Monica Geingos, the First Lady of Namibia, showcased two flagship programmes of the Office of the First Lady to the UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima, during Ms Byanyima’s recent country visit to Namibia.
Launched in February 2018, the #BreakFree anti-violence campaign aims to contribute towards preventing violence through awareness-raising around various forms of violence in Namibia and finding pragmatic solutions for prevention.
As part of the campaign, Ms Geingos hosted a women leaders’ dialogue to engage Ms Byanyima and women leaders in Namibia on critical discussions about gender inequality and gender-based violence as critical structural drivers of the HIV epidemic.
Women leaders called for collective support and leadership towards achieving gender equality and ending gender-based violence in Namibia through national gender policies and strategies. “We need to use the law as a tool for social justice,” said Yvonne Dausab, the Minister of Justice, during the dialogue.
The Government of Namibia has recently launched a mass media campaign, Nationhood and National Pride, against gender-based violence. This comes at an opportune time, as Namibia recorded an increase in sexual and gender-based violence, femicide and human rights violation cases in 2020, which prompted a series of youth-led countrywide protests against sexual and gender-based violence.
Last year, more than 2300 cases of domestic violence were recorded at various magistrate courts across the country, a considerable increase from 2044 similar cases registered in 2019.
“Even though progress has been made in policy development, women’s representation and other areas, girls are still born in an unequal world and violence against women still remains a challenge,” said Ms Byanyima.
Another separate yet interrelated programme of the Office of the First Lady is the #BeFree movement. It was launched by Ms Geingos in 2016 with the technical and financial support of UNAIDS and the United Nations Population Fund.
The purpose of #BeFree is to create a non-judgemental, inclusive platform that encourages honest and robust dialogue and information-sharing so that young people are free of the issues that stand in the way of their development. This includes HIV, alcohol and drug use, unintended pregnancy, mental health issues and relationships with parents or caregivers.
Ms Byanyima, at the invitation of Ms Geingos, attended a #BeFree dialogue with young people on strengthening HIV prevention and gender equality and addressing stigma and discrimination.
During the event, Ms Byanyima reflected on her activism journey and encouraged young people to build resilience and self-confidence and to empower themselves in order to overcome the challenges they face, especially in tertiary institutions.
Ms Geingos noted the growth and transformation of the #BeFree movement in the past five years. Under the movement, her office has hosted and facilitated more than 35 dialogues and reached more than 100 000 young people and partners from all sectors of society. Ms Geingos asked young people to continue to speak out against violence, abuse and discrimination while also ensuring that they achieve academic excellence and their goals and aspirations.
To conclude her visit to Namibia, Ms Byanyima met with Hage Geingob, the President of Namibia, above, to acknowledge Namibia’s commitment to the AIDS response and the country’s success in attaining the 90‒90‒90 treatment targets ahead of the 2020 deadline and its domestic investment in the HIV and health responses.
