THE United States ambassador to Lesotho Rebecca Gonzales recently engaged a group of highly motivated young Basotho women in a dialogue in which among others they discussed how national leaders could deliver strategies to affirm gender equality as a fundamental human right.

The meeting which was titled – ‘Perspectives of young women on domestic violence’ was held at the ambassador’s official residence in Maseru.

Both the First Lady ’Masekoala Majoro and the Minister of Gender, Youth, Sports and Recreation Likeleli Tampane were also part of the dialogue.

The 90-minute discussion allowed the young women, recently named Ambassadors of the Lesotho Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe (DREAMS) program, to engage directly with Ms Gonzales, Mrs Majoro and Mrs Tampane about their personal experiences with domestic violence.

The DREAMS ambassadors also discussed how the national leaders could increase support to protecting vulnerable populations and eliminate all forms of violence against girls and women in the 10 districts of Lesotho.

Ms Tampane opened the deliberations by acknowledging the annual 16 days of activism against the gender based violence campaign in Lesotho.

The campaign is aimed at generating increased attention to violence against women and girls as one of the most prevalent human rights violations in the world.

The minister described their discussion as a platform for dialogue and strategy-sharing to reduce the acceptance of domestic violence as a societal norm.

After her support for the “DREAMS for girls like us” launch, Mrs Majoro co-moderated the discussions with Ms Gonzales.