By Prince Njagu
The government of Denmark in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Gender and Community Development official facilitated the launch of “Orange Day on Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls” in Harare.
The orange day is part of the UN Secretary-Generals “UNITE against Women” campaign which is meant to promote a violence free environment for both women and girls.
The other implementing partners, United Nations Women, Tag A Life International and The Women’s Trust expressed great concerns on the current state of affairs in as far as gender based violence in the country.
Virginia Muwanigwa Director of Humanitarian Information Facilitation Centre (HIFC) said, “We have to say no to all forms of violence, not only against women but also some man who are victims of violence”.
Orange day will be commemorated on the 25th of each month for the whole of 2015; with both man and women being active participants of this campaign.
“The orange day campaign aims at creating a conducive environment for women… It’s a realization and celebration of women rights”, she added.
This global initiative aims at raising awareness, trigger action and drive society’s on the urge to end all forms of violence against women.
The orange day campaign is an extension of “16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence” marked and celebrated annually from 25 November to 10 December.
“In Zimbabwe violence against women is a pertinent issue which needs joint efforts to combat as these campaigns are not yielding expected results”, said Tendai Chikono a participant at the orange launch campaign.
Ms Muwanigwa indicated that it was paramount for everyone to stand up and join forces so as to close the gap between man and women.
With a recent issue being that of a woman who was stripped naked by touts at a bus station as they claimed that she was wearing a mini skirt and only a handful of the perpetrators being arrested.
“The government say that they are addressing issues of gender based violence but the touts who stripped an innocent woman naked have not yet being apprehended, only one person was arrested”, added Chikono.
The Dernmark government, through their ambassador Erik Brogger Rasmusseen indicated that they were aware of the current situation in Zimbabwe and were rallying behind all the organizations that strive to end sexual abuse.
Rasmussen added that it was possible to change the statistics with regards to gender based violence and the orange day campaign was a step in the right direction in addressing the problem.
Women constitute 52% of the country’s total population but they are falling prey to gender based violence from a minority group of man in terms of population sizes.
As indicated in a 2013 Baseline study by the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development in conjunction with Gender Links on Violence against women in Zimbabwe, 2 women in every 3 women are experience some form of violence during their lifetime.
The figures from this survey indicate an alarming level of 68% violence perpetration against women.
A National Baseline Survey on Life experiences shows that 1 out of 3 girls in Zimbabwe undergoes some form of sexual violence before they turn 18 years.
So there is need to go beyond an orange day commemoration every month as women and girls will always be victims of abuse.
“Most action should come from men as they are the perpetrators of violence against women”, said Rasmussen.
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