‘Violence against women rampant in Asia in 2004’

KUALA LUMPUR - Violence and systematic discrimination against women was rampant in Asia last year, ranging from acid attacks in Bangladesh to forced abortion in China, rape by soldiers in Nepal and domestic beatings in Australia, Amnesty International said.

The London-based group’s annual assessment of the state of human rights in the world reported abuses against women from almost every country in Asia.

The largest section was devoted to their plight in Afghanistan, where the ouster of the conservative, Islamic Taleban regime in 2001 by US-led forces did little to bring relief to women.

“Fear of abductions by armed groups forced women to restrict their movements outside the home,” Amnesty said. Even within families, “extreme restrictions” on women’s behaviour and high levels of violence persisted, it said.

In all regions, but particularly in western Herat, hundreds of women set fire to themselves to escape violence in the home or forced marriage, it said.

Domestic violence high in Australia

Westernized Australia did not escape the blight either.

In October, a UN-coordinated survey revealed that 36 percent of Australian women had experienced violence in a relationship. It was also reported that domestic violence was the leading cause of premature death and ill-health in women aged 15 to 44, Amnesty said.

In Nepal, rape by members of the security forces was frequently reported and violence against women from members of their family was also widespread.

Violence against women took an especially brutal form in Bangladesh, where at least 153 women were attacked with acid between January and October 2004. Reasons for most attacks were reportedly disputes between families on payment of dowry or refusal by women to marry or provide sex, Amnesty said.

China fared badly too, where serious violations against women and girls continued to be reported as a result of the enforcement of the family planning policy, including forced abortions and sterilizations, Amnesty said.

Amnesty highlighted the case of Mao Hengfeng, who was sent to a labour camp for 18 months for persistently petitioning the authorities over a forced abortion 15 years earlier when she became pregnant in violation of China’s family planning policy.

Female foeticide, honour crimes, domestic violence ruled the roost

Selective abortion of female foetuses remained common although illegal, resulting in a growing gap in the boy-girl birth ratio, Amnesty said.

The report said India still lacks comprehensive legislation addressing domestic violence and that the government failed to submit overdue periodic reports to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

In Pakistan, “honour crimes” against women - punishments meted out ostensibly for sullying a family’s reputation - took bizarre forms with a tribal council directing in June that a 7-year-old girl, Mouti, be killed for an alleged illicit relation with an eight-year old boy.

Her father refused to accept the verdict and authorities provided the girl protection. 

AP