South Africa: Are we doing enough to end violence against women?

According to a 2013 global review by the World Health Organization, 35 % of women worldwide have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence on non-partner sexual violence. It is estimated that one in five girls has been abused in childhood with estimates from some countries as high as one in three.

The international obligation to exercise due diligence requires States to establish effective measures to prevent, investigate and prosecute cases of violence against women. This includes effective means to respond to each case of violence, as well as address the structural causes of violence by ensuring comprehensive legal and policy frameworks, gender sensitive justice systems and police, available health and social services, awareness raising activities.

 

The national response to the Gender Based and Sexual Violence in South Africa were in the centre of the round table discussion, which was organized by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands and UNODC on 1 March 2017 in Pretoria.

The meeting brought together national authorities dealing with social development, health, and women equality along with Police, National Prosecution Authority (NPA), Court and civil society organizations.

 

According to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, in 2015/16, some 51,895 sexual offences were recorded in South Africa. That's an average of 142.2 per day.  The sexual offences rate decreased from 99 out of 100 000 in 2014/15 to 94.3 in 2015/16, and this can be attributed to the underreporting of sexual violence cases.

 

The impact of under-reporting was further reiterated by the UNODC Regional   Representative Zhuldyz Akisheva who said that  "gender based violence is an impediment to gender equality and that up to 70% of women in their lifetime have experienced gender based violence by their husbands and close partners." She further added that a fraction of a fraction only gets convicted and that criminal justice is very important as it plays a huge role in addressing gender based violence.

 

As highlighted by Mr John Jeffery, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, South Africa has developed sound legislation and a number of initiatives, which addresses the issues of GBSV.  They include the establishment of the Sexual Offences and Community Affairs Unit in the NPA, Thuthuzela Care Centres, Sexual Offences Courts, as well as Rapid Response Teams, which include DJCD, NPA, SAPS and representatives from SCOs. 

 

"We are ready to roll out broad national dialogue on Gender Based and Sexual Violence", said John Jeffrey. Dialogue should take stock of a number of existing initiatives, the way they are implemented and come up with the integrated approach in delivering services to the victims.

 

The Department of Social Development informed the participants on available services, such as on ongoing parenting programme, Temporary Safe Care Facilities for children, Foster Care placements, shelters for abused women, Khuseleka One Stop Centres and others.

 

However, while the progress has been achieved in piloting several initiatives, the participants of the meeting agreed that the implementation, enforcement of legislation and inter-agency cooperation in order to better utilize and streamline ongoing initiatives remain to be a challenge.  Key recommendations to make the national response to the GBSV more efficient were summarized as follows:

 

  • Criminal Justice System requires a victim centred approach which is practice is not implemented. This undermined trust in Justice and law enforcement system and contribute to the low level of GBSV cases;
  • Inter-departmental coordination mechanism is essential for continuum of services to the victims of GBSV;
  • There is a need to develop an integrated data collection system, which would allow establishment of baseline and proper monitoring of progress;
  • There is a need for dedicated personnel that render services, including in Criminal Justice system.

 

Other key stakeholders included representatives from the Judiciary, the South African Police Services (SAPS), the Department of Health and the Legal Resource Centre who all stressed the importance of the integrated approach in addressing Gender-based and sexual violence, which would allow effective use of available national resources, cross-utilization of different initiatives and an active engagement of civil society in supporting victims of GBV.

 

In the Southern African region, violence against women is rife. The lack of services for survivors and of effective responses by law enforcement officers makes this issue a human security problem. UNODC has developed the 'Handbook on Effective Police Responses to Violence against Women' to furnish law enforcement officers with information that will enable them to identify key elements in defining violence against women. The Handbook has proved essential in boosting the proportion of cases of violence against women that are reported to the authorities.

Press Release

Violence against Women and Children

In the Southern African region, violence against women is rife. The lack of services for survivors and of effective responses by law enforcement officers makes this issue a human security problem. UNODC has developed the 'Handbook on Effective Police Responses to Violence against Women' to furnish law enforcement officers with information that will enable them to identify key elements in defining violence against women. The Handbook has proved essential in boosting the proportion of cases of violence against women that are reported to the authorities.

Across the region

In light of the success the Handbook has enjoyed in other regions of the world, UNODC Southern Africa has launched a project aimed at tailoring its contents to the needs of the region. To provide further assistance, the regional office is also carrying out training and capacity-building initiatives in six countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in the framework of a project that was initiated in March 2008 and is being implemented in partnership with SADC and the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation.

The mandate for the project comes from Economic and Social Council resolution 2006/29, entitled 'Crime prevention and criminal justice responses to violence against women and girls', in which the Council recognized the importance of targeting the special needs of women and girls in the criminal justice system. That resolution, coupled with several General Assembly resolutions, provides the legal basis for UNODC to assist in countering violence against women and providing help to victims.

One-stop centres

The project also builds on work already done by UNODC Southern Africa, such as the establishment of three one-stop centres, one in each of the provinces of Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape and the Northern Cape, all of which have been handed over to the South African Government. Each centre has provided a range of services (legal, counselling, medical) to the survivors of violence (specifically women and children) and rehabilitation services, including counselling and support groups for men who have been or who are seen to be potential perpetrators of violence in order to break the cycle of domestic violence. UNODC Southern Africa is running additional one-stop centres in Mitchell's Plain (Western Cape), Vryburg (North West), and Sunnyside (Gauteng).