The third South Asian Regional Conference kicked off yesterday with a call to stop all forms of violence against women in politics and to promote their participation in political decisionmaking.

v South Asia Partnership International * (SAP), an integral part of South Asian Civil Society, organised the three-day conference titled Democracies without violence: Engendering politics, policies and actions' that began at Brae Centre Inn in the city.

Women politicians, human rights activists, lawyers and members of the civil society from Afghanistan. Bangladesh, India, Nepal. Pakistan and Sri Lanka are taking part in the conference.

Addressing die inaugural ceremony of the conference, the speakers said South Asia has been classified as the worst region in terms of indicators with the highest rates of different forms of violence against women.

In South Asia, the concept of power and authority are ascribed to certain characteristics determined by the male

privileged groups to exclude women, they said, adding that women normally arc not given the opportunity to hold positions of power in politics.

Being powerless and marginalised, women in South Asia are at great disadvantages and experience injustice in the political domain, they added.

They also said that gender-based violence discourages women from actively participating in politics and almost all forms of gender-based violence are used as tools for harming women through physical, psychological or social intimidation.

Chaired by Rajesh Tandon, chairperson, SAP-International, the inaugural ceremony was addressed by Rasheda K Chowdhury, former adviser to the caretaker government. Dr Fazle Hasan Abed, chairperson and founder of Brae. Kumari Balasuriya. governor. Southern Province, Sri Lanka, Meenakshi Gopinath of India, Hina Jilani, advocate and human rights activist of Pakistan, Chandni Joshi, advisory group member and former regional programme director. UNIFEM. Nepal, Masuda Jalal of Afghanistan, Rohit Kumar Nepali, executive director, SAP-

International, and Syed Nurul Alam, executive director, SAP-Bangladesh.

"I believe that increasing representation is only part of the answer and merely electing women into political roles will not bring about changes in the status of women in our society," Fazle Hasan Abed said as the chief guest.

"Women's issues need to be addressed in mainstream politics. Greater gender sensitivity is required within parties and within parliaments, " he added.

Rasheda K Chowdhury said, "We should give attention how to get rid of violence from the entire politics."

Kumari Balasuriya said rape, misconduct and physical abuse are rampant for women, both voters and candidates, in the elections.

She also said that men use character assassination as a tool to force women politicians to quit their political career.

Meenakshi Gopinath said that paradoxically, the cases of violence against women in politics are rarely highlighted.

The first and the second regional conferences on 'Violence against women in politics' were held in Nepal in 2007 and 2008.