I Am SAMAJ: Bringing together youth voices from South Asia

I Am SAMAJ: Md. Nazmul Hasan, young community worker, SRHR advocate from Bangladesh

Survivors of sexual violence are often trapped between violence and silence. As youth, let us bring sexual violence to the center of our advocacy, not the margins.

Md. Nazmul Hasan is a youth advocate working with SERAC in Bangladesh on ending sexual and gender-based violence in Bangladesh. Through his work, he engages with young people and communities to strengthen access to justice and challenge harmful norms.

Between violence and silence

Nazmul shares how he views sexual violence in his country:

“Violence against women and girls in Bangladesh remains a deeply structural issue rooted in gender inequality, harmful social norms, and unequal power relations. From my perspectiveworking at grassroots level, sexual violence is a critical dimension of this broader violence – one that is often hidden, underreported, and normalized through silence within both private and public spaces.

The recent 2024 Violence Against Women (VAW) survey by BBS and UNFPA highlights the alarming scale of the crisis. It shows that three out of four women (76%) have experienced at least one form of intimate partner violence in their lifetime, and nearly half (49%) faced such violence in just the past year. Importantly, these forms of violence often include sexual violence within intimate relationships, which remains one of the least reported and least discussed forms of abuse. Even more concerning is that 62% of survivors never disclose their experience, reflecting the strong presence of stigma, fear, and social pressure that prevents survivors from seeking help or justice. Bangladesh reports abysmally low conviction rates at 3.8% for perpetrators of sexual violence.

From my engagement with young people and communities through SERAC programs, I see that these numbers reflect a deeper reality: survivors of sexual violence are often trapped between violence and silence.”

Stigma, silence, and systemic barriers

Nazmul explains what stands in the way of survivors accessing justice:

“Survivors of sexual violence in Bangladesh face several deeply rooted barriers in accessing justice, particularly shaped by stigma and taboo, victim-blaming and social pressure, and forced compromise through informal justice mechanisms such as shalish.

Firstly, stigma and taboo surrounding sexual violence remain one of the most powerful barriers. Sexual violence is often considered a “shameful” issue rather than a human rights violation, which forces survivors into silence.

Secondly, victim-blaming and intense social pressure significantly undermine survivors’ access to justice. Instead of receiving support, survivors are often questioned about their behavior, clothing, mobility, or personal choices.

Thirdly, in many communities, forced compromise through informal justice systems such as shalish further limits justice outcomes. From my perspective as a youth advocate, these barriers are deeply interconnected and reflect broader gender inequality and power imbalances in society.”

A seat at the table

For Nazmul, meaningful youth engagement is not symbolic, it is essential.

Nazmul says: “Meaningful youth engagement in ending sexual violence means moving beyond symbolic inclusion to ensuring that young people are recognized as equal partners in decision-making, accountability, and solution-building. It is not enough for youth to be consulted occasionally; we must have a real seat at the table where policies, laws, and programs are designed, implemented, and evaluated.

Youth should be meaningfully involved across multiple spaces. In policy and legal reform, young people can contribute lived realities, research insights, and advocacy to shape survivor-centred laws and enforcement mechanisms.

However, current youth engagement is often tokenistic. Young people are invited to events, consultations, or campaigns, but rarely included in decision-making processes or given real influence over outcomes.”

Listening to young people

“As a youth advocate at SERAC-Bangladesh, my work on sexual violence has been shaped by direct engagement with more than 1,000 young people through training on SGBV (sexual and gender-based violence). These sessions created a critical space to hear from young people about the realities they face. Many shared that while they experience or witness violence, they often lack basic knowledge about what constitutes sexual violence, what their rights are, and where to seek support if it occurs.

Another important experience was through SERAC’s community-based photovoice initiative on SGBV, where we documented lived experiences from communities, homes, schools, and workplaces. This process revealed how deeply sexual violence is embedded in everyday environments and how survivors’ voices often remain unheard.

These experiences have strengthened my belief that addressing sexual violence requires more than awareness-it demands systemic education on rights, survivor-centred support systems, and strong community-level accountability mechanisms.”

From fragmented systems to survivor-centred responses

Nazmul believes institutions must do more:

“Governments and institutions must move beyond fragmented responses and adopt a truly survivor-centred, coordinated, and accountability-driven system to address sexual violence.

One Stop Crisis Centres (OCCs) should be fully strengthened and operationalized as integrated hubs that provide medical care, psychosocial counselling, legal aid, and police support under one roof.

It is equally important to ensure survivor-centred, trauma-informed, and non-judgemental services across all institutions, as stigma and fear of blame remain major barriers to seeking help.

At the same time, prevention must be prioritized through education on consent, rights, and SGBV awareness in schools and communities.”

From individual voices to collective action

Speaking about youth networks and regional collaboration, Nazmul shares:

“Youth networks, coalitions, and solidarity movements play a crucial role in driving meaningful change on sexual violence because they bring together collective voices that are often unheard at individual level.

From my experience working with SERAC-Bangladesh and FP2030, I have seen how youth-led engagement can bridge the gap between communities and institutions. Regional collaboration platforms like SAMAJ are especially important, because sexual violence is not confined within national borders-it is a structural issue across South Asia shaped by similar norms, inequalities, and systemic barriers.”

“My message to other youth advocates across the region is that sexual violence is not a cross-cutting issue to be addressed indirectly-it is a core justice, protection, and dignity issue that must be prioritized in its own right.

We must ensure clear, accessible, and youth-friendly information on rights, consent, reporting mechanisms, and support services reaches every young person.”

#IAmSAMAJ and I want to ensure that no young person is left unaware, unsupported, or unheard when facing sexual violence.

Ending sexual and gender-based violence requires more than legal reform, it demands collective action, survivor-centred systems, and meaningful youth leadership. Through SAMAJ, Equality Now brings together 26 organisations and individuals across Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, working in solidarity to strengthen access to justice for survivors of sexual violence, advocate for stronger legal frameworks, and hold governments and institutions accountable. 

Across the region, young advocates are already driving this change and SAMAJ is committed to investing in their leadership, not just their participation.

If your organisation or network is committed to ending sexual violence in South Asia, join the movement and read our call to action.