South African women stage lie-down protest against gender-based violence ahead of G20 summit

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Hundreds of women wearing black gathered in a Johannesburg park on Friday, one day before the start of the Group of 20 summit, to stage a 15-minute lie-down protest symbolizing the 15 lives lost daily to gender-based violence in South Africa.

South Africa, while putting forward a progressive agenda on gender issues during its G20 presidency, has a femicide rate that is five times higher than the global average, according to U.N. Women, and has grappled with the problem for decades.

The protest was “a minute of silence for every woman that could have fallen within the day,” 19-year-old protest coordinator Courtney Gelderblom told The Associated Press. “So, every minute that we lie in silence is to mourn and honor those we have lost.”

Ordinary South Africans, celebrities and activists participated in the nonviolent action across several cities a day before the first G20 world leaders meeting on the African continent.

Protesters also included survivors of gender violence, some of whom wept while they laid down. Others raised placards reading “Why do you hate us?” and “My body is not your crime scene.”

Organized by the nonprofit group Women for Change, the protest was the culmination of a month of lobbying and pressure from the group asking the South African government to take action.

A protest petition received more than a million signatures.

In response, the government on Friday declared gender-based violence a national disaster, a move that orders authorities to take action and dedicate resources to combat it.

“The women of our country are crying out that they need much more focus on the issue,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said at a G20 sideline summit for civil society this week, where he referred to gender-based violence as a national crisis.

Gender violence expert Professor Corné Davis-Buitendag said staging the protest a day before the start of the G20 meeting was relevant because gender-based violence impacts global development, with studies showing it bears a heavy cost on economies.

“The strategic part of this is to try and put it on the agenda to say as much as other issues are relevant, gender-based violence is one of the biggest issues because of its impact on society at large,” said Davis-Buitendag. “We’re seeing an acceleration in, for example, child sex trafficking, which has become one of the biggest industries in the world.”

She said while South Africa had legal frameworks in place and had made changes in its law to make it easier for victims to testify, “the numbers are not going down.”

The Women for Change petition urges South Africa’s state prosecuting body to reject bail in significant gender-based violence cases, pursue life sentences for offenders, and hold law enforcement and justice officials accountable for negligence and misconduct in cases.

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