Stakeholders in the country have urged the government to put in place strategic and practical interventions to mitigate the prevalence of gender-based violence (GBV) in the Tanzanian community.
According to them (stakeholders) thousands of Tanzanian women and girls suffer from mental, psychological, physical and emotional torture due to GBV.
Furthermore, women are raped, brutally attacked and killed, with some of them forced to undergo a traditional ritual, female genital mutilation (FGM), and the situation is worse in the rural areas, where women and girls are beaten and tortured, but few of them report their plight to the relevant authorities, according to documented studies.
“In my home village (Tarime), around ten to 15 cases related to women and girls mistreatment and discrimination occur every day…and these incidents happen without the knowledge of law enforcement agents,” said Crecensia Mwibari, a medical specialist and social expert.
In fact, gender based violence is a grave reality in the lives of women and girls in Tanzania. Government data show that such violence is caused by social and economic inequalities that give privilege to men over women.
Although female genital mutilation is illegal, the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) statistics show that Tanzania has recorded a rise in FGM prevalence in recent years with Mara region leading with a prevalence of 39.9 per cent, compared to the national average of 14.6 per cent.
Brutal killings of women in Butiama, Mara, reported in last month (April) testify the magnitude of the FGM in the region. Police and independent investigations said unidentified killers chop off women sexual parts under the deeply-rooted traditional believes and customs that the “parts could help them (killers) become rich” through fishing and mining activities.
There are several factors attributable to escalating GBV incidents in different parts of the country. According to a recent baseline study carried out by TAMWA in several districts countrywide, lack of awareness and the existing gaps in the reporting system are some of the factors contributing to the increase in gender related violence in the country.
Findings show that gender based violence is a serious problem in the country, but its magnitude is difficult to ascertain because such incidents are under reported. “The gender violence victims fail to report due to poverty and (they are) unable to follow the costly and bureaucratic procedure of seeking justice," it said.
The research reveals stigmatisation attached to the victims of gender violence makes them reluctant to report such incidents. “In case of defilement, some parents see that as an opportunity of getting money from the suspected defiler.”
However, the government cannot escape the blame, as activists accused authorities for lax and deliberate failure to take appropriate measures to eliminate gender-based violence.
TAMWA Executive Director, Valerie Msoka, was recently quoted as saying that “GBV is increasing because there’s no political will to address the underlying social problems.”
“Fighting GBV is still not a strategic priority in many government programmes, therefore it is hard to fight attitudes that sustain such problems,” she said.
However, in a bid to supplement national initiatives against GBV, some of upcountry paralegals and legal aid organizations have started taking affirmative steps, which they believe, could help slow down gender-based violence in some parts of Tanzania.
The Centre for Widows and Children Assistance (CWCA), an NGO dedicated to provide legal and related assistance to women and children, is now conducting extensive paralegal training in Musoma and Mara, where GBV cases have reached at the crisis level.
“So far, we are progressing well…we have already trained many paralegals who are currently providing legal assistance to the victims of gender-based violence across Mara region. We hope, we can help to mitigate, if not, completely eliminate GBV in this region,” said Valerian Mgani, Project Manager of CWCA, one of the legal aid organizations which received funds from the Legal Services Facility (LSF) for the implementation of three-year paralegal project throughout the country.
LSF is a basket funding mechanism supported by Danida and DFID with the main objective of providing financial assistance to legal aid organizations in Tanzania. The facility already disbursed around 14 billion to legal aid organizations involved paralegal-related projects countrywide.
So far, CWCA (with a grant from LSF) has already trained 28 paralegals in Bunda district, Butiama district (17), Musoma Rural (17) and Musoma Municipality (13). These paralegals have been deployed to provide legal assistance to the local community in their localities.
Besides offering legal services, the trained paralegals are also educating communities about their legal and human rights, how to access justice, appropriate mechanisms of settling their disputes, among other things, noted Mgani.
After the paralegal training in the above districts, according to the official, the number of GBV cases reported increased drastically. With supportive figures, Mgani said 58 per cent of all cases reported at CWCA’s Musoma office (as of March, 2014), were related to gender-based violence—a drastic increase from 26 per cent and 33 per cent of GBV cases reported in the months of January and February, respectively.
“The trend of reported GBV cases is a clear indication that people are now aware of their rights, that’s why they are coming to the centre for legal assistance,” said Mgani.
The paralegal units assists GBV victims in different ways--reconciling conflicting parties, counseling them and assist the victims to take complex cases to court, including providing them with technical guidance from the first stage up to the end of the case.
Mgani said CWCA would soon extend paralegal training, covering two other districts—Tarime and Rorya districts, in a bid to produce paralegals who could assist Mara residents out of widespread women discrimination, FGM and other forms of gender-based violence.
He admitted that GBV was critical in Mara where he said “women and girls have no rights at all.” At the moment, according to the project manager, there are more than 100 girls who have run out of their homes and sought refuge at Musoma-based Catholic Convent, dubbed “TGFM-Masanga, for fear of FGM. These girls escaped after witnessing negative effects, coupled with endless pain, inflicted on their peers who had undergone the ritual.
“Besides, many women are now hiding in their houses for fear of being killed and their sexual parts taken away in the wake of recent killings of women in Butiama district,” said Mgani.
The official blamed traditional leaders, customs and norms as behind escalating harmful traditional practices and critical impediments to the CWCA’s efforts aimed to stamp out gender-based violence in Mara region.
Furthermore, the official explained that, “with extensive paralegal training supported by LSF and aggressiveness of paralegals in spreading the legal and human rights knowledge and education, the problem would be minimized.”
Women and girls stories in Mara, paint a disturbing picture of the plight of thousands of vulnerable social groups in Tanzania, who are increasingly becoming victims of gender based violence.
At a recent media orientation workshop on laws and policies related to GBV held in Bagamoyo, the Justice and Constitution Affairs Deputy Minister Angela Kairuki, said that the Legal Aid Law, expected to be table in the Parliament soon, would help to redress GBV which she said threatens the victim's health and economic well-being, with negative social economic impact to the entire country.” GBV is real and impacts negatively on women and girls, and that practical and strategic intervention are needed to put the vice on check. And this requires commitment, dedication and devotion of all stakeholders—civil societies, government agencies, local government leaders, and donor agencies.
No comments:
Post a Comment