Pooja Shukla may have lost an election, but the 25-year-old activist is determined to ensure the poor are catered for and women are protected. Credit: Mehru Jaffer/ IPS

By Mehru Jaffer
Lucknow, India, Apr 4 2022 (IPS)

Pooja Shukla, 25, a socialist candidate, has lost her maiden elections to the provincial parliament in Uttar Pradesh (UP), India. But Shukla is no loser.

A day after the results were announced on March 10, Shukla was back to a rousing reception in her constituency in North Lucknow to thank her supporters for polling 1,04,527 votes for her.

She was with the people again on March 18 on Holi, the festival of colour held annually to celebrate the end of winter and in anticipation of new beginnings.

Shukla told the IPS that she was hoping to win. Of course, she is disappointed, but electoral defeat would not stop her from continuing her struggle to get economic and social justice for the people of her constituency.

Although Shukla belongs to the upper caste community of Brahmins, she has worked hard to develop a personal connection with a cross-section of those who live in North Lucknow, one of the city’s nine constituencies. Lucknow is the capital of UP, the country’s largest, but economically and socially, it is one of its least developed states. More than 400,000 voters are registered in North Lucknow, nearly half of whom are impoverished women.

The constituency is home to Muslims, upper-caste Hindus and thousands of impoverished people belonging to communities who have been living for decades in makeshift shanties, often on the bank of open drains. Some are daily wage earners, and others are without paid work.

Shukla won hearts because she has knocked on every door in North Lucknow and continues to spend time with citizens.

“I have visited every single home in every single neighbourhood in North Lucknow. I will continue to do so as I really care for members of all communities that reside within my constituency,” Shukla adds.

This first-time contestant had faced Dr Neeraj Bora, a seasoned politician from the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), a right-wing party. Despite the formidable challenge, Shukla was leading on the day the votes were counted. She was ahead before her rival finally defeated her by 33,985 votes until noon.

Out of 403 seats in the UP-state parliament, the socialists won 111 seats. The Samajwadi Party (SP) of socialists came a distant second to BJP’s 255 seats, but the party has emerged as the largest opposition party in UP.

This was a golden opportunity to strengthen democracy by converting the numbers won by the SP into a viable opposition to the ruling party, Shukla believes. A well-meaning, vocal opposition is needed, she says, when the ruling party seems to want to wash its hands of all its social responsibility in favour of outsourcing businesses and privatising even essential services like education, health, and employment opportunities.

“Democratic values strengthen when the opposition to the ruling party is strong,” says Shukla, who believes that elections are held to elect representatives who will provide affordable homes, education, and health facilities to voters.

Shukla feels that socially conscious people don’t have to be Marxists to dream of justice in society. The desire to want to see all citizens cared for fairly and equally by the state is a desire of all decent human beings.

Shukla was the youngest candidate in the polls, nursing a constituency that is a sprawling, chaotic cluster of college campuses, traffic jams, markets spilling from every corner and rows of slums with open drains that overflow and swallow up lives during rainfall.

Her dream is to invite educationists to open model public schools for the majority of the poor people in her constituency. She wants low-cost houses for the poor and free health services. She says that time is on her side. She will find many more opportunities to contest elections.

“To win elections is important for me as I want to be a lawmaker and make sure that people-friendly legislation is passed in parliament to protect the interest of the most vulnerable in the country,” Shukla says.

Until she makes it to parliament, she plans to work tirelessly to raise literacy in her constituency and lower the poverty rate. She wants clean drinking water, cleaner drains, and better roads. Women’s safety is her priority, as is a regular and fair wage for the many communities of artisans like potters and weavers.

Shukla has witnessed the police lathi-charge citizens who dared to ask the government for jobs. Social activists have been jailed, kicked around, and beaten in lockdown for participating in protests and questioning the government in UP. There are countless incidents of gruesome crimes perpetrated against women.

Most political parties want women’s votes but are reluctant to share power with them. Therefore, politics in UP today is a constant struggle for any woman who joins the male-dominated world of politics. Shukla’s biggest strength is her belief in herself.

