South Asian Court of Women on the Violence of Trafficking and HIVAIDS

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South Asian Court of Women on the Violence of
Trafficking and HIV/AIDS

• Dhaka, Bangladesh
• August 11-13, 2003

UNDP in partnership with AWHRC, organised the
court Which was Implemented by UBINIG
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An Alternative Sphere

• The Courts are deeply symbolic and an attempt to
  define a new space for women a new politics as a
  forum for human rights education they have been
  an extremely sensitive and powerful media to
  reveal the interconnections between various forms
  of personal and public violence against women in
  different societies.

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• Several courts have been held in different parts
  of the world, including seven in Asia focusing on
  the issues specific to the region
• The others include those held in Middle East,
  Africa, Australia, Cuba

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Court Events
The South Asia Court of Women comprised of three
events

• 11th August 2003 A daylong series of round table
  discussions on critical cutting edge issues
  related to the core themes that will provide
  context for receiving the text and testimonies of
  the court.
• In the evening a silent solidarity event Women
  in Black was held in front of the parliament. A
  Burst of Light Celebrating Survival and
  Resistance

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Court Events (cont.)

• 12th August 2003 Testimonies of women survivors
  and jury statements was heard.
• 13th August 2003 A Follow up meeting was held to
  discuss the issues that emerged and discussions
  took place regarding solutions.

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Overview of the Court

• The South Asia Court of Women, through personal
  testimonies of violence and of resistance,
  analyses of expert witnesses and inspiring vision
  statements of a jury of men and women of wisdom
  seeks to understand the increasing violence and
  vulnerability associated with trafficking in
  women and children and HIV/AIDS

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Objectives of the Court

• Provide a forum for women from different
  countries of South Asia to share, reflect and
  have a deeper understanding of roots of the
  violence and vulnerability faced by women and
  children affected by trafficking and thereby
  HIV/AIDS
• Recognise and build upon the strengths and
  survival strategies of affected women towards
  challenging and transforming discriminatory
  social and legal policies and evolving a notion
  of rights rooted in their realities.

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Objectives (cont.)

• Evaluate and assess the policy frameworks that
  are being evolved to address the issues at
  national, regional and international levels
• Strengthen regional and national networking among
  individuals and groups on this issue in order to
  work for more effective action and advocacy at
  various levels

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Issues discussed at the Court

• Redefining issues The different faces of
  trafficking.
• Migration and Movement Globalisation and Human
  Insecurity
• Borders and Boundaries Wars and Inhuman
  Security.
• Victimising the Victim Human Rights Abuse
• Recrafting Destinies Voices of Resistance

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Issues discussed at Roundtables
The Roundtables discussed issues around the
following themes

• Beyond the Borders Globalisation, Militarisation
  and Human Vulnerabilities
• Human Rights and Inhuman Wrongs Legal Regulation
  of Trafficking and Transborder Issues
• Refocusing Issues Media Representation of
  Trafficking and HIV/AIDS
• Integrating, Trafficking Human Rights and
  HIV/AIDS Some Debates and Dilemmas

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Launching of You and AIDS Magazine by the
honourable Minister of Women and Childrens
Affairs and UNDP RR
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Jury Members of the South Asia Court of Women
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Jury Members at the roundtable
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Jury Members

• Winnie Mandela (South Africa)
• Gopal Sivakoti Chinten (Nepal)
• Gayatri Spivak (United States)
• Feryal Ali Gauhar (Pakistan)
• Pam Rajput (India)
• Salma Sobhan (Bangladesh)

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Testimonies

• Testimonies were heard from survivors of
  trafficking and HIV positive persons from
  Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri
  Lanka,

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Jury Statement

• There is a need for sustained attention to the
  quality of grassroots education for the long term
  eradication of patriarchal values, one of the
  causes of trafficking and other forms of violence
  against women.
• Trafficked women, who are victims, should not be
  criminalised under any circumstances and/or at
  any stage. They should rather be rehabilitated
  humanely, following their own suggestions. The
  states of the region should undertake full
  reparations without yoking the victim and the
  perpetrator.

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Jury Statement (Cont.)

• There should be proper formulation, enactment and
  implementation of laws against the perpetrators.
  The jury opposes the death penalty unequivocally.
• The states of the region should neither undertake
  mandatory testing nor criminalise people living
  with HIV/AIDS. It should make anti-retro-viral
  drugs freely available at the grass-roots.
• The violence of trafficking and HIV/AIDS is
  linked to the violence of poverty. This should be
  recognised under the human rights paradigm.

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Jury Statement (cont.)

• Trafficking and the spread of HIV/AIDS are
  closely linked to the privatisation of state
  services and the dismantling of communities
  imposed by globalisation.
• Migration and trafficking should not be conflated
  in the interest of international immigration
  control. On no account does the Jury wish to
  curtail a womans right to mobility.
• The control of trafficking and HIV/AIDS should
  not be instrumentalised internationally for
  undermining the sovereignty of states. Such
  action is against international law and
  democratic principles.

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Jury Statement (cont.)

• The domestic laws of USA have no international
  legitimacy. The Trafficking Victims Protection
  Act, 1999 should not therefore be applied
  internationally to undermine the authority of
  individual states as well as of the United
  Nations.
• The South Asian Association for Regional
  Cooperation (SAARC) Conventions should include
  transboundary jurisdiction for the trail and
  sentencing of perpetrators of trafficking. The
  definition of trafficking should not be confined
  to prostitution alone.

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Jury Statement (cont.)

• Courts of Women and other similar exercises
  should be replicated nationally and locally for
  the establishment of accountability and for the
  reform of the existing system of justice.
• The Jury urges the ratification of the
  International Criminal Court (ICC) and recommends
  the establishment of a South Asia Regional Court
  of Human Rights.