Fight Against GBV:

Women, Men call for Gender Parity
By Boris Esono in Buea

He population of Buea say no to gender-based violence

People of faith have been urged to speak out against sexual, and gender-based violence in order for the ill to be eliminated. Officials were speaking November 28, 2019 at the Synod compound in Buea during the celebration of Thursdays in Black.
    Women have equally been called upon to speak out when faced with such violence so that the statistics on the number of cases will be reduced, while the perpetrators of such acts will be put in jail.
    This day was celebrated under the theme "towards a world without rape and violence".
    Rt Rev Fonki Samuel, Moderator of the PCC while speaking during the celebration said people need to speak out and that eliminating GBV needs a collective and united front to fight it. To him, to be silent means that the person is condoning it but speaking out is the key. "Women should awake, speak out against Gender based violence," He said.
    To Rita Mbah, National HIV Coordinator for PCC, this is a campaign against a world without rape and violence. "Where we are now, GBV is perpetrated during war, and we have to talk about it," She said. "There is a lot of violence where we work, at home, and if you witness violence being perpetrated on someone and you do nothing, it means you are helping it."
    "We are calling on each and everyone to speak our against gender-based violence. Today, we equally celebrate the women who been resilient against GBV, and every Thursday we need to wear our pin and say no to violence."

    According to statistics from UN Women and UNICEF, one in three women experience physical or sexual violence mostly by an intimate partner. Globally, more than eight out of ten girls experience street harassment before they are 17. Women and girls equally make up seventy percent of human trafficking victims. An estimated 246 million girls and boys experience school-related violence each year.
    At oh Derek, Health Service Secretary for the PCC said the PCC health services as part of compliance with the world council of churches found it necessary to observe Thursday in Black so they can collectively find ways of ending GBV, name and shame perpetrators of such acts so they can be jailed. "Thursday in Black is being celebrated for the first time, and the context is very suitable taking in to consideration we have been going through crisis for the last three years".
    Thursdays in Black grew out of the world council of Churches' Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women (1988-1998, in which the stories of rape as a weapon of war, gender injustice, abuse, violence, and many tragedies that grow outward from such violence became all the more visible.
    According to participants, we all have a responsibility to speak out against violence, to ensure that women and men, boys and girls, are safe from rape and violence in homes, schools, work, and streets - in all places in our societies.