A study of the lessons learned from a campaign against incest and child sexual abuse in India.

Introduction

In this paper I will mainly look at a campaign on the issues of incest and child sexual abuse in the year 1999. My organization, Vanangana, played a crucial role in the campaign, along with other NGOs, women's groups, and civil liberties organizations. I will mainly address the issues, dilemmas and questions faced by the group during the campaign as well as how these factors affected different aspects of the campaign. I will also make an effort to look at the strategies used for the mobilization of different people and some of the unresolved ideological issues surrounding the campaign. The goal of this paper will be to summarize the learnings from these campaigns and to critically analyze them.

The question of women's rights has not been a priority issue, and what ever presence these rights may have in law, their implementation has been another struggle. In different parts of India the struggle has been different, depending on the local contexts which are really different from one another. Uttar Pradesh was one of the last states to start thinking in that direction. The focus of the state remained welfare-centered for a long time, and there was very little initiative at the level of civil society and NGOs.

By the late eighties, non-governmental organizations became an important player in the development scenario, and a lot of money started going through them. Partially because of the internal pressure and partially due to donor agenda, the terminology changed to women's development and then to women's empowerment. Uttar Pradesh is one of the states with the poorest development indicators in the country, with the largest population. It has a strong caste structure with a violent history of caste-based and communal violence. It is still way behind in education, health, transportation and many other basic infrastructures. Corruption is a big problem, and in the past few years the criminalization of politics has only worsened the scenario. Uttar Pradesh alone contributes 13.2% to the national statistics on Crimes Against Women — giving it the unique distinction of being the single largest state contributor to these figures (1998 crime record bureau — the latest published report).

Vanangana came into existence as a result of the outreach efforts by the women's movement. It was one of the first women's groups in the state, started in the Chitrakoot district by Dalit and other tribal women with a strong feminist perspective. In Uttar Pradesh, Vanangana's work is concentrated in the Chitrakoot District — an agriculturally backward area (because of the non-availability of adequate irrigation), with virtually no industry, where agricultural wage labor is the economic mainstay for most poor people. Chitrakoot is part of the Bundelkhand region, a plateau area encompassing Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, known for its sparse natural resources and geographically difficult terrain. If one looks at it either through development indicators or through a human rights perspective, Chitrakoot seems caught in a time warp.

Feudalism here is still alive and well, with powerful landlords controlling both the land and the people who work on it. Poverty and feudalism combine to generate conditions of extreme caste, class, and gender-based discrimination. And a criminal nexus between big landlords, the state apparatus, and gun-toting bands of dacoits (bandits) creates a palpable atmosphere of violence in the district. This violence and exploitation — social and economic, public and domestic — is experienced in double measure by the women of this region, particularly by low caste and tribal women, who occupy the bottom of all three hierarchies (class, caste, and gender). The sex ratio in Chitrakoot (872), far below the already abysmal national average of 933, speaks for the tens of thousands of "missing" women of this region- women who were either never born (because of sex-selective abortions) or never allowed to survive.

During these years of working with women, trust was gradually built, confidences were shared, and silences were broken. As Vanangana entered deeper and deeper into women's lives, and into the lives of their communities, the unseen, everyday violence became more visible — violence that was brutal and direct. The women whom Vanangana directly worked with or others with whom they came into contact, faced rape, abuse, assault, incest, forced destitution, and even murder on virtually a daily basis.

Vanangana's work involves a lot of interventions within the private sphere or "the family", including intervention in the sensitive issue of domestic violence. As these interventions essentially challenge the power equation within the institution of the family they involve a different set of challenges. The campaign I am going to talk about started from one case of domestic violence but opened a number of issues and ultimately became a big campaign.

Mrs. A, a middle class Brahmin woman who was a victim of domestic violence for thirteen years, approached Vanangana in February of 1999 seeking help in dealing with the ongoing sexual abuse of her eleven year old daughter by her husband Mr. JP. The fact was also confirmed by the child. Mrs. A, a 35 year old graduate from the Varanasi district, had three daughters aged 11, 9 and 4 from her marriage with Mr. JP. His attitude in general was bad towards his daughters. Mrs. A and the girls wanted to get out of their situation, but were too scared to do so because of their past experiences of trying that. Being a Brahmin, Mr. JP had good political and other contacts. Vanangana members tried negotiating with Mr. JP but did not succeed. Mrs. A was forced to take the children out in the absence of her husband. Before leaving the town, she gave a written statement before the magistrate. Vanangana put Mrs. A in touch with other organizations in Varanasi who provided her with shelter and support. Mr. JP filed a complaint accusing the activists supporting Mrs. A of kidnapping the children. Mrs. A filed a case against Mr. JP of domestic violence and sexual abuse of the child. Thus, it became a cross case, and a series of events followed.

