Gender, Violence and the State in Asia

Description

While gender-based violence occurs in all societies irrespective of the level of development or cultural setting, whether in conflict or peacetime, the challenges for legal responses to gender-based violence are particularly acute in Asia. This book addresses the lack of academic discourse on gender-based violence in Asia beyond domestic violence, by demonstrating that gendered violence exists within many different contexts and is perpetuated by multiple actors. Bringing together scholars, legal practitioners and human rights advocates, the book examines the intersections between gender, violence and the state in Asian contexts. It considers the role of state institutions in perpetuating and preventing violence based on gender and identity, and thus contributes to growing scholarship around due diligence standards under international law. Analyzing both physical and structural gender-based violence, it scrutinizes how such violence exists within a landscape shaped by distinct cultural norms, laws and policies, and grapples with how to practically translate international human rights standards about state responsibility into these complex domestic environments. Contributors from diverse backgrounds draw on case studies and empirical research to ground this academic scholarship in lived experiences of individuals and their communities in Asia. By bridging the divide between policy, laws and practice to offer a unique insight into both theoretical and practical responses to how gender-based violence is understood within communities and state institutions in Asian countries, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Asian studies, Gender Studies and Law. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of tables Notes on contributors Acknowledgements Table of international legal instruments Introduction: framing gender, violence and the state in Asia 1 Gender, violence and access to justice in international law PART I Gender, violence and states in transition 2 From transition to transformation in gender equality: lessons from Asia 3 Women in post-war Sri Lanka: linking policy to reality 4 Violence, women and conflict in Nepal 5 Implementing Security Council Resolution 1325 in Asia: the role of national action plans on women, peace and security PART II Gender, violence and access to justice 6 Sexual assault under cover of national security laws in India 7 Public interest litigation on violence against women in Bangladesh: possibilities and limits 8 Dispute resolution and access to justice in rural China: an analysis from a gender perspective 9 Bringing intersectionality home: delivering contextualised justice in response to gender-based violence in Hong Kong PART III Transcending borders and boundaries Negotiating gender, identity and violence 10 State violence, human-rights violations and the case of apwint in Myanmar 11 Legislating inequalities: gender, sexuality and violence in China 12 PathFinders: supporting access to justice for pregnant migrant workers and their children in Hong Kong 13 Women against women? Rural women leaders’ role in addressing gender-based violence in China 14 Law, inequalities and diverse vulnerabilities: client-perpetrated violence against female sex workers in Hong Kong Conclusion Index