“Not all men practice violence against women but all women live with the threat of male violence every single day. All over the Earth.” 

 – Fuad Alakbarov – 

With countries in lockdown and quarantine, people are now seeking shelter from the worldwide COVID-19 contagion at home. This is a defensive measure, but it carries with it another lethal threat. We see an alarming increase in the hidden pandemic of violence against women. Domestic violence was already one of the major human rights violations long before COVID-19 developed. 

Violence against women is now well known as a concern of public health and a denial of human rights of global significance. It is a major risk factor for the ill health of women, with far-reaching effects on both their physical and mental health. Due mainly to the impunity, ignorance, stigma, and embarrassment surrounding it, it is often unreported. It affects the general well-being of women negatively, and prevents women from participating completely in society. 

In the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women issued by the UN General Assembly in 1993, violence against women is defined as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.” From 25th of November to 10th of December, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence activities of the UN System will take place under the global theme for 2020:” Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect”!

Women experience different types of violence. However, interpersonal violence, that is, violence perpetrated on women by another person or by a small group of people, is the most universal type of violence against women, since it takes place in all communities. In turn, it is split into two subcategories: the violence of family / intimate partner and violence of the group/community. Violence between family members (often taking place in the home) is characterized as family/partner violence, although group violence is characterized as violence between individuals who are unrelated and who may or may not know each other, it typically occurs outside the home. 

Through physically violent behaviour such as kicking, biting, punching, beating, or even strangling, physical abuse is carried out. Injuries deliberately suffered are frequently disguised as accidents. Rape, sexual harassment with implements, being forced to watch or participate in pornography, forced prostitution, and being made to have intercourse with the perpetrator’s friends may include in defining sexual assault or sexual abuse. Women are also severely wounded and, in some cases, die from their injuries. It has immense costs, from higher health care and legal costs and productivity losses, affecting national budgets and overall growth.

Not enough is done to discourage abuse, and it often goes unpunished when it does occur. Laws against domestic abuse, sexual molestation, and other types of violence exist in an unprecedented number of countries. However, the enforcement of these laws remains a challenge, restricting the access of women and girls to protection and justice.

The right of women to live free of abuse is maintained by international agreements, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), especially through General Recommendations 12 and 19, and the 1993 UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women. Many countries already have national or sub-national action plans to counter violence against women, and prevention initiatives are being introduced. But still, we can see poor enforcement of laws, policies, and services. 

This is due to the lack of political will, conflicting priorities, and lack of transparency of the government in addressing gender equality and empowerment of women. Data proves that secondary education, employment of women, access to economic opportunities, and rights to inheritance protect against abuse. These are indicators of the liberation of women, which can effectively encourage women to leave abusive and toxic relationships by reducing their partners’ economic dependence.

The epidemic of violence against women presents itself in the world in a frightening variety of ways. A common thread in the fabric of women’s daily lives in communities around the world is the experience of violent assault. One of the aims of eliminating Violence Against Women is to unravel that thread by focusing attention not only on already commonly debated types of violence, but also on lesser-known forms of violence, such as dowry murders, acid attacks, the enslavement of genital mutilation for sex tourism, and rape as a weapon of war. 

To make the horror and effect of gender-based violence visible to people, we need to use forums like the one offered to us by the United Nations, otherwise, we won’t make any progress in eliminating it. We also need to let women know about the extent of the situation, so that they can take a stand, speak up, and realize it’s not their fault.

This crisis needs to be addressed before it can challenge more our values, our resilience, and shared humanity. We are all human and all of us have an equal right to live happily and contended on this planet. And home should be your comfort zone and your safe space. Nobody should be felt otherwise. And by saying NO is a complete sentence that does not require any justification or explanation. 

Men too have an important role to play in sending out the message that real men do not hurt or abuse their partners or any other woman or girl. A mother, a sister, a friend or she can be the love of someone’s life, whoever she is, the respect towards her will always be appreciated. And we have the right; let’s do the impossible so that ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN becomes a reality and ceases to be just a utopia.

‘කාන්තාවන්ට එරෙහි හිංසනය’, අද ලොව පුරා දැවැන්ත ගැටලුවකි.  කාන්තාවන් වයස් සීමාවකින් තොරව විවිධ  පීඩනයන්ට ලක්වෙති. බොහෝ ගැහැණු ළමයින් දුප්පත්කම හේතුවෙන් වහලුන් බවට පත්වන අතර මන්දපෝෂණයෙන් පෙළීමද , තරුණ වියේදී කඳුළු සලමින් කාලය ගත කරීමද දැකගත හැකිය.තමාගේම තාත්තා, සහෝදරයා හා නෑදෑ හිතමිතුරන් අතින් අපයෝජනයට ලක්වන ගැහැණු දරුවන් පිළිබඳව නිතර වාර්තා වීම සැබැවින්ම ඛේදවාචකයකි.

