This study documents and analyses the manner in which harmful traditional and cultural practices contribute to violence against women in the three South Asian countries of Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The study uses a human rights framework to determine whether traditional and cultural practices are harmful and constitute violence against women. The universality and indivisibility of women’s human rights and the norm of equality and non-discrimination as set out in international human rights standards provide the basis for identifying those practices which can be described as both harmful and contributing to violence against women.