International Women's Day 2013: A promise is a promise - time for action to end violence against women

Najood Ali is world's youngest divorcee at the age of 9.

http://epaper.dawn.com/DetailNews.php?StoryText=14_03_2013_012_006

66% women experienced sexual violence: survey

Around 66 per cent of total interviewed women of a survey on violence against women said that they experienced sexual violence whereas 93 per cent said that they experienced marital rape.

The research study was conducted Rutgers World Population Foundation (WPF) in Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, Jacobabad, Kashmore, Jafferabad and Naseerabad to measure the prevalence of domestic violence and perception of men about the issue through Focus Group Discussions. Rutgers WPF is an international organisation working for the promotion of sexual and reproductive health and rights throughout the country. The study will be formally launched at International Women’s Day on March 8 in Quetta.

Findings of the study represents high prevalence of harmful traditional practices in the shape of early marriages, Vanni, Swara, Sang Chatti, Badal, Bazo, Watta Satta and Pait Likaei. Sixty one per cent women covered under the study were children when they got married while more than 77 per cent of the marriages were settled under some kind of customary practices. Shockingly, 63 per cent of injured women never received health care services due to accessibility and permission issues.

In line with the global theme of International Women’s Day, “A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women” and on the basis of alarming research findings, Rutgers WPF demanded effective implementation of laws and legislations from responsible authorities for protection of women rights according to international set standards.

Most importantly, the Prevention of Anti-Women Practices (Criminal Law Amendment) Act 2011 should be enforced by respective governments to reduce the prevalence of customary practices. Child Marriages Restraint Act 1929 needs to be implemented after incorporating required amendments in all provinces to protect young girls from early age marriages which in turn lead to different forms of domestic violence.

Effective steps are also required to implement Convention on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) with true letter and spirit ensuring elimination of discrimination against women at all levels.

Published by : The News on March 7, 2103

   Decade after being scarred by acid, Fakhra Yunus jumps to her death

Yunus, wife former Member of Provincial Assembly Bilal Khar, had been undergoing treatment for acid scarred tissue, including multiple corrective surgeries in Rome.

At the time, it had been reported that Khar, son of former Punjab governor and Pakistan Peoples Party leader Ghulam Mustafa Khar, had attacked Yunus with acid in 2000 after she had left him. The two had shared a troubled marriage dotted with domestic violence.

On March 17, she leapt off from the sixth floor of a building. Her body was expected to arrive in Karachi via air on March 25.

Yunus was an 18 year old resident of Napier Road’s Bulbul Bazar, Karachi’s red light district, when she met the then Muzaffargarh MPA Bilal Khar.

They both got married after a six month relationship. This was Bilal’s third marriage, while Yunus had a three year old son from an earlier liaison.

Little did Yunus know, that this was not meant to be her fairytale marriage, since shortly after the marriage, she faced both physical and mental abuse by Khar, which lasted for three years before she eventually escaped and moved in with her mother.

An infuriated Khar allegedly took ‘revenge’ by pouring acid over her on May 14, 2000, as her five year old son watched. The attack left her severely burned, particularly her face. She, however, survived the attack but not before spending three months in intensive care.

Khar used his political influence to evade arrest and absconded, while Yunus’s family faced difficulty in registering an FIR against him.

On October 31, 2002, Khar was eventually arrested, but released in 2003 on Rs 200,000 bail.

In Yunus’ time of despair, social activist Tehmina Durrani came to the forefront to assist her. Durrani, ironically, was once married to Ghulam Mustafa Khar.

After the then government showed reluctance in helping Yunus, Durrani convinced the Italian government to help her, by not only providing asylum but also sponsoring her treatment there. Khar, leveraging his influence, had vehemently tried to stop her exit from Pakistan, but failed.

After over a decade of undergoing treatment in Italy, an emotionally scarred Fakhra, lost hope and committed suicide by jumping out of her sixth floor residence.

Khar currently resides in his ancestral home in Kot Addu.

Published by: Express Tribune on March 25,2012

Survey finds 77% of marriages made in traditional exchanges

Rutgers WPF has conducted research study on prevalence of gender based domestic violence and to measure the perception of men about the issue. The study was conducted in districts of Kashmore, Naseerabad, Muzaffargarh, Jafferabad, Dear Ghazi Khan and Jacobabad.

More details follow the link:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/506066/survey-finds-77-of-marriages-made-in-traditional-exchanges/

Is child marriage the only solution to get rid of rape issue?

Is child marriage the only solution to get rid of the problem of rape on young girls? In the recent series of rape cases in Haryana, girls have been blamed for such incidents and the members of the Haryana Panchyath have given a weird solution and suggested that the marriageable age for girls should be reduced from 18 to 16 years. Do you think this suggestion is fair?

A few decades ago, child marriage was a system where the parents of young girls (around 12 years) used to get their daughters married to boys who would be atleast 5 or 7 years elder to her. The traditional followers of child marriage system thought of daughters as burdens and believed that since a girl’s ultimate aim is to look after her husband and in laws and have babies, they should be married at the earliest so that they can start performing their duties.

