Date: 28/11/2003
Source: Department of Health
Title: Tshabalala-Msimang: Nation in Dialogue on Challenges of Gender-based Violence conference
SPEECH BY MINISTER OF HEALTH, DR MANTO TSHABALALA-MSIMANG, AT "A NATION IN DIALOGUE ON THE CHALLENGES OF GENDER BASED VIOLENCE: SEEKING SOLUTIONS" CONFERENCE HELD IN KIMBERLEY FROM 25 - 28 NOVEMBER 2003, 28 November 2003
Madam programme director;
Distinguished guests;
Young people in attendance;
Ladies and gentlemen.
I feel privileged to address you on this last day of such an important conference and the third day of observing 16 Days of Activism on No Violence Against Women and Children. This annual campaign was organised by the South African Government since 1998, to generate increased awareness of the negative impact of violence on women and children.
Let me remind you that the National Conference of Commitments on the Implementation of the SADC Addendum on the Prevention and Eradication of Violence Against Women and Children, held in 1998, constituted the first year of the 16 days campaign. The conference was aimed at coming up with an integrated National Programme of Action to implement the SADC instrument on violence against women and children.
We gathered here for the past 3 days to bring together in dialogue, victims, reformed perpetrators and experts to the conference to, among other things:
* Share ideas and devise solutions to the problem;
* Interrogate gender-based violence and its implications to family lives, socio-economic rights and poverty; and
* To take stock of the efforts made by the government in partnership with civil society to eradicate violence against women and children.
Nearly 10 years into democracy and 6 years of running the 16 days campaign, this conference marks a significant milestone as it gave us the opportunity to see how far we had gone to fulfilling the above-mentioned objectives and, in sense, to assess to what extent we have managed to eradicate the scourge of gender-based violence.
As clearly indicated in the deliberations for the past 3 days, gender-based violence remains, and continues, to pose a challenge to our young democracy. The organisers of this conference could not have chosen a better theme this conference, "A Nation in Dialogue on the Challenges of Gender-based Violence: Seeking Solutions" as it clearly captures the current discourse and challenges posed by this epidemic.
We all are well aware that gender-based violence creates a threat to our young democracy and is an obstacle to the achievement of the objectives of equality, development and peace. In all societies, to a greater or lesser degree, women and girls are subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse that cuts across lines of income, class and culture. This violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women and children of their human rights and fundamental freedoms. It also robs women and children of the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
Gender-based violence represents a critical area for state intervention. Violence against women affects all spheres of women's lives - their autonomy, productivity and capacity to care for themselves and their children. It increases women's exposure to a wide range of negative health risks including HIV and AIDS. It carries great costs to the victim and many sectors of the society including the health care system, which has to respond to the consequences.
As you know, the past 9 years of our democratic government saw the racial and gender inequality laws being replaced with those that facilitate social transformation directed particularly at the previously disadvantaged groups and communities (black population and women).
Our government has certainly displayed much commitment to addressing historic gender imbalances in the country. There has been a very conscious and active role on the part of the government to highlight gender imbalances as a critical part of transforming the state and reconstructing and developing the country.
Alongside formal structures of government is a state-civil society initiative, most notably, the Women's Budget Initiative, which aims to highlight the importance of engendering the budgeting process.
In the overall analysis, it is clear that despite all the constraints, the post-apartheid South African state has made many strides to contribute towards overall gender transformation. Although the policy framework has been established, implementation has not been as fast as anticipated and therefore there are many challenges that lie ahead as we come to end of the first decade of our democracy.
This conference has highlighted a number of these. The main challenge is to free women from the economic dependency on other people and lifts them out of conditions of poverty and underdevelopment. Economic independence for women is fundamental in all our gender transformation efforts. We need to ensure that girls have enough education opportunities and women in general realise their full potential.
It is my contention that in order for the conference recommendations to be implemented effectively, there needs to be a focus on addressing the issue of how public sector institutions could be transformed to promote gender equality and promote social justice. I hope this has somewhere been taken care of during the deliberations.
The lack of a comprehensive approach in the provision of care and collecting evidence in cases of rape and sexual assault negatively affects women and it constitutes another dimension of inequality in the provision of services. The Department of Health, therefore, started with the preliminary programme for the Sexual Assault Care Practitioners Training Project that is aimed at providing skills for effective management and support for the survivors of violence, rape and abuse.
