High profile women taking lead in reporting GBV cases

Jun 23, 2019

Kagere said many high profile women have now come out to speak and many of their cases are coming to light

GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
 
Cases of Gender-Based Violence have changed the tune from peasant women reporting to women of high profile.
 
According to Diana Kagere the in charge of media and advocacy at the centre for Domestic Violence Prevention (CEDOVIP) about 10 cases of gender-based violence are being reported on average at the centre by women from different spheres of life most especially the advantaged ones.  
 
"Violence does not have a religion, no class, no education neither economic status that's, why it has been happening everywhere."
 
The only unique thing about it is that those from economically disadvantaged background have been speaking out and sharing their experience freely while those from the economically advantaged background have been concealing or secretly handling these issues, "she said.
 
Speaking during a dialogue conducted by the Centre for Media Literacy and Community Development(CEMCOM) in collaboration with Zimbabwe's Center for Media and information literacy on Leveraging Community Media structures to report and address Gender Based Violence (GBV)  at the grassroots.
 
Kagere said many high profile women have now come out to speak and many of their cases are coming to light an example of the two famous pastors whose wives came out publically to say they had been physically abused.
 
"We have also received so many reports about Members of Parliament also saying publically that they are experiencing sexual harassment both at Parliament and within their homes, "she said.
 
She explained that it had become very hard to target these kinds of people because all programs put at community level targeting them, they were always at work.
 
"When we engage the media, these people are in social hangouts or with friends and they are unable to tune in, meaning they have been missing in the space.   
 
It's no longer about class but it's about a social issue that affects everyone, we are happy that even those from the corporate world are also coming out so we hope they can also focus on the programmes targeting to eliminate the problem, "she added.
 
She said such people have been missing out but, now that they know that their colleagues are coming out to speak, they can take a deliberate effort to engage in prevention and also learn how to support themselves to prevent violence in their homes and get to know how to get a response.
 
Kagere observed the need to come up with a system that can support those coming out so that they can get justice.
 
She said that about 60% of married people have experienced some form of violence.
 
Between 2011 and 2016, Annual Police Crime Reports show that reported cases of Defilement rose by 128%,1 every 30 minutes in 2016, rape by 202%, 4.3 per day total in 201, 1 case reported every 6 hours in 2016.
 
Domestic violence rose by 290.5%, to 10,907 in 2016, 30 cases per day, 1.24 cases an hour, 1 case every 48 minutes while approximately 25% of rape and defilement cases are closed due to lack of evidence. 4,785 cases closed.
 
 
Mathias Mulumba from the centre for media Excellency (ACME) called for more empowerment to the media to report on the cases of GBV if a reduction is to be realised.
 
Margaret Masagazi called for increased professionalism when covering issues concerning gender based violence.

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