VISAKHAPATNAM: "To curb human rights violation against women, the rights need to be properly implemented and women have to take it up aggressively. In most cases it is the women themselves who were responsible for its violation," observed E. Ismail, member of State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) at a seminar on women's human rights, organised by Mahila Chaitanya Sravanthi (MCS), here on Thursday.

Quoting figures, he said that in case of female foeticide or dowry related incidents, the involvement of women in the crime is over 70 per cent.

Trafficking menace

He urged the educated women to volunteer to safeguard the abuse of the law. Citing cases on the growth of human trafficking, especially minor girls from rural and poor families, he said educated girls should reach out to the community and educate the families and women and stop the trafficking menace. "There are hundreds of cases where young girls from poor families are lured into the flesh trade in name of love, marriage or opportunities in films. It would be nice to see young college girls reaching out to them and showing the right path. To implement a law, one need not be a social worker. He or she can start observing it at the domestic level first and then move to the society," he opined.

Mr. Ismail also informed that to stop trafficking of women and children to the gulf in the name of domestic help and later being subjected to sexual abuse and used as camel jockeys, the Human Rights Commission is working out a procedure to involve the embassy to intervene and check the issue.

Various facets

Earlier, D. Venkat Lakshmi, chairperson of MCS, in her inaugural address gave a brief understanding of various facets of human rights violation against women and informed that sexual harassment of women at workplace is now covered under human rights violation. She pointed out that human rights commissions both at the centre and at the state level should take up the issue of Suppression of Immoral Trafficking Act and instruct the authorities to set up protection shelters and rehabilitation centres for the victims, especially for the innocent minor girls from the rural areas who are lured into the trade with false promises. She also observed that for proper implementation of human rights, the state government should set up some sort of mechanism like the NHRC is needed at the mandal level also. Noted advocate and social activist, D. Saraswathi Devi, also spoke.

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