CAUSE FOR CONCERN: Renuka Chowdary, Union Minister of Women and Child Development, listens to Girija Vyas, Chairperson, National Commission for Women, at the workshop on `Prevention & Combating Human Trafficking' in Hyderabad on Monday. At left is Ma ry Ravindranath, Chairperson, State Women's Commission. PHOTO: P. V. SIVAKUMAR

HYDERABAD: The Centre is planning to make the laws on child and women abuse tougher, according to Union Minister of State for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdary.

Laws on curbing sexual harassment of women at workplaces, redefining rape through a Bill on sexual assault and growing paedophile menace in Goa were among several measures being contemplated by the Government, she said here on Monday.

Addressing a workshop on `Integrated plan of action to prevent and combat human trafficking with special focus on children and women,' she said that a draft Bill was being prepared on sexual harassment at workplaces.

"Every man must know that we are not there as their subjects of entertainment. We are there for being equally qualified and competent, if not more," she asserted.

"It is unfortunate that 30 to 40 per cent of the country's trafficked population is from Andhra Pradesh."

Globalisation had a negative impact on women. Even in rehabilitation programmes, women got a raw deal.

Victims of conflicts and natural disasters and single women were being forced into trafficking. Taking pot-shots at the way the international media portrayed women, Ms. Chowdary said that if Hillary Clinton declared that she was in the race for the presidency of the US, the media was more interested in her lipstick, high heels, vanity bag, etc.

Chairperson of the National Council for Women (NCW) Girija Vyas said exploitation of women and children and forcing them into trafficking emerged as a formidable challenge.

Plan of action

The NCW with the help of UNIFEM, UNICEF, NHRC and other agencies would prepare a plan of action to contain this, she said. The NCW proposed 34 new laws to safeguard women and children.

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