The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (1993) defines Violence Against Women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.” In 2021, the World Health Organisation (WHO) noted that at least one in three women has experienced some form of gender-based violence. However, less than 40 percent of women among those subjected to violence seek any sort of help, the rest being unreported. In India, there has been a rise of 26.35% in cases of crimes against women in the last 6 years and it reports one of the largest number of cases in South Asia.

The project aims to strengthen various institutional mechanisms that are set up for combating Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in India through a multifaceted campaign across the country. The campaign aims to convene various stakeholder discussions among civil societies, NGOs, law enforcement agencies, judiciary and other community groups to understand areas of coordination among stakeholders so as to produce the desired change on the ground. It also aims to be a platform to share various best practices for fighting VAWG and identify commonalities in their efforts to counter the same in India. VAWG survivors will also be an integral part of the campaign, sharing their journey from being victims to strong survivors while also advocating against VAWG. The campaign approach will be inclusive of various aspects like prevention, mitigation, response and recovery from VAWG.

Project Goals

1. Identify the gaps in the VAWG mitigation systems, including institutional procedures and policy frameworks, in India.
2. Familiarise with US best practices in India to tackle VAWG among stakeholders from government, civil society and survivors in their ground-level efforts.
3. Empower VAWG survivors and civil society to initiate collective action at all stages (prevention, response and rehabilitation) of the fight against VAWG.
4. Initiate dialogues and discussions of key inputs and findings from the study among institutions with heightened potential to influence policy and legal landscape. Institutions will include prominent law universities, think tanks, government training academies of the judiciary, police and institutions offering programmes on gender.
5. Understand the workings of existing technology-led solutions in India.

Webinar

• Strengthening State Responses to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) – U.S. and Indian Perspectives