Chennai
The WHO released a statement in November detailing ‘a shadow pandemic’ sweeping across south-east Asia. On the seventh anniversary of Nirbhaya gang rape and murder, activists said the violence cannot be addressed as an individual issue but only as a product of the social situation.
World Health Organisation (WHO) regional director for Southeast Asia Poonam Khetrapal Singh sought urgent action for women’s safety. The pandemic had made women and girls particularly prone to violence, Dr Singh.
“There are studies in Kenya that talk of violence against women during the Ebola outbreak. This is a similar situation. The pandemic has worsened the situation for women,” said Sree Ram, trustee, Protection and Empowerment of Nav Naari (PENN) Trust.
The Nirbhaya case rings loud owing to the amount of violence faced by women in private spaces, he said. There is a lack of institutional support too, he added.
Women’s rights activist Archanaa Shekar said online violence was also on the rise due to an increased reliance on technology. “Institutional support, proper use of the Nirbhaya fund and inclusion is key to protecting women from all forms of violence,” she said. While remembering the Nirbhaya case is well and good, we should also focus on what is being done now. Awareness alone does not bring about change. Violence against women is not something that exists in silos and that’s where we are in 2020, she added. “What we thought was violence in 2013 is now a complex system of intersecting issues that need to be addressed in tandem,” said Shekar.
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