Zanele Sokatsha, centre, lead research for the GRIT job

She states she was violated by police. 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 worker asked to be identified, is among the more than a third of South African females that will experience physical or sexual abuse in their life times, king-wifi.win according to UN figures.

Slender and outspoken, she remained in a group of around 15 women who collected late January to workshop the current upgrade of the app established by the nonprofit GRIT (Gender Rights In Tech).

Equipped with an emergency 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 button that deploys gatekeeper, an an AI-driven chatbot

"This app, it's going to offer me that hope ... that my human rights need to be considered," Peaches informed AFP, asking not to offer her genuine name to safeguard her safety.

There were more than 53,000 sexual offenses reported in South Africa in 2023-24, consisting of more than 42,500 rapes, according to cops figures.

That same year, 5,578 women were murdered, a 34 percent rise from the previous year.

In Peaches' case, she said she was to give 2 law enforcement officers "services totally free" to evade arrest for prostitution.

"To me, GRIT isn't just a task-- it's a need," founder Leanora Tima informed AFP.

"I desired to produce tech-driven solutions that empower survivors, guaranteeing they get the immediate aid, legal assistance and psychological support they need 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 great deal of roadblocks still in getting gain access to and aid,' Sokatsha states

"There's a lot of roadblocks still in getting gain access to and aid," she said.

Thato, nerdgaming.science a woman in her 30s, said she sustained years of physical abuse by her stepfather before she discovered aid was available.

A passionate football gamer, she said her coach understood that "some contusions were not in fact related to football".

It was only when the coach took the team to an anti-GBV event in Soweto, southwest of Johannesburg, that she found out there were organisations that assist females in her scenario.

"It was in fact heartfelt for me to find such an area," she said, preferring to give only her very first name.

GRIT's app aims to make it easier for ladies to gain access to resources from their homes, complexityzoo.net where much of the abuse happens.

It has a map of neighboring centers and shelters and addsub.wiki a digital vault where they can submit proof 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 country.

"It will save lives," said one woman at the very same workshop participated in by Peaches.

The app is totally 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 limited networks.

The chatbot Zuzi, to be launched in the coming months, bybio.co will be available on the app and also incorporated into certain social platforms, technical lead Lebogang Sindani said.

Zuzi was at first meant to supply only practical details, like how to obtain a security order.

But its collection has actually been expanded after feedback "that individuals are more interested in talking with Zuzi about ... intimate things" like their health, Sindani said.

- 'All they understand' -

Even if there are more services than ever to assist women who are assaulted 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, a lack of good good example and economic tensions, said Craig Wilkinson, founder of Father A Country.

"No kid is born an abuser," said Wilkinson, whose nonprofit focuses on reaching guys. "There's something failing in the journey from boy to guy."

"All they understand is violence," said Sandile Masiza, a planner of the GBV Response Team for Johannesburg's kid well-being authority.

"We need more programs that are not just going to be exclusively focused on victim support, but perpetrator avoidance," Masiza said.

"Society has actually normalised violence against women and girls," UN Women GBV professional Jennifer Acio told AFP.

"That's why we keep sharing details and attempting to empower females ... to know what is an abuse of their rights, to know when to report."