TANZANIA: Zanzibar Organises Forum to Discuss Gender Violence

Source: Tanzania Daily News
AS part of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence, activists in Zanzibar are organising a 'special' forum where victims of gender violence, law enforcers, magistrates and other stakeholders will discuss violence against women.

This will be the first ever forum in the islands to bring together different groups -- students, police, parents, disabled persons, journalists and victims of gender violence in Zanzibar town, in an efforts to end the scourge.

Activists and victims of the gender violence here complain that the fight to end the problem is being hampered by the inactive policemen and magistrates in handling cases being reported and filed to such organs. "We want stakeholders in the campaign to end Gender Based Violence (GBV) to meet.

Let's discuss and comeup with a workable solution, Ms Mzuri Issa, Coordinator of the Zanzibar office of the Tanzania Media Women's Association (TAMWA). She said that the '16 Days of activism' is another opportunity for people in different parts of the world to discuss better ways of protecting women and children from any form of abuse.

'The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence' is an international campaign that starts on November 25 to December 10 aimed to eliminate violence against women.

The United Nations has designated Monday as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women to be proceeded by series of events to promote gender equality, a campaign founded in 1991 by the US based Centre for Women's Global Leadership.

This year's theme is 'Let's challenge militarism and end violence against women.' According to Ms Asha Abdi, a TAMWA activist, the focus in the 16 Days of Activism is ending violence against women and girls.

The campaign has been used as a strategy by individuals and groups around the world to call for the elimination of all forms of violence against women by raising public awareness at the local and national levels.

Other goals are strengthening local participation in eliminating violence against women, establishing clear link between local and international work to end the problem and providing a forum in which organizers can develop and share new and effective strategies.

Other strategies include showing solidarity of women around the world and creating tools to pressure governments to implement promises made to eliminate GBV. Asha Abdi said that despite recent efforts, gender violence in Zanzibar still remains a problem.

"The 16 Days of activism campaign hopes to raise awareness about gender-based violence as a human rights issue," she said. Other activists like lawyers, through their organizations are also organizing events in Zanzibar hoped to get the public involved in the campaign.

"We are searching for a common ground through talks about gender equality and violence against women. We are targeting everyone -- politicians and businesspersons to take part," said Sheikha Dau. Women are subjected to different forms of violence: physical, sexual, psychological and economic within and outside the home.

According to available country data, between 15 and 76 per cent of women worldwide are targeted for physical and/or sexual violence in their life time.

This 16-day period also highlights other significant dates including December 1, which is World AIDS Day and World Disabled Day on Dec 3 in which activists hope news articles as well as cartoons in the media will address the issue of gender violence.

"We want to make the 16 Days of Activism to have an impact on the community. We are also encouraging family and individual movement to end violence," Sheikha said.

"Some researches like the ActionAid's survey of 2012 show that many women still maintain the culture of silence, some don't understand that they are abused and some even avoid complaining because of ignorance or fearing family conflicts," Asha said.

She said TAMWA and other stakeholders are striving ensure that women are safeguarded by improving laws, mainly by amending outdated laws that leave women vulnerable.

The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (DEVW), proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in its resolution 48/104 of December 20, 1993, defines the term 'violence against women' as: "Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."

Most of the violations, at all three levels concern women's sexuality, reproductive capacity and their right to decide over their own body.