Realizing Rights of Rural Women under the International Convention CEDAW
By Alma Grace Barla
I was quite amazed to know that
November 25 is observed as International Day for the Elimination of Violence
Against Women; over time, I started reflecting on this call. The origin of this
day goes back to 1960, when the three Mirabal sisters from the Dominican
Republic were violently assassinated for their political activism. The sisters,
known as the “Unforgettable Butterflies”, became a symbol of the crisis of
violence against women throughout the world. To commemorate their lives and to
promote global recognition of gender violence, in December 1999 the United
Nations General Assembly called for November 25 to be observed with this
significance.
Every day as I turn the pages of
newspapers in any language or turn on the news channel, often I come across a
story of terrorizing and dehumanizing violence on women and children taking
place in some part of India! The terror of rape and violence against women on a
land known for its rich culture and tradition has indeed brought India to
limelight for the wrong reasons, to say the least.
Our Constitution guarantees
fundamental freedom and equal protection of laws to all its citizens,
recognizing the Right to Nondiscrimination and Equality for women by law.
However, the enforcement laws have constantly failed to provide even the basic
protection to women, especially the dalit, tribal and other marginalized women.
We have seen major protests which had broken out across the country over brutal
rape of a 23-year-old medical student in New Delhi, commonly referred to as the
Nirbhaya Case, forced the government to look into these issues deep rooted
misogyny and come out with the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2013.
News that come out each day of
aggravated sexual assaults or brutal murder of girls and women or rape of minor
school children reiterates that despite the Amendments which broadened the
definition of sexual assault and recognized the gradation in seriousness in
crimes of sexual assault, the resistance to the new laws and the continued
subjugation of women through class, caste dominance is only getting stronger by
the day. This is dangerous and can pose serious threat to the Rule of Law and
peace in society.
The adivasi and rural community,
who once lived peacefully in harmony with the nature, also have been largely
affected by this terror in recent past. Though the status of tribal women in
India has been acknowledged as being better than that of their non-tribal
counterparts today they are facing various types of discrimination and violence
due to their distinct identities, sex, gender, ethnicities, culture,
traditions, practices and customary laws.
During the colonization and
building of the new nation states, the particularities of indigenous/tribal
identity and culture have often been negatively emphasized to facilitate a
single “national identity.”(Realizing Indigenous Women’s Rights: A Handbook on
the CEDAW, 2013). The Indian nation state united the pre-British Hindu
dominated nations on the basis of their common aspirations and forced ‘others’,
who were in minority, to be part of if it on the basis of the principle of
‘unity in diversity’ not the ‘union in diversities’. (RD Munda & S Bosu
Mullick, 2003). Thus the aspect of unity always remained dominant over that of
diversity and the indigenous/tribal people became part of these ‘others’.
Further, the advent of capitalism, and exploration of mineral resources &
establishment of industries, mines, dams, river valley projects have uprooted
thousands of tribal villages and families; millions have been deprived of their
subsistence with denudation of forest, land and water resources. In the
conflict zones like in North East and Green Hunt Operation belt of Central
India, tribal women have been additionally victimized through physical
violence, rape and sexual harassment as tools of war or to suppress the
people’s resistance.
Milestones have been achieved in
the development of human rights instruments and standards designed to address
these issues, at national and international levels including special instrument
of treaty bodies for women and human rights bodies setting standards for
indigenous tribal peoples. However, these have yet to be realized on the
ground. The challenge for us is to translate these documents and instruments to
name the International Convention of Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW) and examine it in the context of rights of adivasi/tribal
and women. CEDAW, which contain no reference to indigenous/tribal women must be
interpreted in conformity with the UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous
Peoples (UNDRIP), to enable the lives of people affected by multiple forms of
discrimination to have avenues available to them where multiple instruments and
bodies can work together to address their concerns.
In spite of the existence of
Prevention of Atrocity against SC-ST Act (POA), violence against dalit and
adivasi women is rarely prosecuted under this law, or treated seriously. The
criminal justice system has failed to bring justice to Indigenous/tribal
women survivors. There is very weak access to the justice system of the country
by women. Likewise, most adivasi/tribal women are not aware of their rights
including to due process, and have little access to competent lawyers. Further
many women in custody of the police or other authorities end up being raped or
sexually abused (Case of Soni Sori, Chhattisgarh).
The Indian government must
examine its relationship with the tribal customary system and how they are
strengthening their self-governing system by recognizing legal pluralism. The
tribal people’s positive customary laws consistent with the respect for human
rights and upholding the dignity of indigenous peoples can provide an
alternative and more sustainable model for achieving justice and peace.