They also thought that education would spoil a girl’s ability of being a traditional wife and mother and so they were against girl’s education. Also, as we all know “virginity” till marriage, is one of the most important and valued virtues in our Indian culture and so the parents of girls wanted to ensure that their daughters didn’t have any pre-marital sex. So, for all these reasons, child marriage was a prevalent act as it was seen as the only way to fix many problems. But, the problem is that the followers of this tradition never thought about what the young girls had to go through being forced to get married so early in life. They also had to have children at very young age, sometimes, at 13-14 years of age, when their bodies were not fully developed and it was life threatening too! I feel bad for the young boys too who were forced to get married at an early age of 15-16 years of age due to this tradition, as they too were forced to go through the similar psychogical and mental torture as the girls had to go through.

Well, all this was really old “rule book” and now in 21st century, our society has changed and so have the people and their thought processes. So, in today’s world, where we feel girls are enjoying the same rights as boys, it is shocking to hear “child marriage” being suggested as the only solution to get rid of rape and gang rape issues prevalent in our society. Instead of punishing the culprits, why are the movies, media and girls (Haryana) being targeted? I fail to understand this. The culprits, men who feel, they can get away with anything, are the ones who should be punished and punished so severly that it sets an example for everyone else out there thinking on those lines. That is the solution. But instead, as per sources, the panchayaths of Haryana think that girls should be married at the age of 16, so that they have their husbands to fulfill their desires. This is really depressing!

In a month, Haryana has seen more than eight gang rape cases. After Saturday’s issue of a Dalit girl allegedly raped in Jind district in Haryana, who committed suicide by setting herself on fire, the toll has increased from eight to nine in Haryana in the past 28 days and it is said that majority of these rapes took place in Jind district alone. As a result, the Haryana government has formed a committee of three-members to look into these incidents. I don’t know how far will this investigation go, but I am really unhappy with the panchayaths decision of “child marriage being the only solution to eradicate rape, abuse etc.” and really feel bad for the young girls.

Girls are very young and quite immature at the age of 16 and I feel at that tender age, they should be given love and support to continue education so that they understand what is right and what is wrong. They will then have an opportunity to even support their families financially and also be able to impart good education to their kids. They should be given opportunity to study, learn more about life and then work if they want to. We should all remember the famous saying by Dr. James Emmanuel, which goes like this – “if you educate a man, you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate a family (nation).”

Written byRajesh Shukla

Girl Rising: A Better Life Begins in School

If one thing was made clear by the scale of the recent anti-child slavery demonstration of 200,000 young people in the Burmese capital Rangoon, it is that regimes can repress for a time but they cannot maintain their repression indefinitely. The marches show that while children may disappear one by one into slavery, sold off by relatives or neighbours, becoming in effect invisible people - the victims' cries for help cannot be silenced forever, and eventually the truth will out.

The protests by girls planed for February across Africa and Asia show that while men may try to stereotype women as second-class citizens, truth will travel faster than lies -- and that girls are fighting back, connecting with other girls on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

So, in 2013, we are we are starting to move from decades of adult complacency, dominated by a false assumption that progress to end child exploitation -- whether it be child labour, forced marriage, or discrimination against girls -- was somehow inexorable and only a matter of time. The next stage is for girls, who have been the victims of the world's inaction for so long, to force the world to see that change will only happen if it is made to happen.

And what's happened so dramatically in India and Pakistan is also happening elsewhere as the power of girls takes on a new form. Even before the Indian rape, Nepal had been witnessing widespread demonstrations condemning violence against women. In Burma, a campaign against child trafficking brought 200,000 young people to that country's first open-air pop concert of modern times. And again in India, a march against child labour was led by 100 boys and girls who at ages as young as 8, 9 and 10 had been rescued from bonded labour.

But perhaps even more significant is the growth in Bangladesh of 'child marriage-free zones'. Here girls themselves declare that they will not be forced into marriage, and demand that, through their community, their right to say 'no' is upheld. They assert that in their area not just they themselves but all girls will be protected from early marriage against their will.

The new self-conscious assertion by girls of their collective rights is the shape of the year to come. Given that so many female rights in so many countries have been promised and yet have still to be established -- the right to a childhood free of marriage, the right to go to school, the right to be protected against violence -- then the Bangladeshi movement is one that is likely to spread to the rest of the continent.

Laws will have to change, to guarantee girls' rights in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (adopted in 1979). UNICEF has collaborated with the NGO Working Group for Girls, an international network of 400 non-governmental organisations, as well as many other civil society organisations, specialised agencies and professional media groups to push for girls' empowerment.

But the quickest and most effective advance we could secure immediately is to move girls out of exploitation and into education. Before Malala was shot she was planning to link her call for universal girls' education to a demand for an end to the child labour that imprisons girls in everything from cocoa farms to domestic service, and can hold them back from schooling. Thirty-two million girls do not even get to first grade in primary school. In 2013 we could target the off-track countries -- Pakistan, Nigeria, India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and the conflict-affected countries of Yemen, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo -- and make big progress.

Of course, the issues will now be fought out on the streets and on the airwaves, but the hallmark of 2013 is already clearly visible: it is the year when a new form of female empowerment will not only change the way we see the world, but finally deliver rights that have been denied for too long -- and that starts with every girl's right to an education.

This is the third in a series of blogs by Gordon Brown written from WEF in Davos, looking at the growing global empowerment of young women.