To be brief, there were arguments raised from both sides which resulted in a public debate on the issues of incest and child sexual abuse. The main points were:

• Is incest a western phenomenon? In a culture like India's where family is so important, do these things exist?
• Do these things happen only in poor uneducated lower caste families?
• If something like this does happen in a family should it be brought out or should it be silenced and covered up?
• What kind of institutional support is available for such things?
• What is the role of women's groups and NGOs in these things?
• What can be a possible profile of the abuser? What is the extent of the problem and what is the impact on the survivor?
• Do NGOs have legitimate authority to intervene in problems within the private realm, and what kind of security system and legitimacy do they have?

Around these issues there was a huge debate on different levels. As stated above, there were criminal cases against some of the activists who were ultimately forced to leave the town. There was a constant threat to life of the activists and Mrs. A. There was also an effort to mobilize support from the government.

As is clear from the above description this was a campaign trying to break society's silence about the sexual abuse of children within their families. The issue is not recognized and there are no support services available for these children or adult survivors of child abuse and incest. Indian criminal code does not recognize incest or child abuse. The only legal remedies available are:

• Rape laws which only recognize penile penetration and are heavily dependent on medical evidence. Such evidence is very unusual in cases of incest as the abuse is usually not one isolated incident, but rather a series of incidents taking place over a period of time. (Section 376 IPC)
• The other possible legal remedy is the use of sexual molestation laws, which, in the present Indian criminal system, cover every sexual offence other than penile penetration. However, a violator of these laws is open to bail and has only a small sentence as punishment.
• The third possibility is Section 377, which essentially criminalizes sodomy and has harsh sentence. Although this section may prove helpful in battling sexual abuse, its reference to alternative sexual activities as "unnatural sexual offences" clearly violates certain principles of human rights.

To summarize, the objective of the campaign was to get the issues of incest and child sexual abuse recognized in social and legal spheres and to build advocacy for affirmative action. Although it was not a part of the planned strategy, the campaign raised questions about the women's human rights defenders and the legitimacy of non-governmental organizations' interfering with these issues. As I said above, the campaign was not planned to emerge from Mrs. A's particular case, but Vanangana's objectives were reviewed and changed as the issues they were targeting gained larger scope.

This campaign brought a number of people together across the board, but at the same time, it clearly brought out differences of opinions and faced strong opposition. In the early stages of the case, three main organizations, Vanangana from Chitrakoot (place of incident), SARC and Gudia from Varanasi (Mrs. A's home town), were working together on the case. As the sequence of events took place, other groups joined, and it became the first campaign on women's issues which could mobilize so much support in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Women's groups from the state and national levels were the first to join the campaign, followed by civil liberties organizations and child rights groups.

It is important to point out here that in the first three months of the campaign, support was not very strong, and people were suspicious about the genuineness of the case and the issue. Sexual abuse is one of the least documented violations, so it was difficult for many to believe. Some NGOs criticized the way it was handled and accused it of being a western agenda to malign the sacred cultural values of the Indian heritage. They were actively supported by the a right wing political party (BJP), which was in power at that point, both in the state and central government. The issue was portrayed as a war between the western conspiracy and Indian value system. With the false criminal cases against activists, the campaign also came to comprise a concern for the security of human rights defenders. A number of national and international NGOs joined the campaign from this perspective.

The media played a positive role in terms of building public opinion and enabling a lot of support to be mobilized. The organizers were continuously faced with ethical dilemmas concerning the disclosure of the child's identity or the increasing pressure on the child to repeat her story. It was difficult to talk to the child about these issues. The campaign was a learning process as well as a ground for advocacy for many of the media personnel.

There was an effort to reach out to the state machinery, but the campaign remained weak in that particular aspect. On the local level there was an open opposition which was asserted publicly by the district magistrate and reflected in its actions as well. At the state level there was acceptance and assurances, which unfortunately did not result in any action either in terms of the case or the broader issue. The only achievement was that a dialogue could be established on the issue, and it was recognized by the state.

