The Zanzibar Female Lawyers Association (ZAFELA) has launched a gender-based violence (GBV) database system in Zanzibar.
The new data system, made possible by a grant from the Foundation of Civil Society (FCS), aims to collect and minimise duplication of GBV information.
Chairperson of ZAFELA, which provides legal advice for women and children, Sofia Abbras, noted that the nonprofit usually records around 100 cases of GBV annually.
However, in the first six months of 2021, ZAFELA has recorded more than 300 cases of the menace, with Zanzibar Legal Service Centre (ZLSC)’s record of 500 cases indicating that abuse is still prevalent in Zanzibar.
Nearly half of Tanzanian women under the age of 50 have been physically or sexually assaulted, according to a 2016 Ministry of Health survey.
The survey of 13,376 households across Tanzania found one in three girls under 18 experiencing sexual violence.
ZAFELA decried the delay in accessing justice, lack of enforcement of GBV policies, lack of accountability and insufficient fund for GBV in many government institutions.
The nonprofit called on President Hussein Ali Mwinyi to push for reforms along with regular evaluation on GVB interventions and consider possibilities of forming a ‘special National anti-GBV commission or task force’.
The event, organised by ZAFELA in collaboration with 11 other organsisations, was also used to present an award of recognition to the FCS for its efforts against GBV.
‘In the past five years, FCS has granted TZS4billion to 73 CSOs [non-governmental organisations] to work on policy influencing and implement inventions on Women rights to own land, fighting against GBV, livelihood and youth employment, citizen participation in development, peace building and conflict resolution’, FCS Executive Director, Francis Kiwanga, said.
For his part, Mwinyi appreciated the contributions of CSOs in the fight against GBV and issued directives to government officials to intensify the fight against it.
With a view to ending this worrying practice in the East African nation, more than 400 police stations across Tanzania were equipped with Police Gender and Children’s Desks, including seven of Zanzibar’s 20 police stations.
It is understood that the gender desk initiative was first proposed in 2009 by the Tanzanian Police Female Network (TPFNet), a professional association formed in 2007 that aims to improve the way the police relate to women in the community.
The initiative gained financial and operational support from UNICEF and the European Union, and by 2012, there was a network of 417 desks in police stations across the country.
However, a report by NPR in 2018 noted that women and girls in Zanzibar who report these crimes to the police were often met with apathy, negligence, corruption, disdain, disbelief and even violence.
‘Let us strategise to win the war against gender-based violence. More actions are needed’, FCS quoted President Mwinyi as saying.
Source: FCS
Photo source: GovernmentZA
