Gender Justice Barometer, Issue 5: August 2006
Date: July 30, 2009
SHARE:
|
|
Southern Africa Gender Justice Barometer Issue 5: August 2006 |
|||||||||||||||
|
The Gender Justice Barometer is a joint project of Gender Links and the Gender and Media Southern Africa (GEMSA) Network
In this issue:
1. South Africa: Boost for National Action Plan
2. Zimbabwe: Workshop explores how to replicate South Africa‘s National Action Plan process
3. LEGISLATION * South Africa: Parliament drags its feet over Child Justice Bill * Zimbabwe: Women’s Parliamentary Caucus get gender training
4. INTEGRATED APPROACHES * SADC leaders commit to increase women’s representation in decision-making 5. SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL FACTORS * Swaziland: Controversial report says women have more sexual partners than men * Malawi: Wife inheritance contributes towards the spread of HIV * Uganda: Child prostitution on the increase
6. OPINION AND ANALYSIS * Mauritius: Trauma for young lesbians on the island of sun, sea and sand * No excuse for abuse!
We encourage your feedback, comments and information you would like us to include. Send an email to: editor@genderlinks.org.za
|
1. South Africa: Boost for National Action Plan 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.
As we move closer towards the Sixteen Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, it is important that the momentum generated by the conference and the commitments to the Kopanong Declaration are sustained and strengthened. The establishment of the PMU will certainly ensure that this happens. The next step is to ensure that commitments expressed in the Kopanong Declaration and the priority action plans identified have life beyond the conference itself.
A meeting between members of the Task Team and staff at the PMU took place on 31 August 31 where coordination of the Task Team process was handed over to the PMU and initial plans discussed for workshop planned for 25-27 September. The workshop will develop a concrete set of targets and indicators for the National Action Plan which will be unveiled during the Sixteen Days of Activism Against Gender Violence this year.
Meanwhile, the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) is holding a Communication Strategy Workshop for the Sixteen Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, which is a key communication programme for the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster in 2006. The purpose of the workshop is to ensure a coordinated and inclusive communication effort with consistency of message at all spheres of government in support of the campaign champion, Deputy Minister for Provincial and Local Government, Nomatyala Hangana. The workshop takes place on 5 September.
2. Zimbabwe: Workshop explores how to replicate South Africa‘s National Action Plan process The Gender and Media Southern Africa Zimbabwe chapter (GEMZi) held a gender justice workshop from 23À“ 25 August 2006. The aim of the workshop was to deepen the Sixteen Days of Activism campaign through developing a set of concrete actions to address gender violence throughout the year, such that the Sixteen Days becomes a time to take stock of progress and set new benchmarks, rather than to simply draw attention to the problem. It also provided the opportunity to begin exploring the possibility of replicating the South African National Action Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children process in Zimbabwe.
Workshop participants identified a number of priority action points which will be used to review the 2004 Southern Africa Gender Justice Barometer. This is in an important step for gender activists in the country as there have been a number of legislative changes that have a bearing on gender violence cases. These include the recent passing of the Domestic Violence Act as well as the somewhat controversial repeal of the Sexual Offences Act that has been harmonised and catered for by the Criminal and Codification Act.
Participants developed a checklist for change which it is hoped will be synthesised into a National Action Plan and Strategy. These issues will be taken up with government authorities and relevant stakeholders during the 2006 Sixteen Days of Activism Campaign. The following key priority areas were identified:
· Provision of services particularly safe houses and legal aid to women and children experiencing domestic violence · Harmonisation of services between government and civic society eg police should be stationed at Musasa Project safe houses to protect those who seek refuge from continued victimisation and harassment · Involving local government in providing services to communities · Provision of post-exposure prophylaxis to survivors of sexual assault should be included in policies such as the National AIDS Prevention and Administrative Interventions and provided through essential services such as health, police stations, etc · Lobby for minimum sentences for rape cases as has been done in the case of livestock theft where the minimum sentence is 20 years even if it is one cow. · Establishment of a gender commission whose mandate amongst others issues should include: collection of statistics on domestic violence and other forms of gender based violence and maintain an accessible database, etc
3. LEGISLATION
South Africa: Parliament drags its feet over Child Justice Bill Three years after it first being tabled, the highly anticipated Child Justice Bill has still not been made into law. According to Irin News child rights organisations say that the Bill has “dropped off parliament’s schedule.À
“We would like parliament and cabinet to revisit the Bill as a matter of urgency and enact it. That is all that remains to be done, because budgeting for the implementation plan has also been done. The government departments have given their support, but the delay is in parliament,” said Jackie Gallinetti, coordinator of Child Justice Alliance, a child rights advocacy group.
