Three brothers from Delhi were honoured at Washington’s famed Kennedy Center on Tuesday with the prestigious “Vital Voices Global leadership Award” for their work towards ending violence against women.
US Vice-President Joe Biden presented the solidarity award to the trio — Ravi, Rishi and Nishi Kant, who started the non-governmental organisation Shakti Vahini to fight injustice against women in 2001.
The citation lauded Shakti Vahini as a glowing example of how a group of men can and should work on women’s issues.
“For more than a decade it has been a leading voice in the debate about violence against women in India. For much of that time, the Kant brothers have fought hard to get the country to notice the plight of women who have been abused, trafficked, attacked, and enslaved,” said the managers of “Vital Voices” awards, which were started in 1997 during Hillary Clinton’s time as First lady.
The Kants, who operate with a staff of 45, said they believe they are witnessing a sea change, not only for victims of violent rapes, but also for victims of human trafficking since the horrendous gang-rape in Delhi last December.
“Getting women’s groups to accept that men are leading our organization was a challenge,” Ravi Kant, 45, a Supreme Court advocate in India and president of Shakti Vahini, told the Washington Post. “But we continued our work, and the support from women’s activists came.”
“When we saw the mass uprising, we said ‘This is the moment we’ve been waiting for’. It’s been a turning point, not only for us, but for women’s groups around the country,” he said, adding that over the past decade, Shakti Vahini has rescued more than 2,000 people, 70 per cent of them children.