Introduction
Colleagues allow me to add a word of welcome and special greetings from the women of South Africa, who tirelessly strive for gender equality and the restoration of women’s human rights, specifically the right to dignity. I also welcome all the leaders among us today who will assist us by setting the tone and guiding the deliberations for the rest of this high level dialogue.
Programme director, at the outset, allow me to thank the Government of Kenya for being a wonderful host. I hope the organisers will pass on our appreciation to the leadership of this country both in government and civil society. I also extend my warmest gratitude to the Government of the United States of America for undertaking the initiative through the United States Agency for Development (USAID), as well as the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) for seriously facilitating similar processes in South Africa.
I also wish to commend the Sexual Offences and Community Affairs (SOCA) unit of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of South Africa for efficiently coordinating the Interdepartmental Management Team (IDMT) and ensuring that Government programmes in South Africa respond appropriately to gender-based violence, specifically sexual crimes against women and girls. Advocate Majokweni, affectionately known as Thoko, has shown outstanding leadership qualities in driving this vision. All my other colleagues from South Africa, including officials from my own Department of Higher Education and Training are also warmly welcomed.
I also acknowledge Representatives of the Governments of Zambia, and Benin, the Director of the Regional Office & COTR, WJEI SA, Mr Blake and the Regional Child Protection Officer (UNICEF), Ms Sarah Norton-Staal. Honourable delegates, the subject matter which has brought us all together today, evokes mixed emotions,On the other hand, one cannot help but develop angry feelings about how we – both as Government but also as civil society - have allowed such a social ill to devastate the lives of so many women and girls. The space created for us today gives us an opportunity to ask penetrating questions questions such as, what is sustaining the spread of violence against women and girls in our societies?
The mere fact that we continue to break the silence instils feelings of hope to all those women and girls who have been broken.I am encouraged to see the presence of key government officials and partners who are custodians or champions of sexual and gender based violence in respective countries.With the wealth of information, expertise and experience, I believe you are well placed to work together in a sustained manner and ensure that the whole of Africa is committed to reduce and finally eliminate gender–based violence and restore the women’s dignity. Historical Context of addressing violence against women and girls In 1991, the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership convened the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute (WGLI) in Latin America.
The 23 participants in this initiative came from several countries across the globe and were drawn from a variety of sectors - lawyers, policymakers, teachers, health-care workers, researchers, journalists, and activists. These women were local civil society leaders with at least two years of experience in mobilising and organising women interested in building a global women’s human rights movement. During the WGLI, participants engaged on different aspects of gender-based violence and human rights issues, sharing experiences and best practices. Consequently the participants developed strategies to increase and/or raise international awareness of the systemic nature of violence against women and to expose these acts as violations of human rights. One of the strategies that was developed was to create awareness and to facilitate networking among women leaders working in this sector as well as with the victims themselves.
In this regard, the WGLI participants introduced the 16 Days of Activism Campaign on No Violence against Women and Girls. As a result of extensive organising and mobilising by women’s rights organisations, the United Nations General Assembly in 1999, officially designated November 25th as an International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. We owe our presence here today to that initiative. Since then South Africa has committed to and engaged in an annual campaign nationally. Programme director; allow me to share with this esteemed gathering, lessons learned from the South African efforts in implementing this campaign. Given the overwhelming response to this campaign, the South African government, in partnership with civil society organisations and the private sector have agreed to embark upon a 365 days national plan of action, with an intensified Activism Campaign from 25 November to 10 December each year.
The goals of the 365 Days National Action Plan entail:
- to spread a sustained prevention and awareness campaign that extends the Sixteen Days of Activism into a year-long campaign
- to ensure that all relevant legislation is passed, budgeted for, thoroughly canvassed and implemented
- to achieve the set reduction rates of rape incidences, set by the South African Police Service (SAPS)
- to ensure that SAPS crime statistics provide particulars on domestic violence, and that there is significant reduction of domestic violence each year
- to increase conviction rates by 10 percent
- to provide support and empowerment for victims through places of safety, secondary housing and employment opportunities as well as rehabilitation of offenders
- to set targets and indicators that are regularly monitored, evaluated and reported on.
