Sat, 26 Nov 2016 14:18:39 +0000
THE National Sports Council of Zambia (NSCZ) says it will be part of this year’s 16 days of gender activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) to raise awareness on the need to respect a woman and girl’s rights in sports.
Addressing the media yesterday, NSCZ chairperson Mwamba Kalenga said the council had seen it fit to join in the campaign in order to safeguard the human rights in promoting sport as a safe space for all.
Kalenga said NSCZ will target the sports sector and actors in sport, sports federations and their memberships among others in order to raise the awareness because all forms of GBV existed even in sports. He said the NSCZ had taken issues of GBV seriously in order to allow sportsmen and women enjoy and feel comfortable to participate fully in any sports discipline of their choice without any feeling of being harassed.
“We want to raise awareness on the need to respect a woman and girl’s rights in every society of the world because from the sports perspective, research has shown that sexual harassment occur in all sports and at all levels. Research further shows that chances of being exposed to this is greater in organisations and places of work where there is no preventive strategy and where the abuser is determined and the sportsman or woman is vulnerable.
“It is with this background that the sporting community should not just sit and stand-by and watch these acts of GBV happening in sport and this is why we have decided to join the rest of the world in the campaign,” Kalenga said. He said NSCZ will be part of community sports festivals planned for by the Ministry of Gender among other programmes lined up in this period. The 16 days of activism against GBV started yesterday and will end on 10th December, 2016 and are being spearheaded by the Ministry of gender.
