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Legalbrief   |   your legal news hub Saturday 27 April 2024

Signs of hope despite alarming abuse levels

eSwatini has made strides in tackling sexual and gender-based violence, but much still needs to be done to ensure the law is applied and that perpetrators are held accountable, a prominent activist says. Nonhlanhla Dlamini, the director of the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse, says much of the activism against sexual and gender-based violence in the kingdom is largely carried out by NGOs – although two decades of advocacy yielded the progressive Sexual Offence and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act in 2018. The Mail & Guardian reports that eSwatini has staggering rates of sexual and gender-based violence. One in three females will have experienced some form of sexual abuse by the age of 18, according to the action group. A further 48% of women report having experienced some form of sexual violence during their lives. Nevertheless, the legislation has been welcomed ‘I am really proud of the SODV Act. You know when you see something from the time it was born ... you nurture it and then see it as a law that is adopted,’ she said. The action group has also advocated for child-friendly courts, which Dlamini first encountered in Zimbabwe. With the support of the British High Commission, the first one was set up in Mbabane and now there are many others. eSwatini also has three one-stop centres, a concept borrowed from the Thuthuzela centres in SA, in which health care, counselling services, legal aid and clothing, food and housing to support survivors are under one roof.