{"id":1359,"date":"2013-10-21T16:20:54","date_gmt":"2013-10-21T16:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.askbd.org\/ask\/?p=1359"},"modified":"2022-05-16T12:05:11","modified_gmt":"2022-05-16T06:05:11","slug":"vicious-valiant-special-rapporteur-violence-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.askbd.org\/ask\/2013\/10\/21\/vicious-valiant-special-rapporteur-violence-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Not ”Vicious” but Valiant | UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women"},"content":{"rendered":"
From the June Archives<\/pre>\n
On 1st June 2013, Chief of the Madrassah based Hefajat-e-Islam,\u00a0 Shah Ahmed Shafi, warned that the UN should keep in mind the country’s <\/i>‘\u2018internal culture, religious rites, national feelings and mentality\u2019’<\/i><\/a>, that the country was ninety per cent muslim and that ”Muslim’s prioritise their religious conventions and directives”. He commented Rashida Manjoo’s comments as a ”vicious move” to ruin the peaceful state of the country. This compelled me to write my observations after seeing this very remarkable lady speak on the first day of her visit.<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n
On the 21st of May, Bangladesh and Legal Aid Services Trust (BLAST) organised an inspiring lecture at the University of Dhaka. The circumstances were not ordinary, the Bangladesh government only recently allowed the Special Rapporteur for Violence against women to enter the country. She is the first Independent expert, reporting for the UN to enter.\u00a0 Rashida Manjoo and her team embarked on an intensive ten day research and reporting mission, meeting various rights groups and organisations at state and district levels.<\/p>\n
The mandate of the Rapporteur on violence against women focuses on collecting information from various civil, cultural, economic, political and social spheres and then recommending measures to eliminate the causes and consequences of violence against women.<\/p>\n
Responsibilities of the Rapporteur<\/a> ”Seek and receive information on violence against women, its causes and consequences from Governments, treaty bodies, specialized agencies, other special rapporteurs responsible for various human rights questions and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, including women’s organizations, and to respond effectively to such information;”.<\/p>\n
Dr Kamal Hossain, a former UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan welcomed Rashida with a few interesting points which set the scene for the situation in Bangladesh, he mentioned the Islamic revivalism which negated women’s rights, where there was a perverse interpretation of Islam which is attempting to drive an imaginary wedge between religious and nationalist aspirations. He concluded his introduction saying the 21st century was the time for gender equality.<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
The ‘F’ Word has become a Dirty Word<\/strong><\/p>\n
\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00adRashida Manjoo has been working within this mandate for nineteen years, she spoke about how Feminism has become a dirty word as if it were an isolated issue. She explained how the government had the responsibility to act with due diligence to ”prevent, investigate,\u00a0 and in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence committed against women”. She highlighted that the killing of women is an ultimate act of violence, when impunity is the norm, this normalises death. Due to the government not addressing this issue, holding perpetrators accountable, male violence against women becomes acceptable and inevitable, therefore more women are being killed.<\/p>\n
Rashida Manjoo drew on various examples from the countries she had reported on, from femicide to infanticide in India, honor killings in the Middle East, custodial violence, violence against women in psychiatric units, forced sterilisation on disabled women, early marriages. She emphasised the importance of asking questions, what are we doing about it as a community? Which areas are failure of the state? Her impressive experience is reflected in her detailed and well defined approach. She had served as a Parliamentary commissioner of the Commission on Gender Equality in South Africa and prior to that she designed content and trained judges and lawyers in the University of Cape town where she is currently teaching part time as a Professor in the Department of Public Law.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, she stated how the government does not collect or record the data around violations therefore they cannot monitor or act accordingly. In Bangladesh, it is the Non Governmental Organisations which record the incidents and cases, so on her nine day visit, her team travelled around the country meeting with various organisations to collect and research manifestations of violence against women, these were divided into four areas:<\/p>\n