The NGO Women Break The Silence launched this awareness campaign in Antananarivo following numerous testimonies of attacks suffered, mostly by women, on buses in the Malagasy capital.
From our correspondent in Antananarivo,
” I was sitting on the bus and the man next to me put his hand under the bag I had on my lap. He started touching me. I was left shocked by this memory “says Tojo, 20 years old. “ Every time a man sits next to me, I get scared. »
Touching, caressing, gestures or inappropriate words… In the district of Ambohijatovo, in the center of Antananarivo, a large part of the women who wait at the bus stop have already had at least one bad experience in this often crowded transport. Few dare to talk about it, even to their relatives. “ I never told my parents. I’m afraid of their reaction, that they tell me that it was I who did not pay enough attention “, continues Tojo.
A long-term job
Freeing the voice of victims in the face of this everyday violence, which is often trivialized, is one of the objectives of the young activists of the Women Break The Silence movement, which fights against gender-based violence and the stigma surrounding sexual assault. It has 200 volunteers across the island.
” Some people think it’s something natural, that it happens every day. There are also some victims who think it is their fault if they are assaulted because of their dress. “, remarks Jessica Stéphanie Nivoseheno, 27, in charge of research on gender within the movement, on the sidelines of a meeting with volunteers.
As part of this project supported by the Municipality of Antananarivo, drivers, bus conductors, managers of transport cooperatives and municipal police officers in the capital are trained on gender-based violence. A first and a long-term task.
” It is very difficult to report an assault to drivers and receivers since the latter do not react or do not react in favor of the victim “, continues Jessica Stéphanie Nivoseheno. “ We have also collected cases where receivers, when passengers sit at the back of the bus, touch them with their private parts. »
350 municipal police officers trained
At the bus compliance inspection center, in a peripheral district of Antananarivo, a dozen municipal police officers responsible for receiving complaints from victims take part in a workshop led by the activist. “ The objective is that when a person is attacked, they can report it to the conductor or the bus driver, who then alerts a law enforcement officer in the area. “, details Jessica Stéphanie Nivoseheno.
It begins with an exercise to deconstruct certain clichés, review the notions of consent and open the discussion. ” The attackers are crazy and perverted, true or false? she asks her audience. ” It’s true because a normal person would never make inappropriate gestures “replies one of the police officers. ” Not necessarily says another. In a few weeks, the 350 municipal police officers of Antananarivo were trained.
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” Initially many thought it was not urgent and after all it was something innocuous “says Marie-Christina Kolo, ecofeminist activist and initiator of the movement. ” But gradually, the word was released. So that when there were two cases of aggression some time later, the witnesses of the bus where it happened came to us “, she says.
Next step, the opening of a reception and listening center for victims co-managed by the Commune of Antananarivo and associations fighting against gender-based violence.