Zanele Sokatsha, centre, lead research for drapia.org the GRIT job
She says she was violated by cops. Now she's brainstorming an AI-integrated app with a panic button that signals private security to assist other women caught in South Africa's tragically high rates of abuse.
Peaches, as the 35-year-old sex employee asked to be identified, is amongst the more than a third of South African females 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 females who gathered late January to workshop the most current upgrade of the app established by the nonprofit GRIT (Gender Rights In Tech).
Equipped with an emergency button that releases security officers, an evidence vault and demo.qkseo.in 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 button that releases security officers, an an AI-driven chatbot
"This app, it's going to provide me that hope ... that my human rights ought to be considered," 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, consisting of more than 42,500 rapes, setiathome.berkeley.edu according to police figures.
That same year, garagesale.es 5,578 women were murdered, a 34 percent increase from the previous year.
In Peaches' case, she said she was required to give 2 cops officers "services free of charge" to avert arrest for prostitution.
"To me, GRIT isn't simply a task-- it's a requirement," founder Leanora Tima informed AFP.
"I wished to create tech-driven solutions that empower survivors, guaranteeing they receive the urgent aid, legal guidance and psychological support they require without barriers," Tima said.
- 'Roadblocks to assist' -
Many cases of gender-based violence (GBV) go unreported because victims deal with preconception or are turned away by authorities, said GRIT lead scientist Zanele Sokatsha.
'There's a lot of roadblocks still in getting gain access to and aid,' Sokatsha says
"There's a lot of obstructions still in getting gain access to and aid," she said.
Thato, a lady in her 30s, said she sustained years of physical abuse by her stepfather before she found aid was available.
A devoted football gamer, she said her coach understood that "some swellings were not really associated to football".
It was only when the coach took the team to an anti-GBV event in Soweto, southwest of Johannesburg, that she learned there were organisations that assist women in her circumstance.
"It was really heartwarming for me to find such an area," she said, choosing to offer just her given name.
GRIT's app aims to make it simpler for ladies to gain access to resources from their homes, where much of the abuse takes place.
It has a map of close-by clinics and shelters and a digital vault where they can publish evidence like images, videos and cops reports that will be safeguarded on GRIT's servers.
The functions are based on user feedback collected at workshops around the nation.
"It will conserve lives," said one woman at the same workshop participated in 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, it can work without information, making it available to those who can not manage phone strategies or remain in backwoods with restricted networks.
The chatbot Zuzi, to be launched in the coming months, will be available on the app and likewise incorporated into certain social platforms, technical lead Lebogang Sindani said.
Zuzi was at first planned to supply only useful details, like how to obtain a defense order.
But its repertoire has been widened after feedback "that people are more thinking about speaking to Zuzi about ... intimate things" like their health, Sindani said.
- 'All they know' -
Even if there are more services than ever to help women who are and strong public condemnation of cases that make it to the media, South Africa's abuse rates remain stubbornly high.
It is "an ideal storm" of a complex history of colonisation and partition, belief in male supremacy, an absence of excellent good example and economic stresses, said Craig Wilkinson, founder of Father A Nation.
"No kid is born an abuser," said Wilkinson, whose nonprofit concentrates on reaching men. "There's something failing in the journey from kid to guy."
"All they know is violence," said Sandile Masiza, an organizer of the GBV Response Team for Johannesburg's kid well-being authority.
"We require more programmes that are not just going to be entirely concentrated on victim support, but wrongdoer prevention," Masiza said.
"Society has normalised violence against females and women," UN Women GBV specialist Jennifer Acio told AFP.
"That's why we keep sharing details and trying to empower females ... to understand what is an abuse of their rights, to know when to report."
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AI App Offers a Lifeline For S.Africa's Abused Women
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