We all must work for a violence-free world

It is that time of the year when the global community observes one of the longest seasons on the United Nations calendar: 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. This year’s observance began on Monday, November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and will end on December 10, the International Human Rights Day. In between, the global community will observe other days themed around human rights, including the International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, today, and World Aids Day on Sunday.

This year’s campaign comes against the backdrop of the chilling murder a month ago of a mother and two children. A man is in the dock as the main suspect, hence we must be alive to the danger of infringing the sub judice rule. However, it’s sobering that one in two women killed worldwide fell victim to intimate partners, compared to one in 20 men in similar circumstances.

At a time when killings of women and girls have skyrocketed — UN Women estimates that as many as 70 per cent of women are brutalised globally — it’s worth recalling the history of this annual observance. This should inspire women and underscore their need to lead the crusade against gender-based violence (GBV), since choosing the November 25 anniversary was not arbitrary.

First celebrated in 2000, the day is rooted in UN General Assembly Resolution 54/134 of February 7, 1993. The launch date of the annual campaign is a tribute to the plucky three Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic who were assassinated on November 26, 1960 for opposing the Rafael Trujillo dictatorship. And although they were political activists, their assassination was precipitated by the rejection by one of them, Minerva, of Trujillo’s sexual advances, which affirmed that women are not sex objects.

Since rape underlies most attacks against women, the campaign should press for speedy disposal of all the court cases affecting them. Of special mention are the murder cases of Rongo University student Sharon Otieno, Moi University student Ivy Wangeci and businesswoman Monica Kimani. Many killings of young women mimic Minerva’s case: “You’re mine and no one else’s and if I won’t have you, no one else will”, the male ego at work.

Rape victims are not only crying for justice; people of goodwill are demanding swift prosecution and disposal of GBV cases. We have the policy and legal framework to protect women and girls from violence. What is needed is revamping the Judiciary and the prosecutorial arms of the justice system to secure justice for all. No one is safe. We are all vulnerable to sexual, physical, psychological and economic violence.