Demand protection for India’s women and girls!

The story so far

28 May, in a village called Badaun in the northeastern state of Uttar Pradesh in India, two teenage girls, cousins, were gang-raped and hanged from a tree. Five men, including two police officers, have been arrested. Two others are absconding.

A minister from the ruling party responded to the crime by saying that rape “is a social crime … sometimes it’s right, sometimes it’s wrong.” Babulal Gaur, of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), also said that the crime of rape can only be considered to have been committed if it is reported to police.

When the 14 and 15 year old girls went missing, one girl’s dad went to the police and fell in front of them on his hands and knees pleading for them to do something. They laughed at him and told him to go home. The officer refused to register the complaint until angry protesters forced them to do so the next morning, May 29, when the bodies were discovered.

Unfortunately, in India, this is not an isolated incident. A rape is reported in India almost once every 20 minutes, and in a population of well over 1 billion people, there are likely to be a high number of attacks that are going unreported.

The Avaaz ad campaign

Avaaz is putting together an ad campaign to highlight the issues and call for action and support for India’s women and girls.

“My country’s new leader ran on the promise of rebuilding the holy city, Varanasi, where he was elected, as a major tourist hub. If we build a millions-strong global call for the protection of women and plaster it all over Prime Minister Modi’s city, he’ll be forced to act to save his tourism plan.”

– Alaphia Zoyab, Avaaz campaigner

Supporting Avaaz

The Wishing Well was established in 2010 to offer children in out-of-home care, such as foster care and residential care, a range of healing and treatment options usually not accessible as a free therapy in mainstream health.

The Wishing Well raises funds to enable children and young people to access developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed treatments shown to be highly effective in dealing with severe trauma and neglect. These therapies respond to the unique needs of each child and young person.

The Wishing Well is a not-for-profit incorporated charity organisation, established and managed by people seeking to improve outcomes for children and young people in out-of-home care and their families.

The Wishing Well operates ethically, effectively and empathically with a view to achieving quality outcomes and a satisfying working environment, and as such we support such organisations as Avaaz, as they encompass similar ideals.

The Wishing Well gratefully receives donations, funding and resources through bequests, corporate partnerships, fundraising events, grants, online donations and other fund raising activities. Please see our website for more information:

http://thewishingwell.org.au/

How you can help

Alaphia Zoyab and the Avaaz team are compiling a petition to send to India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

“Before the elections, a massive movement was building to get urgent action to stop violence against women. Experts drafted a Womanifesto – a common sense plan for urgently needed reforms to stop the rape epidemic. It covers law, policing, medical and psychological support, and crucially – public education. Other major parties signed up to it, but Modi ignored it.

Even Modi’s staff agree with most of the plan. Now we just need him to put it into action.

India’s President, Pranab Mukherjee, has claimed this new government ‘will have a policy of zero tolerance for violence against women.’ Let’s build a massive petition and boldly plaster Varanasi with billboards calling for this promise to urgently become an action plan.” – Avaaz

Sign now: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/womanifesto_modi_aus_ir/