Govt urged to up efforts on women’s issues

A NAMIBIAN women’s organisation has called on Government to put more effort into issues that affect women.

There has been an increase in criminal activities around the country, in which women and girls have been the victims of abuse, rape, murder and other crimes. The Women’s Leadership Centre (WLC), an organisation that primarily aims at promoting women’s writing by focusing on women’s rights, culture and HIV-AIDS, recently launched a booklet calling on women and girls in Namibia to claim their right to survive HIV-AIDS by challenging poverty and oppressive cultural practices.The organisation called on Government to denounce all oppressive cultural practices and beliefs and to initiate education campaigns to teach girls and women to challenge and reject harmful practices such as widow inheritance and other violations of young women’s dignity, physical safety and mental health.According to the Legal Assistance Centre, Namibia has one of the highest rates of sexual violence in the world and the vast majority of rape victims continue to be women and girls, while most rapes are perpetrated by men and boys.Children as young as four months are being raped, and boys as young as seven are committing rape.WLC also called on Government to educate all Namibians on the anti-retroviral treatment available for people infected with HIV-AIDS and to make the treatment available at all health centres.It said Government should also set up a national HIV-AIDS food relief programme for poor people taking anti-retroviral medication.The treatment requires that patients are well nourished.The Women’s Leadership Centre (WLC), an organisation that primarily aims at promoting women’s writing by focusing on women’s rights, culture and HIV-AIDS, recently launched a booklet calling on women and girls in Namibia to claim their right to survive HIV-AIDS by challenging poverty and oppressive cultural practices.The organisation called on Government to denounce all oppressive cultural practices and beliefs and to initiate education campaigns to teach girls and women to challenge and reject harmful practices such as widow inheritance and other violations of young women’s dignity, physical safety and mental health. According to the Legal Assistance Centre, Namibia has one of the highest rates of sexual violence in the world and the vast majority of rape victims continue to be women and girls, while most rapes are perpetrated by men and boys.Children as young as four months are being raped, and boys as young as seven are committing rape.WLC also called on Government to educate all Namibians on the anti-retroviral treatment available for people infected with HIV-AIDS and to make the treatment available at all health centres.It said Government should also set up a national HIV-AIDS food relief programme for poor people taking anti-retroviral medication.The treatment requires that patients are well nourished.