Sensitisation of society is very important to prevent crimes against women, National Commission for Women member secretary Meenakshi Negi has said.
She was delivering the presidential address at a regional consultation meet of southern States and Union Territories organised by the National Commission for Women and hosted by the Kerala Women’s Commission here on Wednesday.
Ms. Negi said that in recent times, focus had shifted from rescue and rehabilitation after crimes have have been committed against women to preventing such incidents by making them aware of how to avoid such pitfalls. It would not do to wait till such things happened. “There is need to educate them to recognise the red flags when people promise them jobs, marriage, good life in the entertainment industry, and so on so as to prevent them from falling prey to crimes, including trafficking.”
Referring to human trafficking, Ms. Negi said it was not a State or regional but global issue. A chunk of the women rescued from trafficking in Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir were from the southern and eastern parts of the country. As it was not above ground, there was no data on how many women were being trafficked, except in instances that were reported. The commission was trying to train the police, Customs, RPF, and CISF forces to recognise trafficking, she said.
She also called for educating officials and the government machinery not to go against the law. Officialdom and patriarchy were some of the hurdles that women in sex work faced. Even though sex work or soliciting customers was not illegal, sex workers were regularly hounded by the police for soliciting customers or engaging in sex trade. However, for them it was a question of earning their livelihood, she pointed out.
Ms. Negi also called for moving from women development to women-led development. There was need to recognise the potential of women to become leaders. “It should not be a slogan alone, but mainstreamed it in our families, society, workplaces, and so on.”
The suggestions arising from the consultation would be taken forward and used to tweak schemes targeted at women, she said.
Kerala Women’s Commission chairperson P. Satheedevi, in her welcome address, said the plight of women who had to face the most hardship during the violence in Manipur was painful. Widespread violation of human rights of women was occurring there. Everyone should come together to support women who had been attacked, she said.
Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women chairperson A.S. Kumari; Kerala Circle Chief Post Master General Manju Prasannan Pillai; Women and Child Principal Secretary Sharmila Mary Joseph and Director Priyanka G.; and State Women’s Commission member secretary Sonia Washington spoke.
Besides Kerala, representatives from the Women and Child Development department, Social Justice department, non-governmental organisations, and experts in the field from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and Lakshadweep and Puducherry participated in the meet that mostly focussed on consultations on Swadhar Greh and Ujjwala scheme implementation centres and one-stop centres.
