"From peace in our Homes to Peace in the world:Lets challenge all forms of Gender Based Violence and End violence against women and men"

by Janet T Bhila

Hubby loses tooth in fight over pot (Herald of November 14 2012)

Lets all condemn domestic violence in Zim (Nehanda Radio 18 November 2012)

DJ bashed by lover (Daily news of November 13 2012)

Gender Based Violence is an umbrella term for any harmful act that is perpetrated against a person’s will and that is based on socially ascribed 

 (gender) differences between men and women. http://researchandadvocacyunit.wordpress.com/tag/16-days-of-activism-against-gender-based-violence/. 16 Days are meant to raise awareness on issues to do with gender based violence and end gender based violence.

 

The Interagency Gender Working Group is a network that promotes gender equity it says that the violence may take many forms, such as sexual abuse,physical violence, emotional or psychological abuse, verbal abuse, or beatings during pregnancy.

In its 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, the world governing body, the UN, defines GBV in Article 1 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 deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."Further, Article 2 of the Declaration points out  that the definition should incorporate and not be limited to acts of physical, sexual and psychological violence in the family, community, or perpetrated or condoned by the State, wherever it occurs. These acts include: spousal battery; sexual abuse The 1995 Beijing Platform for Action expands this UN definition.It clearly identifies violence against women as including violations of the rights of women in situations of armed conflict, including systematic rape, sexual slavery and forced pregnancy; forced sterilization, forced abortion, coerced or forced use of contraceptives; prenatal sex selection and female infanticide. It also recognizes the particular vulnerabilities of women belonging to minorities: the elderly and the displaced; indigenous, refugee and migrant communities; the disabled; women living in rural or remote areas.

Thus, the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence became one of several initiatives, mainly by feminists, to raise awareness and eliminate GBV in the world. It came out of the Global Campaign for Women’s human rights. In June 1991 the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership with participants from the first Women’s Global Institute on Women, Violence and Human Rights (a forum involving 23 women from 20 countries) called for a Global Campaign of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence from November 25 to December 10 in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights, and to emphasize that such violence is a violation of human rights including of female children;rape, including marital rape; female genital mutilation/cutting, and other practices harmful to women; non-spousal violence; sexual violence related to exploitation; sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in school and elsewhere; trafficking in women; and forced prostitution.http://www.mmpz.org/sites/default/files/GBV%2016%20Days%20Campaign%20Report.pdf

In many recent articles written by the press there has been reports of how women have been beaten up or killed for issues where we can all agree that the issue would have not been solved by the outcome of the matter.For example in  Raviro Sherekete's Story (Man kills brother's wife over sex -herald 10 November 2012). My opinion this kind of behavior is not  called for. After her death he remains with a conscience that will haunt him the rest of his life and  a jail term that will make sure he will miss out on a larger part of his life.The question to ask is WAS WHAT HE DID WORTH IT ?HOW DID IT SOLVE THE PROBLEM? We all need to let God deal with our inner selves,and let him be in control of everything that goes one in our lives other wise all we work for our families,our jobs,the nice house you have will be hard work going down the drain.

  

As we are all taking part in 16 days of Activism Against Gender Violence campaign let us all bear in mind that fighting does not solve any problem neither does it assist us in getting what we want to be done,in fact it only makes matters worse.Let us all work together in ending violence against gender (men and women).

 TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND YOUR RIGHTS.GENDER BASED VIOLENCE CAN BE STOPPED AND IT BEGINS WITH YOU.