GBV: the forgotten ones

In the midst of all the activism against Gender Based Violence, I sat down to reflect on those women who were victims that couldn't defend themselves because of one disability or the other.

Have you ever seen mentally deranged women etc pregnant? Is that not violence? Who impregnated her?

Same with deaf and dumb girls, blind girls etc they are impregnated and the genirors abscond. Is that not violence? What happens to this category of people? Who is there to defend them.

Most often girls in this category are neglected, abandoned. They suffer, imagine if able bodied women suffer GBV, how will you qualify that of the disabled. My heart bleeds each time I see such a situation. The men who are perpetrators of such acts roam the streets freely while the girls suffer. The Case of a mad woman is really heart breaking. You will find her in an abandoned house with pregnancy. Going through all the ordeal of pregnancy alone. The pain of child birth she will bear and then her child will be with her in that state. Where is the man who impregnated her? Since she can not speak out, she can not even talk sense, she is left alone. What happens to that man?

In our fight against GBV, we should also think about such cases, we should think of a solution to this category who also suffer violence with no one to defend them because of their disability.

I still believe that there is much to do during this 16 days activism. We need to leave no stone unturned, we need to set examples by punishing men guilty of GBV in public for others to learn.

This fight should be carried beyond this 16 days period. 16 days is so short a time. It is only from 25th November to 10th December that we witness this activism. After that civil society organisations, governments and other stakeholders move on to other activities waiting for next year to talk again about this. What happens before the next 16 days activism?

I also believe that the sensitisation campaigns should touched on all the population. It should reach every village, quarter or clan. If the awareness campaign and the sensitisation drive is taken to all the nooks and crannies of our country, then everyone will be educated on the types, causes, consequences and how to follow up GBV.

Women should be educated about their rights. Women most often lack knowledge about their rights. With my non profit association, we organise workshops and other activities to empower women in legal matters. Let them know their basic rights. Let them know the procedure to report GBV cases and the appropriate quarters to report such cases.

If we all unite our efforts, rally our actions, amplify our voices, we are going to end GBV especially against women and girls. By investing our time, energy, resources, know how etc we are going to fight this phenomenon. That's why this year's theme is :"Unite, invest to end GBV against girls and women"