Botswana records largest increase in defilements cases
Mpho Mokwape | Friday February 5, 2021 14:37
According to statistics from the Botswana Police Service (BPS) 1, 825 cases were recorded, a bump in the number of cases as compared to 1, 208 recorded in 2019.
The Attorney General, Abraham Keetshabe said defilement of children under the age of 18 was the main concern, hence the establishment of a gender and child protection functional area having been approved for commencement during the next financial year.
“Statistics indicate that GBV has been increasing in the past years. During 2020, GBV related crimes went up and the main concern is with respect to the defilement of children under the age of 18 years, registering the largest increase ever recorded,” he pointed out. Keetshabe explained that the initiative was meant to augment existing crime prevention and detection processes including the Child-Friendly office, which he noted that it was being piloted at the Broadhurst Police Station, and also to be rolled out to other parts of the country. Keetshabe said GBV remains a classic example that human beings never learn and that it was disheartening that the reluctance on the part of some of the victims to pursue such cases and let the law take its course.
“In the process, our legal channels of suppressing GBV remain eternally crippled and clearly collectively unproductive owing to the failure of a single cog in the system that is the reluctance by victims to pursue justice to its logical conclusion,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chief Justice Terrence Rannowane, in his address, said it was disconcerting that GBV cases were alarmingly and disturbingly on the increase globally during the pandemic’s hard lockdowns and that the country has not been spared of the scourge. He explained that for the courts to complement the government’s effort in fighting GBV, the judiciary should put in place swift response measures to address this grave situation.
“I directed that with effect from December 1, 2020, all GBV cases be treated as urgent applications and be given expedited management, set downs, disposal and that they be prioritised and removed from the normal track of other cases upon registration. I further directed that Special Courts dedicated to GBV cases be set down in all the Chief Magistrates stations and this has been done,” Keetshabe noted.