Parliament, Monday, 15 June 2020 – The Portfolio Committee on Social Development calls for the Department of Social Development to accelerate the interventions that will ensure all citizens understand the importance of protecting women and children in their communities, by either preventing or reporting situations that lead to gender-based violence.
The committee condemns the rising scourge of gender-based violence and femicide that is plaguing the country. Every single day there are news reports of women who are found murdered, allegedly by their partners.
Last week the committee was briefed by the department on the progress made in implementing the gender-based violence and femicide emergency response plan. Amongst the key interventions stipulated by the department, is the changing of norms and behaviour through high-level prevention efforts. The interventions also included access to justice for victims and survivors, as well as urgently responding to victims and survivors of gender-based violence.
The committee calls on the department to speedily finalise the process of verifying 169 non-profit organisations providing direct services to victims of crime, gender-based violence and femicide so they can receive funding. It also calls for a strong collaboration between the department’s gender-based violence command centre and the South African Police Service to ensure that cases referred by the command centre are investigated, perpetrators are arrested and convicted. The department has to make sure that the hotline of the command centre is known by every South African.
The committee calls on men and young boys to be active in the fight against gender-based violence. It is important for men to be the drivers of this fight through mechanisms that will reach all parts of society. The committee understands that this fight cannot be carried by the government alone, it is also important for civil society, faith-based organisations and traditional authorities to work together with the government in ensuring that the fight against gender-based violence gains ground.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, MR MONDLI GUNGUBELE.
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Email: fndenze@parliament.gov.za
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