The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has conducted an outreach session on a special law on gender based violence this September 20th in Mukaza commune.
Participants in an outreach session on SGBV specific law
Jean de Dieu Ndikumana, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, says the number of victims of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) is still high in Burundi and the entire region. He appeals to all the participants in the session to conduct sensitization campaigns at their workplaces and in their living places. “We have to apply the knowledge we gained by raising the awareness of SGBV and its eradication in our country”.
The Great Lakes Region member countries adopted the Kampala SGBV Declaration in 2011. Later, a specific law No. 1/13 of 22nd September 2016 on prevention, protection of victims and repression of gender based violence was adopted in Burundi.
Mr Ndikumana says there has been gender based violence in the Great Lakes Region after civil wars where women and children were mostly targeted. “This specific law is a result of an agreement between Heads of State in the Great Lakes Region on SGBV consequences in their meeting in 2011,” he says.
Aloys Ndikuriyo, Advisor to the professional training center in the Ministry of Justice in charge of the production of modules says severe punishment against gender-based violence offenders in the specific law will help in SGBV prevention: “Offenses and penalties are imprescriptible, inexcusable, and cannot be reduced”. He says they hope to see a considerable decrease in the number of SGBV victims thanks to those sanctions.
The specific law on prevention, protection of victims and repression of SGBV is in its awareness phase.
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