BANGLADESH: Impunity for GBV challenged
In early October, a wave of protests against sexual violence and GBV rose in Bangladesh after video footage of five men gang-raping a woman went viral on social media.
Human rights CSOs, cultural organisations and student groups, as well as a mass of students and other people, most of them women, mobilised in the capital, Dhaka, and in several other cities, behind the banner of a newly formed platform, ‘Bangladesh against Rape and Impunity’, to demand justice for survivors of rape, sexual harassment and GBV. Women also embraced online protest on social media.
Bangladesh is an extremely patriarchal society, and there have been numerous attempts to restrict women’s lives and voices for years. Rape is an expression of this environment. It is a fundamental right for a woman to live in safety and it is the responsibility of all citizens, as well as the international community, to ensure this right.
Aparajita Sangita
