Abused while they need protection
Women and girls with disabilities are most vulnerable to physical and mental abuse, rape, and social injustice but they hardly see any remedy thanks to a lack of information, sensitivity to their needs, and implementation of laws.
Speakers said this during a seminar organised by Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF), National Council of Disabled Women, and National Grassroots Disability Organisation at Bangla Academy in the capital yesterday.
MA Mannan, state minister for finance and planning, was the chief guest of the event, presided over by MJF Executive Director Shaheen Anam.
The keynote speaker, Nazma Ara Begum Popy, said the government and society had done little to improve the lives of the women and girls with hearing, speech, visual or other impairments, while women in general had seen a transformation in their social status over the last four decades since independence.
At the insistence of the disabled, parliament passed the Protection of the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities Act 2013 but it is yet to be implemented, she said.
The National Forum of Organisations Working with the Disabled and the National Council of Disabled Women have long been conducting surveys on human rights violation of the disabled with help from MJF. They observed that in most cases disabled women and girls fell prey to torture, abuse and even murder following rape.
Such victims and their families find many obstacles while seeking justice -- from trying to file a case, submitting testimonies, overcoming public prosecutors' callousness to carrying the financial burden of running a case for a long time, Popy said.
None of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act 2000, Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act 2010, Legal Aid Services Act 2000, and Children Act 2013 has any provision to ensure protection of the disabled girls and women, which is why they find it difficult to continue their legal battle for justice, she said.
Against this backdrop, Popy, herself a visually-impaired person, said many lost hope and stopped fighting the battle.
The authorities tied to the legal system -- police, administration or the judiciary -- lack knowledge about the special needs of the disabled while government service providers like victim support centres, safe homes do not feel encouraged to extend support to disabled women, said the keynote speaker. The special needs girls do not even have access to free education, she added.
Ahsan Habib Palash, special superintendent of the Police Bureau of Investigation, at the programme, expressed his sadness that law enforcers had not been sensitised to the sufferings and problems disabled women and girls faced in their legal battle.
Referring to interviews with 300 disabled
See page 5 Col 5
Comments