THE Interim Steering Committee on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) has recommended a raft of emergency response interventions to the country’s gender-based violence and femicide crisis.

Among others, these include the clearing of backlogs at forensic laboratories related to GBVF and especially sexual assault as well as the hiring of additional staff for sexual offences courts, Thuthuzela Care Centres and Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Investigations Units.

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The committee comprises a range of government departments and entities, civil society organisations focused on GBVF, research institutions, development agencies and other organisations.

More recently, in the wake of a countrywide spate of incidents of gender-based violence, President Ramaphosa responded to protests against the violence and convened a Joint Sitting of Parliament to allow elected public officials to deliberate on measures to end this national scourge.

The President announced that the Interim Steering Committee would lead in the implementation of an emergency response to gender-based violence.

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The steering committee will involve all sectors of society in the implementation of the Emergency Response Action Plan to ensure that individuals take responsibility for their behaviour and that organisations and institutions of civil society and government undertake programmes to prevent abuse of and violence against women and children.

The criminal justice system and social partners in this sector will also be geared to deal more effectively with cases where abuse and violence are reported and where support is required for victims and survivors.

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