côte d’Ivoire, Ambassador Fanta Cissé, praised the efforts of the Ivorian government, which have enabled Côte d’Ivoire to take the lead in the fight against GBV. She did not fail to call on everyone to mobilise more strongly against the multiple forms of violence, which have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘The challenges are immense and require the combined efforts of all to achieve zero tolerance for gender-based violence and sexual harassment,’ she said.
For her part, the Director of the CCDG, Ms Sandra Oulaté-Fattoh, said that professionals and other actors have a key role to play in the early recognition, appropriate treatment and support of survivors of such violence. “To fulfil this role effectively, you need adequate training to enable you to recognise the signs and symptoms of gender-based violence and sexual harassment, even in cases where victims do not explicitly disclose their situation. This includes awareness of the different forms of violence, including physical, sexual, psychological and economic, as well as the cultural and social contexts that influence these situations,” she emphasised.
As a reminder, in the ECOWAS region, more than 10% of women experience physical, sexual or emotional violence, often within the family. This situation has been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen cases of GBV skyrocket, with an increase of up to 50% in some countries in the region. Côte d’Ivoire alone recorded 9,607 cases of gender-based violence in 2024, affecting 7,950 women and 3,290 children, according to official figures.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Somaliland has been a peaceful country for the last 20 years look where that got us so far no recognition and worst the international community only cares about chaotic Somalia. Thw world enjoys the horor show when people kill each other die of hunger and natural disasters like in Haiti that is the only time the world gives a damn about a small country somehwere in Africa. For the world to notice Somaliland the Somalilanders need to do drastic things to be noticed, like invade Somalia and take over the whole hell hole and force them to recognise Somaliland that I believe is the only solution left since thus far all what the world gave SL is a deaf ear
Elmi get real brother, use common sense..I feel your pain, but you don't right wrong with wrong. We dont want to harm our brothers in order to achieve some thing we can achieve through negotiotion and patience. God is our witness and the Almight will eventually reward us, so long as we do the right thing as we have done for so long. peace and perceverence
To Elmi :
as someone who waits the moment the international community act differenty on the Legitimate Quest for Somaliland, but in the meantime I dont loose hope thats why we been patient over 20 years so now its the time for bickering and loosing hope, so yes we suffered from the South too much that we all remember but we will not resemble them by any means, it's not me who saying that but Ibrahim Egal that has spoke about the Mentality of the Somaliland people are different, and deserves to be the best to represent the African History.
The only reason that Somaliland is at peace is because of its people the political classes are leaches , they work not for the people but for the businessmen who create no wealth no jobs but take what little is sent by the Diaspora and remove it from circulation and into the buckets of fake medicine and good manufacturers, having said that not everyone is leaches and there are those who are trying hard but saying Somaliland had establish credible political institutions is misconceived just because we are more fortunate then Somalia (thanks to all) and there is less foreign interference coupled with working traditional Somali conflict resolution which is based in the clan system which unfortunately was destroyed in the south by the Italian colony does not mean we are any different. Let hope they will also learn to live in peace together because if your neighbour’s house is on fire there is a likely hood that your house might catch fire