Nairobi men suffer most domestic abuse as Western tops in violence against women

By JOAN THATIAH

01/08/2015

Kenyan women are nearly four times more likely to suffer from domestic violence than their men compatriots, a study shows.

An examination of data from the Economic Survey shows the most the vulnerable women are those aged between 25 to 29 years followed by 20 to 24 years.

The data also shows that men living in Nairobi and other big towns are more likely to be battered than their rural counterparts.

The findings also reveal that Nairobi, Nyanza and Western regions are leading in domestic violence for both genders.

Men living in Nairobi are more likely to be battered than those living in other areas of the county at 11.3 per cent, the study shows, while Western region is leading in domestic violence against women at 36.6 per cent.

The lowest cases of domestic violence against both men and women are experienced in North Eastern.

The findings show that the women that are least vulnerable to gender-based violence are those in the highest earning bracket, lending credence to those who have called for the empowerment of women.

This is more so because the study further found that the most vulnerable group to domestic violence is comprised of those who did not complete primary school at 30.9 per cent for women and 8.1 per cent for men.

“40.7 per cent of women have experienced domestic violence in their lifetime as compared to 10.9 per cent of men.

"This shows that among men and women of the same ages, women are 3.7 times more likely to have suffered from domestic violence than men,” Mr Kwame Owino, the executive director of the Institute of Economic Affairs said.

The study conducted by Nation’s Newsplex project together with the Institute of Economic Affairs, a public policy think tank, also found that women who have been married more than once are the most likely to experience violence.

The findings come hot on the heels of US President Barack Obama’s comments during his historic visit last week that Kenya’s growth was inhibited by the oppression of women.

The findings seem to affirm his sentiments.

MEN AND WOMEN NEED LEGAL PROTECTION

The study sought to find out whether both genders need legal protection as claimed by Maendeleo ya Wanaume chairman Nderitu Njoka.

“Although more women experience domestic violence than men, both of them need legal protection from domestic violence since they are equally victims,” said Mr Owino.

Despite the numerous reports of violence against men around the country in the recent past, the findings show that the woman is still more vulnerable to direct gender violence.

However, some experts we spoke to insisted that violence against women cuts across all socio-economic groups.

“Past academic evidence shows that gender-based violence is highly prevalent in the high earning income bracket.

"It is just less reported because people from this economic class feel like they have a particular image to maintain,” Dr Mumbi Machera, a University of Nairobi sociologist said.

Women who have been married more than once were found to be the most vulnerable to domestic violence with the study placing the probability of abuse at 37 per cent.

Widowed and separated men, on the other hand, were found to be more likely than married men living with their partners to have been victims of gender violence.

Based on residence, the research found that the prevalence of violence against women was near equal in both rural and urban areas.

Interestingly, however, among men, those from the urban areas reported significantly more instances of gender based violence.

HISTORY OF ABUSE

Dr Christopher Hart, a psychologist specialising in relationships, said most of the aggressors in domestic violence are those who have a history of abuse, perhaps going back into childhood, suggesting those who witnessed battery as children are likely to be violent when they grow up.

He added that alcohol abuse, isolation, a lack of resources and a wide difference in incomes were the other contributing factors.

“That tends to mean that it is worse in urban areas and in more economically stressed households.

"It could also be that people in urban areas are more aware of their rights and thus more likely to report,” he said.

Dr Hart agreed with those calling for equal legal protection of men saying they probably were abused just as much as women in the home, but were less likely to admit because of their pride.

“Kenyan women are probably no more vulnerable than men, the men would just not admit it.

"They are probably equally in need of protection.”

Woman speaks of forced conversion, denial to lodge FIR of rape, trafficking

01/08/2015

KARACHI: How women of marginalised communities are suffering at the hands of influential people and the state has turned a blind eye towards their misery came to light at a press conference held on Friday.

Emmi, 30, and resident of Thatta city, is now looking for justice with the help of a non-governmental body providing legal aid to women and child survivors of violence and abuse.

Ironically, however, the police have not only refused to register an FIR on one pretext or another but also sexually harassed her. There is no action from the government side either that has been informed in writing about the case, according to her.

Emmi,a resident of thata narrates her ordeal to journalists at a press conference held at madadgar office on friday

“When I took my complaint to the Thatta police, nobody took me seriously and the staff there started laughing. I was told to go to the house of DSP Makli for FIR’s registration,” said Emmi at the press conference organised by Madadgaar Helpline in its office.

She accused the police official of sexually harassing her. “I have been exploited for eight years and demand justice,” she said as tears rolled down her face.

Emmi’s troubles started when she became friendly with a man over the phone in 2008. The man that she identified as Shahbaz, a resident of Mirpur Sakro, later convinced her to meet him outside her house and kidnapped her with the help of another man, Ramzan.

“They took me to an unknown place where I was confined in a dark room for 20 days, beaten and raped. Then I was sold and taken to Nawabshah,” she said.

In Nawabshah, Emmy was forced to sign some papers to convert her from Hinduism to Islam and arrange her fake marriage with Javed Khaskheli who forced her into prostitution. She attempted twice to escape and was punished.

“I was burnt and initially admitted to a hospital in Nawabshah and later to the Combined Military Hospital in Hyderabad.