Strategy

As it was not a structured campaign, the strategies used by the NGOs developed from the process. All the strategies were mainly geared towards one thing, and that was getting visibility for the issue and making incest a real issue. Because it was based on a case, there were two similar, yet distinguishable levels of strategizing occurring: one from the point of view of the individuals involved, and the other from the point of view of the issue itself. For example, the purpose of a sit-in or demonstration was to create an opportunity for dialogue, because we felt that the more and we reached out, the higher the possibility of making people understand the issue.

Public Education and Material Production

As the campaign focused on getting the issue of child sexual abuse and incest recognized, different strategies of public education were used for different target groups. Print media and television were both successfully used as mediums of public education. The issue was covered from the angle of the case, and a number of larger issues were also raised. In reference to establishing the issue, one report, published one year prior by a group called RAHI, was widely disseminated; it was based on a study conducted among upper and middle class urban women. An effort was also made to highlight cases of similar nature. Media support was mobilized at local, state and national level.

Pamphlets and Posters

Once the discussion started it was important to keep it alive for some time. One of the methods used for this was to regularly bring out pamphlets highlighting different aspects of the issue, adding life experiences and updates from the case. A number of these pamphlets were brought out in the local language; they included a lot of pictorial expressions, as Vanangana's main support base is among Dalit women, most of who are illiterate.

Community-Organizing through Meetings and Using "Phad"

A number of community meetings were held in different villages and different parts of the town in which a traditional method called phad was used. Phad is a long piece of cloth with several panels of a story painted on it. It is shown with a narration of the story, combined with songs. Phad was often used as an entry point into discussion.

Caste Dynamics

Although Mr. JP, being a Brahmin, did get a lot of support from the very strong Brahmin lobby in the state, there is a strong anti-Brahmin feeling present in the weaker sections of the society, which benefited the campaign. In the Chitrakoot district Brahmins traditionally have been the landlords, and the Dalits work as agricultural laborers. Vanangana's largest support base is amongst Dalits. These caste politics were carefully included in the analysis, and the organizers were able to turn the issue of caste in favor of the campaign as well.

Sit-in Demonstration

A six day long sit-in hunger strike was organized. The supporters of the campaign decided to sit for the demonstration for six days in the most crowded part of the town. Everyday between five hundred to a thousand people would sit in the demonstration. There would be ongoing discussion on the topic, people would testify about their experiences in street theater performances, and other creative measures were used. It was an open forum to raise doubts and ask questions. A huge number of organizations supported and participated in the sit-in.

Public Hearing

The sit-in culminated in a public hearing on the issue of violence against women and girls in the private sphere. There were several women and girls who talked about their experiences of violence in front of thousands of people. Their narration of their "I" experiences had a huge impact.

Signature and Letter Campaign

A signature and letter campaign was also launched to exert pressure on the government on the issue of human rights defenders and the issue of incest.

Support of Elected Representatives and Political Parties

At the local level elected representatives and opposition parties were approached with the agenda of the campaign. This brought clear-cut support from certain representatives and political parties.

National Human Rights Mechanisms

A complaint was filed with the National Commission for Women which resulted in a favorable report with recommendations to the Uttar Pradesh government. Although there was no responsive action by the state government, the report served as a useful advocacy tool.

Legal Strategy

The campaigners decided to challenge the court's overemphasis on the medical evidence. Section 377, which deals with unnatural sexual offences, was also used in the First Incident Report (FIR). The argument was designed to use the cultural aspect in favor of women. As the Indian criminal system takes time, the proceedings have not started yet.

The argument which was used constantly by the defendant in the writ petitions filed by both sides was the single status of the women working on the case; the petitions portrayed them as women of evil character, home breakers, etc. These arguments were allowed to take place, and a number of times even the use of abusive language was allowed. At the time of the hearing of the writ petition, the high courts summoned Mrs. A and her daughter in an on-camera proceeding. The judges advised her to not break the home and to revoke the case. There was an effort to raise these issues within the judicial system.

The information which I have given thus far is the information which is owned by a collective process and is authentic from that point of view, but the views which will be expressed in the second part are mostly mine. They have not come out of a collective process, and they do not necessarily reflect everyone's thoughts and positions.

