WUNRN
Global Human Rights Defence
|
International Day for the Elimination of Violence
Against Women |
Sunday
25 November is designated as the International Day for the Elimination of
Violence against Women. Governments, international organisations and NGOs are
encouraged by the General Assembly to organise activities designated to raise
public awareness to the problem on that day. The date came after the brutal
assassination in 1960, of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the
Dominican Republic.
Women in all countries and from all social, national, ethnic or religious
backgrounds are victims of some form of violence, and women from religious,
ethnic or class minority groups are at an even greater risk. Gender based
violence takes place in the public an in the private sphere, and the severity
and type varies ranging from economic inequality to sexual violence and
gendercide. Categorically for all types of gender based violence is that it is
violence suffered by women, because they are women.
Bhutan
Women in Bhutan are deprived of many opportunities including access to business
and industry, gainful employment, skill development training, education,
health, economic resources, political process and decision-making institutions.
Their representation at the policy and decision making bodies is negligible
since no woman has ever been appointed to a high post in the government. Just
like women in every other country in the world, they are victims of sexual and
physical abuse. Bhutan has the highest rates of sexual exploitation amongst
Asian countries.
Intolerance towards cultural diversity has forced one sixth of the total
population of Bhutan (circa 106.000) to live as refugees. Out of these refugees
almost 60% are women and children.
Nepal
Nepal’s
system of refugee registration distributes rations through the male heads of
household, denying women equal and independent access to food, shelter and
supplies, and imposing particular hardship on women trying to escape abusive
marriages. If they leave their relationships, they relinquish their full share
of aid packages; if they marry another man, they lose legal custody of their
children.
No specific domestic violence legislation exists in Nepal and women are
discouraged to report rape through a 35-day stature of limitations and medical
reporting procedures. Therefore, the perpetrators go unpunished. The treatment
that abused women get by the Refugee Coordination Unit focus on resolving domestic
violence with reconciliation, dismissing the personal wishes, needs and safety
of the women.
Other cases reported in the camps are rape, sexual assault, polygamy,
trafficking, domestic violence and forced child marriage.
India - Jammu and Kashmir
Women in Jammu Kashmir suffer tremendously from physical, mental and structural
violence. Among these are: gender based and domestic violence; limited access
to legal protection and limited legal status; poverty; trafficking of women and
children; restricted economic and social mobility, and gender specific medical
problems. Every week one woman in Kashmir dies due to domestic violence. The
High and Lower courts in the state report that there are over 100,000 cases
pending.
Female refugees from the Pandit community, displaced from their homes as a
consequence of political instability, live in very difficult conditions in the
camps. A 2003 survey by the Health Department of India stated that: ‘one out of
every three Kashmiri women in the refugee camps have multiple signs of
deteriorating health, including premature aging, unnatural death, higher
incidence of serious and potentially fatal diseases and affliction, with
multiple disease syndromes’.
In a society where the status of women is inextricably linked with that of
their husband, the conflict caused many thousands of women to be left
impoverished when their husbands were killed in the conflict between India and
militant separatists. The division of Kashmir also left many Indian-controlled
Kashmir women with husbands on the other side of the militarized zone. In the
meantime they endure official suspicion and harassment and struggle for their
daily survival. Also the fact that thousands of women whose husbands have
disappeared and have not been reported dead causes numerous problems to these
so-called half-widows. The majority come from lower-income families and were
entirely dependent on their husbands.
Bangladesh
Gender based violence is a major problem in Bangladesh, especially for poor and
underprivileged women. Bangladesh is one of the few countries in the world
where the sex ratio is skewed in favour of males. In this extremely patriarchal
society, women are discriminated against in the public as well as in the
private sphere. Acid attacks, Domestic violence, dowry related violence, fatwas
as a form of physical or psychological punishment, trafficking, and sexual
violence are some of the severest forms of violence women suffer in Bangladesh.
Punishment can take the form of beatings and stoning, burning to death,
compelling to commit suicide, social ostracism, and prevention of exercising
choice in reproductive health amongst others. In addition, women and girls
belonging to the minorities are often abducted and forced to convert through
forced marriage. It is one of the countries with the highest incidence of
violence against women in the world, despite specific legislative protection,
such as the Suppression of Violence against Women and Children Act, the Dowry
Protection Act and the Acid Control Act. In 2005, more than 50% of all women
reportedly were subjected to domestic violence. In 2006, there were 639 rapes
reported and 227 of these were children. Furthermore, female victims often do
not receive effective justice due to general barriers to accessing the justice
system, police corruption, mismanagement of evidence, ignorance of the law and
a lack of proper medical report (which is also a result of corruption). Due to
the social stigma and patriarchal norms that prevail in Bangladesh, many
victims of sexual violence are ostracised and some consider suicide as the only
option after rape.
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