Two refugees win community run

John Echwa, 30 and Nancy Nadai, 17, both South Sudanese Refugees living in Kakuma Refugee Camp won Friday’s Community Run Race at Kalobeyei Kakuma.

The race dubbed Kakuma-Kalobeyei Community run was organized by UNFPA Kenya, UNHCR, implementing partners and the refugee community in Kakuma and Kalobeyei refugee camps.

It marked this year’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence (GBV) under the theme “End Gender-Based Violence in The World of Work’.

The organizers, (UN Agencies) sought to create awareness and mobilize communities in Kakuma and Kalobeyei (Turkana West Sub-County) against GBV as well as create awareness among agency and refugee workers on their responsibility and obligations for creating safe workspaces, including Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse as a form of GBV.

On winning the race, John Echwa said that he was aware of the various forms of GBV that happen among them and that he plans to use his newly found platform to rally other men against perpetuating GBV.

“I am happy about winning today’s race. I will use this opportunity to urge my fellow men to stop abusing their women” said John.

On her Part, Nancy said: “For me, it’s not just about winning, it is about creating awareness about the forms of violence that we experience as women living in refugee camps. I want GBV against women and girls to end," she said.

The race also reserved a special category for people with disability and children.

GBV in workplaces has been widely documented especially by humanitarians.

International peacekeeping missions and UN personnel on assignments in various parts of the world (the DRC, Central Africa Republic, Haiti, Sudan, Kosovo) have been accused of conduct that is contrary to the Secretary General’s Bulletin on sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA).

A joint statement released by UN Agencies few days to observing the 16 days of Activism read: “Our duty is not only to stand in solidarity with survivors of GBV but also to intensify our efforts to find solutions and measures to stop this preventable global scourge with a detrimental impact on women’s and girls’ lives and health. Ending violence against women and girls is not a short-term endeavor.

It requires coordinated and sustained efforts from all of us. Showing that these efforts yield results is the best tribute to survivors and the survivor advocates and women’s human rights defenders that we are celebrating today”

Sexual Exploitation and Abuse as a form of GBV can lead to discrimination and exclusion of especially women and girls from workplaces, denying them an opportunity for economic empowerment which deepens their vulnerability to further abuse.

Organizations whose staff are implicated in workplace-related forms of GBV are exposed to reputation risks and legal sanctions that could dissuade donors.