In South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, a project is helping rural women use mobile phones to report on violations of their human rights as well as to assert other constitutional rights. OhMyNews reports.
“… The UmNyango Project will use SMS technology for rural women and men to access information and report on incidences of violence against women and children, as well as violations of women’s right to land.
Through simple text messaging, women will be able to report any violation of their constitutional rights.
The project will also enable women to produce their own radio programs. The programs will be made available to local community radio stations, and distributed over the internet as “podcasts.”
“This is the first time in KwaZulu Natal that we know of, where SMS technology has been used to directly empower women in this way. What makes the project unique is that women will be able to assert their constitutional rights using accessible and sustainable technology,” said Anil Naidoo.”
Comments
@ 17:30
Thanks for posting this!
I found this part particularly interesting (quoted from the same link) +anonymity +legal support:
We are using this technology to enhance what mechanisms already exist. The technology cannot replace importance of face to face communication,” said Naidoo. “Accordingly, the SMS platform will complement the network of rural legal advice centers that form part of the UmNyango Project. Very importantly though, the SMS platform allows women to anonymously report on gender-based violence without fear of reprisal. We hope that women will be able to assert their constitutional rights through this project.”
Violence forces women into silence. And silence is the breeding ground of domestic violence, if unbroken; it can have fatal consequences, especially for the affected women. The mobile technology offers a convenient outlet for women to access help from the outside world.