14 Oct 2020

 Government has adopted an integrated approach to combating gender based violence (GBV) as a key strategy for eliminating its prevalence.

Speaking at GBV awareness campaign in Francistown, senior gender officer, Mr Kabelo Tsiang, said the key approach aimed at creating a multi-sectoral and multi-dimensional response to GBV.

He said prevention of GBV was manifested through all ministries action plans and budgets.

The approach, he said, aimed to address high incidence of GBV, particularly violence against women including HIV/AIDS.

In addition, he said, it was intended to address inadequacies in sector response strategies; mainly in handling GBV cases and addressing minimal level of coordination and collaboration on GBV services between relevant organisations and departments including under reporting of GBV cases.

Mr Tsiang said public education to create awareness was continuing to address harmful societal norms.

Meanwhile, founder of Queen Valuptuous, Ms Kemelo Muzila said 60 per cent of Batswana women had experienced GBV and called upon society to stand up to fight the abuse, adding that in the whole world GBV rating, Botswana was in position two.

Ms Muzila noted that in most GBV cases, children were not abused by strangers, but by their fathers, brothers, uncles and grand fathers who had been left in their care.

For her part, Miss Plus Arica Botswana (MPABW) director Ms Caroline Setshego said GBV affected both men and women but women’s numbers were high because they report their cases and were documented.

Ms Setshego said the love for money and single headed families had an effect on GBV and urged all responsible citizens to resuscitate family structures and do away with cohabitation.

She also pointed out that more time was being spent in nurturing the girl child, while the boy child had no one to guide him hence ending up being an abuser or perpetrator.

Ms Setshego raised concern about GBV cases which went unreported as people tended to save their families reputations and marriages at the expense of the child’s welfare. ends