Ending Gender-based Violence

RECENT socio-legal researches pinpoints that poverty is aggravated by unequal power relations, patriarchy, injustice and exclusion as key driving factors to women and girls vulnerability. Traditional and widespread societal discrimination against women continue despite legal provisions and interventions to regulate abuse, change mental attitudes and perceptions about women. Several practices justified as cultural and customary continue to pose a threat to women and girls security and limit justice.

Gender Based Violence (GBV) is not an isolated problem or a side component of life, rather, it is a wide spread, tragic, and is a daily issue that touches and impacts almost everyone's life in some way. GBV is broadly defined to include spousal abuse/ wife battery; sexual violence against women and children; property grabbing; psychological abuse; family and child neglect; sexual cleansing, early marriage; and harmful traditional practices.

Gender-based violence is a pervasive problem throughout developing countries around the world including Bangladesh. This fundamental violation of women's rights has devastating consequences for women and men, their families and the broader community. GBV increases women's vulnerability to reproductive health problems, negatively affects their general well-being and decreases their ability to freely participate in their families and communities. GBV also hurts children, men and families by creating a culture of fear and mistrust that leads to a lack of intimacy and safety within familial and intimate relationships.

Communities also feel the negative consequences of GBV, which is a drain on the strength and development of micro and macroeconomic systems. Women of all ages, religions, ethnic groups and economic status experience GBV. Primary prevention strategies recognise that it is important not only to influence individuals (women and men experiencing/perpetrating violence) but also the broader community, which is influential in creating a culture of non-tolerance for violence.

The prevention of GBV calls for a significant shift in the value system of individuals and communities. It also recognises that without a strong component of primary prevention, service delivery alone will not change the attitudes and behaviors that cause gender-based violence and allow it to continue within the community. Therefore, efforts at GBV prevention from the outset require integration of formal or informal services into a broader behavior change campaign. With the law in place, there is need for sensitisation of the public on its provisions recognising that the affected communities must be involved in the process in order for social change to take place.

The findings from the cases reported at human rights and legal aid services organisations support centers indicate that many forms of gender-based violence, including intimate partner violence and rape, are seen as normal and are met with acceptance by both men and women— although the justifications for acceptance differs between women and men. Women and girls are also frequently blamed for causing or provoking gender-based violence. In part due to blame and shame, women and girls rarely report gender-based violence to authorities or seek other kinds of treatment or support.

On the other hand, at the policy level, there are signs of support to actively address GBV following the Domestic Violence Act in the legislative history of the country with specific penalties for domestic violence. Our law has shown some progress in preventing and punishing GBV crimes. For example, the Penal code and its amendments pose harsh penalties for perpetrators of sexual violence. However, gaps remain in the legal system as far as implementation of laws is concerned, lack of adequate personnel to handle cases, poor facilitation of the police and the total lack of private space for reporting GBV cases by girls and women.

Despite these incipient reforms, the number and quality of services and resources available to survivors of gender-based violence is minimal. While service providers, including doctors and police, said that they respond to GBV when presented with a case, there are no protocols for working with survivors. Likewise, little training on proper protocols is available to service providers. Legal aid services run by small local non government organisations (NGOs) with limited budgets are available in selected places, while there is a wide and glaring gap in health, counseling, and social welfare services for GBV survivors.

The lack of integration and coordination among major players has been identified as key in frustrating justice and effective service delivery. These challenges continue to affect the willingness of survivors to report violations of basic rights and thus ability of the country to provide effective protection and prevention services to GBV survivors.

There is therefore a growing need to institute an integral and linked sectoral response to GBV service delivery by providing an array of clinical, psychological and legal services in an integrated and coordinated manner. Such psycho-social and medical-legal services could include prevention and management of pregnancy, STI prevention, Post exposure prophylaxis (PEP), treatment of injuries, forensic evidence collection, and provision of counseling and social support among others.

The response to GBV has been done so far through established centres/ homes that provided one-stop (medical, legal, temporary accommodation and psychosocial support) service for abused girls, women and few men. The purpose of the centers is to provide information, legal redress and psychosocial support, crisis intervention, representation in courts, referrals for medical therapy, rehabilitation, resettlement and first aid to the survivors of violence.

Cases handled include physical battering, sexual violence, psychological violence and severe neglect as well as traditional/customary forms of violence such as early marriages and widow inheritance among others. The interventions are coupled with initiatives aimed at eliminating Sexual gender based violence (SGBV) through a number of preventive and restorative initiatives. Preventive initiatives include informational, educational and behavior-change communications and restorative includes the provision of direct support to survivors.

(This article was written by Fayazuddin Ahmad Advocate)

(https://www.thedailystar.net/ending-gender-based-violence-45496?amp)