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STATEMENT FROM SOUTH ASIAN WOMEN’S ORGANIZATIONS AND ALLIES

JANUARY 15, 2013

The horror of what one woman on a bus in Delhi endured is something that goesbeyond our imagination. In her senseless death, we confront not just her story, but also the stories of countless women and girls who, on a daily basis, endure some aspect of her pain. We also see the place of women in our world – how we are all at risk of harassment and sexual assault and systemic injustices that lead to silence and inaction. We recognize that there are women and girls who have similar experiences with no one to fight for their lives.

We know that these tragedies are not isolated to India alone. They happen throughout the South Asian subcontinent, and the rest the world, including the United States of America. One in four women in the US will experience domestic violence and one in six will experience sexual violence. One in three women experienced child sexual abuse. Girls who do not follow strict gender norms are three times as likely as their heterosexual and heteronormative counterparts of being sexually assaulted in their lives.

We will also not forget the absent, the silenced, and the missing. The girls who grow up ignored, neglected and passed over because of their gender. The human beings who have no story and no champion in much of our work to end violence against women because we think of gender as two distinct realities, rather than a spectrum of realities. The ones who endure silently, who die unmourned, who struggle every day of their lives in order to build better ones for their families.

What happened on a bus in Delhi was beyond our imagination. We can, however, imagine how to change our ourselves and our communities. We can work hard tomake changes in how we view one other, and how we value every member in our society so that this does not, cannot, happen again.

What can we do?

We can value our girls, and support them to become vibrant members of our community.

We can value our boys and raise them to respect women and girls.

We can do more to be inclusive to the LGBT members of our families and community.

We can make sure not to turn a blind eye, a deaf ear, or a cold shoulder to violence in our community.

We can provide safe spaces and support for survivors of violence.

We can build our capacity to prevent and respond to violence.

We can say, “We’re not going to tolerate this anymore. We are not going to endure the catcalls, the leers, the unwanted language, touching, contact of any kind.”

We can build spaces to talk about that which is silenced.

We can pass stronger laws and enact policies that will protect women, and ensure that victims of crime can access safe, culturally sensitive services.

We can draw strength from our community to know we are not doing this work alone.

We can build bridges between our community and others to stand united againstviolence and hate.

We are a collective of South Asian Women’s Organizations. We work in the U.S.with South Asian survivors of domestic and sexual violence and striving tostrengthen our larger community and end gender-based violence. We stand insolidarity with our allies in India, the U.S. and all across the globe who work towards strong communities and families, human rights for all and a world in which every life is valued.

API Chaya

Apna Ghar, Inc. (Our Home)

ASHA for Women

Daya, Inc.

MAI Family Services

Maitri

Manavi, Inc.

Raksha

Sakhi for South Asian Women

South Asian Network (SAN)

Turning Point for Women and Families

We are allies of these South Asian women’s organizations and we stand in solidarity with their work to end gender-based violence and with our shared goals of promoting and protecting the rights and safety of the South Asian community in the US.

Counselors Helping (South) Asians / Indians, Inc. (CHAI)

Chhaya CDC

Indo-American Center

Saathi of Rochester, NY

SAYA

South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)

South Asian American Policy & Research Institute (SAAPRI)

South Asian Council for Social Services (SACSS)

The Sikh Coalition

UNITED SIKHS

January 26, 2013 | 12-1pm | NYC Indian Consulate 3 E. 64^th Street

Join a creative movement-based protest action organized by SAWCC (South Asian Women’s Creative Collective) as a response to the horrific violence wrought upon Jyoti Singh Pandey in India, and on women’s bodies around the world.

Read more here.

Connect NYC’s Intimate Partner Sexual Assault Training

January 31, 2013 | 9:30 – 11:30am | St. Luke’sHospital, Mulenberg Aud. 440 West 114^th Street

Organized by Connect, a leading agency in gender based violence training, learn about Intimate Partner Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, and get perspectives on disabled communities and criminal and family court.

For more information please contact Connect at: connect@connectnyc.org

Reforming India’s Criminal Laws and Justice System to Protect Women’s Constitutional Rights

February 6, 2013 | 6:30- 8:30pm | Jones Day 22 East 41^st Street

Join SABANY and the Association for India’s Development- New York for a panel discussion in response to Delhi’s gang rape tragedy focusing on the much publicized gang rape of a young woman in New Delhi in December 2012, and its aftermath.  It is hoped that the panel discussion will aid SABANY formulate its advocacy efforts in response to this and other gender-crimes in India. Cocktail reception to follow.

Speakers:

Sanjay Patil, Program Officer, Open Society Foundation
Tarini Arogyaswamy, The Legal Aid Society, Criminal Defense Division
Sujata Warrier, Board Member of Manavi

RSVP here.

