VAWIP@SAP I
An Effort To Promote The Participation Of Women In Democratic Governance
SAP International conducted its first consultation meeting with Advisory Group members on July 16 and 17, 2008 in Colombo. The basic objectives of the meeting were to accentuate the importance of participation of women in democratic governance and to develop a common understanding among advisory group members on Violence Against Women in Politics (VAWIP) from a regional perspective.
As an effort towards promoting the participation of women in democratic governance, a South Asian public forum was scheduled during the meeting on July 16 at hotel Transasia, Colombo. It was a forum where distinguished women politicians, academicians, researchers, advocates, media persons and representatives of CSOs from five different countries of South Asia assembled together to put forward their views on participation of women in democratic governance and hindrances to the career path of women in politics in South Asian context.
The inauguration session started off by lighting of traditional Sri Lankan lamp by chief guest, Hon. Ferial Ashraff, Minister of Housing and Common Amenities-Sri Lanka. Mr. Laxman Hettiaratchi, Chairperson SAP-SRI, welcomed all participants and formally started the session. Dr. Rohit Kumar Nepali, Executive Director, SAP- International, reflected upon previous six summits and the importance of the seventh summit in light of violence against women in politics (VAWIP). Dr. Susheela Kaushik-India, Ms. Zakia Arshad-Pakistan, Ms. Taleya Rahman-Bangladesh and Prof. Savitri Goonesekere-Sri Lanka presented papers on Women in Democratic Governance, Violence against Women in Politics, Reservation/Quota and Sri Lankan Women in Democratic Governance respectively.
Around 250 participants from grassroots and CSOs were present in the program. In the open forum session, which was moderated by Ms. Sharmini Boyle- Sri Lanka, participants put forth their concerns on the issues of political participation of women, governance and other gender issues. The panelists responded to the questions accordingly. Towards the end of the session, Chief Guest, agreeing on the importance of the issues discussed, said that the event was a huge leaning experience for her. She mentioned that women’s issues should be addressed as a common issue and advised all women to unite and organize themselves to get heard and further urged everyone not to promote violence by voting violent groups.
The public forum was successful in terms of participation and discussions. It provided an opportunity to discuss in detail the regional happenings, problems faced and efforts made so far to increase qualitative participation of women in political governance in South Asia. Dr. Padma Ratnayake, Executive Director of SAP-SRI concluded the session with vote of thanks.. This regional platform was offered by SAP International and SAPSRI was the local host of the event.
The second session, the consultation meeting with advisory group members started in Hotel Ratna, Colombo. Besides advisory group members, EDs and representatives of SAP Nationals were also present there to facilitate the process.
Dr. Rohit Kumar Nepali started the meeting by sharing on the issues of Violence against Women in Politics (VAWIP) and highlighted the objectives of the consultation meeting. He clarified that many international tools has addressed gender equality but issue of VAWIP has not yet been addressed. Dr Nepali expressed that it is necessary to identify the loopholes in international standards from VAWIP perspective and lobby at international level.
Participants shared their knowledge and experiences on the issues of VAWIP. Advisory group members were of the opinion that although there are many laws in South Asia that talk about women’s rights, they are not implemented effectively. This, according to them, is the reason that the local NGOs are still struggling to establish laws and its effective implementation. Group members from Sri Lanka shared that majority of women are facing violence and suffering in silence because of illiteracy. Some participants highlighted the problems they face in implementation of laws because of the patriarchal political system in South Asia. They examined that provisions regarding violence against women (VAW) and women’s political participation is already there in CEDAW and in Beijing Convention but they are silent with regard to the violence against women in politics (VAWIP). They remarked that although international treaties cannot be amended, a lot could be contributed towards harmonizing or adopting CEDAW and other international standards. They further added that there is a need to analyze and document the gaps and lobby for additional optional protocol in CEDAW to address the issues of VAWIP.
