Linking LGBTQI experiences with gender-based violence elimination

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Spotlight Initiative speaks with Dumiso Gatsha, an activist working to eliminate the barriers between grassroots experiences and global policy-making. They are a member of Spotlight Initiative’s Global Civil Society Reference Group.

Please share a little about yourself and your work.

I am the founder of Success Capital Organization, which is a grassroots organization [in Botswana] working in the nexus of sustainable development and human rights for LGBTQI youth.

Why are you so passionate about ending violence against women and girls?

It’s important to acknowledge that we live in an era of deep geo-political polarization, structural violence and other forms of violence that impede our communities from thriving. For me, just acknowledging and recognizing the importance of ending violence against women and girls in their diversity is critical – not only to achieving sustainable development, but to ensuring the human rights of all individuals are strengthened, protected and affirmed.

What challenges do you face in your work?

I think we grow up in many environments where violence is deeply normalized, whether at home, in spiritual refuge environments, in learning environments – particularly in my own experience, at boarding school. We need to recognize that when someone needs assistance, we need a programming standard operating procedure to tell someone “you need to report to the police before you get a rape kit”, for example. It’s recognizing an individual as a whole. You don’t see a victim, you see a survivor. Those elements recognize humanness when our dignity and personhood has already been stripped. When you’re consistently reminded of this by structural and state-sponsored violence, stigma and discrimination, you need individuals who can safeguard a survivor’s personhood throughout the process, whether seeking health, justice or remedy.

What are some tangible outcomes at policy and advocacy level that you want to see?

Resolution 275 of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has been there for a decade. Resolution 275 means that there is a policy instrument for the Africa region that protects individuals on imputed or assumed sexual orientation and gender identity. We need to operationalize the policy framework that we have. They need to be institutionalized, they need to be socialized. We have seen so many contexts where there’s advancement in legislature and for some reason, people are left behind.  

There are structural, cultural and gender harmful norms that need to be addressed, even when there are human rights advancements. It’s critical to recognize that a lot of the gender norms that we are facing are part of the fabric of society -- in workplace environments or spiritual refuge, in language and how we show up and express ourselves on social media. How do we start targeting all these facets of life in a way that strips away toxic masculinity and affirms experiences of those who live in the margins to really ensure that we’re leaving no one behind in the context of linking gender-based violence and LGBTQI experiences?

As told to Samu Ngwenya-Tshuma. Interview has been edited for length and clarity.