The speakers at a South Asian conference here on Thursday called for a collective struggle and structural reforms to end violence against women in all the countries in the region. The conference marked the shift in women’s struggle against violence, where the silence against violence had been broken but redressing mechanism for survivors was yet to be evolved. The speakers expressed these views while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the 3-day South Asian Conference on “Reclaiming Space: From Victim-hood to Agency: State and Civil Society Response to Violence Against Women”. The moot was organised by Rozan, an NGO.
The delegates from India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sir Lanka are also participating in the conference.
An important area of discussion on the first day of the moot was the challenges being faced in implementation of legislation against domestic violence in many countries of the region. It was also noted that Pakistan was the only South Asian country that had yet to pass a law on domestic violence. Mukharan Mai, shared her own personal journey from a victim of violence to a survivor and how she used her own personal hurt to fuel a movement to educate young girls in her area.
Emphasising “Zulm Ko Ilm Say Khatm Karo” (eliminate violence through knowledge) Mukhtaran said she had waged a war on violence against women by educating not only women but also men in her area. She shared how she progressed from a two-room school (2) to a 22-room facility. He said she also ran a shelter home for women survivors of violence there. Rashida Manjoo shared her assessment of her visits as UN’s Special Rapporteur on violence against women. She said there still existed a “nexus between poverty, exclusion and violence against women”.
“In many societies, domestic violence continues to be perceived as socially acceptable and legitimate and it is therefore extremely underreported. These women fear retaliation, are unaware of their rights, or lack support to take their voices hear,” she added.
The first session of the moot stressed the need for collective struggle of the women of South Asia. The session focused on the history of the struggle against violence against women in each country and looked at the engagement of the women’s movement with violence and provided a conceptual base to the discussion around violence involving an analysis of its interface with influencers such as culture, religion, poverty and conflict.
Dr Hameeda Hosain from Bangladesh presented a picture of violence against women and the response by the state there. She narrated how in 1995, the rape of a woman by four (4) policemen led to a legal advocacy and that later in 1996, the Bangladeshi women moved for another amendment in anti-violence laws.
Kamla Bhasin from India vociferously turned down the “greed-based paradigm of poverty” calling it a manifestation of neo-imperialism and neo-liberalism, which she said did not favour the women and their movements.
Bandana Rana of Nepal told the participants that the dowry-related violence was still prevalent in Nepal, where women were often married to Indian men who would send them back to claim dowry. On a positive note, however, she concluded her speech telling the audience that Nepal was the first country in South Asia to have a national action plan for women empowerment.
Subhangi M K Herath from Sri Lanka also spoke about women issues in Sri Lanka and presented the statistics of violence against women in her country and the anti-violence laws. Later, Nighat Said Khan representing Pakistan lamented the low indicators of women development in Pakistan. She highlighted women’s struggling for their role in decision-making.
Aurat Foundation Chief Operation Officer Naeem Mirza said the issue of violence was a matter of life and death. Dastak Director and women’s right activist Hina Jilani explained that it might be futile to try to uncover root causes since there was no justification for violence. She cited several cases where women had been subjected to violence and that violence was somehow condoned by courts on ground that those women were somehow to blame.
She said punitive measures could only provide deterrence and thus legislation was a critical issue in that regard. Sapana Pradhan Malla, a member of the Nepalese constituent assembly, underlined the need for legislative measures in combating the crime. She also shared some legislative measures in Nepal where marital rape was not recognised. Later, Paroma Ray from India and Shyamala Gomez from Sri Lanka also presented their papers on the legislative measures in their respective countries.