{"id":15,"date":"2009-05-16T17:28:16","date_gmt":"2009-05-16T08:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/test.hrn.or.jp\/?p=15"},"modified":"2023-10-25T09:43:07","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T00:43:07","slug":"sian-activist-a-symposium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/news\/2009\/05\/16\/sian-activist-a-symposium\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Rights Now invited female activists fighting against violations of women’s human rights and held a symposium"},"content":{"rendered":"

16 May 2009<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n

Asian Activist-a 2009<\/p>\n

Women Changing the World
Challenge on Violence against Women in India<\/p>\n

<\/strong>Human
\nRights Now (HRN) supports and calls female activists as ‘Activist-a’,
\nwho are engaged in activities to shed light on and overcome ongoing
\ngrave violations of women’s human rights in Asia.
HRN invited Ms. Nandini Rao, an Activist-a courageously fighting against domestic violence in India<\/st1:country-region> where domestic violence has spread severely, and held a symposium ‘Asian Activist-a 2009 Women Changing the World’ in Tokyo<\/st1:city> on 16th May and in Osaka<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> on 17th May. This is a report of the symposium in Tokyo<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.<\/p>\n

<\/v:stroke><\/v:f><\/v:f><\/v:f><\/v:f><\/v:f><\/v:f><\/v:f><\/v:f><\/v:f><\/v:f><\/v:f><\/v:f><\/v:formulas><\/v:path><\/o:lock><\/v:shapetype><\/v:imagedata><\/v:shape>
Date: 16th May 2009
Location: Aoyama Campus, Aoyama Gakuin University
Speakers:
Ms. Nandini Rao, a coordinator of JAGORI, Indian women’s NGO
Ms. Yoko Hayashi, an attorney at law and a member of Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
Ms. Asako Osaki, an expert in gender and development policy
Coordinator:
Ms. Kazuko Ito, an attorney at law and a Secretary General of Human Rights Now<\/p>\n

Ms. Nandini Rao:
is
\na coordinator of JAGORI, an India NGO, which means awakening women.
\nViolence against women such as domestic violence has been a serious
\nproblem in India<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>.
\nFor example, some women have been burnt to death by their husbands due
\nto lack of dowry, money for marriage, which is known as dowry death.
\nJAGORI has been working on ending violence against women and had played
\na crucial role to enact a progressive anti-domestic violence law in
\n2005. <\/p>\n

Violence against women in India<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>
\nhas been a result of various factors such as communal violence,
\nreligious violence in society, violence against the minority by the
\nmajority, and violence caused by religious antagonism. Women have been
\ndually discriminated by caste and gender. In addition, there has been
\nviolence due to recent neo-liberal economic policies, which has been a
\nmajor problem against women. There are a number of women who hesitate
\nto bear girls since social status of women is considered to be low.
\nStatistics also shows that discrimination and violence against women
\nhas been deeply rooted.
Anti-domestic violence law enacted in 2005
\ncovers physical, mental and economic violence against women
\ncomprehensively and guarantees women’s rights to live in security and
\ndignity. Anti-domestic violence law stipulates that the government has
\nresponsibility to ensure women’s rights to live in security and this
\nlaw is a great tool which women’s movement has obtained in India<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>.
From an international point of view, the current situation in India<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>
\nis far from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in terms of
\ncorrection and reduction of sexual discrimination and poverty. However,
\nJAGORI does not have a pessimistic view about the situation of women’s
\nmovement but has a very positive one. Recently, there has been an
\nincrease in the number of independent women’s groups, which have no
\nassociation with political parties. More women’s voices have been heard
\nin society. There has been a great advance in women’s presence in
\neconomic sphere and more girls have had learning opportunities. They
\nare all achievements of women’s movement.
Women’s movement has
\nconducted their campaigns in various ways. JAGORI, which has marked the
\n25th anniversary of its establishment, has appealed for women’s rights
\nin creative ways as well as in print campaign. Ms. Rao talked to
\nvarious people from Japanese organizations about an issue about how men
\ncan get involved in women’s movement. At the individual level, men’s
\nparticipation in childcare is important, nevertheless, it is very hard
\nfor Indian men who consider household chores and childcare as women’s
\nwork to take part in childcare. JAGORI is in the process of trial and
\nerror to improve men’s awareness as regards gender equality.
At
\nthe village and local community levels, men’s participation in women’s
\nmovement is desirable. Men should accept that in the local community,
\nsisters, mothers, wives and women in the neighbourhood fight against
\nviolence against women. There has been a significant rise in the number
\nof men’s organizations which deal with violence against women recently.
\n
The greatest challenge JAGORI has faced is conventional prejudice
\nagainst women. The perception is deeply rooted in tradition and it is
\nnot easy to change it.
In order to achieve equality in society, it
\nis inevitable to talk about gender equality. The change has to be
\nrecognized as positive one for both men and women and JAGORI has been
\ngetting the message out to the public. In future, JAGORI is going to
\nincrease women’s participation and to raise awareness of women’s rights
\nin society. <\/p>\n

