Source: Tanzania Daily News
THE government has embarked on an ambitious establishment of one-stop centres (OSCs) countrywide to facilitate timely service delivery to victims of Gender-Based Violence (GBVs).

It believes that the new approach will intensify the fight against the "alarmingly growing social problem and encourage many victims to report GBV cases."

According to guidelines for their establishment released in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the centres aim at offering GBV services in a systemised and standardised way, guided by the best interest and human rights of the survivors as opposed to the present system where there have been frequent delays in serving the victims.

The establishment of the OSC responds to the long time call by human rights activists and international organizations, which have been calling for nations to pay maximum attention to the victims of GBV as the world launched 16 days of activism against the vice yesterday.

In Tanzania, the event was graced by the Deputy Minister for Legal and Constitutional Affairs, Ms Angela Kairuki, who observed that through the OSC, the provision of services for the GBV victims will improve as opposed to the present situation.

"Having these centres in place is another milestone the country has moved in ensuring gender-based violence is dealt with accordingly as well as meeting the Millenium Development Goals on Gender equality," she pointed out. She said the government will ensure that the centres are supported financially and materially to fulfill their missions, further calling on development partners and other stakeholders to support the move.

Ms Kairuki reported that her ministry was in the final stages of preparing guidelines to all magistrates in the country on how best they can handle GVB cases. She called on the police force to make sure the problem of shortage of Police Form Number 3 (PF3) is solved.

Bureaucracies in obtaining PF 3 has for years been mentioned as a serious stumbling block in having GBV cases timely reported to the security and judicial organs, with records showing that out of many cases occurring, only 4.4 per cent of them are reported for action.

Earlier, the Vice Chairperson for Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF-Tanzania), Ms Edda Maliki, said solving the PF3 headache will be a milestone in encouraging for victims of the vice to report their cases and hence contribute in eliminating it.

She noted that as Tanzania and the world launched the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, there is still a long way to go to achieve the target as many challenges the victims faced remain unaddressed.

"We call for the government to make sure the victims are well attended and their dignity restored while a deliberate move should be made to enable them to receive rehabilitation freely," she appealed. The event was also attended by the ambassadors of the US and Ireland, whose countries have been supporting the country to fight the vice.

The Acting Deputy Chief of Mission in the US Embassy, Ms Sharon Cromer, said her country has for the last three years committed 21 million US dollars (about 33bn/-) to support Tanzania's response to gender-based violence.

She said her country has also supported Tanzania in launching the National Guidelines for the Integration of One Stop Centres for GBV and Violence against Children (VAC), prevention and response services in health service facilities.

Meanwhile, NELLY MTEMA reports that the Tanzania Media Women Association (TAMWA) launched the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence campaign with training on journalist survey to study the extent and challenges of the problem in the country

• Tanzania