Because the campaign grew out of the process of handling a particular case, there was not wide consultation in the beginning, in terms of defining the problem and its scope. This could be considered both the strength and the limitation of the campaign. As it grew, different aspects were included in the definition. It was an innovative campaign in the sense that the problem could be defined at every level and encompassed a wide range of issues ranging from incest to the rehabilitation, security, and mental health of survivors. At the same time, the campaign evolved to cover the huge question of legitimacy surrounding NGOs doing this kind of work. This question of the role of civil society in such matters involved issues of security, accountability, and the overarching parameters of NGO participation. As the campaign grew, there was a lot of dialogue with different actors, even though consultation was limited in the beginning of the campaign. This resulted in some problems, for the issue of incest and the attack on activists were highlighted most, while the issue of domestic violence did not attain the same level of discussion.

I believe the strategies, tactics and alliances involved in the campaign have to be examined on different levels.

Building Alliances

As this campaign created a lot of controversy and was propagated as an attempt to undermine Indian culture, making allies was a difficult task. Different strategies had to be thought of for different actors. For the NGOs, civil liberty organizations and other people's groups, the strategy involved making presentations on every possible forum. It meant a lot of traveling and trying to fix up meetings and asking for a few minutes in all ongoing events. The line would be different, and sometimes some issues were highlighted more depending on the composition of the group. It was a strength of the campaign that it addressed a number of diverse issues. Because of this diversity, an interesting composition of groups came out in support.

When I talk about alliances, it is important to say that although they collectively seemed very powerful, there were various levels of support, and every group was not necessarily very comfortable with or exposed to all the issues raised in the campaign. Sexual abuse is a complex issue that is rooted in the history of several groups. Most of the groups connected with the human rights movement had traditionally focused on violations within the public domain. Therefore, there were a number of child rights groups in the state that only focused on child labor and the right to education. Similarly, several civil liberties organizations had limited their focus on women's issues to cases of ill-treatment by police or protection in communal conflict situations, etc. Domestic violence is only now being understood as a key issue in women's rights.

The campaign was a big challenge, and the good thing was that many groups took that challenge — but at the cost of victimizing the image of the child and the mother. It was a political compromise. A number of times the case was based on the very value of Indian family. The case was a classic example of heavily playing upon helpless victims. The campaign's other issue of the attack on the activists initially seemed more capable of gaining solidarity, but because the campaign's leadership was composed of all single women, it took time to gain acceptance and faced difficulties at certain points.

Media Advocacy

Some ideological compromises were made as the media completely portrayed a victim image of the survivors and the activists after false cases and intimidation of activists. In the short run, this portrayal was helpful in winning over, to a certain extent, the support of the educated middle class in the state, but it definitely left a number of issues unaddressed. There was a lot of nervousness amongst the activists before breaking the news, as a number of ethical and delicate issues were involved in terms of the identity of the survivor and the later repercussions of the case. One had to depend on personal contacts to some extent. By and large the coverage was not very sensational because of long discussions, efforts to provide complete background information, and attempts to encourage the writing of editorials, not only new items.

As the story garnered more sensational value it became less difficult to get coverage from the local and state level media; what was difficult was deciding the way it was going to be presented. A lot of personal friends were used in mobilizing the media at the Delhi level mostly. The contacts from before did work, but a lot of contacts were also developed throughout the process. Our role was mostly keeping the media updated and explaining the issues and our position to everyone. It was a conscious decision that Mrs. A, and not only the activists, talk to the journalists about her experience. She went through preparatory sessions about how to do it. There was one ground rule: that children will not be exposed to press. This did not become a problem, but was rather helpful in the campaign. As a strategy, the activists focused a lot on cultivating relationships and corresponding with the women journalists.

Support from the Local Community

Support from the local community was really strong from Dalit and other backward caste villages, especially from the areas where Vanangana works. The opposition had spent large resources on destroying the support and disseminating their side of the story in forms of books and pamphlets, but it did not have much impact. The division on caste lines was much clearer than anything else, so support in the Brahmin community was nearly nil; however, in other communities it was remarkable, and it was not only from women. When I look at the experience today, I always wonder whether it was a statement against an oppressive caste system or the understanding of the issue of incest. The use of several mass media tools really helped in getting the message across. The community support at the level of town and people in communities other than those within which Vanagana worked, went through a curve of being favorable right in the beginning, then becoming really unfavourable after the hate campaign launched by the perpetrator, and again becoming favorable in the later stage. Analyzing that curve brings forward a number of related issues. The biggest weakness of Vanangana was that the organization was not prepared for that kind of organized opposition. It was not that the perpetrator's strong connections were not considered earlier, but that there was no preparation to tackle the effects of these connections when they emerged. The support he could mobilize was definitely underestimated because the organizers thought that the disgusting nature of the crime would inhibit even the most conservative people from outwardly supporting him, even if they did not approve of the strategies of the women's groups.

