SANFROSSA MANYINDA writes
THE Non-Governmental Organisation’s Coordinating Council (NGOCC) has called for strengthening of the application of the law to deal with Gender Based Violence (GBV).
Organization executive director Engwase Mwale said that the wheels of justice took too much time to turn.
This led to survivors of GBV to withdraw cases because they got discouraged.
Ms. Mwale said that it was important for the society to look at factors that were impeding access to justice unlike concentrating on matters that would delay the whole processes.
“We believe as NGOCC that this is the only way that will provide more confidence for more people to come to seek redress from the courts. We have also learnt that in terms of seeking justice it has become financially constraining on a number of victims apart from suffering the implications of GBV,” she said.
She said that the victims also tended to get affected by the financial implication to be able to see the cases to their completion.
She said that the anti-gender based violence Act had a component of a GBV fund that would be assisting the victims and survivors of the act with easy access to finances.
Ms. Mwale further complained that the fund was not adequate and that it was not in use widely for more people to access it, adding it was the other reason she said caused victims to withdraw cases.
She said that it was important to get back to the drawing board as a country and look at how access to justice for GBV could be enhanced and facilitated especially when dealing with strengthening the fast track court system.
