By: Dawda Baldeh
A group of activists comprising young men and women representing different civil society organisations have on Saturday 11th December 2021 called for zero tolerance against sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in society.
At an event held at Palma Rima Beach in Kololi, the group of young men and women walked through the beach chanting in and holding banners that read,
I am a survivor, not a victim, Women are to be protected, speak up and Act now, enough is enough, do not rape women; among others.
The activity was in line with the 16 days of activism against SGBV which is an annual international campaign that usually kicks off from 25th November to 10th December.
The period is dedicated to advocacy for the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls. The theme for this year is “Orange Gambia, end violence against women now!”
Speaking at the event, Satang Dumbuya, Advocacy and Campaign Officer of the Network Against Gender-Based Violence called for collaboration in the fight against eliminating gender-based violence while pointing out that women and children are the most vulnerable people in the society.
Adding that the empowerment of women should be everybody’s business, emphasising that the goals cannot be achieved if men are not in the forefront.
“Women’s empowerment is everybody’s responsibility. We must make sure the rights of women and children are respected,” she said. “We have been focusing on the empowerment of women but now we are also focusing on children and men because we have men who are also victims of sexual and gender-based violence. We want this to end.”
Sainabou Baldeh, Representative from Sound Mind Gambia, said the focus of their organization is on giving psychosocial support to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. She added that it requires a lot of strength for survivors of gender-based violence to recover mentally from sexual violence.
“Our focus is to make sure everyone has good mental well-being in the country. That is why we give people psychological support to help them recover from trauma,” she said
She further stated that societal perspective is another factor that affects survivors. This she said needs to be addressed.
“People are ill-informed about what mental health is and how they can help people to recover from such,” she noted. “We help them without giving them medication or taking them to ‘Tanka Tanka’ (a place for mentally ill patients in The Gambia).”
Among the challenges highlighted by various speakers in combating gender-based violence is a lack of collective responsibility in reporting SGBV cases, proper data record and access to finance and mobility.
Cherno Ceesay a physically challenged individual, Fatoumata FM Sonko survivor of sexual and gender-based violence and Aminata Yajoh commended the organizers of the event and called on the society to speak up and help fight violence against women and girls.
