CALL: Senegal: Sub-regional Women Want Body on Governance

Women delegates representing the Mano River Union (MRU) countries on Friday called for the establishment of a sub-regional governance structure that will monitor democratic culture and non-violence in elections. They said at a regional conference held in Dakar that this would impact on women's participation in governance.

The call was made in a statement by Ms Linda Koroma, the spokes person of delegates representing the MRU countries consisting of Cote d' Ivoire, Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone at the regional conference on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 which revolves around the involvement of women in issues relating to development, peace and security.

According to Ms Koroma, the MRU women in a declaration made during an earlier meeting held in Freetown, Sierra Leone, felt that an action plan on sexual exploitation of women and girls should be developed and implemented.

That way, she said, a sub-regional policy and mechanism that would consider preventative and protective measures on issues relating to peace and violence could be realized.

“Distinguished personalities here present, in as much as the empowerment and protection of women is an indispensable tool for advancing development, it is as well a matter of human rights,” she argued.

“Women and girls deserve to be accorded their full status and dignity, if not for any reason, but for the humans that they are,” Ms Koroma said.