CSOs call for action to tame domestic violence

CIVIL Society Organisations (CSOs) have requested the government to take immediate action to prevent the rise in incidents of intimate partner violence, as well as to enact a domestic violence law to prevent these incidents from occurring.

The call was made during a session on intimate partner violence organised by the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) and Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF), which was attended by religious leaders, government officials and victims as part of the just -ended CSO week in Arusha.

Advocate Fulgence Massawe, the LHRC’s Director of Advocacy and Reform, stated that it was past time to take firm action to put an end to such incidents because they have long-term and negative consequences for individuals, families and communities.

“Legal protection against domestic violence in all of its forms is critical to reducing impunity and opening avenues for redress,” he said.

He added, “Many countries around the world now have legislation in place making domestic violence against women a crime, so we request that the government enact it in our country as one of the ways to prevent such incidents,”

According to Advocate Massawe, the main reasons for the rise in these incidents are jealousy, economic violence, and mental health issues.

Intimate partner violence is domestic violence by a current or former spouse or partner in an intimate relationship against the other spouse or partner. It can take a number of forms, including physical, verbal, emotional, economic and sexual abuse.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines it as any behaviour within an intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological or sexual harm to those in the relationship, including acts of physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviours, it is sometimes referred to simply as battery, or as spouse or partner abuse.

One of the victims of her partner’s cruelty, Veronika Kidemi, a teacher at Kiranyi Secondary School in Arumeru district, said her husband chopped her palm on September 26, 2020, at her home in Siwandeti Village.

“The main reason my husband chopped my palm was jealousy; on the day of the incident, he returned to Arusha quietly, and when he got home, he didn’t find me because I had gone to buy groceries. When I got home, he started throwing insults at me and took a sword and chopped my palm,” she said.

LHRC Senior Researcher, Fundikila Wazambi presenting a report on intimate partner violence said that according to world statistics, one out of three women has been subjected to physical or sexual violence.

According to the Tanzania Women and Men Facts and Figures booklet of 2018, almost four in ten women have experienced physical violence, and one in five women report experiencing sexual violence in their lifetime (from the age of 15). Spousal abuse, both sexual and physical, is even higher (44 per cent for married women).

Mr Wazambi went on to say that the violence is perpetrated in their homes by their partners, who could be husbands, wives, or male or female friends.

“The home appears to be a dangerous place for women right now, as a result of incidents that can lead to murder and even disability. In this situation, stakeholders must band together to find solutions to these incidents, because if we don’t make too much noise, no one will come to defend our society,” he stated.