The United Nations marked the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence from November 25 to December 10, 2021. We at Cape {town} Etc will be using our platform to raise awareness over this period.
“Gender-based violence and femicide is not a secondary priority. It is not a women’s issue. Gender-based violence is overwhelmingly and unequivocally a human rights issue.” – President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Should you wish to contribute, share your story, advise or educate, kindly send us an email at [email protected].
Day 16:Fighting GBV with digital tools
December 10 marks the final day of the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence campaign. However, a lingering question remains: “What now?”
South Africa is still the worst place for women, with femicides, rapes and attacks a prevalent fixture when opening a newspaper or social media. Despite heightened awareness regarding the problem, what are we doing beyond shouting it from the rooftops?
A small company looking to make a big impact is doing their part to quell the violence against women and children. Eyerus is an innovative application created by former Survivor SA contestant, Robert Bentele.
Working in partnership with a handful of people, including Sakhi Ngwenya, the owner of a prominent security company, the ingenious team collaborated to launch the app on December 2.
How can Eyerus help?
Fighting gender-based violence with technology, Eyerus utilises live streaming as its foundation but offers an end-to-end solution that factors in as many scenarios. According to the founder, Eyerus can automatically detect if you’re drugged, incapacitated or unconscious and is considered a world-first.
“Simply put, Eyerus operates in four modes – green is safe and amber means caution. When one activates this state, Eyerus switches on your microphone and starts live streaming all evidence to a secure cloud in real-time. It also begins tracking your location.”
When entering Red mode, which means danger, Eyerus activates your camera and starts streaming evidence to a secure cloud. What’s more, the app alerts your pre-assigned guardians and directly streams what’s happening in real-time along with your location – all at a click of a button reports News24.
While not every perpetrator would be deterred by having their actions recorded, Bentele and his team have thought of this too, going on to create Blue mode.
“Blue continues live streaming to your cloud and guardians but also alerts private security. Think of this as the Uber of armed response. Eyerus knows where you are and instantly finds the nearest armed security vehicle to you. They are dispatched in real-time with an average response time of five to eight minutes in urban areas,” he explains.
All you need to do to activate this mode is shake your phone. Staying safe by utilising this technology will cost you though, but certain features including the Green, Amber and Red alert mode are free of charge. However, users downloading this app and looking to use the premium features, such as the security response, will have to pay R59.
But really, this is a small price to pay for staying safe is seems.
Bringing all this technology together under one umbrella has proved challenging, with users having to wait a little longer to get their hands on the application. Thankfully, Eyerus officially goes live on iOS, Google Play and App Gallery on February 13, 2022, and is free to download in South Africa.
Read More:
Day 15: Men called to play an active role in ending violence against women
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