Zimbabwe: Women’s Parliamentary Caucus get gender training
The Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development in conjunction with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are training the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus on gender and development issues, emphasising the newly promulgated Domestic Violence Act. The Herald reports that the purpose is to “set the stage for the legislators to introduce a gender perspective on issues debated in Parliament and to vigorously advocate for gender equality and empowerment of women.À
4. INTEGRATED APPROACHES SADC leaders commit to increase women’s representation in decision-making The SADC 2005 deadline of 30 percent of women in decision making has come and gone with the majority of countries not having met the target. Despite this, the Heads of State meeting held in Lesotho in August reaffirmed the goal of 50 percent representation in line with African Union targets set at the 2005 Summit. IPS News quotes Timothy Thahane, Lesotho’s finance Minister and Chairperson of the SADC Council of Ministers as saying: “We noted the slow progress made by member states in attaining the set target and urged member states to strive towards the attainment of the 50 percent representation of women in these positions as approved by Summit 2005.” Read the full report
Meanwhile, members of the Southern Africa Gender Protocol Alliance participated in a cyber dialogue during the Lesotho Summit. Chatters pointed out the need to engage gender ministries at country level in order to ensure that the proposed Protocol remains on the annual Summit agenda. Read more about the Protocol Alliance
5. SOCIAL, ECONONOMIC AND POLITICAL FACTORS
Swaziland: Controversial report says women have more sexual partners than men Irin News reports on a new study commissioned by World Vision that found that women in Swaziland have more sexual partners than men. The article cites Hannie Dlamini, who heads the AIDS support group, Deeply Concerned People Against HIV/AIDS who says that the report is factually inaccurate: “What I know is that here in Swaziland, it is the men who propose to the women. The men are the predators, not women,” he told IRIN. In a country in which it is estimated that approximately 33 percent of sexually active adults are HIV positive, the findings have implications for work undertaken to curb the spread of the AIDS.
Malawi: Wife inheritance contributes towards the spread of HIV In the Mzimba district in northern Malawi many people still hold to the belief that wife inheritance, ‘chokolo’, is the only way of preventing relatives from grabbing property, leaving widows and their children destitute. Irin News reports that in a district that has one of the highest HIV infection rates in the country, cultural traditions such as these need to be addressed to curb the spread of the virus.
Luke Edward, executive director of Tovwirane, a community-based HIV/AIDS organisation in Mzimba, said: “When you talk to chiefs and local leaders, most of them agree that they need to change the mindset of the people; they agree that chokolo is contributing to the spread of the epidemic.”
Writing about Karonga, another district in northern Malawi Mildred Funsani, argues that divorced or widowed women who try to fend for themselves face multiple challenges.
She says that widows and divorced women have virtually no tenure or inheritance rights with which to ensure food security for themselves or their children, and many submit to being inherited as a wife by one of their late spouse’s brothers, or engage in risky behaviour to feed their children and survive.
Uganda: Child prostitution on the increase Girls as young as 13 are engaging in prostitution in Uganda, reports The Monitor. Reports say that poverty is feeding the situation and many girls marry early to have their own household units to qualify for food rations from the World Food Programme. Many children learn about sex early because they have seen or heard their parents in the act in their small grass thatched huts, which they share.
5. OPINION AND ANALYSIS
Mauritius: Trauma for young lesbians on the island of sun, sea and sand Loga Virahsawmy With the exception of South Africa, homosexuality is banned all African countries. Even in South Africa where sexual orientation is explicitly protected by the Constitution, gays are frequently subjected to violence and taunting. The story of two young women takes place in Mauritius, the island that prides itself on having one of the most mature democracies in the region and advertises itself as the island of “sun, sea and sand.À That freedom turned to trauma for two young women whose only crime is their passionate love affair.
No excuse for abuse! Eunice Chipangula Take a look through any newspaper in Southern Africa. You will likely to see a number of headlines telling of the latest incidences of domestic abuse. Radio and television broadcasts in the region are all awash with reports of incest, defilement, rape, and murder. Most of these are committed in homes, and most victims are women and children. If the home is not a safe and secure place, then where else can be safe? The struggle to get domestic violence legislation passed to help protect women and children is daunting. Only a handful of countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have specific Domestic Violence Acts in place. These include Mauritius, South Africa, Namibia and Seychelles.
|
Connect with us
Comment on Gender Justice Barometer, Issue 5: August 2006