This week, OVIM participated in Dakar (Senegal) in a series of exchange sessions focused on addressing gender-based violence from a legal and judicial perspective, together with the team from Institute of Inequalities from Senegal and Barcelona, the Senegal Human Rights Commission y Dones Amb Empenta.
The meeting provided a space for dialogue and mutual learning between professionals from Senegal and from Catalunya, aimed at sharing good practices, challenges and strategies for the prevention, care and approach to gender-based violence, focusing on the role of institutions, judicial systems and rights protection frameworks.
The conference featured the participation of Amsatou Sow Sidibé, president of the Senegalese Human Rights Commission, as well as Senegalese judges, experts in gender-based violence, and representatives of Catalan institutions. Of particular note was the participation of Lorena Elvira, current Secretary General for European Union and Foreign Action of the Catalan Government. Catalunya, the Government delegate in West Africa, Javier Calderón, and Gerard Graells del Bas, director of the Catalan Development Cooperation Agency
For OVIM, this experience represents a key opportunity to Strengthen networking, to incorporate shared learning and strengthen an intersectional perspective on gender-based violence and institutional gender-based violence, contributing to improving strategies for full test, complaint e political influence of the Observatory.
Beyond the institutional events we participated in, our visit to Dakar also allowed us to connect with civil society and learn firsthand about the daily work of feminist organizations that defend women's rights in Senegal. We were able to meet with organizations such as SIGGIL JIGEEN, the Association of Sénégalaises Jurists and Commission des Droits de l'Homme du Sénégalas well as with various feminist activists who, from different areas, promote actions to support victims of gender-based violence, advocacy and social transformation.
