World news story

UK supported workshops in Kerala to end violence against women

A week-long series of learning and sharing workshops to end violence against women (VAW) hosted by the British Deputy High Commission, Chennai, will be held in Kerala next week.

Bharat Joshi, British Deputy High Commissioner, Chennai said:

Preventing and tackling violence against women underpins much of the UK’s work across India. These workshops in Kerala are aimed at sensitising three groups of officers – police, legal and judicial - who have a crucial bearing on preventing and tackling VAW. They build on our wider projects in India with women and girls and civil society organisations.

Workshop sessions will include VAW-related legislation (domestic violence, sexual offences and sexual harrassment) and case studies. Sessions will offer batches from districts across Kerala, both men and women, the knowledge and tools required to better understand, contextualise and respond to VAW cases to ensure speedier, improved access to justice for survivors and potential victims.

The 1-2 day workshops for the three groups of officers – public prosecutors/judicial officers, police officers and lawyers - will run in sequence from 6 to 10 December and are convened and delivered in partnership with Kerala’s Directorate of Public Prosecutors, the Kerala State Legal Services Authority and the Kerala State Police Academy (Thrissur).

The workshops are organised by the British High Commission’s national partner for this project, Lawyers Collective, New Delhi and our Kerala-based partners Cultural Academy for Peace (CAP) and HRLN. The sessions are meant to complement existing and long-standing efforts to empower women by state agencies in Kerala such as the Nirbhaya, Kudumbashree, Women’s Commission and Women’s Development Corporation. Every year end November/early December is a period set aside as UN International Days of Activism for the Elimination of VAW.

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Published 30 November 2015