Violence against women is described in the Beijing declaration as "any act of gender-biased violence that results in, or is likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, in public or private".

General statistics indicate that violence is a great problem in southern Africa with figures showing that women, regardless of their race, class and geographical areas, continue to suffer violence at the hands of spouses or partners.

To show their commitment toward eliminating gender violence, most countries in the region have taken steps to address this increasing menace:

Angola
In Angola, centres to attend to women's problems have been set up by the Angola Women's Organisation. They function as Legal Centres where battered women get legal assistance. However, there is as yet no specific legislation penalising acts of violence against women in that country.

Mauritius
In Mauritius, Domestic Violence is now a criminal offence following a bill passed by the government in 1997. The new law is a major breakthrough that comes in the wake of government's recognition of the high incidence of domestic violence in that country.

Apart from making domestic violence a criminal offence, the new law also provides measures for timely and comprehensive protection of victims. Following the new law, the Ministry of Justice in Mauritius embarked on a legal literacy programme to sensitise the public on domestic violence.

Mozambique
In Mozambique, women have demanded the inclusion of government's commitment to the eradication of gender violence in the national PFA for Women's advancement, covering the period of 1996 to the year 2000.

Violence is a worrying and major threat to the security of women, and this has led to the coming together of several Mozambican organisations and institutions to form a group called All Against Violence.

This group embarked on a three-year multi-disciplinary programme in 1996, covering civic education, the replacement of the existing legislation that discriminated against women, concrete support to victims of violence and investigation of the dimension of the problem.

All Against Violence comprises the following organisations:

• Women in Development Co-ordination - Women's Forum (Forum Mulher);
• Mozambican Association for Women in the Juridical Career (AMMCJ);
• Mozambican Association for Women and Education (AMME);
• Service Centre in Maputo Central Hospital (KULAYA);
• Centre for African Studies (CEA);
• Mozambican Women's Organisation (OMM);
• Ministry of Social Action Co-ordination (MICAS); and
• Women, Law and Development Association (MULEIDE).

Namibia
The Namibian government through the National Gender Policy has put in place strategies to address violence against women and children. These include:

• Enacting a "Domestic Violence Act" that will penalise brutal and abusive partners.
• Implementing, monitoring and reviewing legislation to ensure its effectiveness in eliminating violence against women and children, with particular emphasis on the prevention of violence, and prosecution of offenders.
• Continuing to promote visible policies of mainstreaming gender perspectives in all policies and programmes related to violence against women and children.
• Refusing bail, and imposing heavy fines and sentence for offenders.
• Establishing and supporting mechanisms that will enable women and girls to confidently report acts of violence against them without fear of retaliation.
• Formulating, in collaboration with all stakeholders, plans of actions to eliminate violence at home, in the community, at institutions and the society at large.
• Organising and providing shelter and relief support such as medical, psychological, free counselling and legal support, for women and girls who have been victims of violence to return to normal life.
• Supporting community based education programmes, such as campaigns to raise awareness and to create preventive measures, and to disseminate information on how to combat violence against women.
• Supporting and making public research findings on the impact of all forms of violence against women and children

South Africa
In South Africa, the Ministry of Justice has started a campaign on "No Violence against Women" which aims to raise awareness, and improve community responses to violence against women. The country has also adopted a policy document on how to handle sexual offenses.

The document, which was launched in September 1997, was produced by an interdepartmental team in consultation with NGO specialists on sexual offenses in collaboration with the ministry of justice after realising that service providers subjected victims of sexual violence to secondary victimisation, particularly in the criminal justice system.

"The document provides detailed guidance and step-by-step information to be used by service providers on evidence gathering, counselling, trauma treatment and care (including after care) of sexual-offense victim, victim assistance during prosecution, parole conditions to sexual offenders, and abuser counselling," said South Africa's Deputy Minister of Justice, Msamango Tshabalala.

The formulation of guidelines to deal with the various forms of violence against women is crucial if victims of gender violence are to enjoy fairness from the justice delivery systems. In the absence of policy guidelines, experience has shown that justice delivery officers sometimes used their discretion when dealing with domestic and sexual violence cases.

Breaking The Silence
Some countries in the region are embarking on strategies to break the silence on violence against women.

Gender violence tribunals have been introduced in Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe as a measure to sensitise the public, policy-makers and law enforcement agents about the adverse affects of domestic violence on the advancement of women.

At the tribunals, survivors of domestic violence testify to their ordeals in front of magistrates, lawyers, and law enforcement agents and anti-violence activists.

In Zambia, gender violence tribunals have led to the establishment of a victim friendly environment for abused women by the Zambia police force in conjunction with the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA).

Regional Level Initiatives
At the regional level, southern Africa dedicated the 1998 commemoration of International Women's Day (IWD) to charting the way forward in prevention and eradication of violence against women and children in the region.

Two conferences held from 5 - 8 March 1998 in South Africa and Zimbabwe called on SADC countries to adopt measures in the legal, social, economic, cultural and political spheres to prevent and eradicate violence against women and children.

Over 200 delegates comprising Ministers of Justice or Legal Affairs and Ministers responsible for Gender or Women's affairs, advisors from the Attorney Generals' offices, high court judges, magistrates, and police officers from from the region participated in the Durban conference on Prevention of Violence Against Women and Children.

Delegates to the SADC Parliamentary Dialogue on Gender Equality and Personal Security conference in Harare on the same dates included women parliamentarians from SADC countries, 10 European countries and other African states.

Discussions at the Harare meeting focused on gender equality and personal security. The Durban conference focused on sensitising the players in the justice delivery system to the implications of violence against women and the need for the judicial system to be more responsive, accessible and fair to victims or survivors of gender violence.

One of the outcomes of the Durban conference was a draft Declaration on the Prevention and Eradication of Violence Against Women in SADC. The text of the draft Declaration was eventually adopted and signed by SADC Heads Of State or Government at their summit in Mauritius on 4 September 1998 as an Addendum to the 1997 Gender And Development Declaration, entitled the Prevention and Eradication of Violence Against Women and Children (see Annex 2). It contains the following major elements:

• Recognition that violence against women and children is a violation of fundamental human rights;
• Identification of the various forms of violence against women and children in SADC;
• Concern that the various forms of violence against women and children in SADC continue to increase, and a recognition that existing measures are inadequate;
• Recommendations for the adoption of measures such as legislation and legally binding SADC instruments, social, economic cultural, and political interventions, services, as well as education, training and awareness programmes.

These commitments present a challenge to all our societies to contribute towards their implementation; failure or delays in doing so means that more women and children will continue to live in fear and lose their lives and self esteem.

Regional Campaign to Eliminate Gender Violence

• Introduction to the SADC Gender Monitor
• Global, Regional and National Commitments
• SADC Countries' National Priority Areas of Concern