Emphatic no to gender violence

National statistics on violence against women, the most recent released by the Bangladesh Women Lawyers' Association (BNWLA), have found 1,836 women and girls killed in 2011. Deaths were caused as a consequence of domestic violence, demands for dowry, and following rape and sexual abuse. A sharp increase from the previous year has also been noted.
The numbers are extremely worrying. Perhaps of even greater concern is that the figures are probably much higher in reality, as a large number of cases of violence against women go unreported for a variety of reasons, ranging from protection of the woman's and her family's honour to the ultimate lack of legal redress.
All this, despite a number of stringent laws enacted for the protection of women, which include the Acid Crime Control Act 2002, Dowry Prohibition Act 1980, the Prevention of Oppression against Women and Children Act 2000, and, most recently, the Pornography Control Act 2011, following a rising trend of recording and marketing of pornographic material, for which there were previously no direct legal consequences.
It is obvious, however, from the above statistics that laws are not enough. Conviction rates in such cases are very low, either as a result of the perpetrators threatening the victims and their families to withdraw cases, or else reaching a compromise with them, or, perhaps most unfortunately, due to the inefficiency and insincerity of the legal and judicial system.
The implementation of existing laws and introduction of new provisions where necessary is crucial. This includes ensuring that the law enforcing agencies accept and lodge complaints against perpetrators, preserve evidence properly and work independently. It also includes strengthening and independence of the judiciary and an effective system of support and protection of witnesses. A strong and efficient monitoring system must be in place to ensure these. Finally, community intervention is necessary, not to help the influential perpetrators to get away as is often the case, but to help ensure justice for the usually powerless victims.
We need to launch a massive campaign in the media, and through government offices, NGOs, think-tanks etc., to not only raise public awareness against gender violence but also to wage a movement of resistance.