FIGHT VIOLENCE BEYOND CAMPAIGN: PAHAD
By David Masango, Pretoria

December 15, 2003 – (BuaNews - Pretoria) Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Aziz Pahad says action to stop violence against women and children must go beyond the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign.

Mr Pahad said it required strength and action by people in order to stop the violence.

"To stop the violence requires more than 16 days work. It requires 365 days a year - if not more - of consciousness-building, teaching and actions that bring about full emancipation and equality," said Mr Pahad.

He added that it also required that people report any wrongdoing, to speak out and "not to continue to bear the brunt of suffering and abuse".

The deputy minister speaking at a function marking the end of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign at the Union Buildings in Pretoria yesterday.

He said the campaign was a United Nations endorsed initiative to encourage people of the world to "participate in creating a consciousness of women's suffering and the need for a human rights culture that was sensitive to and fully inclusive of women and children's rights in society".
The campaign is commemorated internationally from 25 November and 10 November annually.

Numerous events were held countrywide during the duration of the campaign to raise awareness about women and children abuse.

Mr Pahad said the battle for women's freedom from want, violence and suffering had to be taken from the public podium into the homes, hearts and minds of ordinary people, both men and women.

"The girl child and the boy child would need to be informed of their rights and the rights of their mothers and grandmothers," he added.

The deputy minister further urged South Africans to pledge to do all they could to take forward the message of equality and to bring home the importance of full emancipation.

From: http://allafrica.com/stories/200312150887.html