The Response of Justice Crime Prevention and Police Services to Gender-Based Violence. The government set a target of reducing contact crime such as murder and rape by 7 to 10 percent every year, with a major focus on social crime prevention, integrated law enforcement operations, and the reduction of repeat offending.
In terms of reducing cases of rape by 7 to 10% per annum and increasing conviction rates by 10% per annum, thestatistics from the 2008/09 and 2009/10 Annual Report show that such goals have been achieved within the years since the launching of the “365 Days National Action Plan” in 2007:
| Crime Category | No of Cases Reported | No of cases to Court | % Detection Rate | % Conviction Rate | ||||
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2008/2009 | 2009/2010 | 2008/2009 | 2009/2010
| 2008/2009 | 2009/2010
| 2008/2009 | 2009/2010
|
| Sexual Offences | 70514 | 68332 | 41495 | 40001 | 52027 (62.37%) | 51182 (66.61% | 11019 (11.53% | 10778 (14.56%) |
The Victim Friendly Rooms at Police Stations which are places where statements of victims are taken in privacy, continued to be established to ensure that the dignity of victims of sexual offences, domestic violence and child abuse are protected. These rooms also encourage victims to communicate openly and with confidence. To date the SAPS has 864 victim friendly rooms compared to the 1119 police stations in the country. This represents 77.21 % of police stations with such facilities.
The passing of the far reaching Child Act, 2005 (Act 38 of 2005) and the Child Justice Act, 2008 (Act 75 of 2008) by National Parliament and the significant progress towards the development of legislation to combat trafficking in persons are important milestones.
In terms of sensitisation of law enforcement agencies and in response to criticisms about the ineffective implementation of the Domestic Violence Act, 1998 (Act 116 of 1998), the Integrated Domestic Violence Learning Programme and a multi-sector training manual have been developed and implemented.
Public awareness campaigns keep gaining momentum especially during the 16 Days Campaign. All departments engage in highlighting their efforts achieved over the 365 days in the year. International Humanitarian, Human Rights Instruments and Legislation The South African government, like most democratic governments is a signatory toseveral continental and international instruments, advancing women’s empowerment and gender equality,such as the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform for Action, the AU Heads of States Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa, the “African Women’s Optional Protocol”, the SADC Addendum on the Prevention and Eradication of all forms of violence against women and girls. We are currently embarking upon ratification processes for the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development.
Our government has come up with relevant pieces of legislation so as to reinforce our commitments. Despite all our efforts, South Africa continues to experience high levels of different forms of gender-based violence especially that of sexual offences, domestic violence, and murders of women. As such the government has put in place an integrated, multi-sectoral approach to addressing violence against women which includes some of the following measures:
- The involvement of men and boys as partners in fighting violence against women and in changing attitudes and the behavior of boys and men
- The establishment of Equality Courts and dedicated Sexual Offences Courts; amongst others
Measures aimed at combating trafficking of women and children have been stepped up with special attention paid to the strengthening of related investigations and prosecution of traffickers; studying the causes, influencing factors and trends; and commencing a law reform process to achieve an integrated and holistic legal framework.
In fact, programme director, South Africa has tabled a Bill on the Prevention of Trafficking of Persons in National Parliament, which is currently going through a series of consultations. Once this Bill is enacted, South Africa will have a dedicated law to enforce prevention of and punishment for trafficking offences and for the treatment and care of victims of trafficking
Factors conducive to gender based violence
Patriarchy
There is a general consensus that patriarchyplays a major role in promoting gender-based violence. Consequently, one of our outstanding challenges in struggles for social cohesion in society remains gender equality and sustainable women education and empowerment efforts in all respects, including economic participation.
