Drug abuse and marital conflicts are reportedly the root causes of the increasing incidence of gender-based violence, according to statistical stakeholders.
Commenting on the July sexual abused statistical report, stakeholders asked the Office of the Mufti to introduce alternative measures to address marital conflicts.
Khamis Othman Abdalla from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said the incidents of abuse were perpetrated by the family members due to a lack of proper marriage guidelines.
He said men who are the family heads have been busy looking after money instead of dealing with their family problems.
Presenting the data, an official from the Office of Chief Government Statics (OCGS), Ramla Hassan Pandu said 108 incidents of gender-based violence (GBV) were reported in July this year in which 83.3 percent of the victims were children under the age of 18 and 16.7 percent were women.
She said rape recorded 42 incidents while sodomy, interference with nature, and abduction registered 15, 18 and eight incidents respectively.
She added West ‘A’ District led by recording 29 incidents followed by West ‘B’ with 23 incidents; Mkoani reported one incident while Micheweni did not report any incident.
The official said 99 cases were being investigated by the police while seven are in court and two are in the DPP office.
Salma Lusangi, from the Tanzania Media Women Association (Tamwa-Zanzibar), said despite the efforts being made, cases of violence against women and children are increasing.
However, she said there was the hope of winning the battle because of harsher punishments on defendants being imposed by the courts.
Over the past two weeks, regional courts have handed down harsher sentences to the sexual offenses convicts including the recent sentence of 80 years in prison imposed on one Ali Mohamed Mussa.
