BUJUMBURA, December 2nd (ABP) – On Friday, November 29, 2024, the Bujumbura mayor’s provincial department for family and social development (DPDFS) organized a coordination meeting for partners and players working in the sector of gender-based violence (GBV) in Bujumbura Mayorship.
In his presentation, Gabriel Icimpaye, the provincial director of the DPDFS in Bujumbura Mayorship, said that the meeting had been organized to exchange views with stakeholders working on GBV and to take stock of actions carried out during the 16-day campaign against GBV.
On that occasion, Icimpaye recalled that GBV can take different forms, including physical, psychological, socio-economic and sexual.
He called on participants to raise awareness so that all Burundians can fight against GBV. Moreover, there are services available to help victims or survivors of GBV, including medical services, psychosocial support, mental health, security and political and legal services.
Gender-based violence can have very serious consequences for the health of women and young people, such as physical injury, depression, chronic pain, sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, increased risk of infection with and death, he lamented. In his view, they constitute a threat that haunts the whole of society, he explained.
To remedy that situation, Icimpaye believes that all those working in the sector of GBV are called upon to collaborate with the administrative authorities in order to combat GBV together, and above all by severely punishing the perpetrators.
During the discussions held by the participants at that meeting, it was recommended that the ministry in charge of solidarity should advocate for free medical services for victims or survivors of GBV, and that administrative staff should sensitize the entire Burundian population to protect victims rather than the perpetrators or aggressors of GBV.