I was told that I should identify myself as the wife of Javed,” she told journalists, adding that she was also poisoned by his tormentors.

According to her, she spent about six years in Hyderabad in confinement during which she also met three girls brought for prostitution. She finally managed to escape on the second day of Eid and reached her home in Thatta. It came as a shock to her that her father, the only close relative he had, died following her kidnapping.

“With the help of a friend, I came to a court in Karachi where someone suggested that I should seek help from Madadgaar,” she explained.

She also showed a picture and the national identity card of one of his tormentors to media persons during the briefing.

Giving his remarks, Advocate Zia Awan said his organisation prepared a case for the victim and also contacted relevant police officials in this regard. But the police were not willing to register the case.

“On Thatta police’s insistence that the case didn’t fall in their jurisdiction and that the Mirpur Sakro police should be contacted, we asked the victim to go to the latter. But they also refused to register the case. Both police stations have accepted the complaint, though,” he said.

According to Mr Awan, it was after his NGO received no positive reply from the government side, including minister for culture Sharmila Faruqui, that it decided to highlight the case in the media.

“We have contacted police officials and a sitting minister to take action but all our attempts have been futile. What else an NGO could do. We are not a state,” he said in reply to a question.

“State inaction and justice denial is also a kind of terrorism. We want this case to be seriously investigated and culprits punished,” he said, adding that a number of cases had brought to his knowledge in recent months in which women were trafficked and used for prostitution.

The women, he said, were taken to Afghanistan via Balochistan.

“This case is just the tip of the iceberg. Most cases go unreported. In cases that reach us, often the victims are reluctant to talk to the media. There is a dire need to make the police and the justice system efficient,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2015

Press Conference WDO

WDO press conference Shaista Bukhari, Aysha Rasheed,Saima, Samsan Salamat ,Khalid Qureshi

Chakwal: Girl shot for listening to music

25/11/2014

CHAKWAL: A sixteen-year-old girl was gunned down in Matan Kallaan village located in tehsil Kallar Kahar of Chakwal district, police sources said on Monday.

Munsib Khan told Kallar Kahar Police that he left his home early in the morning for work.

His younger brother, Muhammad Gulistan, alias Gullu, came to his house at 10am.

Gullu found his niece, Rihana Bibi, listening to music on a tape-recorder with the volume turned up. He asked the girl to switch off the tape-recorder but she refused. This led to a fight between the uncle and niece.

Enraged by the girl’s defiance Gullu shot his niece.

“Two bullets were fired at the girl. One hit her in the head while the other on her face. She died on the spot,” a police official at Kallar Kahar Police Station told Dawn. The accused fled from the village after committing the murder.

Investigation Officer Ali Akbar said the killer will be arrested soon. “We have registered a case against him and are making efforts to trace him,” he added.

Published in Dawn, November 25th , 2014

Pakistan’s Hidden Shame: Documentary reveals horrors of pedophilia in K-P

Sep4,2014

Director Mohammed Naqvi,and British producer Jamie Doran's film Pakistan’s Hidden Shame depicts the shocking reality of sexual abuse faced by small boys in the Northern areas of Pakistan.

The documentary premiered on September 1 on Britain's Channel 4 and shows the "dark reality of a society living in denial."

Set mainly in Peshawar, the film shows homeless boys of different ages recalling their experiences of sexual exploitation.

In an interview with CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour, the director of the documentary told her what puts children at risk in Pakistan and around the world.

"Pedophiles by their very nature are inadequate, it's about power over children."

"Where these individuals are able to use and abuse vulnerable children, Pakistan in particular because of the poverty. That's one of the other factors that really plays here."

n the documentary, the narrator introduces Pakistan as 'one of the most important Muslim populations, a democracy, a nuclear power and a supporter of the Western bloc.' But it soon reveals the silence and denial on one of the most taboo topics: pedophilia.

The documentary alleges that 9 out of 10 children in Peshawar have been victims of pedophilia. It also contains interviews with truck drivers who have committed such crimes.

Shockingly, one of the drivers admits, without any remorse, to having raped 11 or 12 boys. 

Doran also questions Imran Khan whose party Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) formed the government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which has Peshawar as its capital.

"It's one of the most sad and shameful aspects of our society. I am totally embarrassed by this and that we have not really been able to protect them," Khan said. 

Disturbing Rotherham child abuse report

The release of the documentary overlaps with the alarming revelations of a report released from Rotherham, the Northern English town where abuse, grooming and trafficking of 1,400 girls by predominantly Asian men over a 16-year period.

According to Reuters, the independent report last week exposed the scale and graphic nature of the crimes and raised difficult questions about whether timidity about confronting the racial aspects of the abuse had prompted authorities to turn a blind eye.

Some of the victims, mainly white girls in social care homes, were as young as 11 and were plied with drugs and alcohol before being trafficked to cities across northern England and gang-raped by groups of men, predominately of Pakistani heritage, the report said.

Those who tried to speak out were threatened with guns and made to watch brutal gang rapes. Their abusers said they would be next if they told anyone. One girl was doused with petrol, her rapist threatening to set her alight.

The report added that senior managers in social care "underplayed" the problem while police regarded many victims with contempt.