Child –Fund the Gambia on Thursday launched ’16 Days Activism’ against Gender-Based Violence at its office Kanifing with theme “Together We Can End GBV in Education”.
Delivering keynote address, the admin Manager of Child-Fund the Gambia Kebba Jaiteh , acknowledged that gender–based violence is violence that is directed at an individual because of his or her biological sex, gender identity.
He said this includes physical, sexual and psychological abuse; threats; coercion, arbitrary deprivation of liberty; and economical deprivation, whether occurring in public or private life-child sexual abuse, sex trafficking and force labor, sexual coercion and abuse, neglect, honor killings and female genital mutilation\cutting.
He said the 16 days of activism against GBV is global movement to call for prevention and elimination of violence related to gender.
This is the 26th year of the event and it has grown to include participants from more than 90 countries and more than 7000 organizations.
“Each year the campaign chooses a theme related to GBV, the 2017 global theme is ‘Together we can End GVB in education’. Our theme as a Country Office is ‘End Child Marriage Now’. This global theme builds on the momentum of the Sustainable Development Goal and seeks to end all form of GBV in education.
“As an organization, we are joining the 16 Days of Activism campaign align with our broader vision of destination 2020; to deepen our well being and protection programmes for children.
The campaign also gives us an opportunity to come together to discus critical issues facing children and families we serve. It empowers us to be part of the global movement to make the world a safer place for girls and boys.
“Child Fund works to prevent GBV in many forms including bullying, child marriage FGM/C, and discrimination against certain groups, sexual violence and exploitation.
“We understand the importance of ensuring that learning environments are safe – from GBV and any other form of violence. As such, we work with local partners to ensure that schools and other learning settings are inclusive for boys and girls.
“Globally, we are working to address school based violence prevention (SBVP) using the school as the entry point for the community to address multiple form of violence, including GBV.
“An estimated 246 million girls and boys experience school-related violence every year. Child Fund works with communities to reduce violence in and around schools to help create safe school environment for girls and boys. If there is no reduction in child marriage the global number of women marriage as child will reach 1.2 billion by 2050, with devastating global consequences. We can break the cycle of violence by empowering adolescent girls with knowledge, skills and resources to reach their potential, educating girls and boys about the harm of gender inequality,” he said.
