A two-day State level workshop “Towards Enhancing Accountability of Health System on Gender Based Violence” was organised by Delhi-based Organisation Sama Resource Group for Women and Health in collaboration with Chaupal in Raipur.
More than 20 organisations working on gender, violence against women and child rights across Chhattisgarh participated in the workshop. The program brought together organisations working on gender issues and gender based violence (GBV) in the State to discuss on the role of health system in gender based violence.
Three Panels were formed as a part of the workshop on different thematic areas and responses to gender based violence i.e. through community based response, legal justice response, and health sector response. Rajni Soren from Human Rights law Network and Satyabhama Awasthi from Vasudha Mahila Manch who participated in the Panel Discussion on legal Responses to Gender Based Violence highlighted the gaps in the legal system and shared their experiences regarding the challenges faced by survivors in order to get justice.
Samir Garg from the State Health Resource Network, Raipur discussed about the role of the Mitanins and the village health sanitation and nutrition committees in addressing the issue of gender based violence at the community level. Mitanin working in different districts of State emphasised that health services need to be provided to the survivor of violence as soon as they come to the hospital as delay of services may lead to adverse consequences.