The campaign is used as an organising strategy by individuals and organisations around the world to call for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused havoc across the world, the 16 days were commemorated each year without fail and different organising groups staged events to make their voices heard, but sadly COVID-19 halted not only the campaign but many other important ones, which target the betterment of the lives of different communities.
This year in our beautiful country, it seemed a bit quiet during the 16 Days of Activism, as one or two NGOs made an effort to commemorate this very important campaign, but the rest seemed either fatigued or just out of touch with the campaign.
Two organisations, which immediately come to mind are Sisonke Botswana and Success Capital Organisation. The two partnered to host a two-day workshop which addressed inequalities, challenges, and aspirations of communities that are most at risk of structural and variant forms of violence, exclusion, stigma, and discrimination.
It could be that other organisations commemorated the 16 Days of Activism, but did not make enough noise to reach the target audience. The campaign has been ongoing for a long time, but the sad reality is women and children continue to suffer violence at the hands of either their male relatives, husbands, or even strangers.
Some members of the community often misunderstand the reasons why the campaign is largely geared towards women and girls. It is not disputed that men and boys also experience GBV, but the numbers are disproportionate little as compared to a large number of women and girls.
This does not that men and boys do not deserve to be protected as well.
Several intimate partner murders were recorded during the 16 Days of Activism. Just last week, this publication published an article where a woman was allegedly murdered by her boyfriend in Mashoro. There was also the case of a police officer who shot his wife and turned the gun on himself, and a married soldier who is also alleged to have shot his girlfriend before turning the gun on himself, just to mention a few.
There was also another case, where a young woman allegedly stabbed her boyfriend with a sharp object. This scourge continues to haunt the nation, despite the efforts made to end GBV. Isn’t it time all stakeholders sat around the table again to change the strategy currently in use? We cannot continue to lose women, girls, men, and boys in our communities to acts of violence and murder.
Stakeholders need to intensify their campaigns and education and include both men and women in conversations around issues of violence. Let's all stand up to fight GBV and all forms of violence.