As we are all aware, patriarchal practices and attitudes result in the persistence of harmful traditional practices against women and girls. In our South African context, in 2008, the country was made aware of the persistence in the practice of Ukuthwala, meaning, the abduction and forced early marriages of young girls. The approach that was adopted wasadvocacy, awareness raising, rights education andoutright condemnation of the practice. The strategy also incorporated an investigative element to determine the extent of the problem.Meetings have been held with traditional leaders, provincial government departments, women, men and children in the affected localities.
Awareness raising Indabas were held with communities and traditional leadership in the affected localities by members of the executive including ministers championing gender equality. During these Indabas, the executive attempted to take a compendium of services to the locality, in order to address a number of contributory issues.
The South African Law Reform Commission has been requested to investigate and recommend advice on the legislation that will prohibit Ukuthwala, while the South African Police in partnership with traditional leaders continue to manage harm suffered.
PovertyMost women who live in abject poverty cannot easily escape these social ills. Promised jobs, many vulnerable women and girls have been killed by serial killers under the guise of getting them jobs. For example, South Africa has been shocked at evidence laid in the court of law, in the case of a man recently found guilty for killing 13 women from February 2007 to August 2008. He promised each woman a job. He took money from them, as a payment for his recruitment service and killed them.
Inequalities in SocietyFrom time immemorial, communities have produced social relations premised on either class, race,or tribes. The differences are basically unequal power relations. Violence has often been used to assert power over those perceived as less powerful. Gender-based violence reflects inequalities between men and women and compromises the health, dignity, integrity, security and self esteem of the vulnerable groups. The majority of whom are women of all race groups.
Illteracy
Women illiteracy is a major problem in Africa. Many women lack skills required to participate in the economy. As we all know, in our continent, there are cultural and historical hindrances that have been practiced over decades against women and as such they lag behind their counterparts. In South Africa, the President Jacob Zuma administration will be remembered for their contribution in fighting illiteracy through the creation of the new department called the Department of Higher Education and Training with a special mandate to focus on skills development for advancing economic growth.Forms and categories of Gender-Based Violence
Gender based violence encompasses a wide range of human rights violations, including sexual abuse of children, rape, domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment, trafficking of women and girls and several harmful traditional practices.
Any one of these abuses can leave deep psychological scars, damage the health of women and girls particularly their reproductive and sexual health, and in most instances, result in death. Just to mention a few social ills.Rape
Governments’ responses to these violations vary. In some countries there are lonely voices, some responses lack a moral and political conviction. In the worst scenario there are governments which are in denial.
This high level gathering has a potential for taking the Africa struggle against this social ill forward. We need to have open and robust discussions about bottlenecks, gaps, silences and outcomes. As we deliberate in your sessions today, I am particularly interested in how you plan to sustain this initiative. We might be four countries now, with the US government having acted as a catalyst, but nothing should stop US from collaborating and including other countries so that eventually the whole continent consolidates its efforts.
I am keen on seeing the initiative making an impact in the socialisation of children and young adults up to post school institutions, so that when they join the world of work they have already changed their attitudes. It is crucial that jointly with men, we begin to find ways to create a mind shift and attitudinal change against patriarchy. I believe that by changing attitudes and inculcating the values of respect for others’ human rights and dignity as well as the support that results in the healing of survivors we should win this battle.
It is crucial to develop systematic monitoring and evaluation tools that will enable us to understand the effectiveness of our interventions. Let me close by emphasising that we have fought several battles against gender-based violence. We have lost some and we have won some. Unfortunately, whenever we lose a life it becomes a life too many. We are dealing with a multifaceted problem and hence the need to ensure that we work in an integrated manner.It is clear that gender-based violence cannot be divorced from the broader human rights struggles in the world. In order for us to succeed, our governments and civil society groups should sustain and elevate their commitments.
I am hopeful that the outcomes of this high level gathering will send a message of hope to millions of women survivors across the continent. Even more so, our outcomes should ensure that future generations learn from our mistakes and vow never again to cushion this pandemic.
I thank you.