The daughter of a small property dealer, Shukla, learnt to be fearless from Beena, her mother. At first, Beena wanted her to marry a suitable Brahmin boy. However, the constant cry to marry died down after she decided to contest the elections.

Her parents suggested that Shukla choose a more respectable profession like teaching instead. The parents were pained when she was jailed in 2019, and countless criminal cases were filed against her for participating in street demonstrations.

Shukla is the eldest of three sisters, and she feels responsible for her siblings. The family reminded her she was a role model, but she refused to give up her politics. Her determination to remain engaged in public life is less frowned upon now. At least her immediate family members and neighbours are supportive. She is no longer considered a black sheep within the Brahmin community that sees itself as exceptionally respectable.

Shukla has been in the limelight since 2017 when she and fellow students waved black flags at the motor convoy of those in power. She was part of a group of students protesting against the use of Lucknow University funds for a political party event.

She was angry when jailed for protesting peacefully. After 20 days in jail, the University refused her admission for postgraduate studies. Shukla started a hunger strike and forced the University to allow all the students to continue their studies.

Today she is a youth icon. She has emerged as a leader and a role model not just for her siblings but for thousands of other youngsters, students, women and some male members of society.

Shukla says that she stands for a democratic, secular and inclusive India. How will she realise her dream in the cutthroat political culture where all that matters is power and money?

There is no substitute for commitment and hard work, she says with a smile.

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Joint Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) research documented the impact of the COVID-20 pandemic on women and girls. The research also found promising practices emerged during the pandemic. Credit: UNFPA

By IPS Correspondent
Tokyo, Mar 31 2022 (IPS)

Women and girls in the Asia-Pacific region were adversely impacted due to COVID-19 pandemic responses – with marginalized women and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) and gender-based violence (GBV) services profoundly affected.

These were the findings of a study by the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The research conducted from 2020 to 2021 reviewed SRHR and GBV laws, policies, and implementation practices during the pandemic response in six countries in the Asia-Pacific region, namely Bangladesh, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines.

On the upside, UNFPA and APDA research also identified promising practices that emerged during the pandemic. The report makes extensive recommendations to governments to mitigate the impact of emergencies like the pandemic.

“The failure to classify appropriate sexual and reproductive health rights and gender-based violence services as essential, in line with international human rights law, compounded challenges to accessing such services during the pandemic,” the report states. The Asia-Pacific region’s findings mirrored the global trend which, according to the Special Rapporteur on the right to health, non-COVID-19 related healthcare services had been less available during the pandemic, including sexual and reproductive healthcare services.

Maternal Health

“Reduced access to ante- and postnatal care and skilled birth attendance during the pandemic has led to increased maternal mortality,” the study found. For example, in July 2021, Nepal reported a considerable increase in maternal deaths, with 258 women dying due to pregnancy or childbirth between March 2020 and June 2021 – 22 of whom had COVID-19. In the year before March 2020, Nepal recorded 51 maternal deaths.

The barriers women met included not being able to access ante- and postnatal care and safe delivery health services. Women feared getting COVID-19 at hospitals or health centers. There was a lack of transport, and financial and human resources were diverted from SRHR services to manage the COVID-19 outbreak.

“Midwives and birth center workers reported an increase in the number of pregnant women considering delivery options outside hospital settings owing to a fear of infection, overcrowding, supply shortages, and visitor restriction,” according to the findings. This resulted in unsafe and unskilled birthing practices, which could lead to maternal and infant deaths.

This trend was especially problematic for women and girls in disadvantaged and hard-to-reach areas.

There were several promising practices.

Bangladesh developed guidelines for essential maternal health services and provided virtual training for healthcare professionals. It also implemented midwifery mentoring to establish and monitor safe maternity services for women.

There was public interest litigation to establish access to maternal health rights for pregnant women in India and Nepal.

Indonesia improved and expanded midwifery care.

The Philippines implemented cash voucher assistance and established obstetric triage tents for pregnant women.

The report suggests that governments regard antenatal care, skilled birth attendance, and postnatal care as essential services.

