The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Speakers at a dialogue yesterday underscored the need for stopping the widespread domestic violence in rural and urban areas to pave path of the overall development of the country.

We need to stop the increasing domestic violence for the social and economic uplift of the country, they said at the dialogue on ' Domestic Violence in Bangladesh: Cost Estimates and Measures to Address the Attendant Problems' at CIRDAP auditorium.

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) organised the event where Prof Rehman Sobhan, Chairman of the organisation presided over.

Women and Children Affairs Adviser Rasheda K Choudhury was present as chief guest while Advocate Sultana Kamal former adviser and Executive Director of Ain o Salish Kendra and Dona Rapold, Ambassador of Switzerland were also present as special guests.

They said pervasive awareness and enactment of favourable laws could significantly eliminate such violence.

CPD conducted a household survey that shows that 40 per cent women in urban areas and 42 per cent in rural areas have been physically abused by their husbands and about 19 per cent of them experienced severe physical assault.

The cost of spousal violence are related with health care, displacement, shalish, civil legal service, and criminal justice and lost working days. And average cost of per spousal violence is Tk 18,917.

Rasheda K Choudhury said unless attitudinal change takes place domestic violence against women and children could not be eliminated.

The Adviser who is also in charge of the Primary and Mass Education said from the next year gender issue would be included in the curriculum of primary school level.

More budgetary allocation and one stop crisis centre could help reduce the rate of spousal violence, she mentioned.

She said that the media could play an important role in deterring spousal and child violence in the country.

Prof Mustafizur Rahman, Executive Director, Dr Uttam Kumar Dev, senior research fellow of CPD and Ayesha Khanom, president of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad among others, were present on the occasion.

The recommendations of the dialogue include the need of anti- domestic violence law, mainstream development of NGO's integration in creating awareness against spousal violence by their field workers, provision by to easy access the government should provide easy assess to legal aid to NGO's to help victims of the violence.