Lawmakers from Asia-Pacific countries at the inaugural ceremony of a three-day seminar called for an end to violence against women, saying that social, religious and cultural norms could not get priority over health and security issues of women.
Birth registration could play an effective role in preventing child marriage in the region, they said at the seminar titled “Ending the Cycle of Violence against Girls in the Asia-Pacific” that began at Sonargaon Hotel on Tuesday.
“Childhood abuse and gender inequality are the main risk factors in violence against women and girls,” said Dr Venkatraman Chandra-Mouli, adolescent sexual and reproductive health expert at World Health Organisation (WHO).
“One in every two women in the world are victims of violence and only 10-30% of them seek institutional help,” the expert said.
Birgitte Filion, programme officer of Programme for Partnership between Men and Women, Inter-Parliamentary Union, emphasised on capacity building, peer-to-peer engagement, mentorship and solidarity to counter gender inequality. “One cannot prevent violence against women without addressing gender inequality.”
Elisa Scolaro, technical officer at Department of Reproductive Health and Research, WHO, presented strategies to prevent child marriage, including mobilising girls, boys, parents and leaders to change practices that discriminate against girls and create social, economic, and civic opportunities for girls and young women, providing girls who are already married with options for schooling, employment and livelihood skills and offering recourse from violence at home.
She also stressed on addressing the root causes of child marriage, including poverty, gender inequality and discrimination, the low value placed on girls and violence against them.
While discussing domestic violence, experts said 70% of children aged between 2 and 14 were subjected to violence in some forms of discipline in the Asia-Pacific region.
Participants from India shared their strategies that helped protect female children and their rights while the delegates from Bangladesh said birth registration in the country increased from 9.8% in 2006 to 53.6% in 2009.
The participants also discussed the importance of birth registration, gender inequality, social, cultural and religious norms, illiteracy, poverty, health education and many other factors to prevent violence against women and girls.
One of the panellists Kiran Bhatia said, “Data on sexual violence are actually the tip of the iceberg; the real number is much more tragic.”
In the sixth session, strategies taken up by different parliaments were discussed. This discussion brought forward previous examples of good practice of parliamentary strategies for legislating and preparing the public to accept laws to prevent violence against girls.
Parliaments of the Asia-Pacific countries would review, reform and formulate laws, if necessary, to prevent violence against girls, said MPs from different Asia-Pacific countries on the second day of the seminar.