Africa-Press – Tanzania. EUROPEAN countries in partnership with some UN Agencies have lined up a series of events including a fundraising concert and regional forum to advocate for the fight against gender based violence (GB) in the country.
The EU embassies taking part at the events are Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Head of the European Union Delegation, Mr Manfredo Fanti, briefing the media in Dar es Salaam, yesterday about the events which will be held for 16 Days of Activism against GBV, said the events will take place from November 25 to December 10, this year.
“The events aim to underline the importance of stopping GBV by way of linking culture and social messages needed to be passed with a goal of breaking the glass ceilings,” said Mr Fanti.
Under the theme “End Gender Based Violence Now” the celebrations will culminate with a joint GBV Champion Award Ceremony to recognize and honour the hard and selfless work, innovation, creativity and efforts of extraordinary individuals, organizations and communities, who have taken actions to prevent and respond to GBV.
France Ambassador to Tanzania, Mr Nabil Hajlaoui observed that the reality is that no country is immune to GBV, meaning that countries in the northern, EU, Asia and Africa are subject to this phenomenon.
“The improvement or reduction to GBV is directly linked to issues relating to human rights in general in unpleasant situations of laws and practices.
“In France for instance about 100 women die each year due to inter-partner violence; the country is employing feminist diplomacy among other initiatives being made to build capacity for the women to protect themselves,” said. Mr Hajlaou
He pointed out that Tanzania is a living example in the fight against GBV, as the country has one of the most feminised governments in the continent, the first female President, Defense Minister and Foreign Minister.
Such reflects that women are also capable of leading the country and the environment of women is a reality.
“There still things to tackle and we can learn from each other on how to improve the situation on the ground and this is actually why global phenomenon has to be tackled globally,” said the France Ambassador.
On her part, the UN Women Country Representative, Ms Hodan Addou, said that the elimination of violence against women and children has never been more urgent than it is today.
“One year after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, global data and reports have shown that all types of violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence, have intensified – and we saw this in Tanzania as well,” said Ms Addou.
She added that “There is no vaccine against GBV, it is certainly within our reach to prevent it, and we know what works in preventing and ending it: a comprehensive approach including prevention, accelerating reforms of discriminatory legal frameworks, ensuring essential services are available and accessible to survivors, and ensuring offenders are held accountable.”
Ms Addou acknowledged the commitment of the government, and all partners in implementing the National Plan of Action to End Violence against Women and Children (NPA-VAWC).
Similarly, the implementation of the Generation Equality Forum, where the President Samia Suluhu Hassan made a commitment on Women’s Economic Security and Rights is a move forward to delivering not only on the NPA VAWC and other national plans and policies.
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