SENEGALSENEGALA report by Human Rights Watch documented physical punishment and other severe violations of the rights of at least 50,000 children (talibés), mostly boys under twelve years old, attending residential Quranic schools in Senegal. The report found that the children, who were forced by the teachers who serve as their guardians (marabouts) to beg on the streets, experienced severe physical punishment including being beaten with electric cables or clubs for not bringing back the quota of money and food set by the marabouts.
(Human Rights Watch, 2010, Off the Backs of the Children: Forced Begging and Other Abuses against Talibés in Senegal)
A 2010 African Child Policy Forum report on violence against children with disabilities in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Senegal, Uganda and Zambia documented a very high level of violence. Nearly a thousand 18-24 year olds took part in the study across the five countries, reporting on their experiences as children. In Senegal, 60% of the sample had experienced at least one type of physical violence during their childhood. The most commonly experienced type of physical violence was being hit, punched, kicked or beaten, followed by being choked, burnt or stabbed. The most common perpetrators of physical violence were mothers (20.5%) and fathers (15.8%). Across the five countries, 23% of the young people said that they had experienced physical violence which was “mostly discipline, reasonable and justified” and 27% said that they had experienced physical violence which was “mostly discipline but not reasonable or justified”. Twenty-six per cent said that they had experienced emotional violence which was “discipline, but not reasonable or justified”, and 22% that they had experienced emotional violence that was “disciplinary, reasonable and justified”. Across all five countries, more than half (54%) of those who had been physically beaten said they had suffered broken bones, teeth, bleeding or bruising; 2% had been permanently disabled; 21% required medical attention; 13% had to miss school or work; and 20% had needed rest at home. For all five countries, the majority of respondents with physical, visual and intellectual disabilities experienced physical violence more than 10 times. The report recommends prohibition of all corporal punishment, including in the home, as a way to minimise the risk of violence against children with disabilities.
(The African Child Policy Forum, 2010, Violence Against Children With Disabilities in Africa: Field Studies from Cameroon, Ethiopia, Senegal, Uganda and Zambia, Addis Ababa: The African Child Policy Forum)
A study by the African Child Policy Forum in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and Senegal found that hitting, beating and forced hard work were the most prevalent forms of violence against girls, and that most of the physical violence experienced by girls was corporal punishment. The study involved a survey of 3,025 young women (nearly 600 per country) aged 18-24 about the violence they had experienced in their childhood. In Senegal, 52% of respondents had been hit during their childhood, 79% had been beaten, 21% kicked, 25% denied food and 16% choked or burned. Parents and close relatives were the most common perpetrators of physical violence.
(The African Child Policy Forum, 2010, Childhood Scars in Africa: A Retrospective Study on Violence Against Girls in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and Senegal, Addis Ababa: The African Child Policy Forum)
According to statistics from UNICEF relating to the period 2001-2007, of girls and women aged 15-49, 65% think that a husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife under certain circumstances.
(UNICEF, 2009, Progress for Children: A report card on child protection, NY: UNICEF)