JB decries rampant gender based violence
Malawi president Joyce Banda on Monday acknowledged that gender-based violence (GBV) is still rampant in the country, describing the vice as an evil which needs to be eliminated.
The President said this in Lilongwe when she presided over the official closing ceremony of the 16 days of activism against GBV.
She said: “While progress has been recorded, a lot more still needs to be done. Therefore, we will continue with the legal reforms that aim to protect women and girls.”
Banda, who also joined a solidarity march to mark the official closing of the campaign, said the struggle for gender equality and the emancipation of women is a cause close to her heart and this is why she championed the struggle for the past 30 years.
“I feel more obliged to render my support on the campaign to end gender based violence because it undermines the safety, dignity, health and humanity of the hundreds of people who face it,” she said.
The President has since asked all stakeholders to work hard to change the attitudes and behaviours that make gender-based violence permissible.
The 16 days of activism started on November 25 and ended on Monday. This year, the campaign was held under the theme ‘From peace in the home to peace in the world: End gender-based violence against women’.
