New national plan of action on gender-based violence in the works

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare is working on a revised action plan to combat the ongoing gender-based violence (GBV) crisis.

This is according to the ministry’s executive director, Lydia Indombo, at a workshop on the national training resource kit on GBV for media practitioners at Swakopmund on Thursday morning.

The workshop was one of several gatherings held on the topic of GBV in the past week, which includes a meeting on enhancing the gathering and interpretation of data on such cases coordinated by the Namibia Statistics Agency.

Indombo explained that, according to a recent statement by the Namibian police, there were 4 405 cases of GBV recorded between April 2024 and February 2025, with 1 345 of those being rape cases.

“Those numbers translate into the names of persons we know, the names of the persons we relate with, our neighbours, our community members and just innocent human beings,” Indombo said.

She emphasised that the fight against GBV is more important than ever, especially in light of the recent tragedies at Okahandja and Usakos.

“Let us challenge the status quo, the cultural norms that perpetuate violence, support survivors with empathy and dignity, and hold perpetrators accountable,” she said.

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