08 Dec 2022

Ministry of Justice is reportedly working on formulating gender mainstreaming guidelines within the justice system under Botswana-EU Policy Dialogue.

The ministry’s deputy permanent secretary, Mr Moffat Lubinda told a stakeholder consultation on gender mainstreaming in Selebi Phikwe on Wednesday that the project commenced in June.

He said it was prompted by the fact that there were no written guidelines on gender mainstreaming for investigators, prosecutors, social workers and law enforcement officers dealing with gender based violence (GBV) cases.

There was therefore need to capacitate law professionals from a perspective of gender responsiveness to enable them to adequately intervene, said Mr Lubinda.

He said the project was aimed at creating a justice system that recognised and enforced human rights across gender considerations with a deliberate bias of uplifting  society’s vulnerable members.

“This project will also contribute to the reform of the justice system for the purpose of capacity building,” he said.

Mr Lubinda said government had prioritised reforming the justice system as one of the key NDP 11 priorities to ensure access by all.

A Botswana Institute for Policy Development Analysis (BIDPA) representative, Mr Raymond Lekobane stressed the importance of developing gender mainstreaming guidelines given the escalating incidence of GBV in the country.

He said statistics showed that 67 per cent of women had experienced GBV.

Mr Lekobane noted that Botswana also had one of the world’s highest prevalence of rape hence the need for institutional capacity building.

According to the BIDPA official, gender mainstreaming started with the recognition that equality between the sexes was a basic development goal.

The goal was to ensure that both men and women had control over resources, decision making and benefits at all stages of the development process, he said.

“At the end of the day we want our report to influence the development of these guidelines, hence the need for various stakeholders’ contribution to the report,” said Mr Lekobane.

The project is partly funded by the European Union Development Fund in partnership with the government of Botswana. Ends