Gender Based Violence (GBV) is still critical in Zimbabwe with one in every three women facing violence throughout their lifetime, UN Women Country Representative Delphine Serumaga has said.
Addressing the media in the capital on Thursday, Serumaga underlined the need for people to start speaking and acting differently in order to end violence against women.
“To eradicate violence against women and girls and all forms of gender based violence we must begin to speak differently to act differently,
“In speaking differently, we must continuously remember that women’s and girls’ rights are human rights therefore we must equate violence against women and girls and all forms of GBV the most pervasive human rights violations for half of the population of Zimbabwe throughout their lived experiences,” said Serumaga.
UN Resident Coordinator, Mr Bishow Parajuli noted that many gender based violence cases go unreported in the country- an issue he said needs to be urgently addressed.
“Some say cases of abuse and violence, especially against women are going up in Zimbabwe, others sat that is only because reporting is getting better,
“It does not matter, there are still many thousands of gender based violence cases reported across the country and we know that even one case is one too many and we must end this social ill,” said Parajuli.
He went on to say that everyone has the right to life and liberty including women.
“Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person, this means that women and men, girls and boys have the right to live and to live in freedom and safety,
“Gender based violence is therefore a violation of human rights,” he added.
In Zimbabwe 1 in 3 women face violence throughout their lifetime, globally 750 million women were married before age 18 and more than 250 million have undergone Female Genital Mutilation.
There is increasing recognition that violence against women is a major barrier to the fulfillment of human rights and a direct challenge to women’s inclusion and participation in sustainable development and sustaining peace.
UNFPA Deputy Representative, Yu Yu called for partner efforts to ensure that GBV survivors have access to essential health services.
“Collective efforts are needed from all partners to ensure that survivors of Gender Based Violence have access to essential health services, psychological support and legal aid.
“For survivors of rape or sexual violence accessing medical services within 72 hours is highly critical to prevent pregnancy, HIV infection and Sexually Transmitted Infections,
“It is an emergency as only 1% of the survivors access services and many of them are not aware of its importance,” said Yu.
The United Nations is committed to addressing violence against women in all forms, in this regard the UN Trust Fund has been funding civil society organizations for twenty years and recently awarded USD$129 million to 463 initiatives across 139 countries.
The 16 days of activism against gender based violence for 2017 will be running under the theme “Leave No One Behind: End Violence Against Women and Girls.”
