PRETORIA, 25 NOVEMBER 1999
I have a simple task this morning: it is my duty to give you an overview of the objectives of this year's 16 Days of Activism Campaign.
But, before I tell you about this year's campaign, let me remind you about the 1998 campaign and its objectives. I am doing this because, in a way, this year's campaign will build on the themes and experiences from last year as we pursue the fight to erad icate violence against women in our society.
The purpose of the 1998 campaign on the 16 Days of No Violence against Women was to popularise the SADC Declaration on the Prevention and Eradication of Violence against Women and Children. A further aim of the campaign was to have government departments make commitments to that Declaration. We are proud that all the departments signed up on the 25th of November last year.
It is in this context that I would like to quote from the report which emanated from the SADC Conference on the prevention of violence against women, which was held in March last year:
"Women are targets of violence solely because of their sex. Female focussed violence, such as sexual harassment, assault, battery, rape, emotional abuse, economic exploitation, torture, genital mutilation, and indeed, murder, confirm the persistence of deep-rooted, systemic inequality between men and women in virtually all societies"
Well, quite frankly, this has to stop; the current levels of violence against women and children can no longer be tolerated, especially in our society, centred as it is around one of the most progressive constitutions in the world. Women's rights are human rights and children's rights are human rights and each and every one of us has a social, moral and constitutional obligation to defend and protect those rights.
It was within this context that the Office on the Status of Women developed the 1999 campaign for the 16 Days of Activism and this campaign is aimed at:
This plan will form part of the five year National Action Plan for eradication of violence against women. It will be co-ordinated and produced by the Office on the Status of Women, which, as we all know, resides in the Office of the President.
A key focus of this year's programme will be to integrate men's perspectives into the overall strategies and planning of government. This approach recognises that any successful programme of action to eradicate violence against women must include the active participation of men.
Furthermore, there is a growing consensus that gender-based violence, particularly rape, is - more often than not -perpetrated by someone known to the victim. From a gender perspective, it is important to engage both women and men to address the causes of gender-based violence, design strategies to counteract the causes, and to support the implementation of programmes that are aimed at eliminating all forms of gender-based violence.
There are two time frames to this campaign. The first timeframe is related to the requirements of the international 16-day campaign. This campaign begins today and ends on December the 10th, which is International Human Rights Day.
The second time frame is a self-imposed South African time frame of one year, beginning on 25 November, this year. This year of sustained activities is being proposed to ensure that the concentrated 16 days of activism has a long-term impact on programme implementation.
This year we are following a similar process of conscientising the public and increasing awareness of the subject that we applied last year. At government level, the basic principle has been to engage all the departments and ministries to ensure an integr ated approach.
Unlike last year, where 16 themes were proposed, we have identified 5 focus categories that play an integral role in eliminating the cycle of violence against women:
Boy child and youth;
Offenders and those at risk of offending;
The family;
The community; and
The workplace.
The Office on the Status of Women (OSW) has further identified six departments to co-ordinate and lead the activities planned around these focus areas. They are the Departments of:
Education;
Correctional Services;
Welfare;
Health;
Labour; and
Justice and Constitutional Development.
To ensure the involvement of the entire Executive, all departments have been assigned to one or other of the focus areas. Provincial OSWs have been actively involved and they have been tasked with replicating this process at the provincial level. In the Department of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, the National Office has engaged the assistance of our Regional Offices to develop 16 days of Activism campaigns in all nine provinces. I know that many other departments have done the same.
For easy reference, we have provided you with a calendar of events. This schedule tracks a variety of events across all the departments which will be taking place nation-wide in the coming 16 days. The calendar of events is included in your press packages .
On the 10th of December the Office on the Status of Women will present an Integrated National Action Plan for the eradication of violence against women. This plan is the culmination of extensive consultations with government departments, civil society and other interest groups, all of who have a role to play in eliminating the ongoing and escalation cycle of violence against women.
During this morning's programme you will be hearing from men who have taken a stand against violence and especially violence against women. Listen to what they have to say. Men have to understand and accept their responsibility to change the way things are - not for our sakes - for their sakes and for the sake of our society.
In closing I would like to quote from the Angolan Presentation to the SADC conference. The quote comes from an Angolan magistrate who practices in the field of gender violence:
"If freedom was a myth of the last century and equality is a myth of our century, then let us together, at the end of this century, fight, so that one day humanity can walk on both its gender legs - not biological genders, but rather ethical and political genders - so that humanity can walk properly, balanced well on its two gender legs, free from the trauma of violence against women..."