Nagaland: ‘Law makers, administrative efforts do not link gender and disability’

Our Reporter
Dimapur, Aug. 28 (EMN): A study has found that violence experienced by women and girls with disabilities remain largely invisible as the current legislative, administrative and policy efforts do not link gender and disability in a meaningful way.

Women with disabilities are the last priority in the country especially in the Northeast and are condemned to live their lives knowing that they will not improve, activist and general secretary of Nagaland State Disability Forum, Ashe Kiba, said during a national seminar on the rights of differently-abled women in Northeast India on Aug. 26.

During a session on the topic “a thousand reasons to include”, Kiba said that her study on Naga women living with disabilities has revealed that the present generation of differently-able women is the first group to have taken up the courage to speak for their rights.

“If at all, some awareness on disability rights was created by our senior persons living with disabilities, our generation would have experienced different episode, but sad to learn that they grew up with zero knowledge on disability rights”, she said.

The activist advocated strengthening and protecting the rights of women and girls living with disabilities a priority because surveys and studies have shown these women and girls experience a high rate of violence by a variety of actors within a range of situations and this violence remains largely hidden.

“The study on the issue of violence against persons with disability noted that both men and women with disabilities are exposed to greater risk of violence. However women and girls with disability face an even greater risk of violence due to certain complex intersectional forms of discrimination as well as gender based assumptions”, she shared.

According to Kiba, if the rights and entitlements for women with disability are put into practice at least up to some extent, “we would have been in a position to say with positive mindset that we are women with disability in human body but we are compelled to say we are disabled women trapped in a human body. How long the society will make us women with disability feel and think this way,” she asked, while mentioning that there is a lack of systematised and disaggregated data on violence against women and girls with disabilities and where it exists; the data is poorly recorded, inconsistent and incomplete. 

The states’ programmes on violence against women should address the specific vulnerability of women and girls with disabilities with more awareness programmes and platform should be given to prevent and address violence against women with disabilities, she said adding that awareness raising programmes should be designed to change the societal perceptions especially for women living with disabilities.

‘Violence against women with disabilities surrounded by silence’

Department of History, Immanuel College Assistant Professor Imjungla Imchen said that the government, civil society and development partners can properly implement laws and policies to protect rights in cases of sexual violence against women with disabilities.

Strengthening government entities with the mandate to prevent and respond to violence in an inclusive manner can be followed to leave no women with disabilities behind in their work to end gender-based violence while designing inclusive and accessible services and programmes, Imchen suggested.

Ensuring that police, judicial officers, medical officers and judges receive adequate training and have “special educators”; promoting positive attitudes towards disabled people and encouraging the participation of disabled people in public life can ensure their inclusiveness, she said.

“Despite a significant number of disabled women in our Naga society, for too long, violence against women with disabilities has been an issue surrounded by silence. They were ignored, neglected, hidden, their concerns unknown and their rights unrecognised,” Imchen pointed out while asserting that it was time to make their voices heard, to raise more awareness and amp up efforts to create deep and long-lasting change for those women that have been left behind.

‘It is time to act to end abuse, violence and exploitation against the differently-abled women in Nagaland’ she advocated.

The one-day national seminar was sponsored by the National Commission for Women and organised by the department of Pol. Science and History Immanuel College in Dimapur.

Statistical report of Sakhi-One Stop Centre, Kohima, on gender-based violence (violence against women) recorded since its inception ie. 2017 till 2021.