Some health workers have already been trained in the Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. We are currently working on standardising this training nationally and to ensure that it is available across the country. To this effect, a national consultative workshop has already taken place to develop an indigenous model and curriculum for training of Sexual Assault Care Practitioners that will meet the needs of sexual assault survivors. Our goal is to ensure that all our health workers are capable and ready to provide a good service to abused women and girl children.
I am deeply concerned about the pace of substantive empowerment of grassroots women, particularly at service delivery level. Again, I hope the conference tried to deliberate on this matter because I believe that our institutions should be the ones that in their formal procedures or in their informal practices include women and enable them to gain opportunities for personal development.
The partnership that the Commission on Gender Equality has mobilised through this conference will ensure joining of efforts in developing programmes to address this problem, which threatens peace and safety in our society.
It is of great importance for both government and civil society to prioritise both formal and informal educational programmes that will promote mutually respectful and equitable gender relations, modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women and ensure full respect for the integrity of the person.
Those programmes should adopt a gendered approach in fighting the scourge of violence against women by placing special focus on both women and men regarding the importance of women's health and well-being, and also emphasise the elimination of harmful attitudes and practices such as sexual violence. And also develop gender-sensitive multi-sectoral programmes and strategies to end social subordination of women and girls, which subjects them to acts of gender-based violence.
Women and men need to work together with children and youth to break down persistent gender stereotypes taking into account the rights of the child. In all actions concerning children, the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration.
This conference, which has brought together key partners and stakeholders, is highly commended. I hope it has produced constructive and holistic strategies, which will guide the public sector in partnership with civil society, to contribute towards to effective eradication of gender-based violence in our society. More importantly, I hope the consultative conference has engineered a model or framework that creates opportunities for everybody involved to provide a client-centred approach to service delivery which promotes the spirit and principles of Batho Pele.
I would like to assure this conference that I remain committed to contributing to the fight against this epidemic and urge all participants in this conference to join me as I pledge to put 'survivors first'. I wish you well as you go back to respective communities to implement the recommendations made in the past two days.
Thank you
Source: Department of Health (http://www.doh.gov.za)
Source: Department of Health
Title: Tshabalala-Msimang: Nation in Dialogue on Challenges of Gender-based Violence conference
SPEECH BY MINISTER OF HEALTH, DR MANTO TSHABALALA-MSIMANG, AT "A NATION IN DIALOGUE ON THE CHALLENGES OF GENDER BASED VIOLENCE: SEEKING SOLUTIONS" CONFERENCE HELD IN KIMBERLEY FROM 25 - 28 NOVEMBER 2003, 28 November 2003
Madam programme director;
Distinguished guests;
Young people in attendance;
Ladies and gentlemen.
I feel privileged to address you on this last day of such an important conference and the third day of observing 16 Days of Activism on No Violence Against Women and Children. This annual campaign was organised by the South African Government since 1998, to generate increased awareness of the negative impact of violence on women and children.
Let me remind you that the National Conference of Commitments on the Implementation of the SADC Addendum on the Prevention and Eradication of Violence Against Women and Children, held in 1998, constituted the first year of the 16 days campaign. The conference was aimed at coming up with an integrated National Programme of Action to implement the SADC instrument on violence against women and children.
We gathered here for the past 3 days to bring together in dialogue, victims, reformed perpetrators and experts to the conference to, among other things:
* Share ideas and devise solutions to the problem;
* Interrogate gender-based violence and its implications to family lives, socio-economic rights and poverty; and
* To take stock of the efforts made by the government in partnership with civil society to eradicate violence against women and children.
Nearly 10 years into democracy and 6 years of running the 16 days campaign, this conference marks a significant milestone as it gave us the opportunity to see how far we had gone to fulfilling the above-mentioned objectives and, in sense, to assess to what extent we have managed to eradicate the scourge of gender-based violence.
As clearly indicated in the deliberations for the past 3 days, gender-based violence remains, and continues, to pose a challenge to our young democracy. The organisers of this conference could not have chosen a better theme this conference, "A Nation in Dialogue on the Challenges of Gender-based Violence: Seeking Solutions" as it clearly captures the current discourse and challenges posed by this epidemic.
