Civil Society Organizations have called for the strengthening of community referral pathways in the fight against Gender Based Violence (GBV).
By Patricia Mashiri
The call comes in the midst of the 16 days against GBV theme running under the theme, “Orange the world: end violence against women now.
Speaking during a virtual meeting on GBV response, gaps and opportunities, Vimbai Nyika, the SRHR Africa Trust SRHR Youth Officer said education is important in making sure that referral paths are built.
The communities we live in need to know the important of knowing referral paths so when GBV happens around them they know how to respond to it vey well. We still have a long way to go but together we can achieve it,” Nyika said.
Meanwhile, Kudzai Mange, Programs Assistant, Musasa Project said there was need to raise awareness in communities around referral pathways.
“We need to take this GBV fight to the communities out there so that they will understand how it works. We appeal to the government that GBV cases taken to courts should not take long to be dealt with as it discourages others to go and report their cases.
“We also need our courts to treat the terminal approval as an emergency. In most cases the approval of termination of pregnancy takes long and sometimes it will be too late to terminate. This frustrates the whole seeking of consent to terminate process.” Said Mange.
There is need for GBV campaigns to be taken seriously and organizations should go as far as organizing zero budget campaigns in trying to send the world on GBV to the world.
Mellisa Kubvoruno, Programs and Advocacy Associate, Rozaria Memorial Trust said the GBV fight needs to take a multi-sectorial approach.
“We have existing structures, we just need them to be inclusive. Men and boys should be included in the fight against GBV. The more we teach the boy and men what GBV is and its effects the faster we reach want we want to achieve.
“People need to be taught that everyone can be violated because in most situations they react differently when it is the man who has been violated. Our society has normalized that only the girl child can be violated,” said Kubvoruno.
