Harare (New Ziana) – Gender-Based Violence (GBV) remains prevalent globally, with one in every three women having experienced physical violence, according to the World Bank.
In Zimbabwe, 40 percent of women aged 15-49 have experienced physical and/or sexual violence perpetrated by their partners, including 19 per cent who suffered such violence during the previous 12 months, say the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).GBV intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, perhaps because isolation made it harder for victims to escape abuse and access support.
Girls in the country continue to be at risk of child marriages, with 33 per cent reported to get married before the age of 18, according to the 2019 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey conducted by ZIMSTAT.
Domestic and sexual violence are also reproductive health challenges, because they are intertwined with sexuality, fidelity, pregnancy and childbearing.
Research suggests that physical and sexual abuse are linked to most of the current intractable health challenges, such as HIV infection. GBV has also been linked to unwanted pregnancy, complications during pregnancy, miscarriage, low birth weight babies and maternal mortality. Even worse, GBV kills.
International consensus against GBV and national laws criminalising it are therefore, critical. But it is societal behaviour change that offers the best way to save lives.Musasa Project, an organisation that offers shelter and counselling services to GBV survivors in Zimbabwe, says GBV cases rose sharply in 2020 at the onset of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. However, a huge number of GBV cases still go unreported, the organisation adds.
There is general consensus among women’s rights activists that Zimbabwe has done extremely well in adopting the necessary legal and policy framework for GBV, among other gender equality and women’s rights instruments.
Zimbabwe is signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA); Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women – ACHPR); the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development, among others. Within all these instruments, protection of women and girls from violence remains a priority.
Some of the main challenges in Zimbabwe regarding solving GBV include limited coordination, insufficient coverage of support services for GBV survivors, and the sustainability of prevention and response interventions.
Zimbabwe adopted a new constitution in 2013 which is more progressive compared to its predecessor, the Lancaster House Constitution. The new constitution guarantees not only gender equality and non-discrimination as a principle, it also outlaws certain customs – traditional or religious – whose practice runs contrary to the constitution. The Girl Child was also further guaranteed protection, in view of the context where patriarchy marginalises her in favour of the Boy Child. The constitution also points out that marriage to a child less than 18 years is a criminal offence, serving as a deterrent to this tradition.
The Government, in collaboration with development partners and civil society organisations, has established seven one stop centres (OSCs) for survivors of GBV in Makoni district in Manicaland province, Gweru (Midlands province), Gwanda (Matabeleland South province), Bindura (Mashonaland Central Province), Chinhoyi (Mashonaland West province) Mpilo (Bulawayo) and Epworth (just outside Harare).The OSCs provide all key services required by a GBV survivor under one roof. The country has 13 temporary shelters for GBV survivors spread across both urban and rural areas, with the majority in rural areas. Most of these are commissioned by the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development.Still, GBV remains both prevalent and vastly under-reported, as many survivors decide to suffer in silence rather than risk stigmatisation, and reprisal.
The need to avoid secondary trauma for, particularly children, led to the establishment of the Victim Friendly System (VFS) in 1997 through the amendment of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act that aimed at supporting survivors of sexual violence and abuse to pursue their right to access specialised health, judicial, welfare and other services.
The Ministry of Women Affairs in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme and other partners also developed a High-Level Political Compact in 2021 as a strategic initiative for an effective response by the government towards the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls nationally.
“Campaigns, media programmes and community awareness are critical strategies that the Ministry as well as development partners, continue to use to ensure more focus on norms transformation and real social behaviour change regarding GBV,” said a senior GBV officer in the Ministry of Women Affairs. “One of the strategies is engagement with men and boys.”
Data from UNFPA show that some of the main challenges regarding solving GBV included limited coordination, insufficient coverage of support services for GBV survivors and the sustainability of interventions.
Through its Integrated Support Programme, the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises and partners, have also been working on a number of interventions to reduce GBV and to increase access and utilisation of GBV services by survivors and perpetrators. These include increasing awareness of gender responsive laws and services to survivors of GBV at one stop centres, strengthening of the GBV referral pathway and provision of direct services, such as legal aid, and psycho-social support.
As a result of the interventions, community awareness of GBV has positively changed. However, more work needs to be done to ensure that survivors have access to residential shelters. Inadequate safe shelters means survivors have to go back to stay or mix with the perpetrators who either may not be arrested or have been released from prison on bail.
This results in survivors becoming even more vulnerable. The Ministry of Women affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises’ goal is to have at least a one stop centre and one safe shelter in each district.
UNFPA and partners are working to achieve this by supporting eight community-based shelters for GBV survivors in Harare, Gweru, Bubi, Marange, Gutu, Chikomba, Makonde, and Mutasa districts as part of strengthening GBV support programmes.
Transport shortages also affect service delivery at one stop centres and safe shelters. There is need for adequate vehicles in the same location of a one stop centre, reducing the challenges of inadequate transportation, and the financial cost of moving to and from service providers. An acute shortage of both financial and human resources is affecting service delivery in the model.
While other GBV programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa have rehabilitation interventions for perpetrators, this is not available in the one stop centres. For the GBV services in Zimbabwe to be holistic and comprehensive, this missing link must be addressed.
Source: New Ziana
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