Zanele Sokatsha, centre, fishtanklive.wiki lead research study for the GRIT job
She states she was violated by cops. Now she's brainstorming an AI-integrated app with a panic button that signals personal security to help other women captured in South Africa's tragically high rates of abuse.
Peaches, as the 35-year-old sex employee asked to be determined, is amongst the more than a third of South African ladies that will experience physical or sexual abuse in their lifetimes, according to UN figures.
Slender and outspoken, she remained in a group of around 15 ladies who gathered late January to workshop the current update of the app developed by the nonprofit GRIT (Gender Rights In Tech).
Equipped with an emergency situation button that releases gatekeeper, an evidence vault and a resource centre, the app will also consist of an AI-driven chatbot called Zuzi that will be showcased at the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris this month.
The app has an emergency situation button that deploys gatekeeper, an an AI-driven chatbot
"This app, it's going to provide me that hope ... that my human rights need to be thought about," Peaches told AFP, asking not to offer her genuine name to protect her security.
There were more than 53,000 sexual offences reported in South Africa in 2023-24, including more than 42,500 rapes, according to cops figures.
That same year, 5,578 women were killed, a 34 percent rise from the previous year.
In Peaches' case, she said she was forced to provide two cops officers "services totally free" to evade arrest for prostitution.
"To me, GRIT isn't simply a project-- it's a requirement," creator Leanora Tima told AFP.
"I wished to create tech-driven options that empower survivors, ensuring they receive the immediate aid, legal assistance and emotional assistance they need without barriers," Tima said.
- 'Roadblocks to help' -
Many cases of (GBV) go unreported due to the fact that victims deal with stigma or are turned away by authorities, said GRIT lead researcher Zanele Sokatsha.
'There's a lot of roadblocks still in getting gain access to and aid,' Sokatsha says
"There's a great deal of obstructions still in getting gain access to and aid," she said.
Thato, a female in her 30s, said she sustained years of physical abuse by her stepfather before she found aid was available.
A devoted football player, she said her coach realised that "some contusions were not really related to football".
It was only when the coach took the group to an anti-GBV occasion in Soweto, southwest of Johannesburg, that she learned there were organisations that help women in her circumstance.
"It was really heartfelt for me to find such an area," she said, preferring to give just her first name.
GRIT's app aims to make it much easier for ladies to gain access to resources from their homes, where much of the abuse happens.
It has a map of nearby clinics and shelters and a digital vault where they can upload evidence like photos, wiki.tld-wars.space videos and authorities reports that will be protected on GRIT's servers.
The functions are based upon user feedback collected at workshops around the nation.
"It will conserve lives," said one woman at the exact same workshop attended by Peaches.
The app is free, funded by GRIT's donors consisting of the Gates Foundation and Expertise France. It already has 12,000 users.
Once downloaded, disgaeawiki.info it can work without data, chessdatabase.science making it available to those who can not pay for phone strategies or remain in backwoods with limited networks.
The chatbot Zuzi, wiki.vst.hs-furtwangen.de to be released in the coming months, will be available on the app and also incorporated into certain social platforms, technical lead Lebogang Sindani said.
Zuzi was initially intended to provide only useful details, like how to obtain a security order.
But its collection has been expanded after feedback "that people are more interested in speaking to Zuzi about ... intimate things" like their health, Sindani said.
- 'All they understand' -
Even if there are more services than ever to help females who are attacked and strong public condemnation of cases that make it to the media, South Africa's abuse rates remain stubbornly high.
It is "a perfect storm" of a complicated history of colonisation and partition, belief in male dominance, an absence of great function models and economic tensions, said Craig Wilkinson, founder of Father A Nation.
"No kid is born an abuser," said Wilkinson, whose not-for-profit focuses on reaching guys. "There's something failing in the journey from boy to male."
"All they understand is violence," said Sandile Masiza, a coordinator of the GBV Response Team for Johannesburg's kid welfare authority.
"We require more programs that are not simply going to be solely focused on victim support, but wrongdoer avoidance," Masiza said.
"Society has actually normalised violence against females and women," UN Women GBV professional Jennifer Acio informed AFP.
"That's why we keep sharing details and attempting to empower ladies ... to understand what is an abuse of their rights, to understand when to report."
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AI App Offers a Lifeline For S.Africa's Abused Women
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