At the end of April we had our second "round table" organised by the Diocese of Manzini. The first one, on Human Trafficking, was held last year. This one was on "Gender Based Violence". Below is what I shared at the beginning of our gathering, explaining why the topic was chosen.
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"Last year I was in Italy invited to give some talks on alcohol abuse in our country. During a homily I shared with the people some situations that are deeply hurting us: alcohol and drug abuse, human trafficking, gender based violence... among others. I also spoke briefly about the presence of refugees coming from other parts of our continent.
The most interesting thing though is that – as I told them – none of these situation is foreign to them. Unfortunately globalisation also applies to them. Italy, among others, is not strange to alcohol and drug abuse, human trafficking and gender based violence. It is enough to follow their daily news to became aware of violence in families.
Even more. I was born in Argentina which is in South America. Even there, GBV has become part of their daily news.
Visiting Peru last January Pope Francis “denounced femicide and other gender-based crimes that have turned Latin America into the most violent place on Earth for women, calling for legislation to protect them and a new cultural mindset as he visited one of Peru’s most dangerous areas.” Like I believe happens here: “many situations of violence that are kept quiet behind so many walls” (1)
The region has the dubious honour of having the world’s highest rates of violence against women occurring outside romantic partnerships, and the second-highest of violence within.
Though GBV is now present in different continents and countries, the causes and answers to it might be different according to each specific context and that is why we called for this round table. The goal is to help each other to understand it better and share ideas on what can be done to put an end to it.
It is no longer a matter of raising awareness as if we do not know it is present among us. The 16 days of activism done during the month of December present very clear cases of what happens in our families and societies.
I am grateful to you for accepting our invitation. I am also grateful to those who accepted to share with us their views and experiences. Even though there are two bishops present (Catholic and Anglican) we are not here to “preach”. These are “round tables” where we come together to listen to each other and help each other in order to make an impact in our country."
(1) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/pope-francis-femicide-latin-america-domestic-violence-ni-una-menos-tour-peru-chile-a8170501.html
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Click on the photo below for photos of the event
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(1) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/pope-francis-femicide-latin-america-domestic-violence-ni-una-menos-tour-peru-chile-a8170501.html
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