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No Impunity for Crimes in Guinea! Sign the Petition
Published: 30 November 2009
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On September 28, 2009, security forces from the military government led by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara attacked tens of thousands of peaceful pro-democracy supporters who had assembled at the main sports stadium in Conakry to protest the military regime and Camara’s presumed candidacy in the upcoming presidential elections. They killed more than 150 people and also gang raped and sexually assaulted in broad daylight scores of girls and women who were at the stadium, often with such extreme brutality that their victims died from the wounds inflicted. In addition to the rapes committed at the stadium, many women described how they were taken to private residences where they endured days and nights of brutal gang rape. Women are often victims of crimes and violations of their human rights and dignity, simply due to the fact that they are women. Systematic rape is often used as a weapon of war with impunity. Indifference generates more violence, deprives women of their human rights and legitimizes these acts of violence against their bodies. This impunity must end. UNI has been closely following the events in Guinea with regular updates from our affiliates in the country. In early November Mariama Penda Diallo, the Deputy General Secretary from FESABAG, made a presentation on the situation to the UNI Women’s Steering Group, UNI World Executive Board, and UNI Europa Women’s Committee. The trade unions from the country are also collecting in 5 books messages of support from trade unionists around the world. The books will be presented to the President of Burkina Faso who has been brought in to mediate the political situation. UNI has drafted a petition that will be sent to the UN High Commission for Human Rights asking it to take the necessary measures and to ensure that the perpetrators of the crimes in Conakry are brought to justice. We would like to encourage all our affiliates, as members of UNI Global Union and as citizens of this world, to sign the petition and support our Guinean brothers and sisters. Please sign the petition and ask your union members to sign it as well. The more signatures we have, the more powerful our message will be. Let’s stop the use of women as weapons of war! Let’s break the circle of violence against women! Sign the petition! |
