Nine women ambassadors based in Bangladesh in a joint op-ed have stressed the urgent need to check and respond to gender-based violence in Bangladesh in their own countries and also across the globe.
Ambassador Pema Choden (Bhutan), Ambassador Wanja Campos da Nóbrega (Brazil), Ambassador Hanne Fugl Eskjær (Denmark) Ambassador Sophie Aubert (France), High Commissioner Norlin binti Othman (Malaysia) Ambassador Leoni Margaretha Cuelenaere (Netherlands), Ambassador Merete Lundemo (Norway) High Commissioner Yasoja Gunasekera (Sri Lanka) and Ambassador Marcia Bernicat (US) jointly wrote the op-ed ’16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign.’
Here in Bangladesh, the diplomats wrote, findings from the Report on Violence Against Women (VAW) Survey 2011 published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics indicate that as many as 87 percent of married women have ever experienced any type of violence by their husbands. “We can do something to stop it.”
“As women ambassadors representing nine nations, there are certainly a wide range of issues on which we focus. Yet we all vigorously agree on this: the urgent need to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in Bangladesh, in our own countries, and across the globe,” the write-up says.
At home and abroad, they mentioned, their governments support projects to raise awareness of gender-based violence, educate policymakers on this issue to increase legislative support, train service providers to better address the needs of survivors, and increase justice and accountability.
They fund projects that provide safe spaces and vocational training for survivors, and work to mobilise religious, business owners, and community leaders to end different forms of gender-based violence, they diplomats mentioned.
“We engage in these efforts because there is another issue on which we all agree: that only through collective action will violence against women and girls be eliminated once and for all.”
Studies show that gender-based violence (GBV) is disturbingly pervasive worldwide as the World Health Organization estimates that one of every three women will experience physical and/or sexual violence by a partner during her lifetime. Gender-based violence threatens entire communities, precludes economic growth, and fuels cycles of violence and conflict.
