A two-day women conference with different political views from state was held between 18-19th March. The meeting was facilitated by Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation (CDR).
According to the joint statement, the women showed concern over the growing violence against women and children, due to increased militarization.
“We express equal concern over the status of half-widows, enforced disappearances, killings, and cases of rape,” statement reads.
“We want that the questions pertaining to the legal and social status of half-widows be addressed. We seek the help of civil society in this endeavour. We reiterate our demand for the beginning of a process for demilitarization, revocation of laws like AFSPA and PSA.”
Women also pressed government to call upon the government to ensure legal justice in all cases of human rights violations, including cases of molestations and rapes.
“We also recommend psychological counseling for victim-survivors.”
We call upon the government to make the Police Reforms Bill draft public and initiate debate, ensuring participation of women before the final draft is ready so that it is suitably humane and gender sensitive.
Expressing concern over the non-effectiveness of the panchayats, women called upon the government to hold regular elections, empower the panchayats and follow it up with sustained training programs for the panches and the sarpanches.
“Thirty three percent reservations for women are demanded for all levels of governance, starting from halka panchayats to the legislative assemblies,” statement reads.
