A workshop on preventing violence against women and girls with disabilities was held at the Nasrul Hamid Auditorium of Dhaka Reporters Unity in the capital on Tuesday.
Shameem Haider Patwary, MP was present as the chief guest. Ashrafun Nahar Misti, Executive Director, Women with Disability Development Foundation (WDDF) and Tosiba Kashem, Project Coordination Analyst, End Violence Against Women, UN Women, Bangladesh spoke at the event. DRU general Secretary Nurul Islam Hasib presided over the event.
In the speech as chief guest, Shameem Haider Patwary said, “The word ‘dignity’ is a important and powerful term. The word dignity is mentioned multiple times in our constitution. It is mentioned so that the constitution ensures ‘equal opportunities with equal rights’ to everyone, even if they are disabled,” he said.
He further said, “Skill development is key. Whatever their field is, there is no proper project or budget for skill development for disabled people. The government has to be made aware of this.”
He added, “In our country, being a woman has its drawbacks. Although our PM, Speaker etc are women, but in a general society, a woman is always at a disadvantage. Moreover, if she is disabled, if she belongs to a poor family, living in a poor area, or belongs to a tribe, these are multiple layers of vulnerability that she is suppressed under. To protect them from such a scenario, the local government can play a vital role along with civil services and journalists.”
Ashrafun Nahar Misti in her speech said, “I would like to highlight an important factor that is mostly noticeable in reports by journalists and many other mediums. Addressing people with disabilities as ‘special’, ‘differently-abled’, ‘God-gifted’ is rather harmful as opposed to being appreciable. Furthermore, while dealing with disabled people, it is important to not generalise and try to acknowledge the disability and address it accordingly.”
“We see many infrastructural advancements and development in the country. However, in most cases it is seen that the disable people are not properly kept in mind. The inclusiveness of the disable people is heavily lacking still in our society,” she added.
Recently, during them census, most disabled people were not accounted for the way they are supposed to. They were heavily overlooked and their information was not registered the way it is meant to be.”
Tosiba Kashem in her speech said, “The overall reports suggest, than two-third woman in our country have been victims of domestic violence. Over 72pc women who have been victimized have never spoken out. Over 80 pc women have reported that domestic violence had increased after the pandemic and over 70pc women have been violated in public. However, worldwide, woman with disabilities are 10 times more prone to sexual violence. According to OPD reports, 96pc women with disabilities in the country face physical, sexual, emotional and psychological violence.”
Nurul Islam Hasib in his conclusive remarks at the event said, “Our objective for the event fundamentally is to ensure sensible, ethical and sensitive journalism regarding such issues. Furthermore, using rights-based language is also essential.”
He shared that there is a 16 days activism against sexual and other forms of gender-based violence from 26 November to 10 December. There is a lot of scope to put forward such points in these 16 days.”