Minister: Non-cooperation hinders fight against women, children violence

Dodoma. If violence against women and children is to be eliminated totally, then families must be part and parcel of the efforts, the government has said on Friday, April 5.

This was argued by the deputy minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Dr Faustine Ndugulile, during the question and answer session in Parliament in Dodoma.

He was responding to a question raised by Special Seats Member of Parliament Zainab Bakar (Chadema) who wanted to know when the government would table a Bill in Parliament in order to tighten the screws against those who   mistreat children.

"The available laws are strong enough to deal with violence against women and children. We only lack the cooperation of families of the victims," responded the deputy minister.

 This, he added, was due to the fact that most crimes occur within their families and relatives treat it as a secret.

He said the government was doing all in its powers to ensure that the problem is totally eliminated.

To encourage women and children report cases of assault, the government has set up 400 gender desks at police stations, according to him.

He said the desks were meant to make both special handling and privacy available to victims of gender-based violence.

Mr Ndugulile added that more than 10,000 committees for protection of children have been formed in the country.

"Statistics illustrate the need for these initiatives. In 2017, some 41 incidents of violence against women were reported and out the figure, 13 were against children," he noted.

"Join the government's efforts to end violence against women and children," he challenged MPs.