International Rescue Committee Launches Report on Domestic Violence in West Africa

The International Rescue Committee is a partner of ITVS’s Women and Girls Lead campaign.

Years after the end of war in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ivory Coast ­— women continue to suffer violence at alarming levels and with shocking frequency. The primary threat to their safety is not strangers or men with guns; it is their husbands. This is among the findings of the International Rescue Committee Commission on Domestic Violence in a new report that calls attention to the urgent problem of domestic violence in West Africa and other post-conflict zones.

In West Africa, more than 60 percent of women seeking assistance from the IRC after experiencing violence, report that it occurred at the hands of a spouse or partner. And yet the horrors of domestic violence are not prioritized as a humanitarian issue by the international aid and donor communities.

Domestic violence in West Africa — and in other post-conflict regions across the globe where women and girls confront daily threats to their safety, health, livelihoods and dignity — is a public health crisis that urgently requires our direct attention and resources. Read the full report here. Given a chance, women and girls have the strength to transform their families, their communities and our world. 

View the info-graphic and help raise awareness about this shocking threat to women and girls.