We all are well aware that gender-based violence creates a threat to our young democracy and is an obstacle to the achievement of the objectives of equality, development and peace. In all societies, to a greater or lesser degree, women and girls are subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse that cuts across lines of income, class and culture. This violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women and children of their human rights and fundamental freedoms. It also robs women and children of the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
Gender-based violence represents a critical area for state intervention. Violence against women affects all spheres of women's lives - their autonomy, productivity and capacity to care for themselves and their children. It increases women's exposure to a wide range of negative health risks including HIV and AIDS. It carries great costs to the victim and many sectors of the society including the health care system, which has to respond to the consequences.
As you know, the past 9 years of our democratic government saw the racial and gender inequality laws being replaced with those that facilitate social transformation directed particularly at the previously disadvantaged groups and communities (black population and women).
Our government has certainly displayed much commitment to addressing historic gender imbalances in the country. There has been a very conscious and active role on the part of the government to highlight gender imbalances as a critical part of transforming the state and reconstructing and developing the country.
Alongside formal structures of government is a state-civil society initiative, most notably, the Women's Budget Initiative, which aims to highlight the importance of engendering the budgeting process.
In the overall analysis, it is clear that despite all the constraints, the post-apartheid South African state has made many strides to contribute towards overall gender transformation. Although the policy framework has been established, implementation has not been as fast as anticipated and therefore there are many challenges that lie ahead as we come to end of the first decade of our democracy.
This conference has highlighted a number of these. The main challenge is to free women from the economic dependency on other people and lifts them out of conditions of poverty and underdevelopment. Economic independence for women is fundamental in all our gender transformation efforts. We need to ensure that girls have enough education opportunities and women in general realise their full potential.
It is my contention that in order for the conference recommendations to be implemented effectively, there needs to be a focus on addressing the issue of how public sector institutions could be transformed to promote gender equality and promote social justice. I hope this has somewhere been taken care of during the deliberations.
The lack of a comprehensive approach in the provision of care and collecting evidence in cases of rape and sexual assault negatively affects women and it constitutes another dimension of inequality in the provision of services. The Department of Health, therefore, started with the preliminary programme for the Sexual Assault Care Practitioners Training Project that is aimed at providing skills for effective management and support for the survivors of violence, rape and abuse.
Some health workers have already been trained in the Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. We are currently working on standardising this training nationally and to ensure that it is available across the country. To this effect, a national consultative workshop has already taken place to develop an indigenous model and curriculum for training of Sexual Assault Care Practitioners that will meet the needs of sexual assault survivors. Our goal is to ensure that all our health workers are capable and ready to provide a good service to abused women and girl children.
I am deeply concerned about the pace of substantive empowerment of grassroots women, particularly at service delivery level. Again, I hope the conference tried to deliberate on this matter because I believe that our institutions should be the ones that in their formal procedures or in their informal practices include women and enable them to gain opportunities for personal development.
The partnership that the Commission on Gender Equality has mobilised through this conference will ensure joining of efforts in developing programmes to address this problem, which threatens peace and safety in our society.
It is of great importance for both government and civil society to prioritise both formal and informal educational programmes that will promote mutually respectful and equitable gender relations, modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women and ensure full respect for the integrity of the person.
Those programmes should adopt a gendered approach in fighting the scourge of violence against women by placing special focus on both women and men regarding the importance of women's health and well-being, and also emphasise the elimination of harmful attitudes and practices such as sexual violence. And also develop gender-sensitive multi-sectoral programmes and strategies to end social subordination of women and girls, which subjects them to acts of gender-based violence.
Women and men need to work together with children and youth to break down persistent gender stereotypes taking into account the rights of the child. In all actions concerning children, the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration.
This conference, which has brought together key partners and stakeholders, is highly commended. I hope it has produced constructive and holistic strategies, which will guide the public sector in partnership with civil society, to contribute towards to effective eradication of gender-based violence in our society. More importantly, I hope the consultative conference has engineered a model or framework that creates opportunities for everybody involved to provide a client-centred approach to service delivery which promotes the spirit and principles of Batho Pele.
I would like to assure this conference that I remain committed to contributing to the fight against this epidemic and urge all participants in this conference to join me as I pledge to put 'survivors first'. I wish you well as you go back to respective communities to implement the recommendations made in the past two days.
Thank you
Source: Department of Health (http://www.doh.gov.za)
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