Africa-Press – Namibia. PRESIDENT Hage Geingob says Namibia’s progress on gender equality should not be derailed by cowardly acts of violence against women.
In a statement on Mother’s Day on Sunday, themed ‘Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow’, Geingob called on Namibians to shower mothers with gestures befitting of the sacrifices they make to raise and nurture children.
“Let us return the love and compassion of our mothers by investing in a safer and sustainable Namibian House,” the president said.
The Landless People’s Movement says Namibia is not among the 10 countries with the highest rate of gender-based violence yet.
The movement, however, says this does not mean the law-enforcement fraternity and civil society organisations and Law Society should refrain from their duty to ensure the protection of mothers and all women.
National LPM spokesperson Eneas Emvula says it is a constitutional obligation and human right that the vulnerable members of society are shielded from societal ills.
Emvula says gender-based crimes reported in the first half of 2021 included 150 cases, of which 28 cases were of rape in a single region.
This should proactively be prevented from reaching higher levels, he says.
“This calls for concerted efforts not only from law-enforcement institutions, but from Namibian society at large,” he says.
Emvula says the LPM takes issue with the increase in the murder of women and GBV in the Ohangwena and Omusati regions reported in the media during the first quarter of 2022.
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