2024-03-08 06:31:26
The Dawilly affair, named after the pedophile accused of raping and attempting to murder a six-year-old girl in Imerintsiatosika, broke out a few days before March 8, dedicated to International Women’s Day [1] since 1975. So that out of bad comes good, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on gender-based violence (GBV) in the Malagasy context.
Question: for one Dawilly caught, how many slip through the cracks for various reasons? Many victims do not file complaints, the perpetrators flee and are not found, or because corrupt elements in the justice system allow silence and impunity. It is important to remember that the Dawilly affair is not the first rape case to hit the headlines. We also remember that the leader of one of the sects currently on the rise had received a prison sentence for having raped a young girl on his own initiative during a weekend. There have even been cases that are puzzling, such as this complaint filed against an MP in 2011, and subsequently withdrawn for unknown reasons. In 2011, a Frenchman named Patrick Nicaud made the buzz for acts of pedophilia in the city of Toamasina, without any known sanction having been taken by the Justice system despite a press campaign with supporting photos. In fact, Dawilly was caught, just because he is the type of individual whose social class does not allow for protection networks. If he had been wealthy, a member of a prestigious association, or a supporter of the ruling party, his story would undoubtedly have been different.
If rape is the most extreme cases of GBV, there is also the phenomenon of harassment. In 2021, Transparency International – Initiative Madagascar published a report on the high prevalence of sexual corruption in schools and universities in three regions of Madagascar, with blackmail by teachers for a grade, a class pass or defense authorization. In some sectors, it is even more serious. For example, in medicine, many students have had to confront professors who make the validation of an internship in a hospital environment conditional on sexual favors, under penalty of having to repeat the year indefinitely. More than a decade ago, Alice Razafinakanga, then Minister of Labor, publicly revealed that at the start of her career she had had to give up an external internship because the Director who was to make the decision required in return sexual favors.
However, behind the few stories recalled above, how many thousands of stories happen without anyone ever knowing anything about them? How many rapes? How much incest? How many cases of harassment for recruitment, promotion or job retention? How many holders of positions of responsibility in ministries, companies or schools allow themselves to impose a kiss, groping, or even more?
Contrary to what one might believe, male mentalities conducive to rape are not only found among poor or uneducated people. The few cases recalled above illustrate that the question of sexual harassment or rape is above all a question of power: the power to impose one’s will to satisfy one’s needs by force, by threat or by blackmail. A story of power without checks and balances or a credible body of recourse for the almost majority of victims.
Shame and fear must change sides
Tackling gender-based violence therefore requires multidimensional thinking that must focus equally and vigorously on both prevention and repression. For example, one of the questions requiring an answer is the following: why do few women dare to file a complaint, even though they often confide in those close to them? It is by trying to know and understand the reasons that we can gradually provide solutions. There is also the need to know everything that exists in terms of initiatives, projects or reports in order to draw lessons, evaluate the relevance and ensure the coordination of all these isolated actions.
This question of analysis is therefore essential for the implementation of the prevention – education aspect. Understand the constraints on complaints, but also understand the reasoning, if any, which authorizes the perpetrators to think that an unacceptable act is acceptable. This will make it possible to clarify the outlines of the necessary improvements to be made to the educational and repressive system, in order to be able to influence a progression of social standards, educational curricula and the judicial system.
Education begins in the family, within which boys must be taught to behave with dignity, and girls to know how to defend themselves, protect themselves and to immediately denounce any abuse. Education requires the design of a vast national plan to combat GBV which must involve families, the school system, the media, civil society, the judicial system or religious circles. The National Plan suggested above must include a strong communication campaign so that the shame changes sides. Likewise, an analysis of the repressive system currently in place must be carried out to make the application of the Law more systematic and give confidence to victims, so that fear changes sides.
A few years ago, a winner of a Miss pageant had the courage to reveal that she had been a victim of rape in her past. The reaction of most men on social networks was not only aggressive or contemptuous, but above all stupid: instead of receiving their support, the young girl was severely criticized for daring to reveal this publicly.
The Dawilly case shows that the “Prevention and response to gender-based violence” project launched exactly four years ago with the support of Norway is not effective enough. We must therefore think about putting in place a real National Plan which tackles the scourge of GBV, and provides answers to the societal and judicial failures which promote impunity, silence and the reasoning of certain men who do not understand how an act of harassment or sexual assault would be “as serious as that”.
Mialy Rajoelina should use her status as Ambassador for the fight against GBV in Madagascar to strive to leave a real mark in this area. The current trauma left by the Dawilly affair is for her a golden opportunity to assume leadership which will allow her to bring together the driving forces and the technical and financial partners around a common project. To move things forward, it will indeed take much more than sporadic actions, social media buzz, reforestation campaigns, carnivals and t-shirt printing that make March 8 more of a day of celebration than a moment of reflection and mobilization to drive real change.
#folklore #March