The fight against gender violence has become synonymous with the story of three Latin American sisters, born between 1924 and 1935 in the Cibas region of the Dominican Republic.
The Mirabal sisters Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa - were political activists and highly visible symbols of resistance against the dictatorship of Trujillo.
Despite the dictator's persecution including repeated imprisonments, in January 1960, Patria took charge of a meeting that eventually established the Clandestine Resistance Movement (CRM) of June 14, 1960, in which all the sisters participated.
When this plot against the tyranny of dictatorship failed, the sisters and their comrades in the CRM were persecuted throughout the Dominican Republic.
In early November 1960, Trujillo declared that his two problems were the Church and the Mirabal sisters.
On November 25 of the same year, the sisters were assassinated in an "accident" while they were being driven to visit their husbands who were in prison.
The brutal assassinations shocked and enraged the entire nation and were one of the events that helped overthrow the Trujillo dictatorship.
Since then, the Mirabal sisters are referred to as Inolvidables Mariposas (the Unforgettable Butterflies) and have become a symbol of feminist resistance.
The day of their killing (November 25) is recognised the world over as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
Since 1991, it also marks the beginning of the International Fortnight Protesting Violence Against Women and Girls (November 25-December 10).
In India, this fortnight has been observed over the past six years.
This fortnight encompasses four significant dates: Apart from November 25, there is the World AIDS Day (December 1), the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre in which 14 women engineering students were gunned down for being feminists (December 6) and the International Human Rights Day on December 10.
Organisations committed to the issue use the fortnight as an opportunity to mobilise public opinion against all forms of violence against women and girls, says Nandini Rao of Jagori, a Delhi-based women's NGO which coordinated some programmes across the country in 2003.
"On November 24 and 25, women activists from about 10 organisations across Delhi held a silent protest at India Gate.
We carried black placards and distributed pamphlets giving information about gender violence to people," says Rao.
At dusk, the activists lit candles and sang a few songs on peace, and gender empowerment.
In specific terms, the silent protest was meant to draw attention to the increasing incidence of gender violence.
Based on newspaper reports, Jagori has compiled statistics of violent acts culminating in the death of women and girls across the country during the period August 15, 2002 to February 19, 2003.
The NGO has listed 217 female deaths from strangulation, stabbing, bludgeoning or suicide as a result of violence.
But this figure, agrees Rao, is just an estimate based on reports; the actual picture is much worse.
For women in India and neighbouring countries, November 30 holds a special place during the fortnight-long campaign.
This day is observed as the South Asian Women's Day for Peace, Justice, Human Rights and Democracy.
Its observation began on October 23, 2002, in Puri (Orissa), at a workshop on Gender, Peace and Development organised by the South Asian Network of Gender Activists and Trainers (SANGAT), with which Jagori is affiliated.
Women activists from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh participated in this workshop.
Women in South Asia have had to bear an unequal burden of the effects of conflict, whether caste, class or ethnic, in addition to the violence of patriarchal structures, explains Rao.
This day was designated to highlight how violence has pervaded the social fabric of all countries in the region, to protest against militarisation of the region and to demand peace, justice, democracy and tolerance for all.
To combat violence against women, and advance the "Zero Violence Policy", the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) - in collaboration with the Government of India launched several interventions.
These addressed the feminisation of poverty, sexuality and masculinity, trauma counselling, adolescent development, gender and HIV/AIDS, and strengthening the South Asian response on anti-trafficking (of women and girls).
UNIFEM also released a report entitled 'Say No to Gender-based Violence' on November 25, which examines regional efforts aimed at ending domestic violence in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.
The report reveals that every hour, five women in India are subjected to violence at home, but like other countries in South Asia, there are no laws against it.
"In South Asia, the culture of patriarchy is deeply entrenched and gender biases are perpetrated by men and women, as part of the social order," it observes.
The study, which led to the report, finds the situation in the region "stark".
Despite the rising graph of violence against women, laws that promote women's rights are "uneven" in the region.
"The more visible and obvious forms of violence have been addressed, but domestic violence, perceived by lawmakers to be a 'private' matter has been left alone," says the report.
During the fortnight-long campaign, three documentary films, produced with support from UNIFEM, were screened in the capital.
The first, 'Breaking the Silence: A Step Forward', made by Navjyoti Delhi Police Foundation, an NGO, is an interactive training module for law enforcement agencies using real-life case histories on different forms of violence against women and children.
'City Beautiful' by documentary filmmaker Rahul Roy focuses on a small working class colony on the fringes of the national capital while 'New Dimensions' by Genesis Media Private Limited looks at the issue of trafficking.
While Nepal and Pakistan are in the process of evolving legislation on domestic violence, in India a civil law on domestic violence has been tabled in Parliament but is yet to be passed.
Women activists here regret what they call the indifference of policymakers to address this law.
This is evident, they say, from the fact that no discussion on the proposed bill was held in the last session of Parliament while the winter session is likely to be dominated by other political issues.
--WFS A 'just' peace
