Africa-Press – Eswatini. Gender-based violence (GBV) can be prevented.
Unfortunately, it is only after senseless and horrific multiple murders or killings that most people would again start jumping around and shouting about the need to stop GBV. In between such senseless, horrific and multiple murders or killings, most ordinary people and those in authority too, would just go about their normal daily activities and lives as if GBV was not prevalent, rampant or anything to worry about in their communities. This is sad, very sad indeed. The sadness comes from the fact that hysterically jumping up and down, demonstrating and delivering petitions after the event, after someone or many people have been brutally murdered through GBV, would neither bring back the dead souls nor prevent a recurrence of yet other horrific episodes of the same.
In fact, there have been multiple GBV recurrences thereafter and over and over again. Albert Einstein reportedly once said that “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” With all due respect, all those people who are given to always going out on the streets to demonstrate or deliver endless petitions after each and every episode of GBV horrific killings or murders, and also all those public officials who always similarly voice their concerns as well, must reconsider their actions.
eliminate
Public demonstrations and officially voicing concerns after senseless GBV killings or murders has definitely not worked is not working, and will not work. New and different strategies to stop, prevent and eliminate gender-based violence and not the same old, same old tactics are now needed. A lot of sane people would most probably agree with this observation and proposal. The only question would be how it can be done. Let us apply the medical approach to solving problems related to causes of death to the issue of gender-based violence. According to medical consecutive thinking, reasoning and logic, there is not just one cause of death, but a cascade or chain of events or causes leading up to one death. At the very last end of the causes of death, there are mechanisms or methods of dying, then there are precipitating or triggering causes of death, followed by predisposing causes of death, with underlying causes of death anchoring things right at the very beginning or base of the whole chain of causes of death. In order to prevent death, doctors must deal with each and every one of the causes of death in its own merits or demerits.
At the very last end of things, this being at the level of the mechanism of death, doctors need to administer first aid and intensive care treatment, in order to avert imminent and immediate death. Before that, at the precipitating or triggering cause of death level, doctors need to eliminate or prevent the trigger from being pulled or from discharging the process or mechanism of death. The best way of doing this would be to eliminate or prevent predisposing causes from setting up the triggering causes of death. Similarly, the best way to ensure that predisposing causes of death do not materialise, is to eliminate or prevent all the underlying causes of death right at the base or at very beginning of things.
challenge
This is because underlying causes of death are the root causes of everything or of each and very death. Underlying causes are the springboard of the whole cascade of things up to death itself. Evidently, approaching and dealing with the causes of things or events in this stepwise and logical manner is the best, most correct, logical, reasonable, efficient, effective and efficacious way of solving any challenge or problem, GBV included. Arguably, there is no other better way of doing it. Such being the case as described above, it becomes patently obvious that GBV cannot and will not be successfully dealt with, unless and until all its attendant cascade of root causes are known and dealt with or comprehensively taken care of, each according to its own merits or demerits. Obviously, in the same vein as with the root causes of death, there are also four distinct categories of root causes of GBV. At the very last end of things, there are mechanisms by which GBV is committed.
Before that, there are precipitating or triggering causes of GBV, immediately followed by predisposing causes and finally anchored by underlying causes. These are the four categories of the causes of GBV which need to and must be dealt with or tackled in order to stop, prevent and eliminate gender-based violence from all our civilised societies. Awareness campaigns and demonstrations against GBV will not yield any different results from the unabated and unmitigated continuation of GBV, which they have yielded so far. Hence, we must all try to be sane enough not to continue to do the very same good old things again and again and expecting different results.
mechanisms
If we do that, we will get the same bad old results of continuation of GBV over and over again. GBV must be decisively dealt with and completely uprooted right from its very underlying causes, through its predisposing and triggering causes and right up to its mechanisms or methodologies of its commitment. Cosmetic approaches or playing to the gallery in dealing with GBV issues such as the usual post-GBV episodes of public demonstrations, remonstrations and pontifications would definitely not yield the desired results. Let us start by examining the last end of the causes of GBV, these being the ways, mechanisms or methodologies by which GBV is committed. Mostly, GBV is perpetrated through unpremeditated spur-of-the-moment rage-related shootings, stabbings, axings, spearings, bashings, strangulations and such other acts of violence.