Once Mr. JP managed to create false cases against the activists, it provided a tool in the hands of an already hostile administration, and gave him an opportunity to prove his point. The main people making decisions had to leave the town overnight to avoid arrest, and this did not give adequate time and opportunity for discussion on each of the problems and the handing over of roles. Perhaps there lies another weakness of not having full information sharing among the group members. The ones who then held the fort were definitely not prepared to do it suddenly, and this resulted in a retreat. As there was a lot of threat to the security of the workers of the organization and the survivors, it was difficult to decide whether or not to disclose every piece of information. Secrecy does not create a very good public image, especially when its not well thought-out. On the practical working level, the case against the activists diverted attention away from the actual issue for some time, thereby leaving it on the back burner.

Conclusions

When I am talking about the strategies, twisting the cultural argument in favor of the issue was one of the key strategies. I will not say this course of action was a great success, but it definitely did help on certain levels. That was a tough ideological question, and it will always remain a point of discussion whether those compromises should have been made or not. I would like to describe some of them, like the institution of family. It was a cautious strategy not to get into the debate of critiquing the institution, but rather to limit our argument to the what happens if it becomes an undemocratic institution. The fact that Chitrakoot was a sacred place was used by the opposition to say that by raising an issue like incest, the activists had given a bad name to the place. Here also the sacredness was used differently to say that it was a virtue that this sacred land has started the struggle. It was very clear that no criticism of religion or cultural practices was allowed; the arguments had to be found within the given socio-cultural framework.

Unanticipated Outcomes

There were a number of outcomes which were not anticipated by the campaign, and they included both positive and negative aspects. I will talk about the positive outcomes first. The most unanticipated of positive outcomes was the support from several groups and the community. On the days of the sit-in demonstrations there was not a single day in seven days when there was less than a thousand people. This was more a result of centralized efforts in the town, state, and national levels than Vanangana's efforts to gain mobilization in surrounding villages. Even in terms of groups and activists there were so many people who forwarded not only support but handled a lot of work. For example, groups in Delhi came together as a forum and they handled the media at the national level, mobilized support from their areas, put pressure on the National Women's Commission and constantly helped with the legal strategy. Donations were mobilized which took care of most of the expenses of the campaign, and the voluntary time devoted was huge as every activist and lawyer did everything free of cost. This campaign was completely non-funded, and all the resources spent were put together by the individuals and organizations participating in it. No one received any remuneration for their work on the campaign.

One amazing outcome was the number of people who came forward to talk about their personal experiences. It also put incest on the agenda of groups other than women's groups, and at least a discussion started.

Now, the negative outcomes or experiences were also large as the campaign created huge backlash. Every conceivable measure — legal and illegal — was used to undermine and destroy the campaign. It did create enemies and polarized the society. The most important turning point was when the students' wing of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), took a clear stand against the campaign and actually started demonstrations and submitted memoranda demanding a ban on campaign. The hate went so far that leader of ABVP went to the extent of saying that women like them (referring to the activists) are whores and prostitutes, and society should be cleaned. He went on to say that if he were to get the chance, he would shoot them all to save the great culture of India. This statement was shown on the news of a national-level T.V. channel, yet there was no action against anyone. There was a section of the Bar Council which also went against the campaign on the local level. The threats and intimidation became a part of daily life for all the workers and supporters of the campaign. Allegations were made that the charges of incest against Mr. JP were false and that the activists had kept the daughter in their custody and forced her to give a false statement.

