Impunity leads to continuation of sexual violence

Sexual violence against women is still going on in the country due to impunity since the 1971 Liberation War, said speakers at a programme in the capital yesterday.

There was no trial for sexual violence on women, who were used as sex slaves during the birth of Bangladesh, and that impunity keeps the culture still alive here, they said at the publication ceremony of a book, "Of the Nation Born", organised by Ain o Salish Kendra, at Gyan Taposh Abdur Razzak Bidyapith in Dhanmondi.

The book, a part of a series on sexual violence and impunity in South Asia, is a compilation of essays on sexual violence against women and impunity during and after the Liberation War.

Zubaan, a New Delhi-based feminist publishing house, published the book, written by feminist Bangladeshi and Indian writers with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

The speakers told the ceremony that the book brought together both new and established scholars to look at areas as wide-ranging as the law and its histories, nationalism, memory and sexuality, the status of minorities, religion and its directives, and gender contestation and more.

Edited by Dr Hameeda Hossain, founder member and research director of ASK; and Prof Amena Mohsin of the Department of International Relations, Dhaka University, the book offers a comprehensive overview of the situation in Bangladesh from the 1971 war to the present, they added.

Dr Hameeda, who moderated the event, said the book gave readers an excellent understanding of the complex realities of how impunity for the perpetrators of sexual violence had become standard in Bangladesh in particular, and South Asia in general.

Telling about her write-up, Illira Dewan, former secretary of Hill Women's Federation, said the sexual violence against indigenous women and impunity in Bangladesh's hill districts emerged in her writing.

Novsharan Singh, a representative of IDRC; Joanne Charette, vice president of IDRC, Laxmi Murthy of Zubaan, Dr Rounaq Jahan, fellow of CPD; and writer Meghna Guhathakurta, among others, spoke.

The University Press Limited will publish the book also in Bangla.