Society’s silence promotes violence; life skills a solution

Dimapur, May 29 (EMN): A seminar about what updates on Wednesday called “gender based violence” was conducted by the district administration of Kiphire, and Sakhi one stop center on May 28 at the Hopongkyu Memorial Hall in Kiphire.
The event was organised in collaboration with the state’s Social Welfare establishment and the State Resource Centre for Women (SRCW), the government’s publicity agency, the department of Information and Public Relations (IPR), stated in its updates on Wednesday.

The chairperson of the Nagaland State Social Welfare Board, Bano Vinito, addressed key issues that she said were being faced by women in the society. She said perpetrators become bolder when gender-related violence are hushed up.

‘Children must be given proper education; equip them with life skills so that they become independent adults,’ Vinito said. ‘Girls must be given quality education to make them economically independent.’

The official added that gender-based violence must be stopped from home, teach people to respect women in their lives as an individual, and not ‘disregard her as a weaker gender,’ the updates added.

Gracy Aye, state coordinator of the SRCW, gave a discourse about the various forms of violence against women and children. ‘It occurs in private and public spaces at home, neighbors, workplace, streets, public transport and even the cyber space and social media. Unfortunately, majority of cases related to offence against women go unreported,’ Aye said.

Vulnerable women and children continued to be victims of abuse and other exploitative situations due to lack of awareness, she said.

Gender based violence manifest in various forms, Aye said. She highlighted some of them: Child sexual abuse, child marriage, domestic violence, human trafficking, sexual harassment at workplaces, and online etc.

Members of the police and the judiciary gave updates and overview about “the situation of violence” against women and children in Kiphire, besides highlighting the legal mechanisms for women and children affected by gender-based violence, the IPR added.

Women leaders from churches, tribal women leaders and members of nongovernmental organisations attended the event, the IPR stated.