Violence against women during elections (VAWDE) is any harm or threat of harm committed against women with intent or impact of interfering with their free and equal participation in the electoral process.
Violence against women during elections (VAWDE) is any harm or threat of harm committed against women with intent or impact of interfering with their free and equal participation in the electoral process.
It includes harassment, intimidation, physical harm or coercion, threats and financial pressures. It can be committed at home or other private or public spaces.
Women can face violence in any of their roles as electoral stakeholders: voters, media, political actors, state actors, community leaders, or electoral officials.
The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) asserts that VAWDE has a threat to the integrity of the electoral process; it affects how women participate in elections and thus undermines the free, fair and inclusive democratic process.
Regardless of the times, VAWDE acts tend to be the same. It must be addressed and police officers have a greater duty bestowed upon them by the law and must be proactive at all time to safeguard all lives.
To effectively deal with VAWDE, focus should shift from the victims to the community as a whole. Victims of rape and justice activists across the community have called for authorities to set up a specialized police unit to handle gender-based violence and ensure perpetrators are held to account.
Thus, the police should establish desks that specialize in matters relating to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) generally. More sensitization, development and reinforcement are needed for effective referral networks to the health facility so that the police can be effective in responding to SGBV.
A successful prosecution and sentencing of an offender depend on a chain of evidence which includes forensic examination, specimen collection, analysis and documentation which provide vital links between the health and the criminal justice system.
In order to effectively and efficiently deal with VAWDE police need to be careful on how they handle the evidence to such cases from statement taking, to investigation and how they generally handle the data.
It is important to however note that there is lack of systematic collection and reliable data on sexual and SGBV, and especially VAWDE.
There are also gaps in legislation and policy in sexual violence, poor enforcement mechanisms of legislation and litigation processes that need to be addressed. Such processes are hinged on cultural and traditional social norms which hamper successes in prosecution of VAWDE cases.
VAWDE also need to be prioritized by health providers for funding. Court response to VAWDE is slow and rarely imposes life sentences in deserving cases. Community perceptions impede police response to GBV. The police in charge of investigation of VAWDE are also prone to the pressures of the community’s perception of SGBV.