30 Nov 2022

Gender based violence (GBV) is a violation of basic human rights, especially those of women and children, hence the need to seriously campaign against it.

Speaking at GBV sensitivity activity at Jwaneng on Wednesday, senior gender officer for Jwaneng/Mabutsane, Mr Moemedi Bosupeng said that GBV had turned into a global pandemic such that each individual’s effort or a unit was needed to fight it.

Mr Bosupeng said failure by the community or the nation to act in concert to fight GBV would mean that it would never be overcame.

“We have to stand united and fight GBV with a common purpose, otherwise we will fail to even achieve the sustainable development goals, especially the pillar that urges gender equality,” he said.

Mr Bosupeng said GBV was one of the major indicators of gender inequality.

He said in 2018, researches indicated that in Botswana, 37 per cent of women had been abused at one point in their lives, while 21 per cent of men had also similarly been abused.

“Research has also indicated that most abuse in Botswana is between spouses and lovers.

In Jwaneng particularly, statistics indicate that 30 per cent of the women population is facing abuse while for men, the numbers stand at 16 per cent.

For a town this small, these figures are a real concern.

This means that we have to really step up our fight against GBV in this town,” he said.

Mr Bosupeng said what was even more concerning was that GBV was being meted on women across all ages, starting with underage girls to the elderly, with the nucleus of it on the age range of 18 to 29.

He said most of the time, physical abuse was meted on women by men, while women abused men emotionally.

“This means that both men and women are victims and perpetrators, which makes GBV all of us’ concern and therefore need to support each other.

There should be no time for finger pointing,” he said.

He said global statistics indicated that the small populated Botswana was leading globally in cases of sexual abuse, especially rape.

“This seriously tarnishes our reputation as a country.

We are known globally as a peaceful nation, but this issue of sexual violence is likely to gnaw into the reputation we have so much worked hard for,” he said.

He said such issues of rape and defilement were also likely to reverse the gains on fighting HIV/AIDS, as most perpetrators did not use protection.

He said it was now an open secret that Botswana, like other countries, experienced an escalation in cases of GBV during the COVID-19 lockdowns due to various factors such as financial stress resulting from job losses.

GBV does not only affect individuals and families, but also the national economy as the country was forced to channel most resources towards fighting it, he said.

“Government is compelled to further resource sectors such as the police service, the health and judicial sector as well as entities that provide counselling and shelter,” he said.

Solace against GBV could however, be taken from the fact that government takes the issue seriously as evidenced by the tightening of punishment against offenders, he added.

Mr Bosupeng cited the Sex Offenders Registry law that passed through Parliament, which he said would go a long way in assisting members of the community to identify perpetual sex offenders.

He said prison term for those who had been found guilty of rape had also been increased from a maximum of 15 years to a maximum of a life term.

Mr Bosupeng also applauded the Botswana Police Service for its initiative of employing professional officers under the Gender and Child Protection Unit to address GBV issues confidentially, something he said would help more victims to come forth and freely open up. ENDS