When Janet Ramatoulie Sallah-Njie, an African Commission special rapporteur on the rights of women in Africa, entered a room at a side event near the United Nations to speak about financing for safe abortion, she was pleasantly surprised to see a packed house.
“Wow, that’s a lot of interest,” she remembers telling herself. However, she quickly realized not everyone in the room was interested in what she had to say. “I didn't realize that was the interest on the opposite side,” she recalled.
After opening statements, many women, who she said appeared coordinated, started making statements and asking questions about protecting children’s lives and why the focus was not on prosecuting perpetrators of rape. The occurrence seemed orchestrated and not done to hold a dialogue, but rather to disrupt discussions, said Sallah-Njie, who is also a member of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.