24 May 2021

Gender Based violence (GBV) has become the most prevalent human right violation and continues to be a major concern in Botswana.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs, Dr Temba Mmusi said this recently when launching the national consultation on ending violence against women and girls in Botswana at Protea hotel.

Dr Mmusi said as GBV continued to haunt the society, it was imperative for the government through the civil society to take action and evaluate. 

He applauded the Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organizations for the launch, indicating that it would help to evaluate and find out if they were on the right track on the targets they had set for themselves.

On another note, he said they had realised that COVID-19 pandemic had fuelled GBV and the numbers in the country had increased, condemning the perpetrators, especially caregivers who continued using women and girls for their sexual satisfaction. 

To help fight GBV, Dr Mmusi also said the government had endorsed the Sexual Offenders Bill to have a sexual offender register in order to manage the cases that continued to escalate in the country. 

He said this would be in the open it would shame perpetrators. 

The National Coordinator of the International Network to End Violence Against Women and Girls (INEVAWG) Ms Chigedze Chinyepi said the objective of the launch was to gather relevant input related to violence against women and girls in all countries.

 She also said they were also to discuss new and innovative ways to survive during COVID and also to develop action plan, saying they were glad to be working with the ministry of nationality, immigration and gender affairs as the mother body for the support.

A Participant from Malawi who joined the forum virtual, Ms Stella Nkgonga who is living with a disability commented Botswana for their input to fight violence against women and girls.

She said it was imperative not to leave anyone behind including PWDS. 

She said this was a challenge in Africa therefore everyone was to be involved in the planning and developing of strategies to end the outcry.

Ms Nkgonga also encouraged women to fight GBV and not to point fingers at each other, saying in Africa women were disadvantaged. Ends