Gender based violence in South Asia is a problem of epidemic proportion. According to survey data reporting of domestic violence in countries of South Asia ranges from 40% in India (India Safe 2000) and Bangladesh (Schuler et.al.1996) to 60% in Sri Lanka ( Sonali 1990). Strong patriarchal values, growing poverty, rising religious fundamentalism and over all conflict in the region have greatly increased risk of violence against women. Recognizing the need for institutional responses to deal with the issue and due to pressure by several women’s groups in the region, several state machineries have set up special commissions, courts and laws. However, lack of adequate legislation, support services and political will has continued to plague the issue. Paucity of data and research on the issue in most South Asian countries has proved to be a stumbling block in advocating for laws better resource allocation and adequate support services. At the same time emergence of coalitions and networks of women’s groups and service providers has been sporadic and uneven.

We have deliberately chosen to talk about violence against women in order to illustrate how central this form of violence is to the so-called “culture of violence.” It could be said that this is the original form of violence, even the paradigm on which other forms of violence are modeled.

It is somehow terrible to talk about a “culture of violence.” It seems paradoxical to casually pair the words culture and violence—one, with its positive connotations and the other, with all its negative associations. The use of the word culture suggests, to varying degrees, social endorsement, assent and transmission. This is exactly what happens with violence against women.

Without denying the importance of other forms of violence, we believe that if the causes and consequences of violence against women are thoroughly understood, the groundwork can be laid for addressing it and construct another world based on equality and respect of others.

India, according to Amartya Sen, with its current population of 1 billion, has to account for approximately 25 million “missing” women( Kalyani Menon Sen and A.K.Shiva Kumar , Women in India : How free , How equal? UNDP 2001p11) Income levels may actually have a detrimental effect on the sex ratio. Haryana and Punjab, which have high per-capita income levels, have a very poor sex ratio. There are 865 women for every 1000 men in Haryana, and 882 women for every 1000 men in Punjab ( Menon-Sen and Kumar p12). In a culture where there is a strong son preference, and girls are not valued, higher income means easier access to technologies that determine the sex of a foetus. The sex ratios of other South Asian countries reveal a similar reality. Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Pakistan all have more men than women in their societies, although the situation in India is still the worst. Sri Lanka is the only South Asian country with a “normal” sex ratio meaning that there are more women than men in its population (Human Development in South Asia 2000 Figure 7.2” Sex ratios in South Asia”).

Some global statistics on violence against women (taken from Sexism and Globalization, World March of Women, 2000):

• 20% to 50% of women are, to varying degrees, victims of wife assault.

• An estimated 5,000 women and girls in the world are victims of “honour” crimes every year.

• According to UNICEF, one in 10 women in the world is raped at least once in her lifetime.

• According to most published studies on the subject, women are most often raped by a man they know.

• There are an estimated 130 million women in the world who have suffered genital excision; every year nearly two million more women are subjected to this custom, at a rate of roughly 6,000 per day, or five girls per minute.

• Estimates of the number of women in the sex industry range from a low of nine million to as high as 40 million women throughout the world.

• It is estimated that the sex trade generates $52 billion every year for organized criminal networks.

• It is evaluated that four million women and girls are bought and sold around the world every year, to future husbands, pimps or slave merchants.

• In the region of Southeast Asia alone, nearly 70 million women and children have been victims of sex trafficking over the last 10 years.

• Over 100 million girls are missing around the world because of son preference.

• In India, an average of five women are victims of dowry-related burnings every day, and many other cases are never reported.

• In 2000, a study conducted in the 15 member states of the European Union revealed that 2% of women workers (three million) have suffered sexual harassment at work and 9% of women and men workers have experienced psychological harassment.

The Workshop

One of the major focuses of this initiative is to discuss one of the five common problems identified by the Regional partners during the South Asian Conference for Beijing +10 in Kathmandu on 19th –20th June 2004.

The aim of this workshop will be to establish a strong network among South Asian partners to review the South Asian strategies for combating trafficking and dowry deaths in the region and for the formulation and passage of Domestic Violence( prevention) Bill that is pre requisite to address the question of violence against women especially after ten years from Beijing(1995) where Governments across the Globe undertook an international commitment to address Violence against women which they defined in the Beijing Platform for Action as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or psychological harm or suffering to women.” That included coercion and any threats of violence in public or private life.

The title of the workshop: Genesis of Violence: Trafficking and Dowry Deaths in South Asia