Orange the World campaign to end violence against women, girls begins Wednesday

Sixteen days of multi-pronged programmes begin on Wednesday in Bangladesh and elsewhere in the world to unite people in saying no to violence against women and girls.

Bangladesh is lauded globally for its socio-economic progress including women’s empowerment through education, employment and political involvement.

The country has also signed international conventions and adopted laws to eliminate violence against women.

The prime minister, leader of the opposition, speaker in the parliament and chief of a major political party are all women.

Yet, government statistics show 87 percent women face violence in some form — physical or mental.

Mazeda Khatun, 23, died of an acid attack last week at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Her husband had allegedly thrown acid on her following family feud.

“Our experience is very contradictory,” Ayesha Khanom, President of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad told bdnews24.com, ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on Wednesday.

“We are being lauded for women’s empowerment globally, but violence against women is rampant here,” she said.

Wednesday’s celebration will kick-start the 16-day programme ending on Dec 10, marking Human Rights Day.

In between, the World AIDS Day will be observed on Dec 1, International Day of the Disabled on Dec 3, Commemoration of Montreal Massacre on Dec 6, and Begum Rokeya Day will be observed on Dec 9.

Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia, urged countries to unite and unanimously say no to violence against women and girls, before the programme began.

“The statistics on violence against women are shocking,” she said, as globally and in countries of the WHO South-East Asia Region, one out of three women suffers physical or sexual violence inflicted mostly by an intimate partner.

WHO says violence against women and girls has become a public health issue.

“It not only has immediate and long-term impact on physical, psychosocial and mental health of the victims, but affects and impedes their progress in other areas, including poverty reduction, peace and security.”

The UN Secretary-General’s ‘UNiTE to End Violence against Women Campaign’ invites governments, UN agencies, NGOs, and individuals from all countries to mark the days during the 16 days of activism.

It also invites all to “orange the world: end violence against women and girls” by participating in and organising “orange events” in support of the UNiTE Campaign.

This year is crucial for women advocates as it marks the 20th anniversary of the ‘Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action’, the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing women’s rights.

Moreover, a new global development framework, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), has been adopted in September. The SDGs will be pursued for the next 15 years.

This year’s campaign theme is ‘prevention’, highlighting changing social norms and attitudes towards women and suggesting various strategies – education in particular.

Activist Ayesha Khanom said their campaign would stress the theme “family, society should be safe home for women”.

“We have some laws that are not adopted even in other South Asian countries. But women are still facing violence. This year, we witnessed even brutalities like gauging out of eyes, and torturing a pregnant woman.

“The problem lies within the families. Family must be gender sensitive. But discrimination is prevalent there.”

She said it was difficult to bring people to justice for violence against women. They go scot-free despite the laws.

“It created a ‘terrorist kind of culture’,” Khanom said.