Kiambu,
Thursday, March 14, 2024
KNA by Cedric Karungaru
The Sexual Gender Based Violence Technical Working Group (SGBV-TWG) in Kiambu County held a committee meeting to advance solutions for Sexual Gender-Based Violence.
Education, Gender, Culture, and Social Services Chief Executive (CECM), Nancy Gichung’wa, emphasized the County government’s commitment to implementing practical steps to end SGBV, through collaborative efforts.
“Ending the cases of SGBV, is something I am committed to and will continue to and together with our partners in various sectors, the County government, will provide the necessary support from education on SGBV, to bolstering our health and rehabilitation services,” she said.
The meeting aimed to educate stakeholders on the role of the electronic sexual offenders register, a tool used by the judiciary, to streamline the process of tagging and teaching convicted offenders.
Stanley Mutuma, an Officer from the Judiciary, the Chief Magistrate’s Office, presented the register collection tool effectively captures convicted offenders’ metadata, aiding in deterrence prevention and rehabilitation, thereby, assisting relevant judicial system players.
“In the case of the stakeholders present, to combat repeat offenders and protect victims from SGBV, once an offender is convicted and their information is recorded, they are on the register for life, even after their sentence ends,” he said.
Mrs. Olympia Karimi, Director at the State Department of Gender, presented the SGBV-TWG structures, including subcommittees for management, recovery, sensitization, prevention, and data collection, to improve county SGBV situation.
“We have tasked the various respective committees to examine the data collection template, which is an important tool to combat SGBV” She said.
She added that the fight against sexual and gender-based violence is a continuous process that requires bringing together all members of the society, through such initiatives and actively speaking up and taking action.
When research was conducted for 1,091 women in Kiambu County, shows that 41.7 percent of women, have experienced physical violence since they were 15 years of age.
From 2022 to 2023, 5.6 percent of them often experience physical violence while 12.2 percent experience violence occasionally.
Courtesy; KNA
