Shukumisa Campaign

The campaign partners conducted a series of monitoring actions over a period of 18 months, starting during the 2008 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign. Through its monitoring strategy, Shukumisa hopes to evaluate the availability and accessibility of specialist facilities/services proposed in the South African Police Force, Justice, and Health policy documents.

Monitoring is conducted through the following processes:

• Monitoring at police stations: involves looking at victim support facilities within police stations.
• Monitoring at courts: monitors visits to regional and criminal courts to find out about the services the court offers to the community.
• Monitoring health facilities: involves telephoning hospitals to obtain information about the services for rape victims provided at the hospital.

The campaign includes the following actions:

• Building organisations', local communities', and the public's capacity to monitor and hold government to account for the implementation of law and policy related to sexual violence;
• Undertaking monitoring and research to examine the implementation of relevant law, the courts, health services, and police responses to sexual violence;
• Holding the state accountable for its failure to fulfil its constitutional and legal obligations to survivors;
• Informing the further development of law and policy, along with other interventions combating sexual violence, to correct defects in the system; and
• Creating materials and training programmes that inform people of available services and the rights of survivors.

To help guide the monitoring process and to raise awareness about the initiative, the campaign developed a Shukumisa Monitoring Protocol.

In October 2009, the results of the pilot monitoring campaign were presented to the Gauteng Department of Community Safety which has undertaken to address the gaps identified at police stations and have invited organisations to monitor the results. Another two monitoring exercises were expected be completed by the end of 2009: one on the state of forensic nursing services to rape survivors and the other on the implementation, to date, of the Sexual Offences Act.

Gender-based Violence

According to the campaign organisers, the South African Victims' Charter says that victims have the right to receive information and to be informed of all relevant services available to them by service providers. Documents forming part of the Victims' Charter also note that it is important for communities to know what services are available to them. According to Melanie Judge of OUT-Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender (LGBT) Well-being, "South Africa is hailed internationally for its policies and laws addressing violence against women. But weak implementation of these interventions has left thousands of survivors of sexual offences without justice and redress."

Monitoring means the close observation of a situation or individual case carried out so as to determine what further action needs to be taken. The most common general purpose of monitoring is to pinpoint what is wrong with a situation or a case and to indicate what steps can be taken to remedy it. Monitoring is also undertaken to see whether any steps taken to improve a situation are working.