Intimate partner violence builds over time
Founder of Beyond Sorrows Organisation, Gaone Ngakaemang says murders by intimate partners are usually not a result of random or spontaneous acts, but a culmination of prior gender-related violence.
According to Ngakaemang, these killings are fuelled by among others jealousy and fear of abandonment. “Primarily Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a gendered crime which is more aggressive and extreme and perpetrated by men against women and girls. Although men do experience intimate partner violence, the lethal violence experienced by women and girls in the home is often perpetrated by men. In cases when men experience it, it is often that the women did it out of self-defense. Nevertheless, it is important to bear in mind that there are instances in which women can also be perpetrators of extreme gender-based violence against men and other women,” Ngakaemang said.
Ngakaemang said the reality of these murders however, is that they affect women and girls mostly as direct victims or secondary victims. Like everywhere else in the world, she says, statistics show that in Botswana, where cases of IPV often result in deaths, victims are usually women. She further shared that traditionally, when a mother is killed and the father is sent to prison, the responsibility of taking care of the surviving children is always assumed by an aunt or grandmother. Ngakaemang said this assumed guardianship therefore, translates to additional responsibilities that do not only bring emotional burden but also socio-economic challenges to the caretaker.
“It is therefore a necessity that the existing Policy Guideline for Financial Support for women be reviewed and tailored to cater for women that have been greatly affected by GBV.
“These are women who are prone to a lot of emotional distress and may need more than socio-economic empowerment,” Ngakaemang said. She said as evident locally, and as urged by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, there is very minimal progress in preventing killings of women and girls. Therefore, the need for concerted and urgent action against these killings is critical and imminent. Ngakaemang noted that there is need to improve the knowledge and also strengthen response to crimes of passion and any other form of genderbased violence against women and girls.
Improving the response to crimes of passion can strengthen prevention and ensure the safety of women and girls. Therefore, stakeholders of GBV prevention should ensure that every victim is counted, including secondary victims and ensure that perpetrators are held to account and that justice is served.