Annual campaign against women abuse to begin on Wednesday

The annual 16 Days of Activism Campaign for No Violence Against Women and Children will this year begin on Wednesday (25/11/2015).

The internationally observed campaign will continue until 10 December.

In the Western Cape‚ Minister of Community Safety Dan Plato will launch the campaign in Freedom Park‚ Mitchell’s Plain on Tuesday.

The department said in a statement that it was “reaching out to various communities where incidents of abuse‚ violence and the marginalisation of women and children in our communities places them at risk”.

It said it would team up with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development‚ SALGA‚ NICRO‚ Community Based organisations‚ local Community Police Forums (CPFs)‚ the religious fraternity and other governmental departments “to raise awareness about abuse‚ to provide intervention services where needed as well as to encourage all in our communities to take a stand against abuse behind the provincial theme: Safety starts in Your family”.

Elizabeth Oosthuizen‚ a counselling psychologist at Akeso Specialised Psychiatric Clinic in Milnerton‚ Cape Town‚ believes that counselling can help victims of domestic abuse “re-author their life stories”.

According to a statement made by the clinic on Monday‚ “Although statistics on domestic violence and abuse are hard to come by in South Africa‚ the unacceptably high rates of murder and rape suggest massive levels of violence in our homes. The official crime statistics for South Africa hold that there were 17 068 murders in 2013‚ equating to 47 every day; five times higher than the global average for that year.”

Oosthuizen‚ who has counselled many abuse victims‚ defines abuse as actions - either verbal or non-verbal - used by one person in a relationship to control the other.

The beginning of the campaign coincides with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (25 November) and ends with the commemoration of International Human Rights Day (10 December).

TMG Digital.