There is large scale trafficking
of adivasi girls and women for exploiting labour. Migration induced by
non-inclusive development/large projects/extractive industries, loss of
traditional livelihoods, lack of quality education, lack of sustainable income
opportunities, have led thousands of tribal women to migrate to cities in
search of jobs. Many have become victims of trafficking by false inducements
and placement agencies. Thousands of the domestic workers are controlled by
unregulated placement agencies that induce traffic and control their wages. In
spite of the existence of various laws and developmental programmes, no visible
improvement has taken place. Trafficking in Delhi and neighbouring states has
increased manifold in last 10 years (Times of India, Sep. 10, 2014).
The government run Ujjwala
programme report states that rehabilitation centres were set up, 10,000 police
personnel were trained to handle trafficking. The report however doesn’t give
any account of its impact & outcomes.
Impunity for witch hunting
created by lack of awareness, law enforcement and weak governance in backward
areas cause innocent women to be persecuted for personal and material
jealousies. In rural villages, widows and single women in particular are
branded as “witches” and are thus subjected to inhuman acts such as stoning and
severe torture even death. While the practice of “witch hunting” is not part of
the beliefs of adivasis, it was introduced as a form of providing “explanation”
to unexpected illness or bad luck for members of the village. As most adivasi
are animist and have low literacy, they have “adopted” this belief, which is
now being used as an excuse by opportunists to take away the properties of old
widows and single women in most cases. In spite of reports filed by women to
police and other authorities on those involved, many of the cases remain
unresolved.
On 17th May 2013, in Jharkhand a
family of seven members was shot at home while having dinner. Father was killed
on the spot while mother was hit on her thigh, dragged into the forest and
killed. A 7-yearold Adivasi girl studying in Sewashram residential school in
Keonjhar District of Odisha was refused by the teacher to keep in the hostel
saying that she is a witch, as she turns into a cat by
the nights and sucks blood of
others, and was sent back home.
While there is a law to prevent
the practice of witch hunting, it is not properly implemented; likewise penalty
for offenders is minimal and does not provide justice. According to reports
during 1991-2002, there were 733 cases reported of witch killings. In the year
2011, 34 witch killings and 196 cases of witch blaming were reported in
Jharkhand itself.
Militarization/State Violence:
The Central Indian states and
North East India have been sites of intense violence from where killings,
abductions, illegal detentions, torture and sexual assault by the security
forces are commonly reported. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958,
India’s most draconian anti insurgency law, provides sweeping powers to armed
forces personnel to search and destroy habitations and houses, to detain people
on suspicion and to kill with impunity. Similar tactics are being used in
Central India in the areas where the armed Maoist guerilla organizations
operate. In the State of Chhattisgarh, for instance, the National Crime Records
Bureau reported that 138 people lost their lives in fake encounters. Moreover,
the ‘salwa judum’ militia Dantewada has driven more than 4 lacs people from their
homes since 2005 and emptied 644 villages, most of those affected being tribals
including women and children.
An adivasi school teacher Soni
Sori, who was accused a Maoist supporter, was tortured and sexually assaulted
multiple times in custody. Even though recently granted bail, she awaits trial
and justice. Ankit Garg, the Superintendent of Police, who was responsible for
the custodial violence on Sori was awarded a gallantry award from the President
of the India by ignoring the heinous crime he has done to an Adivasi woman. In
a way it was to encourage the police officer to continue this kind of act.
Mrs. Leishiwon Mashangva (36),
mother of 8 children, along with two men from New Canaan village of Senapati
District in Manipur were picked up by state forces on 19th August, 2011 while
collecting pig’s feed. They were blindfolded, kicked with their boots and
beaten by policemen till they lost consciousness. Mrs Leishi won suffered
multiple injuries due to which she could not breastfeed her 5 months old baby.
In this connection memoranda were submitted to the Hon’ble Home Minister and to
the National Human Right Commission of India on September 5th 2011. But no
actions were taken.
To conclude with, the Govt of
India and its obligations in implementing the provisions of international
treaty on women need to be reflected in all the relevant agencies and bodies at
all levels especially those relating to rural women. Further, there is a need
to establish effective monitoring mechanisms on how these agencies are
functioning in addressing the gender equality and take necessary steps with
regard to the implementation of the Concluding Observations/recommendations
made during IV & V Periodic Report of India on 58th Session of CEDAW held
in July, 2014 at the United Nations, Geneva.
[The article is the summary of
the Shadow Report on status of adivasi/tribal women in India, prepared in
response to the Country Report submitted to the 58th Session of the Committee
on Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), where
India was examined on 2nd July, 2014 at the UN, Geneva. For the first time the
adivasi women leaders from across the country came together to make their
concerns heard at international level.]
First Published in Indian
Currents, 01- 07 December 2014, pgs. 11-14
