By Waryoba Yankami
25th
December 2013
Women harassment in Bunda district, Mara region has continued to
be an acceptable culture despite efforts deployed by human rights activists,
the government and the international community.
This kind of
women or children harassment is not a new thing whereas people are practicing
it and viewing it as normal and acceptable style of living that they have to
carry out in their daily life.
That is not
enough, indigenous of that area have automatically passed it to be part of
life.
A survey
conducted between November and December this year by The
Guardian in collaboration with Tanzania Media Women’s Association (TAMWA) and
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Bunda’s three wards of
Mihingo, Kunzugu and Hunyari has revealed that Gender Based
Violence (GVB) is still a big problem.
Over 83
cases of women and children battering were reported at Bunda police station,
whereby out of the reported cases, only one case was taken to court at the
duration of two years. The number of cases reported is very low compared to the
situation on the ground.
Authorities
in the district from local governments to district level, police and activists
have virtually surrendered admitting that the war to end women battering and
other kinds of harassments is a total failure.
Some women
believe that being beaten or harassed is part and parcel of life.
Interestingly, when a girl is married she is normally informed that she will
have to take it easy when she is married because she will surely be beaten by
her husband.
Children are
also facing beatings especially when their parents are not in good terms. These
children end up in being street children and denied of the right to education.
Shida Simon
who is a resident of Mihingo has been in wedlock for nine years now with
her husband. She said that since 2005 to now has experienced
harassment by her spouse.
Shida
added that from that day onwards harassments began whereby her properties that
she had obtained from small businesses that she was doing was taken away by the
man.
“I was
selling cassava. My husband knew that I had money with me and therefore wanted
me to give him all the money. When I refused she started beating me,” she said.
“When I
could not tolerate any more, I decided to run away to my father. That is where
my husband (Kabalana) came and started insulting my father, speaking abusive
language against my father,” she narrated.
She
continued narrating that it is when her spouse entered into his father
in-law’s house and took her out by force demanding that she ran away with
his money while it was not true.
Shida added
that last year she grew cotton but all the money (200,000) accrued from
the selling of cotton was confiscated by his spouse.
They have
always been reconciliated by family members from either side but to no avail.
Reconciliation
is one of the factors that put many women at risk. This is because family
members resolve matters related to harassments instead of taking them to law
bodies which could give harassing men a bigger punishment.
Until
November 29 this year she was sustaining injuries after she was severely beaten
by her husband. The case was in the court at Nyamuswa primary court. Shida was
demanding divorce.
She added
that in the beginning when quarrels in the family began, she went to Mugeta
police station asking that her husband be arrested but the police did not
give her good cooperation.
Kabalana
was therefore not arrested. This gives many men in the district a leeway to
harassing women, according to Shida.
Children is
another group is facing harassment. Ghati Kibhokora a grandmother
at Mihingo went at Mihingo police station with her grandson who had been beaten
by his father Seleman Nyange.
She
asked the police to go and arrest the son’s father. Unfortunately the police
did not assist the grandmother.
District
Community Development Officer (DCDO) Caroline Wanzagi admitted that there is
much GBV in that district going on but said many of the cases were being solved
at family level.
Wanzagi said
that last year three women were beaten to death including one who dragged was
by a car because of her husband’s jealousy.
When
quarrels take place in the family between father and mother, children also
become victims. As a result children decide to ran away from their homes.
Although the
number of street children is increasing every year, the district lacks a center
to keep them, something that leads children to ran to DCD offices for
assistance.
Wanzagi said
that there are many NGOs which have registered to assist fighting against GBV,
but have fails to bring changes. They have decided stay silent get funds
from donors for the work.
Corporal
Rita Charles from Gender and Children desk at Bunda police station admitted
that there is a presence of gender violence, whereas over 83 cases on
women harassment were reported in her office although the number is too low
compare to the actual number of cases taking place in the area.
The war
against GBV is very difficult because so many cases are being solved at family
level while others are not taken to police or courts while others lack
evidence. This is because many victims withdraw from their cases.
Copl.
Charles however added that about 25 cases only from the gender desk were taken
to court in the duration of two years out of 83 cases that were reported,
Victims withdrawn from cases due to reasons of forgiving each other and others
failing to attend in the court hearing.
Bunda
district court magistrate Saidi Kassonso who reported at that court on July
this year said he has experienced only one case of couples who fought and the
husband beat a wife and broke the jaw and the wife cut husband’s fingers.
Kassonso
admitted that many of GBV cases are not reaching court because people of Bunda
lack the culture of taking their cases before the law bodies for further
judgments but they are solving their disputes at family level and in a
traditional way.
TAMWA
Executive Director, Valarie Msoka said the effects of violence on a victim’s
health are severe. In addition to the immediate injuries from the assault,
battered women may suffer from chronic pain, gastrointestinal disorders,
psychosomatic symptoms, and eating problems.
She said
that although psychological abuse is often considered less severe than
physical violence, health care providers and advocates around the world are
increasingly recognizing devastating mental health effects of domestic
violence, including anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and
depression.
Women who
are abused suffer an increased risk of unplanned or early pregnancies and
sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.
As
trauma victims, they are also at an increased risk of substance abuse. Women
are particularly vulnerable to attacks when pregnant, and thus may more often
experience medical difficulties in their pregnancies.
As the World
Health Organization notes, domestic violence also has significant indirect
costs for society.
Domestic
violence can be fatal; women are both intentionally murdered by their partners
and lose their life as a result of injuries inflicted by them.
SOURCE: THE
GUARDIAN
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