#ShutItAllDown to become more structured

#ShutItAllDown to become more structured ESTER KAMATI



WINDHOEK

Over a year after the national #ShutItAllDown movement made headlines locally and internationally, it has become impactful in the fight against gender-based violence.

#ShutItAllDown’s Bertha Tobias – who represented the movement in a 16 Days of Activism Against GBV video trilogy, which highlighted three anti-femicide movements from various parts of the world, said it has achieved plenty of success.

These include starting a conversation and reaffirming the contribution of young people in the fight against GBV. She added that the movement also brought about policy changes and “concrete successes that we are proud of but will probably not see the fruits of right now, but that we will be holding government accountable to in the near future”.

Tobias also shared that #ShutItAllDown has matured “from a spontaneous protest” and is becoming a more structured organisation with accountability mechanisms.

“ShutItAllDown’s growth has been exponential,” she said, adding that this left little time to come up with concrete structures such as selecting a chairperson. “We don’t have a leader and we don’t have a formal organisational structure necessarily, so the way that impacted our work means that we have now grown into an organisation that is almost composed of just young people providing their time and people who care for a certain cause.”

More wins

Amongst the movement’s other achievements is the rollout of a sexual offenders’ registry, which was discussed in Parliament this year.

“The government had already commenced with working on the sex offenders’ registry, but that is an effort which is going to be accelerated in response to the #ShutItAllDown protest,” Tobias said.

She also listed the review of sentencing laws for sex offenders as a success, while taking pride in the establishment of GBV offences courts.

“The institution of 24/7 armed patrols and government continuing to mobilise more financial resources to train and sensitise first responders such as social workers and largely police officers” are more of the movement’s wins, she said.