Africa-Press – Eswatini. ESWATINI Observer has committed to join the rest of the country in the fight to end gender-based violence (GBV).
The media house was the first to sign the GBV charter. This is a national initiative by Emaswati, for Emaswati, to make a lifelong pledge to end GBV within every sphere of their lives. The initiative is spearheaded by Kwakha Indvodza.
Eswatini Observer journalists yesterday took a pledge that apart from being watchdogs of the nation, reporting and raising awareness on GBV issues, they, in their personal capacity, would ensure that they do not commit GBV and would prevent it at all cost.
The signing of the charter was led by the publication’s Managing Editor, Mbongeni Mbingo.
The managing editor committed that the organisation joins other corporates in ensuring that the workplace is free of GBV.
Kwakha Indvodza Executive Director Tom Churchyard said they have seen how extensively the newspaper reports on GBV and were pleased to see employees taking further steps in the fight against this scourge.
Churchyard said they noted that as they carried out activities of GBV in communities, people tended to shift the blame and do not think they play a part in perpetuating GBV just because they do not commit it acts.
“Just because they do not commit GBV, it’s not committed at their workplace and do not see violations around them, they think it’s not their problem. You may not be part of the problem, but that does not mean you are not part of the solution.”
He explained that no one needs to be a victim or perpetrator of GBV in order to sign the charter, pledge to end GBV and take a step to mitigate it. Churchyard said it was for that reason Kwakha Indvodza came up with the 10 pledges that signatories of the charter should abide by after intensive consultations with stakeholders.
The campaign has been going on for eight weeks. Over 2 000 people have so far signed the charter and they include government officials, influencers, entertainers, sports personalities, civil society, religious leaders, cultural leaders and journalists were yesterday added to the list of signatories. “It is an exciting campaign that speaks to individuals to take a personal pledge to be an active part of the solution,” Churchyard stated.
He dded that over the past years from 2016 when they were advocating for the Sexual Violence and Domestic Act (SODVA) to date, the quality of reporting on GBV had improved.”
I commend the sensitivity and the best practice of reporting on GBV and it is another step towards ending GBV in Eswatini,” he said.
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