Proper coordination vital to address violence

National

PROPER coordination is needed by the government to address gender-based issues and sorcery-related cases.
Director of operations for the Tribal Foundation Ruth Kissam said the gender policy of the Department of Community Development, Youth and Religion, the sorcery national action plan (SNAP) of the Department of Justice and Attorney-General and the Family Sexual Violence Action Committee (FSVAC) under the consultative implementation and monitoring council all addressed the same issues.
Kissam told a meeting on national core committees comprising the government, non-government agencies and churches addressing sorcery-related violence yesterday that such was the case.
“They are also looking at violence against women, all of that is either involving violence against women, children, whether that is sorcery related or stemming from abuse of substance. But they are all violence against women.
“If they could have a coordinated approach because when we are working on the ground, we see that some of that they interrelate. You have children who are killed based on sorcery, then at the same time you have women who are mutilated but there is a sexual connotation to it. It is not just murder, it is not just torture, they are tortured in their private places, their breasts are cut off.
“It is a sorcery accusation-related violence but it is also a sexual matter and it is done by family members, people who they know.
“Imagine that two desks are in one province, SNAP has its own desk and FSVAC has its own desk. At the end of the day, there may be a crime that actually has both of them, then if you have a coordinated response, they easily respond to the channels that are in place.”