Africa-Press – Tanzania. OFFICERS manning gender desks have been challenged to expand scope of their services by providing education aimed at curbing Gender Based Violence (GBV).
Opening a High-Level Meeting on the Handbook on Gender-Responsive Police Services here recently, Community Police Commissioner Musa Ali Musa said such platforms had a role to play in combating GBV issues in one way or another; however providing education in the community would go a long way in reducing such violence.
“These desks were established to address the challenges facing GBV victims; the time has come for you to take action and embark on extra commitments meant to prevent violence”, he said.
Dr Musa also commended UN Women for the co-operation it provides in the country, including in the police force.
“I am optimistic that this handbook which is one of the major contributions made by UN Women in the fight against GBV and violence against children would significantly to the education programmes that will help prevent genderbased violence and violence against children”, he added.
In May 2009, the Tanzania Police Force inaugurated a project to establish specialised gender desks in police stations throughout the country, with a police woman to deal with issues of violence against women. This was part of the force’s reforms, at a time when crime and GBV was at their peak.
The current GBV data indicates that Arusha region leads in such cases, having 1, 697 incidents reported. It is followed by Ilala district with 1,486 cases while Tanga registered 1,347 cases.
Kinondoni District and Lindi region both have 924 and 780 cases, respectively, according to a report released by the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Camillus Wambura in July this year.
On her part, UN Women Tanzania Country Office Deputy Representative Julia Broussard described the handbook as positive step in the fight against GBV and VAC.
“UN Women commends the efforts of the police in their efforts and we hope that this book will be a good guide in developing such positive efforts”, she added.
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