Is This Justice? Campaign

"Is This Justice?" (or "Yeh kaisa insaaf?") involves the use of major Indian television (TV), radio, and print outlets including: Doordarshan, STAR network, Sony Entertainment Television, Etv (Kannada, Marathi, Hindi), Dainik Jagran, Lokmat, Prajavani, Udyavani, Radio Mirchi and All India Radio. The materials were developed with input from the Networks of Positive Women in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh. They aim to have high shock appeal and impact; for instance, in one PSA a woman sits, terrified, beside her husband as he manoeuvers his car in a crowded chawl and then accidentally rams into a stationary vehicle. Publicly humiliated, he vents his anger by turning to his wife and slapping her across the face. Through such illustrations, the campaign points out how women are treated within their own households and blamed for things that may not be their fault at all, trapped in a web of silence and unable to find a voice of their own. Thus, even when HIV/AIDS is not addressed directly, the cultural attitudes that can lead to misunderstanding of, and discrimination against, WLHA are strong messages in all campaign materials.



Breakthrough is also using information and communication technology (ICT) to bring the messages to a broader (global) audience. Visitors to the campaign page on the Breakthrough website can view videos, such as Anita, an HIV-positive Indian woman who - in a spot posted on YouTube - discusses contracting the disease from her husband ("it was not my fault") and the way in which her co-workers tease and/or avoid her. Other videos available for viewing here feature themes such as "A man looks at me, but I'm the one being punished. Is this justice?" and "Please forgive me. You came home drunk". Printed materials from the campaign may also be accessed here. In addition, teaching materials related to "Is this Justice" are available, including an "Action on Gender Based Violence" report, a list of best practices on reporting HIV/AIDS news, contact information for organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, "Law, Gender and HIV/AIDS: Legislation Overview", and critical statistics on women and HIV/AIDS. In this way, the campaign is designed to spread awareness and information amongst a variety of groups interested in issues around women and HIV/AIDS - not only those who are exposed to the mass media in India.



Breakthrough is also conducting educational forums with students, homemakers, medical and legal professionals, and other groups to encourage a deeper understanding of HIV/AIDS and human rights issues within India. For example, in September 2007, the organisation held a workshop on HIV/AIDS and gender roles in an effort to provide a clear demonstration of the cyclical nature of domestic violence to both participants and facilitators, and to spark discussion. This 3-day event kicked off an 8-month long peer education programme in the southern state of Karnataka, and involved 30 young people between the ages of 18 and 26. The participants - most of them "barely literate" manual labourers at the railway station, electricians, and carpenters - included 28 boys and 2 girls who acted as volunteers to share their perspectives on what it is like to be on the receiving end of sexual harassment. Breakthrough programme manager Sunita Menon said the youth were surprisingly well versed in issues surrounding HIV, but when it came to gender roles, "they had appalling views...There was also a watershed moment when it suddenly came home to them that domestic violence affects not only...the woman who is attacked, but also themselves, their families, and their community." By engaging in a dialogue, the boys seemed more aware of "the value of the work women do, the importance of domestic chores, and the impact of their actions when they teased or harassed a woman," said Menon.



From August 2007 through May 2008, 18 workshops - conducted by three Citizen Alliance for Rural Development & Training Society (CARDTS) facilitators, and funded, supported, and monitored by Breakthrough - will reach out to 450 rural and marginalised youth, who will then train at least 10 others in the districts of rural Bengalooru, Raichur, Dakshin Kannada, and Dharwad. "We're not doing it ourselves but making sure the trainers who have attended Breakthrough's capacity building program reach out to the community, with a systematic monitoring and evaluation process in place," Menon explains.

Women, Gender, HIV/AIDS, Rights.

According to Breakthrough, nearly 40% of the 5.2 million HIV positive people in India are women, and nearly 80% of them have contracted this infection from their husbands or partners. The organisation contends that, while the general public continues to believe that most women with HIV/AIDS are sex workers, official numbers indicate that they make up less than 1% of the 2 million female infections. Organisers stress that the increase of HIV/AIDS amongst women is just another example of women's unequal status in society, in that women often find it very difficult to negotiate safe sex or condom use. The consequences of contracting HIV/AIDS are reportedly severe: this organisation claims that almost 90% of WLHA are thrown out of their homes after their husbands die of AIDS. In addition to homelessness, these women apparently must contend with increased violence, loss of jobs and families, and lack of access to treatment and care.



Breakthrough uses education, media, and popular culture in an effort to transform public attitudes and promote values of equality, justice, and dignity. With operations in India and the United States, the organisation works to cultivate a more open and democratic civil society invested in sustaining core human rights values by encouraging public dialogue about issues like racial justice, immigrant rights, women's rights, HIV/AIDS, sexuality, and religious tolerance.



A May 15 2007 article in the Wall Street Journal reports that the campaign had at that point reached 35 million people, and that "impact was so high that people did not need the tag line to recall its content/message. Research revealed that the three-film series had the same retention and recall as Coke and Pepsi advertisements, at 1/10th price of producing them!"