Breaking The Silence: Ensuring Justice For Women
Submitted by William Gomes on Fri, 07/10/2009 - 02:35
Printer-friendly version
Send to friend
PDF versionBy William Gomes
Various organizations and individuals have been fighting for decades to ensure justice for women and children in Bangladesh. While progress has been nominal, violence continues to be notable.
Innocent souls are crying for justice. According to a local human rights organization Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK)[ Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK). ] ,From January to March 2009, 73 women and children were the victims of rape or attempted rape; among those, 29 were gang raped and 13 were between ages 7 and 12. In May alone, 33 women and girls were the victims of rape. Among those, 16 were women and 17 were children under the age of 16. Out of the 16 women, five were victims of gang rape and three were killed after being raped. Out of the 17 girls, five were victims of gang rape and two were killed after being raped.
According to a local human rights organization Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), Between January and March 2009, six serious acts of violence against women were instigated by fatwas. When I discussed this issue with the law minister, he denied the necessity of introducing a specific law to ban fatwas. I repeatedly insisted on the necessity of a specific law to fight fatwa, as well as a law to identify the paternity of a child in cases where it is disputed.
Dowry is another social disease in Bangladesh. From January to March 2009, 44 women faced dowry-related violence; among these women, 23 died.
Bangladesh has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world: 440 per 100,000 live births, according to UNICEF, and more than 20,000 women in Bangladesh die annually from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.
In Bangladesh, women do their best to fulfill their duties and take care of all their men's needs; yet, from January to March 2009 alone, 45 women were abused by their husbands or their husbands’ relatives. Very recently, a woman, Parul Akter, who was seven months pregnant, was killed and her body thrown in a river; her two other children are still missing. This is the reality that many women in Bangladesh face.
We can name thousands of ways that women and children are facing oppression and repression in Bangladesh. Confucius said, “We should feel sorrow, but not sink under its oppression.” I do agree with that. For almost two decades, Bangladesh’s prime ministers have been women. The number of people who oppose and oppress woman and children are larger than the number of people who are oppressed or suppressed.
Women’s empowerment alone will not solve the problem; we need to treat women as human beings first, rather than simply as women. We need to break the silence and stand up against religious and cultural traditions that encourage the repression of women and children. I dream of a day when a woman will be treated as a human being first, when women will really be empowered and lead the nation toward a more humane way, as they are the source of the human race.
The whole system in Bangladesh is male-dominated, inspired by common prophet religions that have a culture of suppressing women historically. We need to deal with these oppressors first. Many aw and wonderful steps had been taken to bring an end to the suppression to woman and children but hopefully none of them succeed.
Sometimes, a police officer who oppresses his wife in the home is used to investigate a case of oppression against a woman. In this case, the police officer should be brought to trial before anything else. Bangladesh even has cases where, after being raped, the woman gets raped again in the police station by police officers.
More than anything, the religion of Islam encourages the majority of people in Bangladesh in the historical cultural traditions of oppressing women. Laws can change, while religion inspires adherents through heaven and hell; in this light, how will jail or capital punishment be able to make any significant change?
The Prophet Mohammed said, “I was standing at the edge of the fire (hell) and the majority of the people going in were women.” When the Quran and the Prophet Mohammed guide the majority of people in Bangladesh, and the Quran (4:34) orders a man to beat his wife if she doesn't obey him, how will the law prevent the beating of women? Laws and conventions contradict the holy sayings of the Prophet and Allah and will surely fail to ensure the rights of women.
I silently cry for justice for women like Parul, Rahima, Rebeka, Shima, who was raped in front of her father, and Mili Rani, a minority girl who was raped and later committed suicide. All this happened inside of the society before you and me.
We need to break the silence and step up a revival for humanity and justice.
William Gomes is an independent human rights activist ,Freelance Journalist and a political analyst. He can be reached at cda.exe@gmail.com.
Dear mr. Gomes, thank you for
Dear mr. Gomes,
thank you for this article.
I do have a request though: Can you please send an article to FFI for publication regarding your latest encounters with the Police in Bangladesh. I'd like to know what is going on. I am sure other readers are like me in this regard. Thank you.
"The Prophet Mohammed said,
"The Prophet Mohammed said, “I was standing at the edge of the fire (hell) and the majority of the people going in were women.” "
What was he doing there? (answer: he was ready to jump in after the women, but didn't find any little boys there so he stopped himself from jumping and right then and there decided to invent a heaven with BOTH women and little boys!)
Ok, ok I couldn't help myself. I had a little bit of whimsy there with my imagination.
Back to the article and back to the improvement of women's lives under islam.
I don't think it will happen. Until they change their 'religion' from one of oppression, death and torture to one with the Golden Rule there will be no helping these women in the long run. They will always be subjected to their sharia laws and the muslim texts.
Unless there is some sort of consequence to the men to stop not only this but also their jihad - there will be no changing them.
