• The lobby groups will design a web tool that will be used in reporting GBV cases.
• This will avoid duplication and ease access to justice.
Taita Taveta anti-gender-based violence groups have resolved to jointly work together in the fight against rising cases of the crime.
The lobby groups will design a web tool that will be used for reporting GBV cases to avoid duplication and for easy access to justice.
Speaking during a meeting in Mwatate, Coast Sauti ya Wanawake chairperson Dorcas Gibran said the team will use the existing hotline.
The pact, Gibran said, was prompted by need to escalate the fight against the menace that is threatening the future of the girl child.
“Beside lobby groups, the team comprises members from both county and national government, government agencies among other stakeholders,” she said.
The working groups have further formed subcounty committees to focus on the improvement of public awareness at the grassroots.
"We need to domesticate the national anti-FGM policy together with the sexual and gender-based policy and work together moving forward," Gibran added.
The county has been facing high cases of GBV mostly against young girls and old women.
Most victims do not get justice due to a lack of evidence or pressure from family members to drop the case.
The area is also in the spotlight over the rising number of child marriages and FGM.
Deputy Governor Majala Mlagui, however, lamented that the fight against GBV is being slowed down by parents and guardians who collude with sex pests to solve cases out of court.
She said a number of cases are never reported to authorities as families protect suspects for fear of suffering public agony.
Majala said that the county government will be exploring solutions aimed at accessing justice and providing a safe space for witnesses and the vulnerable.
Voi High Court Judge Farah Amin pledged to work closely with the county government amid the Covid-19 pandemic in a bid to bring to an end the menace.
Amin called on residents to familiarise themselves with the court procedures and activities, among them seeking alternative dispute resolutions and arbitration as a means of conflict resolution to stem the case backlog at the law courts.
Edited by R.Wamochie