STATEMENT BY THE RT HON PRIME MINISTER
DR B.S.S. DLAMINI
AT THE COMMEMORATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2013
AT NKWENE INKHUNDLA
THURSDAY 7H MARCH 2013
Honourable Ministers
Chiefs
Honourable Members of both Houses of Parliament,
Representatives of United Nations Agencies,
Regional Administrator,
Government Officials,
Civil Society Officials,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen
It is a great pleasure for me to join the many Swazis here today, as well as the representatives of the international community – all here to commemorate 2013 International Women’s Day.
As the Deputy Prime Minister has mentioned, the International Women’s Day is an important occasion to reflect on progress made and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an outstanding role in the history of their countries and communities. It is also a time to review the status quo and identify areas where the call for improvement or change is necessary, to ensure women’s full and equal participation in global development. Overall, it is a valuable time to review how far women have come in their struggle for equality, peace and development.
It is also an opportunity to unite, network and mobilize for meaningful change, looking ahead to the untapped potential and opportunities for women to join the international movement seeking restoration of peace, women’s rights, social justice, gender equity and sustainable development.
The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is “A Promise is a Promise: Time for Action to End Violence against Women and Girls”. The theme seeks to promote and encourage on-going efforts at the national level, share experiences and innovations in delivering on commitments to women and girls, as well as supporting efforts and strategies to end violence against women.
The theme is aligned with that of the 57th Commission on the Status of Women: namely the “Elimination and Prevention of all forms of Violence against Women and Girls”.
This shows that issues of violence against women and girls have been considered a priority in the international agenda, to restore peace and security not only at international level, but most importantly, at national and community levels.
Swaziland has adopted this theme in view of the high prevalence of violence against women and girls in our country. I believe that it is fair to draw two special messages from the global theme that we can apply to Swaziland. The first is: “A true Leader keeps a Promise: Support action to end Violence against Women and Girls.”
And the second message is "Ending Violence against Women and Girls begins with me”.
These messages say – leaders must make a commitment and stick to it. I believe we can safely say that, as a leadership, we have roundly condemned all forms of violence against women and children, and that we have continually repeated that message.
We have backed up the promise in a number of ways. Swaziland, as a member of the United Nations, has ratified gender-related international instruments that seek to promote gender equality, equity, non-discrimination, women’s rights, as well as ending violence against women and children. These instruments include the Beijing Platform for Action, the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, the Protocol on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
These instruments categorically condemn any form of gender-based violence and, in particular, violence against women and girls. They further request member states to enact legislative and institutional measures to end this scourge.
Swaziland has gone to considerable lengths to meet these requirements. Our national Constitution contains a number of provisions under Chapter 3 which is headed Protection and Promotion of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. There is Section 15 which defines Protection of Rights to Life, Section 28 on Rights and Freedoms of Women, and Section 35 on Enforcement of Protective Provisions. These sections of the Constitution have implicitly demanded that legislation be put in place to operationalize the provisions. Among the pieces of legislation relating to this are the Crimes Act, Girls and Women’s Protection Act, Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, People Trafficking and People Smuggling (Prohibition) Act, and the Child Protection and Welfare Act.
Owing to the high prevalence of gender based violence in the country, Government has recognised the need to add a piece of legislation that would fill in the gaps and deal with emerging forms of crime associated with domestic violence and sexual offences. This piece of legislation is currently in a form of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Bill of 2009. The Bill seeks to provide comprehensive legislation that addresses domestic violence and sexual offences. This, in effect, will ensure that some of the rights provided for under the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of Swaziland are fully realised.
The objectives of the Bill are to firstly respond to the outcry in respect of the escalation of sexual offences and domestic violence carried out against women and children, even including infants – behaviour that has not only traumatised victims but has, in many cases, given rise to HIV transmission. The Bill serves to strengthen and consolidate certain common law and statutory provisions relating to sexual and domestic violence, and provides the necessary protection to complainants.
Given the legislative supremacy of our Constitution, it is most reassuring that the Bill gives effect to certain important human rights enshrined in the Constitution of Swaziland, including the right to equal protection of the law, the right to privacy and the right to protection from inhuman and degrading treatment.
And, of course, the Bill gives effect to the provisions of the international conventions such as CEDAW and the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, both of which uphold the rights of women and aim to eliminate gender inequalities in relation to power and decision-making and to provide protection to women and children who are the most vulnerable group in society.
The Bill is currently with Parliament and I do urge that august institution to conclude its deliberations as a matter of urgency.
A further measure to provide valuable protective and compassionate assistance has been the establishment of a One Stop Centre for victims of sexual violence. Government should also consider provision of legal aid services in the prosecution of violence cases, as well as up-scaling Child Friendly Courts as well as taking the appropriate measures to reduce the huge back-log of cases in our courts.
I conclude with a simple but crucially important plea – one made on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, as well as made personally. Let every person in our country make the pledge to end gender-based violence. Real men do not rape and carry out other violent acts on women and children. Only cowards do that. We Swazis pride ourselves of having been warriors in times gone by. Our history and culture demand that our men must never be cowards. In mobilising our resources – human and legislative especially – we need to motivate ourselves to deal with every violent act on women and children as if it were carried out on someone close to us. There must be ZERO tolerance. Government is committed to ensuring that violence is dealt with by the vigorous and consistent enforcement of the laws of the land to help realise our dream of a violence-free society.
I take this opportunity to thank all governmental and civil society organisations and individuals who work tirelessly to fight this kind of crime. I also express our deep appreciation to the United Nations agencies who have given their unfailing support in the fight against gender based-violence in the country.
Thank you.