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If you or your organisation are interested in this project please contact Ms Jaswant Kaur – jaswant@shrg.net
Gender based violence is a global phenomenon and it can one of the most pervasive and least recognized human rights violation. Violence Against Women (VAW) is universal across culture, religion, class, and ethnicity. Despite such violence being universally widespread, it is not customarily acknowledged and has remained invisible to a large degree. According to available statistics from around the globe, one out of every three women has experienced violence in an intimate relationship at some point in her life. This is an average based on available national surveys across industrialized and developing countries (World Health Organization 1997).
Domestic violence in South Asia continues unabated and trends indicate that it is on the rise with new forms of rights deprivations and violations emerging. In India particularly the dynamics contributing to the perseverance of domestic violence include lack of information, insufficient legal provisions, weak law enforcement and inadequate services for victims of violence.
In its 1995 Country Report for the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, the Indian government changed its official views by recognizing violence against women (VAW) as a critical issue. Domestic Violence in India is a complex issue. Nearly 60 percent of women in rural India get married before the age of 18 and 60 percent of married women become mothers well before they are 19 years of age. Most women workers are not officially recognized as workers and data indicates that only 2 percent of women workers are in the formal sector; 85 percent of women workers earn only 50 percent of the official poverty line income and have no access to social security. The female literacy rate is 54 percent; close to 189 million women still lack the basic ability to read and write (UNIFEM).
From 1980 to 1990 crimes against women increased 74 percent with rape, molestation and torture by husbands and in-laws showing the highest rates of growth; crime statistics from 1998 report a 15.2 percent increase in gender-based violence over the previous year, according to the National Crimes Record Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. The records of the bureau reveal a shocking 71.5 percent increase in cases of torture and dowry deaths during the period from 1991 to 1995 and may reflect increased reporting of violence. In 1995, torture of women constituted 29.2 percent of all reported crimes against women. In another study, 18 to 45 percent of married men in five districts of Uttar Pradesh, a large state in northern India, acknowledged that they physically abused their wives (Narayana 1996). And in a study by Ranjana Kumari (1989) of dowry abuse it was revealed that one out of every four-dowry victims was driven to suicide.
There is still a lack of sufficient data, information and awareness on the different types of violence against and consequences for women. This, in combination with women’s lack of awareness about their legal rights and law enforcement agencies’ lack of knowledge about their responsibilities and obligations for protecting women’s rights, acts as a major constraint to combating domestic violence. In attempting to eradicate this gross violation of women’s rights, a diversity of interventions are required that directly address the root causes of violence while confronting the unequal power relations and unequal distribution of resources between men and women.
Domestic violence trends in Punjab are often mirrored in the Punjabi community in the United Kingdom. A number of institutions and the UK government have expressed grave concern about domestic violence in the Punjabi community in the UK. SHRG feels that problem of domestic violence in the Punjabi community cannot be tackled on its own in the UK and some of the solutions lie in the way the issue is addressed in Punjab. A number of incidents of domestic violence in the UK are against women who are marriage partners from Punjab.
SHRG believes that constitutional and legal measures in India are not sufficient on their own, and it is felt that the most productive results can be achieved working with community based organizations, with help from the State.
It is proposed that this will be achieved via conferences
at two stages.
The conferences will bring together international experts and major cultural
and religious institutions in Punjab, State parties, the Police and affected
persons to collaboratively devise sustainable and responsive strategies
that effectively combat the issue of domestic violence.
The two stages:
a) The preparatory conference – a one-day conference, this is proposed
at the end of July or beginning of August 2003 and is to be held in Chandigarh,
Punjab.
b) The main conference – a two day conference,
preliminarily proposed in October 2003 and is to be held in Amritsar,
Punjab.
Organisations Involved
- The Sikh Human Rights Group
- Indigenous Cultural and Religious Organisations in Punjab, the biggest of which is the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), which will co-ordinate the conferences jointly with the SHRG. The SGPC is responsible for the management of Gurdwara’s throughout Punjab’s villages and cities.
- Punjab Administration
- Punjab Police
- Legal Bodies
- NGO’s
- Academics
- Individuals affected by domestic violence
Remarks
SHRG believes that action plans adopted as a result of these conferences
will benefit the lives of Punjabi women in the UK. We also hope that the
model adopted in Punjab will be adopted by other states in India as well
as around the world.
Contact
We are currently requesting parties interested in this project to contact
Ms Jaswant Kaur – jaswant@shrg.net
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