Ahmara Ross, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Neurology at Penn Medicine
Olena Korsun, RN, BSN, LPC, Psychiatric Nurse at Fairmount Behavioral Health
This online event is free to join but donations to VSCâs endowment fund are greatly appreciated.
About VSC
Our mission is to provide advocacy and counseling for all who have been affected by sexual violence and other crimes against the person and to promote sensitivity and awareness in the community through education. Founded in 1974 as Women Against Rape, VSC expanded to serve victims of other crimes and child abuse. VSC has been supporting survivors and their families for more than 47 years. Victim Services of Montgomery County, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. VSCâs free, 24-hour hotline can be reached at 1-888-521-0983.
The timing of Priti Patel’s bill to boost policing of protests couldn’t be worse, coming days after the Met Police’s treatment of women at the Sarah Everard vigil. As demonstrators filled Parliament Square for four straight days, we ask why is the anti-protest bill generating so much controversy?
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill has come under forensic scrutiny in the wake of the Met Police handling of the Sarah Everard vigil. In response to the news that the bill has passed its second reading on Tuesday March 16 with 359-263 votes, thousands of protesters remain undeterred: “This is just the beginning. It’s our duty to fight for our freedom,” says Rosa Silvere from Sisters Uncut, a feminist activist group against government cuts in domestic violence services. “As the actions of police at peaceful vigils this weekend show, police clearly abuse the powers that they already have – and yet the government plans to give them more powers in the police bill.”
In 2018, government increased the legal age for sexual consent from 16 to 18.
It means anyone who sleeps with a person under the age of 18 is breaking the law and can be charged with defilement.
The idea was to protect children from all forms of sexual abuse.
However, cases of child marriage still exist in Botswana, with those involved rarely, if ever, prosecuted.
According to the Executive Director of Women Against Rape (WAR), a non-governmental organisation based in Maun, Peggy Ramaphane, many children are trapped in early marriages, especially in the North West District.
Ramaphane believes perpetrators are ‘hiding behind culture’ to sleep with underage girls who are forced into marriage at a young age.
Councillor for Komana-Toteng in Maun Administration Authority (MAA), Zico Maoveka has defended child marriages.
Rubbishing rife allegations that his recent defection from the Umbrella for Democratic Change to the BDP was an attempt to curry favour with the ruling party to avoi prosecution for defilement, Maoveka said, “ I have realized that its harder to win a second term under UDC because you run out of issues to criticize government for.”
The 35- year –old tribesman recently came under attack by fellow politicians for his marriage to a 15 -year -old girl.
“It is true that she was under age when I fathered our daughter, but that has nothing to do with politics. My decision to join the BDP was because I wanted to position myself better for the next general elections,” Maoveka explained.