On my recent visit to Switzerland, I also visited Liechtenstein, a small country in its neighbourhood, and met the people there. Before telling you the inspirational story of this very small country of Europe, let me remind you that on November 25, the whole world is going to celebrate ‘International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women’. This day was conceived in 1993 under a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly. This year, the celebrations will continue till Human Rights Day on December 10. The goal is to curb all kinds of violence against girls and women around the world. They should get the freedom to choose and shape their own destiny and no one should infringe upon their rights!
It has been almost 28 years since we have been celebrating ‘International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women’. Therefore, it is pertinent to assess whether this day has been successful in creating awareness about atrocities against women and most importantly, we need to know whether the instances of atrocities against the fair sex have come down. I think it would be relevant if I tell you the story of Liechtenstein, a very small country in Central Europe between Austria and Switzerland, which has demonstrated to the world that atrocities against women can be rooted out. The population there is less than 40,000 and there are 126 boys per 100 girls. Despite this skewed ratio, there was not a single incident of rape in the last year i.e. 2020! Of course, this difference in the sex ratio is vast, which is a result of the desire for boys. But now Liechtenstein has passed a strict law against abortion. The reason for the number of rape being zero is not at all that there are police in every street and locality! The reality is that there are only 125 policemen including 90 officers in the entire country of 160 square kilometres. Liechtenstein has adopted a zero tolerance policy to eliminate crimes against women. Moreover, it has also succeeded in establishing respect for women in the society. A major reason is also the education level of that country where literacy is 100 per cent.
The success achieved by Liechtenstein in ensuring an atrocity-free atmosphere for its women has set a new example before the whole world. If we are determined at the social level, at the government level and at the private level to end every atrocity against women, there is no reason why we should not get success!
Atrocities against women are a matter of serious concern for us Indians as well because our record in this area is quite poor. Even now more than 80 incidents of rape take place every day and some form of crime is committed against women every second-third minute. Even in the developed countries of the world, the situation is not any good. Be it developed countries like Russia, America, China, Japan or our neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Nepal or Bangladesh, I have closely observed the situation everywhere and can say that there is no assured safety for women anywhere. In our country too, there are documented tales of atrocities against and humiliation of women since the Mahabharat period. But the recent incident in Afghanistan has crossed all the limits of barbarism against the female population. The crude and barbaric Taliban government has made the lives of women there miserable and the world is reduced to being a mute spectator. Alarmingly, the barbarism of primitive times is being practised in the civilised era and destitute women are becoming victims of suppression. Imagine, when the whole world will be celebrating ‘International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women’ on November 25, Afghan women will either be sobbing in a dark closed room or suffering the dreadful whip of a Taliban vigilante for going out on the street! Does the United Nations, which has mandated to observe ‘International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women’, not have any duty towards Afghan women, against whom the Taliban cops have unleashed barbarism with extreme vengeance?
As far as other countries of the world are concerned, the United Nations alone has collated the overall figures that highlight that every third woman or girl is a victim of some form of sexual assault in her life. Girls fall prey to the dirty mentality of their acquaintances and women fall prey to the lust of their own partner. Apart from this, beatings and abusive behaviour have also become the destiny of such women. It was revealed in the survey during the Covid pandemic that domestic brutality against women had increased. This kind of situation prevails in almost every other country. Statistics from the United Nations itself show that only 52 per cent of married women in the world are able to make their own decisions about their personal life. It is the family members who decide about the life of 48 per cent women. As far as the girls are concerned, even today in many countries of the world their marriage is fixed without consulting them. There remains an uncertainty regarding married life. In the new era, cyber crimes against girls have also increased a lot.
Let me quote you another figure released by the United Nations itself. 71 per cent of the victims of human trafficking are women. Of these, three out of four women become victims of sexual assault. These are the figures which have been documented or recorded. The undocumented and unrecorded figures might be several times more. The reality is that half of our population is still awaiting freedom. It is not that there are no strict laws to curb atrocities against women. The fact is that despite the existence of such stringent laws all over the world, the attitude of men towards women has not changed. They continue to objectify women and thus women are falling prey to their lust. That is why, besides a strict law, a big campaign to change the mindset of men to curb the atrocities against women will also have to be launched. It should be deeply inculcated in every man’s mind that woman is our mother, our sister and our life partner. Woman is the manifestation of Almighty in this world. Respect for women is respect for Almighty!
The author is the chairman, Editorial Board of Lokmat Media and former member of Rajya Sabha.
If we deeply analyse our inner soul, we will find that a woman is the manifestation of the Almighty on this earth. She is the basis of worldly creation. Unfortunately, the ‘male dominance’ mindset has held her back.
