By Wezi Tjaronda WINDHOEK The Human Rights Advisory Committee wants to graduate from 16 to 365 days of activism to intensify the campaign against gender-based violence. The days of activism, which start in November and end on December 10, which is Human Rights Day every year, is an international campaign aimed at stopping violence against women and children. But the committee which met yesterday to evaluate last year’s campaign and plan for projects and programmes for 2007 felt not much is done within the 16 days. Ombudsman John Walters said the campaign should not be seen as a one-off event but a year-long one that culminates in the 16 days of activism towards the end of the year. With the announcement that the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare will hold the first-ever national conference on gender violence in July this year, the committee felt that many other activities should run throughout the year to also sensitise society about the problems at hand. Some of the concerns raised that the committee feels need particular awareness are granting of protection orders, traditional norms and values that are taught to children and assault on women by their partners. Dorkas Philemon, of the National Society for Human Rights, said gender violence issues are so broad they cannot be addressed adequately in 16 days. She said the issues need to be addressed at national, community as well as household level for them to have an impact in reducing cases of violence against women and children. One of the focal areas, according to Philemon, should be a traditional norm that parents teach their children in their homes. “We can change the face of violence in so many ways if we also have other programmes to address the issue on many fronts,” she said. Philemon said that most times organisations attended to violence cases when they had already happened, adding: “We need to do civic education and focus on elderly people that transfer the traditional values as it is the source of violence.” Rachel Freeman, a Social Worker with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, said Namibia with its soaring statistics on gender violence could not wait for the 16 days of activism while women are facing abuse the whole year. She said the 16 days were launched with the idea that organizations will have plans of action to move into the 365 days of activism to combat gender-based violence. Considering that there are programmes running the whole year round, Freeman said such programmes should be supported. Mathew Haikali, MISA Director said even though the worry was about resources, programmes should be put on the agenda and incorporated in other events if organisations decided that they are priorities. The 16 days for instance, said Haikali, could be used to highlight the successes of the campaign throughout the year. Statistics indicate that 2 000 cases of domestic violence are reported every year. Research also indicates that about 600 rape cases and an additional 150 attempted rape cases are reported annually. The committee expressed satisfaction with last year’s 16 days of gender activism, saying that even though civil society would have wanted more people to attend their activities, the issues of gender violence came out clearly. Ian Swartz of The Rainbow Project said a documentary that formed part of the activities is being screened in countries overseas.