Sexual and Reproductive Health Services

The report recommends that workers in the SRH and maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent care shouldn’t be re-deployed to other areas. Surveillance systems should alert health ministries of increases in deaths so emergency preventive measures can be put in place and information systems updated to capture declining or missed antenatal and postnatal care appointments. These efforts would prevent maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity.

The research found an “unmet need for family planning and contraception because health facilities are closing or limiting services, and women are refraining from visiting health facilities due to fear of COVID-19 exposure or because of travel restrictions.”

Vital supplies for SRH, including modern contraceptives, were less readily available given the closure of production sites and global and local supply chains disruption.

In Fiji, India, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines, advocacy prompted governments to develop guidelines on contraceptive availability and continuity of family planning services during the pandemic.

The Philippines also set up virtual family planning and delivered contraceptives.

Nepal created community-based family planning services in remote quarantine centers.

Indonesia developed a model policy to include women and girls with disabilities in the COVID-19 response, and Bangladesh set up mobile phone messaging known as m-health for family planning.

Apart from declaring family planning an essential service, the researchers recommended that governments move services from clinical settings to communities, such as community-based family planning services.

HIV and STI prevention

HIV and other STI prevention also suffered setbacks during the pandemic. Testing and treatment stalled due to travel and transport restrictions, the prohibitive cost of courier services for delivering antiretroviral drugs, and inadequate stock due to global supply chain disruptions.

Gender-Based Violence

“Restrictions in place to limit the spread of COVID-19 not only increase the risks of gender-based violence but also limit the ability of survivors to distance themselves from their abusers and access GBV response services,” the research found.

There were a range of problems, including accessing help if women were locked down with their abusers, while support services struggled to meet demand.

“Judicial, police, and health services, which are the first responders for women, are overwhelmed, have shifted their priorities, or are otherwise unable to help. Civil society groups are affected by lockdowns and the reallocation of resources. Some domestic violence shelters are full; others have had to close or have been repurposed as health centers,” the research found.

Despite the dire consequences of lockdown on gender-based violence, numerous examples of innovative solutions included revising GBV referral pathways.

Fiji created one-stop service centers, and the Philippines made the clinical management of rape an essential service.

Bangladesh created one-stop service centers in their hospitals and multiple free 24-hour psychosocial counseling hotlines.

In Jammu and Kashmir, India, empty hotels and education institutions were designated safe spaces for violence survivors.

The researchers recommend that information on operational multisectoral gender-based violence response services and referral mechanisms is available and adapted to the COVID-19 context.

They also recommend that the clinical management of rape is classified as an essential service.

Trained counselors should also operate multiple free 24-hour psychosocial counseling hotlines.

Finally, the report noted that it was necessary to “ensure that no one is left behind, for example, people with disabilities; indigenous people; ethnic minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex people; internally displaced people and refugees; people in humanitarian settings; and people facing multiple intersecting forms of discrimination, by ensuring that vulnerable groups have the information they need to respond to GBV and have access to essential life-saving services.”

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Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait, on a recent visit to a refugee site in the village of Modale, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where children's education is being supported.  Sherif says for those living in protracted crises, the risks of GBV are compounded. Courtesy: Education Cannot Wait

By Joyce Chimbi
Nairobi, Dec 9 2021 (IPS)

The statistics are dire: One in three women have experienced a form of gender-based violence in their lifetime, be it sexual violence, physical violence, or child marriage. The message is clear: Women and girls deserve a safer, brighter future – free from gender-based violence.

For those living in protracted crises, the risks are compounded as these often create new risks for girls forced to travel long distances to and from schools and learning spaces, or the lack of safe and gender-segregated WASH facilities. These risks, in turn, often compel families to keep their girls out of school and even to marry them off as children to reduce the risk of gender-based violence in and around schools.

This is why Education Cannot Wait (ECW) – the UN global fund for education in emergencies – has become the first global fund to join the Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies. The ‘Call to Action’ is a multi-stakeholder initiative to transform how gender-based violence is addressed in humanitarian emergencies. ECW made the announcement during the ‘16 Days of Activism against Violence against Women and Girls’ campaign that kicked off on November 25 and ends on December 10.

