28 Aug 2018

 The United Nations in Botswana has urged all stakeholders to strengthen efforts towards the prevention of violence in all spheres of society as well as to strengthen the protection of women and children through the law and other policies.

 In a press release, the UN says through the Joint Gender Programme it will continue to support government and other stakeholders’ efforts in uprooting gender based violence.

 The UN will also strive towards the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goal SDG 5 on Gender Equality to eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation as well as to eliminate all harmful practices, such as child early and forced marriage and female genital  mutilation.

The release states that the UN has collaborated with government through the UN Joint Gender Programme on Gender-Based Violence (2018-2020) signed July 10.

  In solidarity with government, the UN has condemned  Gender-Based Violence (GBV), especially the increasing incidences of violence against women and children.

It strongly condemns the recent incident of violence against a young woman who was killed and beheaded in Tlokweng, amongst other brutal murders that have been taking place across the country lately.

“Women and girls continue to experience domestic violence, brutal murder, rape and unwanted sexual remarks, ridicule, harassment, and assault in public,” says the release.

Quoting the Botswana Gender-Based Violence Indicators Study (2012), the release says 67 per cent of women in Botswana have experienced some form of gender violence in their lifetime including partner and non-partner violence.

The 2015 Botswana Youth Risk Behavioral and Biological Surveillance revealed that 33 per cent of sexually experienced students had sexual intercourse before the age of 13 while one in five sexually experienced students were forced to have sex in the preceding 12 months.ENDS