The Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) says it will be lobbying Members of Parliament to have gender-based violence (GBV) declared a national disaster, as many families continue to be torn apart by the scourge.
This was revealed by SNAT Gender and Human Rights Officer, Sifiso Vilakati, during a live address to members as the organisation marked the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence on Saturday.
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Vilakati said the organisation, which has over 13 000 members, opposed any form of violence, regardless of where it occurred. She added that the 16 Days of Activism was a global campaign observed annually from November 25 to December 10, culminating with Human Rights Day.
“The campaign is meant to push our governments to act against GBV, and in Eswatini the situation is worse because we receive daily media reports of people killing and injuring each other. We have a parliament that we, as SNAT, are asking to declare GBV a national disaster,” she said. She explained that if GBV was declared a national disaster, government would be able to intervene more effectively and invest resources into ending it.
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She said SNAT would be approaching MPs elected by the people to lobby them to support the declaration this year, as many families were breaking apart and the number of child-headed households continued to grow.
“This is a national problem. We also have Convention C190, which Eswatini has still not ratified, yet it is aimed at preventing violence and harassment at work. This is where much of the violence occurs, and we are calling on government to ratify the convention so that it can be domesticated and used to curb workplace GBV,” she said.
SNAT Secretary General Lot Vilakati added that as a human rights organisation, they always hold a march against GBV. He said both the police and the Manzini Municipal Council had granted approval for the march, which would be open to everyone.
“We are all affected by abuse, whether in relationships, families, or the workplace,” he said.
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