“To no one is the campaign so real as it is for girls and adolescent girls who want to go to school, but face gender-based violence in emergency and protracted crisis contexts. These girls fear for their lives, they fear for their security, and they desperately need safe learning spaces so they can reach their full potential and be assured of their inherent human right to live free from fear and violence and to quality education,” said Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait.

Yasmine Sherif, the Director of Education Cannot Wait, says girls often fear for their lives and are in desperate need of safe spaces so they can reach their full potential. Credit: ECW

Sherif is talking about the one in four children in Africa who live in conflict zones. She is also referring to UNESCO projections which show that 9 million girls between 6-11 years of age – compared with 6 million boys of the same age – living in sub-Saharan Africa will never go to school. These estimates were before the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, with school closures and COVID-19 restrictions, the situation has worsened.

The United Nations estimates that women and girls together account for 72 per cent of all human trafficking victims reported globally. Three out of four child trafficking victims are girls. A majority of women and girls are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Globally, 15 million adolescent girls, aged 15–19 years, have experienced forced sex.

ECW points out that in armed conflicts, forced displacement, climate-induced disasters and protracted crises, gender-based violence risks are exacerbated, increasing the challenges already faced by girls, adolescent girls and women, as they are disproportionately affected by the impact of emergencies on education.

Although education is a fundamental human right for all children and adolescents, ECW finds that families are more likely to prioritize boys’ education, choosing not to pay for girls’ school fees, uniforms and other supplies as a result of the economic impact of armed conflicts, forced displacement and other crises.

Sherif and other experts in girls’ education emphasize that better-designed education programmes with a strong, gender-sensitive, protection component can help mitigate such risk – by keeping girls and women safer and supporting them when they experience gender-based violence. This provides them with the skills and knowledge they need to improve their own lives.

Joining forces with more than 95 stakeholders including governments, UN agencies, international NGOs, donors, and local civil society organizations, ECW “aims to contribute to change and foster accountability from the humanitarian system to address gender-based violence from the earliest phases of a crisis.”

All girls have a fundamental right to access safe, quality and inclusive education. Education Cannot Wait believes women and girls need a brighter future, without fear of gender-based violence. Credit: Joyce Chimbi

As the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, ECW is positioned to make and implement bold commitments to support gender-based violence risk mitigation.

The 16 Days campaign, which this year has the theme, ‘Orange the world: End violence against women now!’, has become an important rallying point to raise awareness and make a difference.

Mary Chepkwony, a field coordinator for the Kenya-based Rural Women Peace Link tells IPS that bold commitments to safeguard the rights of women, girls and adolescent girls are timely and critical.

“Gender-based violence cases are on an unprecedented increase, hence the need to strengthen local- and rural-based women organizations to improve the safety and security of women and girls,” she says.

Concerns are rife that COVID-19-driven economic insecurity is increasing girls and women’s vulnerability to gender-based violence in homes globally. Additionally, school-related gender-based violence is a major obstacle to universal schooling and the right to education for girls.

Meaningful partnerships with local women organizations are crucial for the design and implementation of safe, quality and inclusive education to ensure that girls are not left behind.

“This week, Education Cannot Wait launched two new guidance notes on gender-based violence risk mitigation measures and meaningful engagement of local women organizations,” says Sherif. These guidance notes will help ECW and its partners to support commitments to eliminate gender-based violence risks among women, girls and adolescent girls.

These short and practical guidance notes are based on global best practices and are being systematically integrated in the design and implementation of EWC-supported investments.

“We firmly believe that education in emergencies and protracted crises can greatly contribute to reducing the incidence of gender-based violence by creating safer education in emergency programming. Girls’ access, retention, and learning outcomes can only increase, creating a lasting positive impact on their communities,” says Sherif.

She explains that education in emergencies programming and protection – particularly gender-based violence risk mitigation – reinforce each other and when combined, can lead to positive outcomes for girls and their communities.

Chepkwony applauds these efforts, saying ongoing risk mitigation efforts around the world are a step in the right direction for the safety of women and girls.

ECW already supports these risk mitigation measures across its broad global portfolio. For instance, in Syria and Somalia, referral mechanisms to the gender-based violence sub-cluster were established to ensure disclosure of cases are dealt with according to best practice.

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