It is important to understand the possible reasons for the backlash through the context at this point of the campaign. The BJP is a right wing, largely upper caste Hindu party which promotes the idea of a Hindu nation. It also promotes a very Brahmanical version of Hinduism and looks at the role of women only as homemakers and good mothers. It does not believe in multi-cultural society, considers uniformity as an essential for a strong nation, and is well known for its anti-minority stance. There has been a traditional conflict between women's groups and the BJP, as the BJP believes that any viewpoint other than the traditional is a western agenda, and it strongly urges to promote traditional image. The differences are also attributed to BJP's anti-minority and anti-Dalit position. The closest allies for Vanangana among political parties are the women's organizations of left parties. That perhaps is one of the added reasons. There was an interesting phenomenon that senior level leaders found it embarrassing to say that what ever was being done by their colleagues was justified; thus, sometimes there were confusing messages, but there was no effort to stop this. As Uttar Pradesh at that point of time was under BJP rule, the local authorities encouraged all the opposition. Caste factors remained the most important reason.

This happened in 1999. It is important to note that it happened after a number of backlashes by different organizations related to BJP that violently protested against a film on alternative sexuality, celebrations of Valentine's day, some paintings, and a number of other things declaring them as against Indian culture. A BJP led state tried to create dress codes for women, and stricter rules were imposed in certain parts on public expression of affection. There was an ongoing campaign by BJP to change the history books in the curriculum. The civil society in the country was constantly opposing these measures and was fighting this rule of terror. So this was not one incident in isolation.

Polarization along the caste lines has become really visible in the past ten years because of the polarization of Dalit votes and the emergence of Dalit political identity in the state. In areas like Chitrakoot where land distribution still remains highly unequal, the struggle has been much more visible. In 1996, when the Bahujan Sanmaj Party had the power for the first time in the state, it did focus on land reforms, but did not last in power. Thus, the initiatives stopped there, and the BJP came back into power and withdrew all Dalit supportive policies, especially those in connection with land. Yet again, it manifested the polarization.

Another important fact is that the presence of NGOs has increased heavily in the past few years due to several reasons, one of them being the policy of World Bank and USAID-funded development programs which made it compulsory for the government to implement them through NGOs. This method created a number of NGOs, which were merely the implementing agencies of government programs and not necessarily a part of civil society. Being a new phenomenon, the presence of NGOs created a lot of discomfort and often raised questions of accountability and transparency. There is corruption prevalent amongst NGOs as well, and it was publicized and often exaggerated to say that NGO's are there only for money. The negative image of NGOs is often encouraged by government officials. Because people often are unaware of the structure and functions of these NGOs, in this kind of atmosphere, the term NGO is so broad that various organizations are often played against each other.

For the Organization

The campaign for the organization was a major turning point in terms of sharpening its ideology. This whole sequence of events definitely led the organization to analyze the issue of state accountability for non-state actors. Also, there was a big debate on that particular aspect within the organization. It gave Vanangana a profile of a strong group in terms of taking up difficult issues and taking them to a logical conclusion. This not only increased the faith of survivors of violence within the district, but also developed a state-level profile for the issue. It definitely developed an understanding on the issue of incest amongst the staff members. It was an acid test for the organization, and its supporters were pushed to take sides. This resulted in the loss of some supporters as well.. For the staff it was a test of dealing with their very personal lives as those personal lives were a main part of the hate campaign. People faced opposition from their families. However, Vanangana emerged as a strong community-based group with mass support.

For me personally, the period of the campaign was a period of great learning, filled with a lot of stress, personal tensions and dilemmas. As the campaign faced such serious opposition at every step, a lot of reflection went into every strategy. Establishing state accountability in private matters is a big challenge, and I learned a lot in terms of framing my arguments. For the first time, I independently learned how to handle the media. My public speaking skills were also improved. Networking with some political parties was one new thing which I learned. It is difficult for me to summarize all my learnings, as every step was a lesson. The biggest lesson, however, was how to be a single woman and a public figure. Being a public figure in that context meant being prepared to deal with all questions and allegations about my personal life. As one woman activist summarized: "Challenging the private sphere makes your own privacy most vulnerable, and strength means being prepared to deal with and explain that rather than shy away; we believe personal is political." This challenge was not easy. The opposition of the campaign used personal choices and identity as a weapon against activists.

I would just like to end by saying that the process of learning and internalizing human rights is a constant struggle for many of us. Incest is a difficult issue and requires time and effort to get recognized. The campaign was just a drop in the ocean. It started a process. How this process leads to change in attitudes and support for survivors of incest is something which has to be seen in the long run.

SOURCE: Copyright © 2002 Center for the Study of Human Rights, Columbia University. This article may be republished without prior permission as long as proper credit to the Center is given.