Catalog

Giving Women a Chance
ADB Review [ January - February 2004 ]

Female victims of violence and injustice get help from an NGO specializing in alternative dispute resolutions

By Carolyn Dedolph (cdedolph@adb.org)
External Relations Specialist

Kushtia District, Bangladesh

From the very start of Sullaina Pervin’s short marriage, she had trouble. Her husband and in-laws physically abused her, her brother-in-law touched her inappropriately—and her mother-in-law blamed her for being the problem. After only 8 months of marriage, her father-in-law said she had to be divorced. When she refused to sign the paper, her sisters-in-law threatened to kill her.

Feeling helpless and left without a choice, she signed. Devastated, she went home to her family. Some local people advised her father to file the case with Mukti Nari-O-Shishu Kalyan Shangstha, a nongovernment organization (NGO) working to provide legal aid to female victims of violence and injustice. After three sessions using traditional arbitration practices called shalish, the two families agreed on a financial settlement to Ms. Pervin. Today, she lives with her family, supporting herself by doing embroidery. With the settlement money, she bought a small plot of land.

If Mukti had not intervened, she most likely would never have gotten any settlement—and, as in the case of many women, potentially left destitute.

DEDICATED STAFF Mukti staff members listen patiently to a woman’s story

Rape. Acid throwing. Divorce. Illegal dowry. Early marriage. Polygamy. Trafficking. Unfortunately, Mukti staff members have seen it all before, having handled more than a hundred cases in 2003 alone.

“Mukti’s greatest achievement is when we manage to resolve domestic problems that initially appeared unresolvable,” says lawyer Abdur Rashid, Mukti’s legal adviser. According to him, Mukti is able to reconcile 90% of the cases it handles. Even if a marriage ends in divorce, Mukti helps the woman recover some financial compensation from the man.

While legal reforms are critical, they do not necessarily help poor women who are victims of violence. Local mediating organizations like Mukti can. By intervening on the victim’s behalf, these NGOs can use formal legal and police structures and pursue alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.

Recognizing this situation, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), through a gender and development regional technical assistance project, took the initiative of working directly with Mukti to foster new mechanisms for supporting these victims. The project aimed to strengthen the process of dialogue between Mukti and women’s groups, police, media representatives, lawyers, and government officials on the extent and nature of violence against women in Kushtia district. Funds were also used to create a database on the incidence and handling of cases in local hospitals and police stations.

With the ADB funding, Mukti held 24 dialogue sessions from 2001 to 2002 with local government officials to raise awareness and build a platform for advocacy and lobbying. Mukti was able to establish high-level dialogue, and, as a result, the NGO was invited to become a member of the district-level government Committee on Violence Protection. Focusing on the role participants can play in raising community awareness, 18 training workshops on gender and violence against women were also held for representatives of women’s organizations, women activists, social workers, and media representatives.

Through its experiences, Mukti clearly demonstrates the value and cost-effective nature of alternative dispute resolution for women who are victims of violence as a complement to legal reforms.

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