Gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) remain multifaceted social issues in the 21st century. The decision to declare GBVF a national disaster in SA could not have come at a more pertinent time. It came just before the start of the G20 Leaders’ Summit, giving it more global visibility.
It came at a time when the country was preparing to launch the 16 Days of Activism for no Violence against Women and Children, an international campaign which aims to raise awareness, prevent violence, and advocate for the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls. Reports say that every day in SA, at least 15 women are murdered, and 117 women report rape cases. This makes us a country with one of the highest rates of GBV in the world.
The declaration underscores the urgency at which the GBVF crisis should be tackled, and the success of the momentous declaration hinges on all social partners coming together, and that includes the legal sector. As an institution that oversees legal practitioners in SA, with a high number of young females being admitted to the high courts, we are witnessing an unbearable trend where GBVF has jumped beyond social communities to industries, including the legal sector. Since 2022, the Legal Practice Council (LPC) has navigated complex incidents where legal practitioners are murdered as a result of GBVF.
Read Full Article on The Sowetan
[paywall]
What has become even more alarming are the death threats that our colleagues are confronted with on a daily basis. Nowadays lawyers are scared to work on fraud, corruption and crime cases without thinking about the fact that they might be killed for their involvement. Regulating legal practitioners who are vulnerable because of personal and work-related challenges is a difficult task to navigate, especially because our interactions and engagements with legal practitioners are only at a professional level, which limits check-ins about personal life.
So, the declaration will help us to enlarge our scope in terms of drafting programmes and interventions which will ensure that the wellbeing of our personnel and stakeholders in the legal fraternity is prioritised, but more importantly, we will have seminars with men on the GBVF agenda. The LPC needs to strengthen and support initiatives that address the restoration of human dignity, build caring communities and respond to historic and collective trauma. We need to advocate for effective implementation of laws and policies that can make a difference in facilitating social change.
[/paywall]
