The South African government has classified gender-based violence and femicide as a national disaster, a decision that followed an online campaign and national protests by thousands of women.
On Friday, demonstrators staged a 15-minute lie-down protest in cities across South Africa to honour and bring attention to the 15 women who are killed in the country by gender-based violence each day.
People wore black for the lie-down protests as a sign of “mourning and resistance”.
South Africa has one of the highest rates of femicide in the world at five times the global average, according to UN Women.
The protests were organised by Women for Change, an organisation that also ran an online campaign to put pressure on the South African government to do more to address the crisis.
An online petition has now been signed by more than 1.1 million people, calling for gender-based violence to be declared a national disaster. The petition highlights that 117 rape cases are reported to police each day in South Africa and at least 15 women are murdered daily.
“How many more women, children and vulnerable people should be killed or raped before this crisis is treated with the urgency it demands?” the petition says.
On Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa made the announcement that South Africa would classify gender-based violence and femicide as a “national disaster” at the G20 Social Summit.
Gender-based violence and femicide has now been classified as a national disaster by South Africa’s National Disaster Management Centre.
“This effort pulls together every sphere of government and every critical sector: policing, social development, justice, health, education, economic development, and traditional leadership,” Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa said.
“Above all, it confirms a fundamental truth: GBVF is not a women’s issue. It is a national crisis.”
Women for Change celebrated the decision, writing: “We have written history together. We forced the country to finally confront the truth.”