Ms. Ito, Secretary General of Human Rights Now
\nand a facilitator of this discussion, said in the beginning ‘While the
\npresent situation in India<\/st1:country-region> is shocking, there are a lot to learn from very active women’s movement in India<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>.’
\nShe also introduced a project of HRN about violence against women and
\nannounced the completion of the report of the HRN fact finding mission
\nin India<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> for September 2008. <\/p>\n

<\/v:imagedata><\/v:shape>
Ms.
\nYoko Hayashi, a member of Committee on the Elimination of
\nDiscrimination against Women, outlined the ratification progress of the
\nConvention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against
\nWomen, which marked the 30th anniversary, and the history of
\ninternational efforts for elimination of violence against women. She
\nalso mentioned an issue of complex discrimination which women with
\ndifficulties such as status of immigrant workers and refugees,
\ndiseases, poverty and so forth. There are more barriers for those women
\nto restore their rights than ones for women with little difficulty. She
\npointed out it is necessary to provide special treatment for those
\nwomen, depending on demands of each woman, rather than perfunctorily
\nequal treatment for all women.
She noted that under the Optional
\nProtocol to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of
\nDiscrimination against Women, states have responsibility to prevent and
\ninvestigate violence against women, and prosecute and punish those
\nresponsible, and make reparation for victims of the violence. In Japan<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>,
\nit is difficult for women to raise voices in protest especially when
\nthey suffer violence from men close to them. Measures to support those
\nwomen are still insufficient. This is not just a problem for Japan but
\nalso ones for many states in the world.
She also raised an issue
\nabout to what extent women can unite together just because they are
\nwomen, in spite of difference in context in which they live,
\nhighlighted in the problem of complex discrimination.
<\/v:imagedata><\/v:shape><\/p>\n

Ms.
\nOsaki pointed out that the goal of development is that all men and
\nwomen in the world can live their lives in a humane manner and,
\ndevelopment and human rights are inseparable and thus development has
\nto be based on the principles of human rights. There are various
\nfactors of violence against women such as power relationship between
\nmen and women, social convention, economic imbalances, delays in
\nlegislation, insufficient women’s participation and so forth. Moreover,
\nshe analysed violence against women in the perspective of development
\ncost, commenting that violence against women is not unacceptable from
\nthe viewpoint of human rights violations but also should not be
\noverlooked in terms of social costs such as influence upon female
\nvictims and care costs for those victims, socio-economic costs, and
\ncosts as barrier to accomplish the MDGs.
In respect of Japanese
\ndevelopment assistance policies, she indicated that it is a duty of
\nJapan as a donor state to enhance awareness of those costs, to
\nmainstream gender perspective comprehensively in ODA policies, budget
\nallocation and implementation of the projects, and take more measures
\nagainst violence against women. <\/p>\n

More issues were also widely
\ndiscussed such as problems of Japan’s ODA policies, the enforcement
\nstatus of India’s anti-domestic violence law, economic recession, and
\ninfluence of globalisation.
In closing, Ms. Rao gave a strong
\nmessage that “we need to keep on appealing, at any time and any place,
\nregardless of difference in women’s positions in society, that the
\nattitude to diminish value of women is never acceptable. We women need
\nto unite together beyond all differences.” <\/p>\n

<\/v:imagedata><\/v:shape>
On
\nthe 14th of May 2009, prior to the symposium, Ms. Rao participated as a
\nspeaker in the 16th study session about violence against women and
\ninternational cooperation held by the female parliamentary group on
\ndevelopment headed by President Chieko Minamino, a member of the House
\nof Councillors and the Liberal Democratic Party, and Secretary General
\nYoko Komiyama, a member of the House of Representatives and the
\nDemocratic Party of Japan. She held talks with the Ministry of Foreign
\nAffairs and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and received
\nnewspaper and magazine coverage.<\/font>

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

16 May 2009   Asian Activist-a 2009 Women Changing the World Challenge on Violence against Women in India Human Rights Now (HRN) supports and calls female activists as ‘Activist-a’, who are engaged in activities to shed light on and overcome ongoing grave violations of women’s human rights in Asia. HRN invited Ms. Nandini Rao, an Activist-a courageously fighting against domestic violence in India where domestic violence has spread severely, and held a symposium ‘Asian Activist-a 2009 Women Changing the World’ in Tokyo on 16th May and in Osaka on 17th May. This is a report of the symposium in Tokyo. Date: 16th May 2009Location: Aoyama Campus, Aoyama Gakuin UniversitySpeakers:Ms. Nandini […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[20],"countries":[251],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-event","tag-violence-against-women","countries-india"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t