Civil Society Organisations have embarked on a campaign against violence including endless brutal killings in Lesotho, in remembrance of victims of these malicious acts.

In their joint statement, one of the Facilitators Mr. Tankiso Phori said there are more unaccounted brutal killings of some people in the country thus civil society organisations have huge responsibility to continuously stand against violence in communities, educate, promote peace, and advocate for the protection of human rights for all people living in Lesotho.

He said failure for authorities and law enforcement agencies to conduct thorough
background checks before issuing gun licences for applicants, contributes to these acts, saying allowing ordinary citizens to own guns for their protection, yet the state is there to protect them, leads to uncontrollable proliferation of guns in communities.

" Life frustrations and mental problems caused by poverty, unemployment
and other social, economic, and political issues are also contributing factors" he added.

He therefore indicated that to sustainably reduce or end violence, including gun violence, the country must dismantle the culture of impunity by strengthening its legal systems so that perpetrators could be held accountable, instead of empowering them and leaving the victims abandoned.

He called on lawmakers, policy makers and other decision makers to close loopholes in the legal systems and overhaul judicial processes to put an end to this prevalent culture of impunity.

"We call on lawmakers and decision makers to implement proposed reforms by reviewing and strengthening the Penal Code Act and Bail Application laws" he added.

He also called on all key stakeholders to invest in sustainable awareness and
education on mental health issues and how they can be addressed and also
continued education in schools about violence and its impact and how it can be
avoided, from pre-school level to higher education level.

The Agency has learnt that the statement was released in honour of a  Nurse Professional, Mr. Morephe Santi who was brutally murdered in April this year.