03 Dec 2013

The Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Mr Dikgakgamatso Seretse, says his ministry and that of Labour and Home Affairs will spearhead strategies and programmes against gender-based violence (GBV).

Speaking at the launch of the 16 days of activism campaign by the Botswana Council of Churches (BCC) dubbed Tarmar Campaign on November 30, Mr Seretse said in so doing, government will, as is always the case in issues involving the moral fabric of the nation, work closely with the church, bogosi and other institutions that are custodians of the cultural heritage.

Mr Seretse said the issue of gender-based violence was far more complex than it appeared, and in certain cases its notions were engrained in the traditions. He said in general, women and men were socialised differently and this involves issues of subordination and accepted cultural norms.

Therefore, these issues have been referenced as causes or perpetuating factors of gender-based violence and it was important for all to have a paradigm shift in the beliefs and cultures. He said it was unfortunate to observe that Botswana was gripped by gender-based violence and the research conducted showed a growth of gender-based violence cases between 1984 and 2012.

“We had 412 recorded incidents of rape in 1984 whereas in 2012 there were 2 073 and this was a clear indication of the task ahead of us,” he said. Mr Seretse described as significant steps, the fact that Botswana ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1996 and acceded to its Optional Protocol in 2007.

He said the process of domesticating these commitments would lead to promulgation of laws that would be offensive to cultures and practices.

He said the Tarmar campaign was named after biblical King David’s daughter who became a rape victim because of her innocent, trusting and loving nature. The story of Tarmar, found in the Book of Samuel, is witnessed daily in present-day Botswana when girls fall prey to rapists.

It was therefore fitting that the Botswana Council of Churches named this year’s campaign after Tarmar. He said the rape of a child was infuriating, and so was the violence that was often justified through culture.

He called on authorities and stakeholders to educate the nation against rape and related sexual offences as well as other forms of gender-based violence.

Ms Aisha Camara- Drammeh, the country representative of the United Nations Populations Fund, said faith-based organisations played a major role in improving the health and development of the community, with especially the potential and comparative advantage to reach the vulnerable populations, hard to reach and key populations.

Ms Camara-Drammeh said faith and religions played a vital role in the lives and cultures of most people throughout the world and about 70 per cent of people identified themselves as members of a religious or spiritual community. She however commended Botswana Council of Churches for launching the Tarmar campaign to end gender-based violence.

She said violence against women and girls was a violation of their human rights, an affront to human dignity and a serious threat to their health and well-being. She added the violence impeded their civic engagement and role in development and generated instability and makes peace harder to achieve.

She said one in three women had been subjected to physical, emotional and verbal abuse in her lifetime and more than 600 million women lived in countries where domestic abuse was not against the law.

In countries where it is outlawed, gender-based violence still topped the list of civil crimes. Ms Camara- Drammeh said though violence against women did not discriminate by context, class or country, it was not inevitable and Botswana was not spared of the scourge.

She said the 2011 findings of the Gender Based Violence Indicators Survey conducted by the Gender Links revealed that 67 per cent of the women interviewed have experience gender based violence at least once in their lifetime and this violence mostly occurs within intimate relationships.

The majority of such cases, she said, were not reported and the findings have shown that the prevalence rate was 24 times higher than the number of cases reported to the police over the past year.

She said 44.4 per cent of the men who were interviewed also reported that they have perpetuated violence against women. She noted that the most prevalent form of violence was emotional violence but it barely features in police statistics and these results were alarming and were cause for concern and all should step up the efforts to end this civil act.

She said the laws and traditional practices that perpetuated gender-based violence against women and girls should be reviewed. Ends