Just as in the case of medical first aid, whereby the most pressing need at that point in time would be to just prevent imminent death by stopping the mechanisms of dying from kicking in and tacking effect and not treating precipitating, predisposing or underlying causes of death, at the point in time of the actual commitment of an act of GBV, what is important is to get rid of all the instruments or mechanisms by which GBV is or can be committed. What this means is that dangerous weapons such as guns, knives, axes, spears, hammers and such other things must be prohibited from being routinely carried around. Such being the case, there must be strict legal prohibitions of the carrying and keeping of dangerous weapons in easily accessible places.
Legally, gun ownership and gun carrying must not be an easy thing which every person can do. Those who are allowed to own guns must get legal permission to carry them on any given particular day and time. Otherwise, their guns must always be legally stashed and locked away in secured gun cabinets somewhere in their homes or even at the nearest police station. In fact, there are countries in which all legalised gun owners are legally required to keep their guns at the nearest police station, instead of their homes. When they want to carry or use their guns for any allowed reason, they can always apply for and get them and then return them to the police station afterwards and within an agreed period of time. Dangerous weapons such as knives, axes, spears and hammers can be kept at home, but they must also be required to be legally locked up in safe and secure places where they cannot just be easily accessed at the spur-of-the-moment.
psychological
Acute physical, emotional, psychological, financial and relationship abuse are some of the precipitating causes of GBV. Both potential perpetrators and victims need to be trained and educated about these things and how to behave, so that they do not find themselves snared up in GBV. This must be formerly and compulsorily done from pre-school up to tertiary education. Predisposing causes of GBV have got everything to do with wrong characters, personalities and behaviours. GBV or the propensity to commit GBV is actually ingrained in one’s character, personality and behaviour. It is the way someone would be apt to behave or react under certain given circumstances. Some people will not react or even dream of reacting in GBV ways no matter how provoked or incited they may be. On the other hand, other people would react violently in GBV ways at the slightest of provocations.
There is nothing which can be done to stop such violent people from perpetrating GBV. No amount of awareness campaigns, imprisonment or anything else would change their basic or default bad characters, personalities and behaviours. This is because as much as we would like to delude ourselves that default character, personality and behaviour can be modified or changed in adulthood, the truth of the matter is actually the exact opposite of this. Criminals may show and profess contrition for their crimes, but when push comes to shove, recidivism is and has always been the order of the day. What this means is that once a criminal, always a criminal! What needs to be done therefore is to legally maintain a register of all criminal-minded people, including GBV abusers.
This record must be open to everyone including the general public on enquiry. This must be done so that should any one relationship partner need to check up on the other partner, they would easily find out and know who they would be dealing with. This would then allow them to take the necessary precautions in order to prevent themselves from being victims of GBV in future. Finally, the underlying cause of GBV is definitely wrong upbringing. It is wrong upbringing which leads to the acquisition of bad characters, personalities and behaviours.
The truth of the matter is that character, personality and behaviour are not inherited or genetically transmitted traits. These traits, just like the mother language, are actually insidiously learnt and taught to children from the very first day that they are born.
upbringing
They are unconsciously and inadvertently taught to children by their very own parents and everyone else who would be involved in bringing them up. Unfortunately and unbeknown to most people, but especially to parents, grandparents and guardians who are closely involved in the upbringing of children, it is these insidiously taught and learnt characters, personalities and behavioural traits which form the basis of the default and unchangeable characters, personalities and behaviours of adults. By two years of age, a child would already have been insidiously taught, learnt and acquired about 85 per cent of their default adulthood character, personality and behaviour. By five years of age, that rises to about 95 per cent and by seven years of age that climaxes to 100 per cent.
Hence by the time a child gets into primary school, 100 per cent of their default adulthood character, personality and behaviour would already have been cast in stone! What the above means is that in order to eliminate the underlying causes of GBV, each and every country must have a legally mandatory, holistic and comprehensive early childhood education and development national strategy and operating programme in place, no more, no less.
Source: times
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