London – To mark the UN Internatioanl Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls, Labour Party leader and MP for Ealing, Southall, Virendra Sharma , organised the British South Asian Youth Summit workshop virtually.

Around 100 youth delegates attended the workshop and heard from high profile NGO speakers. The speakers included Natalie Dilworth, Senior Government Relations Adviser, UK and Katie Rice, International Programmes Specialist working on Child Protection at UNICEF UK, Jenefa Jabbar, Director for Human Rights and Legal Aid Services and Chris Lyne, Advocacy & Communications Manager at BRAC, Seema Aziz, the Chairperson of CARE Foundation, Pakistan and Shireen Huq of Naripokkho.

The NGO speakers presented their work and current programmes in tackling the issueof violence against women and girls. They shared their knowledge and tools for advocacy to run effective campaigns with the young people. The delegates were then placed in five separate discussion groups of the key policy areas in combating violence against women and girls. They discussed the importance of tackling this issue in education at school and university level and in education for adults. They also explored how to work with the NGO sector and within the legislative branch.

Addressing the workshop, MP Virendra Sharma, said, “I am so pleased we have delegates from all our countries here today. Speakers, activists, volunteers and campaigners from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the UK are united by a common desire to act and secure change. As change makers there is no competition with the young as they are idealistic, committed and unflinching in challenging power. The social, ecological, and legal challenges of an interconnected world in the future will be more than any one country can face on their own.”

Over the next month, delegates from the nine countries will be working together in the assigned policy groups and they will be invited to join part two of the ongoing workshop series in March.

MP Sharma thanked the speakers, praised the amazing work of the delegates and committed to facilitating the workshops for young people across South Asia and the UK. He encouraged them to use their passion to translate into meaningful campaigns in their own countries.

The next workshop will be on Saturday 20^th of March 2021 at 2 – 3.30 pm. Young people can sign up by visiting the link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/british-south-asian-youth-summit-bsays-vawg-workshop-2tickets-140487839911