16 Days campaign hits cyberspace
Sheree Russouw
25 November 2004
Imagine if, for 16 days, there were no rape, no child abuse, no sexual harassment, no emotional abuse. Difficult to imagine? The Sixteen Days of Activism on Gender Violence campaign challenges South Africans to declare a truce on violence against women and children - and, ultimately, to make it a permanent one.
Around the country, South Africans are being called on to combat violence against women and children. For the seventh year, SA is taking part in the global 16 Days of Activism For No Violence Against Women campaign, which runs from November 25 through to International Human Rights Day on December 10.
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Although the global campaign focuses on violence against women only, South Africa added children to its campaign because of the high incidence of child abuse in the country.
SA is still home to "shockingly high" levels of violence against its women and children, despite a world-renowned Constitution and a legislative overhaul that safeguard women's rights, an NGO specialising in gender issues says.
Gender Links is one of a collection of civic organisations who are hoping the Sixteen Days of Activism campaign will help stem such abuse.
Cyber dialogues: 16 Days of Activism
This year, the
organisers are tapping into the Internet with a series of "cyber dialogues" that aim to "make IT work for gender justice" when the campaign gets under way on 25 November, International No Violence Against Women Day.
Men and women will be able to participate in debates with senior government officials and NGOs to air their views on gender violence at community centres across the country.
These on the ground dialogues will combine with cyber dialogues, linking to a central hub at national level where experts and decision-makers will be available at a fixed time each day to answer questions in a live chat room.
The concept includes a bulletin board to which individuals can post messages, and a daily exchange of information between countries in southern Africa, as well as a video link-up between all those who participate on the last day of the campaign.
The
Department of Correctional Services, the Government Communication and Information System, the City of Johannesburg - which will serve as a hub - and an array of NGOs will coordinate the Internet arm of the campaign.
Gender Links Deputy Director Kubi Rama says the campaign aims to empower women in particular to use the Internet, encourage people to speak out against abuse, and link South Africans via the Internet "in a common cause".
The Internet discussions will be structured around specific themes, such as the effectiveness of the criminal justice system in tackling abuse, the role of religion in gender violence, and child maintenance issues.
Rhetoric and reality
South Africa, says Rama, needs to close the gap between the "rhetoric of gender equality" and the "reality on the ground".
Gender Links says the country has made impressive strides in recognising the roles and rights of women and children.
The Constitution
recognises gender equality as the cornerstone of South Africa's democracy, and new legislation - such as the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act and the Domestic Violence Act - have been lauded for enforcing the rights of women.
But more needs to be done. "Changing laws can be swift", says Rama. "Giving them effect, and changing the mindsets that often render them ineffective, is a much more demanding task.
"We have special offences courts that achieve a 64% conviction rate, compared to the 7% conviction rate in normal courts … women who turn on their abusive partners are treated more harshly by the courts than men who commit femicide."
The most recent police statistics show that crimes against women and children are not decreasing, despite a general - albeit small - decline in criminal activity in the country.
The police say about 6000 children were abused in 2003/04, but children's rights groups dispute this, saying the figure is far higher because
police definitions discount rape, indecent assault and the abduction of children.
Similarly, over 50 000 cases of rape were reported to the police in 2003/2004, but it remains an underreported crime in South Africa. The Law Reform Commission estimates that as many as 1.7-million cases of rape occur in the country every year.
But public education campaigns help "break the silence" and may see more rape survivors reporting their cases to the police, says Bongani Linda of the police's family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit.
"It's important to have these cases reported because we are not just dealing with the offender, but want to help the victim with counseling and medication to protect her from HIV/Aids", says Linda.
"The trauma of rape is not just a scar on a woman's body, but on her soul too."
Gender Links' Rama says South African men need to change their attitudes towards women, along with the "socialisation that makes a man feel
he is entitled to use his wife's car for his philandering - and kill her if she says no."
Men, too, are often victims of abuse, says Linda. "And not all men are rapists …these Sixteen Days campaigns are often when we see men marching for the rights of women. We need education, because people know their rights but don't know how to use them."
Linda suggests the upcoming 16-day campaign would reach more South Africans if it were run throughout the year.
"South Africa may be the most developed country in Africa, but it is not winning its war of violence against its women and children."
Source: City of Johannesburg
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