එවැනි කාන්තාවන්ට එල්ල කළ කෘරත්වය  අදටත් අපේ හදවත් කම්පා කරවයි. විවාහ සංස්ථාව තුළද ඇතැම් කාන්තාවන්ට  විවිධ ගැටලුවලට මුහුණ දීමට සිදුවේ. මහලු වියේදී කාන්තාවන්ට නිදහස්ව ජීවත් වීමට ස්ථානයක් තිබේද යන්න ගැටළුවකි, දරුවන් කී දෙනෙක් තම මව්වරුන් අනාථයින් ලෙස තබයිද? ඔවුන් ජීවිතය ඉල්ලමින් සිඟමනේ යති.

ඈත අතීතයේ සිටම කාන්තාවන්ට සිදුවන බලහත්කාරය, අපයෝජනය, නිසි තැන නොලැබීම, කාන්තාවන්ට හිංසා පීඩා කිරීම නැවැත්වීම හා ස්ත‍්‍රීවාදය ආරක්ෂා කිරීම සඳහා හඩ අවදි වුවද , කාන්තාවන්ට එරෙහිව වැඩෙමින් පවතින ප‍්‍රහාර, අපයෝජන සහ හිංසනයන්ගේ අඩුවක් නැත.

ස්ත්‍රීවාදය ආරක්ෂා කරමු !!!!

කාන්තාවන්ට එරෙහි හිංසනය වෙනුවෙන් හඩ නඟමු !!!

பெண்களுக்குஎதிரானதுஷ்பிரயோகம்

பெண்களுக்கு எதிரான வன்முறை என்பது இன்று உலகெங்கும் இடம்பெறும் பாரிய பிரச்சினையாக உள்ளது. வயது வேறுபாடு இன்றி எல்லா பெண்களும் பல்வேறுபட்ட இன்னல்களுக்கு ஆளாகுகின்றனர். ஏழையாக பிறந்த காரணத்தினால் பல சிறுமிகள் வேலைக்காரர்களாகி சரியான உணவின்றி அடிபட்டு அந்த பிஞ்சு வயதிலேயே கண்ணீருடன் காலத்தை கழிக்கின்றனர். இளம் பெண்களுக்கு உள்ள பாலியல் துஷ்பிரயோகத்தை பற்றி அப்பப்பா!! சொல்ல வேண்டியதேயில்லை.

இந்தியாவில் நிருபயா! இலங்கையில் வித்யா!
போன்ற பெண்களுக்கு ஏற்பட்ட கொடுமை இன்றும் எமது இதயத்தில் இரத்தத்தை கசியச் செய்கிறது. மேலும் திருமணம் என்று பார்த்தாலும் அங்கும் பலவிதமான பிரச்சினைகளை பெண்கள் எதிர்நோக்க வேண்டியுள்ளது. முதுமை காலத்திலாவது பெண்களுக்கு அமைதியாக வாழ ஒரு இடம் கிடைக்கிறதா என்றால் அதுவும் இல்லை. எத்தனையோ பிள்ளைகள் தம் தாய்மாரை அநாதைகளாக விட்டு விடுகிறார்கள். அவர்கள் பிச்சையெடுத்து வாழ்க்கையை ஓட்டிக் கொண்டிருக்கிறார்கள்.

ஆரம்ப காலத்திலிருந்து பெண்கள் வலிமையற்றவர்கள் என்ற எண்ணத்தினாலோ என்னவோ பெண்கள் கொடுமை உலகம் முழுவதும் தொடர்ந்து கொண்டே இருக்கிறது. பெண்ணுரிமை காப்போம் என்ற குரல் ஓங்கி ஒலித்தாலும் பெண்களுக்கு எதிரான தாக்குதல்கள், அத்துமீறல்கள், அடக்குமுறைகள் அதிகரித்து வருவதை மறுக்கவோ மறைக்கவோ முடியாது.             

பெண்ணுரிமைகாப்போம்!!!!
பெண்களுக்கு எதிரான வன்முறைகளுக்கு குரல் எழுப்புவோம்!!!

English article written by Rtr. Hasini Wijayasantha

Sinhala article written by Rtr. Shermila Dewapurage

Tamil article written by Rtr. Srinath Udayachandran