Gender Justice Barometer

Welcome to the third issue of the Southern Africa Gender Justice Barometer, a resource that provides information on developments addressing gender violence in Southern Africa.

In the last issue we were still asking the question, “Where is the Sexual Offences Bill?À a question that has been asked for the last 10 years or so. However the wait is almost over as MPs passed the Sexual Offences Bill end of May.

Members of the National Action Plan Task Team gathered in Cape Town on a working retreat from 26-29 September to take stock of progress made since the 365 Days of Action Kopanong conference in May.

It is official; the Programme Management Unit (PMU) reported on in the last newsletter has been officially established! This is excellent news for the National Action Plan to end Violence Against Women and Children, adopted at the May 2006 conference.

It is essential that the implementation of the National Action Plan is owned at all levels; from district to national level. This is the consensus of members of the 365 Day Task Team, which was established at the end of the National Action Plan to End Gender Violence Conference in May.

2006 marks the 16th anniversary of the 16 Days of Activism on Gender Violence. Since 1991, the 16 Days campaign has worked to enhance the visibility of violence against women as a human rights violation hence this year’s theme: Advance Human Rights: End Violence Against Women.

The National Action Plan (NAP) Task Team comprising senior government officials, UNICEF and civil society met on the 23rd À“ 24th January 2007 to put final touches to the Draft National Action Plan to end gender violence.

Violence against women and girls is increasingly recognised as one of the most serious and urgent challenges of our times. In all parts of the world, its very real and harmful effects on women and girls have been seen to impede the pursuit of development, peace and gender equality.

National gender machineries in SADC countries are convening country consultations ahead of a consultative conference in Gaborone from 16-18 April.

Non-consensual, penile penetration of a woman – whether it be anal or vaginal – constitutes rape, the Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday 10th May. However, it refused to find that non-consensual anal penetration of a man is rape, holding that this is the function of the legislators and not the court.

Swaziland has become the fifth SADC country to develop a draft National Action Plan to End Gender Violence after Namibia, Mauritius, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe

Gender activists are disappointed that SADC leaders failed to seize the opportunity at the just ended Lusaka Summit to take their commitment to ensuring gender equality in the region to another level, by not signing the Protocol on Gender and Development.