violence against women - The African Mirror

Jan

2024

Pistorius release touches a nerve in country scarred by violence against women

SOUTH African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius' release on parole, nearly 11 years after he shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, provoked a raw response in a country scarred by violence against women. Pistorius, who has said repeatedly that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder, spent about eight and a half years in jail as well as seven months under house arrest, but for many that is not enough. An average of around 12 women are murdered in South Africa every day, with more than 42,000 rapes recorded in the year to March 2023, police data show. "Considering that I'm a woman in…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

In Venezuela, an account of a kidnapping renews focus on violence against women

WORLD

VIVIAN SEQUERA and MIRCELY GUANIPA In 2001, Linda Lopez was kidnapped and held for almost four months in a Caracas apartment, where she was repeatedly raped and tortured. Now, she has released a book about her experience and her years-long battle to bring the case to trial in a system that she says still fails Venezuelan women. The release of the book co-written by Lopez, a lawyer, and Luisa Kislinger, a Venezuelan writer and activist, has revived debate about violence against women and girls in Venezuela, which activists says is often overshadowed by the country's humanitarian and economic crisis. Venezuela…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

President pledges millions to fight GBV

NEWS

NITA BHALLA KENYA'S president pledged millions of dollars in state funds to help tackle a surge in gender-based violence during the pandemic, outlining plans to open women's shelters across the country and improve policing. Uhuru Kenyatta said crime statistics showed cases involving violence against women had almost doubled between January and June 2020 compared with the previous year. "Lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic and the pandemic's social and economic impacts have increased exposure of women to physical, sexual and psychological violence, while at the same time limited their access to protective and recovery services," Kenyatta told a conference on gender…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Actress Nicole Kidman calls violence against women a ‘shadow pandemic’

WORLD

CHRISTINE MURRAY ACTRESS Nicole Kidman said that everyone had a role to play in ending violence against women and girls that has surged in lockdowns during the coronavirus pandemic. The Oscar-winning actress, who is a U.N. Women's Goodwill Ambassador, said her role in television series "Big Little Lies" had strengthened her stance on violence against women, calling lockdown spikes in abuse a "shadow pandemic". Kidman said playing lawyer and domestic abuse survivor Celeste on the hit HBO series had affected her personally. "I felt very exposed and vulnerable and deeply humiliated as I told her story - even though playing…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Bangladeshi protestors say death penalty not the answer to rise in rape

WORLD

NAIMUL KARIM PROTESTORS took to Dhaka's streets to demand action on rising rape cases in Bangladesh, saying a new law that expanded the use of the death penalty was not enough to bring about real change. Women's rights campaigners are demanding a root and branch reform of the legal system and more education to address what they say is a rising incidence of violence against women in Bangladesh. Earlier this month, the government changed the law to make rape committed by a single person punishable by death following protests triggered by an online video showing a group of men sexually…