Seychelles joins campaign against gender based violence |25 November 2013

The Ministry of Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports in collaboration with the gender secretariat will be conducting a series of activities to commemorate 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence to take place from today until December 10, 2013.

The theme chosen locally is “From Peace in the Home to Peace in our Communities.”
The highlight of this year’s manifestation will be the E-launching of 16 Days of Activism against GBV commemorative newsletter. The E-launching will take place this afternoon, via e-mail to all government offices.

After the launch and throughout the next 16 days, the gender secretariat will be distributing hard copies of the newsletter to all ministries and central government organisations, as well as to schools and health care services.

The newsletter contains articles regarding 16 days and orange day to mobilise the public to take part, peaceful living, all forms of violence and how to address them, and finally a section to commemorate this year’s World Aids Day.

One of the principal activities to mark the 16 Days of Activism this year is a gender based violence workshop for faith-based organisations in collaboration with Sifco (Seychelles Interfaith Council). The workshop will take place on December 3 at the Care House in Victoria. The aim will be to strengthen the capacity of faith-based organisations to better collaborate in the fight against gender based violence, particularly domestic violence. The workshop also aims at educating those organisations on the issue of gender based violence, and to solicit their commitment in support of gender based violence awareness raising campaigns.

On Friday December 6, doctors and nurses will take part in a gender based violence and evidence collection training to be conducted at the Sheikh Khalifa Diagnostic Centre’s conference room at the Seychelles Hospital. The training will be conducted by Dr Zia Rizvi with the assistance of Dr Anne Gabriel, Dr Louine Morel and Mirenda Quatre. This effort is collaboration between the gender secretariat and the Ministry of Health, funded by the UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund). The purpose of this education programme is to raise awareness of gender based violence guidelines for health professionals and to highlight the importance of evidence collection in the attainment of justice for victims.