NYU Panel on Violence against Women from India to Ohio

February 6th |  6-8pm | NYU Law School, Vanderbilt Hall 40 Washington Square South

Hosted by the Domestic Violence Advocacy Project at NYU Law School, this panel will discuss violence against women around the world, from the recent gang rapes in India and Ohio, to the pervasiveness of domestic violence and rape. The panel is in preparation for the NYU Graduate production of The Vagina Monologues and proceeds from ticket sales will go to Sanctuary for Families, a NYC organization that provides services to victims of domestic violence.

International Dance Action to End Gender Based Violence (One Action, Around the World)

February 14, 2013 | Location & Time TBA

To participate and learn more please contact Anjali Khurana: anjali.khurana@gmail.com

To watch video created by Avenue Media Production, check out this link.

To read a statement from South Asian Women’s Organizations and Allies in response, click here.

To participate in other community events, check out this post.

Here are links to various blogs and articles:

New York Times piece by Mallika Dutt

Huffington Post piece by Purvi Shah (former Executive Director of Sakhi)

Lassi with Lavina

NPR

StopMotionsolo

ANTI-VIOLENCE ADVOCATES COMMEND CITY COUNCIL’S EFFORTS TO LIMIT HARM OF SECURE COMMUNITIES PROGRAM;
CALL FOR FURTHER PROTECTIONS

December 13, 2012 New York, NY – A coalition of anti-violence advocates who work with immigrant survivors of family and intimate partner violence, human trafficking, sexual assault, and survivors of homophobic and transphobic violence in New York welcomed legislation introduced today by New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and City Council members Melissa Mark-Viverito and Daniel Dromm that would limit the application of the federal Secure Communities Program in New York City, but emphasized that more needs to be done to protect survivors of violence from deportation resulting from collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. The City’s proposal to refuse to honor ICE holds— requests to turn over a detainee to immigration detention—in select cases is an important step in acknowledging that there is no place for ICE in our criminal justice system.

The activation of ICE’s “Secure Communities” (S-Comm) this past May—where police send every arrestee’s fingerprints to immigration at booking to allow for the rapid identification of potential deportees—has greatly expanded the reach of immigration enforcement in New York. S-Comm severely undermines community safety by fueling racial profiling, mistrust in the police, and unjust deportations. The many stories of survivors facing deportation speak to the dangers of the expanding collaboration between local law enforcement and ICE (learn more from stories compiled by the Anti-Violence Advocates, available at http://wp.me/a1ucIS-1B).

“S-Comm is a serious threat. Survivors commonly end up in the criminal justice system because abusers make false allegations against them, such as assault and violations of orders of protection,” noted Tiloma Jayasinghe, Executive Director of Sakhi for South Asian Women. “A survivor who faces any time in incarceration risks the loss of custody of his or her children to an abuser. The threat of deportation following arrest gives abusers another tool of control to use against survivors.”

“We are thankful for the City Council’s efforts to limit the City’s involvement in federal immigration enforcement, and are especially relieved that those with past prostitution convictions will not be turned over to ICE,” said Sienna Baskin, Co-Director of The Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center.  “However, our clients, including survivors of trafficking, are routinely targeted by police and convicted for a range of crimes. This bill does not go far enough to protect vulnerable New Yorkers from being deported before they can be identified and assisted.”

“While this bill offers some positive developments, much more needs to be done to protect LGBT, and particularly transgender, immigrants from deportation due to the hostile and punitive conditions they face daily and while incarcerated,” said Pooja Gehi of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project. “Police profile and target LGBT immigrants for arrest for a range of offenses from lewd conduct to petty theft, obstruction of justice and simple assault. LGBT, and particularly transgender, victims of violence are all too often falsely arrested as perpetrators of violence. Unfortunately, the legislation as it stands will not protect them if they have a prior conviction for one of these offenses, which is the case for all too many transgender New Yorkers.”

“The collaboration between ICE and police places non-citizens survivors at an increased risk for violence. It makes it incredibly challenging for advocates to advise non-citizen survivors about police involvement in intimate partner violence situations due to the heightened risk of deportation that now comes with an arrest,” said Cecilia Gastón, Executive Director of the Violence Intervention Project, Inc. “While we appreciate this legislation as a positive step, the negative consequences of ICE’s presence in our criminal justice system cannot be underestimated. We look forward to working with the City Council on the next step—to remove ICE completely to meaningfully protect non-citizen survivors of violence and our vibrant immigrant communities.”

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We will reconvene in the spring to continue this discussion.  As an individual, you can sign on to National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum’s Statement of Commitment to Ending Selection.  Stay tuned to see how you can become involved in this important community work!

Participants included representatives from the following organizations: API Chaya, Maitri, Narika, Raksha, Sakhi for South Asian Women, South Asian Network, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, and CoreAlign/University of California, San Francisco.