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Herald Reporters

Civic organisations have called for the resourcing of referral systems to strengthen gender based violence (GBV) reporting.

Women’s rights advocacy group, ActionAid Zimbabwe, called for the equipping of the girl child so that she is aware and can claim her rights as part of efforts to curb GBV.

This came out at a recent International Women’s Month policy breakfast meeting in Harare.

The meeting was organised by Action Aid, Global Platform Zimbabwe and People’s Postcode Lottery in conjunction with Zimpapers Television Network (ZTN).

Several issues came up at the meeting including the increase of GBV cases during the Covid-19 lockdown period, challenges being faced by women especially those in the informal sector owing to Covid-19, increase in the number of girl child sexual abuse during the lockdown and possible solutions to some of the challenges.

The meeting noted that resource challenges such a transport and money were affecting the reporting of GBV and participants suggested that authorities, including police, should be capacitated so they can handle the cases on time.

ActionAid human resources and organisational development manager Mrs Crescencia Mafuko commended Government for putting up structures and various measures to help vulnerable households during the Covid-19 lockdown.

“We believe that all these interventions must be implemented in a gender responsive way to ensure that men, women and young people have equal opportunity to benefit from the national programme,” she said.

ActionAid said lack of gender responsive public services such as clean water, transport and health had increased women and girls’ vulnerability to GBV.

The organisation said women were exposed to GBV in public spaces every day and expressed frustration at the referral pathways which were filled with challenges such as under resourcing, bureaucracy and corruption that discouraged reporting violence, whether it occurred in a public or private space.

A survey carried out by ActionAid Zimbabwe also noted that women and girls suffered economic violence in the home because they were locked with the abusers and experienced other Covid-19 restrictions.

About 79 percent of the respondents reported having experienced economic violence manifesting in verbal, physical and emotional abuse brought about by the lack of food and other necessities during the 2020 lockdown.