And we have an uphill battle since our own help them in their intolerance towards others and terror. Our own are afraid to 'say it like it is' way too often. And this fear, or disinformation, comes not only from our political leaders but also our religious leaders.
There are not enough Fr. Botros types out there - there are some, but not enough.
Hello, what have we here?
Hello, what have we here? Rape and other inhuman practices in the Islamic paradise of Bangladesh? In the name of Allah and the Prophet's beard how could this be? Islamist apologists always brag that Muslim lands are free of these vices and is only a problem in non-Muslim countries.
Darn, must be those Joooos doing it and noble Muslims getting blamed! I suspect Muhammad was a self-hating Joooo.
In The Name of Allah, The
In The Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful.
None to be worsipped but Allah, Muhammad is His Prophet.
Wife beating is something strange in Muslim lands.Collect any nonsense and publish.Avoid the truth and spread malice.Yours is nothing but spreading anti-God ideas.God is there.
The essence of this website is to call people to satan.You are against worship.
Get to know God you idiots.
4. Jack Eliud Says: "Wife
4. Jack Eliud Says: "Wife beating is something strange in Muslim lands."
What garbage! Have you even read your Quran instead of merely parroting it like a madressa child? Read sura 4:34 where Muslim men are permitted by your Allah to beat women if they even fear rebellion. Actual rebellion earns them even worse.
PS It takes an idiot to recognize another idiot.
Jack: In The Name of Allah,
Jack:
In The Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful.
None to be worsipped but Allah, Muhammad is His Prophet.
Wife beating is something strange in Muslim lands.Collect any nonsense and publish.Avoid the truth and spread malice.Yours is nothing but spreading anti-God ideas.God is there.
The essence of this website is to call people to satan.You are against worship.
Get to know God you idiots.
I say: God is here but he is not Allah. God gave us freewill. Islam is a complete way of life that violates the freewill God gave us. You don't need to prostrate yourself five times a day to get to know God.
#4, Jack, LOL! When you got
#4, Jack, LOL! When you got a 'prophet' who says to assasinate, torture, enslave, steal, lie, kill, terrorize, and couldn't keep his lust in check and even admitted that his god, Allah, was a deceiver (which begs the question - how can you trust your god?!) - I think that the ones who have a problem with Satan are the ones bowing to that god.
Satan is the one known as the deceiver. And Muhammed let it slip that Allah is also known as the deceiver. So, who is worshiping Satan?!
Satan can't promise anything other than earthly riches, carnal lusts, earthly rewards, etc - and that is what Muhammed got and promised - nothing more and a lot less. Chaos, deception, hate, death all reign supreme in islam.
Another example of Islamic
Another example of Islamic barbarity.
R_Not: Satan can’t promise
R_Not:
Satan can’t promise anything other than earthly riches, carnal lusts, earthly rewards, etc – and that is what Muhammed got and promised – nothing more and a lot less. Chaos, deception, hate, death all reign supreme in islam.
I say:
Even Islamic heaven is nothing but riches and carnal lusts.
Marie, yeah I wasn't clear on
Marie, yeah I wasn't clear on that because that is what I meant. Thanks.
I also forgot another thing about islam - wailing and whining reign supreme in islam too. Unfortunately, our news picks up on it and always give them the ear and always, ALWAYS, make their victims sound like the bad guys. Even on Fox news - yep, Fox news made the Israelis sound like they were the bad guys because they have a wall which they even admitted keeps the suicide bombers out.
Never one mention about Egypt having a wall. Or that Jordan took most of Israel's land given to them in 1948 and that the Pals are not concerned with a country or else they would have formed it a long time ago when no one was on that land.
I am sooooo sick of our news medias sucking up to muslims and forgetting to mention hundreds upon hundreds, probably thousands, of broken promises daily violence and just poor behavior against not only Israel, but other non-muslims. It wasn't Israel who broke all the promises - it was the Palestinians who just can't seem to get a handle on all their children, and adults, blowing up Israeli women and children.
Last I heard Arabs have a
Last I heard Arabs have a stake in Fox News ownership.
Jackass Elewd boasted: "The
Jackass Elewd boasted:
"The essence of this website is to call people to satan.You are against worship."
Before you mentioned satan, why don't you show me satan? This website only talks about islam and it's actions.
Bah... post and run...post
Bah... post and run...post and run... The method of muslim.
I dont know y muslims come
I dont know y muslims come and go after leaving there comments...y they dont want to understand the reality...if we are wrong...thn shut this website and Challenge Ali sina and accept his challengs and gave him answers...
So simple and easy way
Typical Muslim ad hom attack.
Typical Muslim ad hom attack. Jack, are you afraid of thinking about anything? How about analyzing your faith as I have analyzed mine, and other faiths. Try to lose the emotional rants, and critically think.
This is a country that has a
This is a country that has a woman as their prime minister!!!! Just shows that they are just puppets. It's the evil islam that rules, not the laws of Bangladesh. I share the pain of the families of all the victimized women.
Poor Jack!!!!!