Date: 02/04/2009

Source: The Presidency

Title: SA: Tshabalala-Msimang: Address by the Minister in the Presidency at the launch of the Women's Justice and Empowerment Initiative

Programme Director, Advocate Thoko Majokweni from the National Prosecution Authority (NPA)
Advocate Mokotedi Mpshe from NPA
United States representatives, Dr Raymond Brown and Dr Carleene Dei from USAID
Mr Stephen Blight from United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
Dr Peter Vaz from RTI International
Members of the Interdepartmental Management Team
Members of the Judicial System
Distinguished Ambassadors present
Ladies and Gentlemen, all of whom are here today because of your commitment to ending violence against women and children

I am honoured to share this moment with you. I wish to express the Presidency's and Government's sincere appreciation to both the Interdepartmental Management Team and the US government for inviting us to share with you the launching of the Women's Justice and Empowerment Initiative (WJEI) that seeks to support the South African Government's programme focused on violence against women and children.

The victim support component of the WJEI in South Africa is a three year 11,7 million dollar initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under a bilateral agreement with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. It provides support to the Sexual Offences and Community Affairs unit (SOCA) of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

As you may know South Africa is committed to ensuring a better life for all, free from violence, especially against women and children. Government is fully aware of the need to ensure the protection of the rights to equality, human dignity, privacy and freedom, as well as security of each person in this country as mandated by our constitution. The commitment is also informed by the obligations South Africa has in terms of international instruments for human rights such as the Beijing Platform for Action, Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Equality, the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equity, including the African Union (AU) Gender Policy.

Violence against women and children is an obstacle to the achievement gender equality, development and peace as stipulated in our Constitution and enshrined in the Bill of Rights. It is violation of the enjoyment by women and children, of their basic human rights and freedoms.

The South African Government and its people therefore appreciate and welcome the United States' support through the USAID to support us to implement our program to upgrade and expand the one-stop Thuthuzela Care Centre network. This initiative has pioneered efforts to better protect the rights of women and children by providing vital support to victims of domestic violence, and sexual violence and abuse throughout the justice system. Thuthuzela Care Centre provide improved services (health and welfare) and initiate processes for effective reporting and prosecution of offences in a dignified and caring environment - offering these services to the victims in a one-stop centre by qualified professionals.

This launch today is dedicated not only at celebrating the partnership but also at finding ways of advancing the struggle for the rights of women and children who are the most vulnerable and abused people in our society. Rape and gendered crimes are the most adorable and shameful acts of violence in any given society. A country that does not respect its women and children has no future and is doomed to extinction.

This violence must stop. We must unite and intensify the fight to stop gender based violence. And I hope that through this partnership and intersectoral collaboration we will be a step closer to achieving this objective by continually improving our interventions and responses in this regard.

We acknowledge that we cannot achieve this alone. As it became even more evident during the Tsireledzani Human Trafficking conference last week, gender crimes know no boundaries or borders. We are therefore compelled as governments to effectively respond through various initiatives and partnerships. Government efforts must be accompanied by practical steps and actions which must be taken by all sectors of our society in partnership with each other including communities in order to end all forms of violence against women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities. It is also through a strong partnership between Governments, civil society, business, labour and all sectors of our communities that we can address this scourge successfully!

In his announcement of Women's Justice Empowerment Initiative (WJEI) in 2005, President Bush mentioned the Thuthuzela Care Centre model by name as the sort of program the WJEI is poised to support in South Africa. As a sign of the growing recognition that Thuthuzela Care Centres represent a world-best model, Thuthuzela-modelled care centres for rape victims are being opened in Chile following the visit of our government delegation. It is through such inter-governmental sharing and collaboration that we can meaningfully succeed. We are also happy to report that the entourage present here today has visited our Thuthuzela Care Centre and command South Africa for this initiative.

The partnership that we are promoting is not the one characterized by the dominance of one party over the other. It is a relationship based on mutual understanding and respect. It is also a relationship based on the sharing on knowledge and information, skills and expertise, experiences and resources and mutually beneficial partnership that can be replicable some where else in the Region and Africa, and internationally.

Gender based violence in South Africa and everywhere else, demands an urgent, sustained responses based on reliable information to ensure:
* effective resource allocation and management within the Criminal Justice System (CJS)
* improved offender accountability
* effective and widespread crime prevention.
* sufficient multi disciplinary collaboration to provide an effective service delivery.

These were the principles that guided us in the conceptualization and the establishment of the first Thuthuzela Care Centre clinics in the 1990s. I must therefore, ladies and gentlemen, necessarily rejoice to see all of you here today, committed to making a difference in the countries and organizations that you offer to the victims of gender based violence.

To you, Dr Brown in particular and all our co-operating partners, it is our pleasure to have partnered with you in servicing the communities as we have done over the years, as it helped in developing skills and expertise which are unique in their form and content, which indeed are scarce and rare to find. We need these skills and expertise for learning and growth within the continent, to improve the services we offer.

Finally, child abduction, forced and early marriage has recently been identified as another form of harmful cultural practice currently practiced in South Africa. This practice has recently been reported in parts of Pondoland in the Eastern Cape. After a successful Imbizo to sensitise the community about this form of a violation of human rights on 24 March 2009, we will be going back to sign a memorandum of understanding between the organisation of traditional leaders (CONTRALESSA) and Government on preventing "ukuthwala" (abduction of young girls, who are forced into early marriages) and thereafter we will finalise a plan of action to address the issue. We also intend to visit a hostel which is being used as a place of refuge by the affected girls, to escape these marriages.

This is another area where your support and expertise could make a great impact in the lives of these young girls who are being exploited. I must hasten to add categorically that not all cultural practices are harmful but others need to be addressed.

Just this week we held a meeting between South Africa and the Government of Austria and working together will produce a report on harmful traditional practices in South Africa with the view to submit this to Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Committee as a show case of South Africa's responses to harmful traditional practices, and further recommendations for improvement.

It is now my honour and privilege to officially and formally launch the Women's Justice and Empowerment Initiative.

Thank you.