<p>A Chinese woman, with the history of domestic violence, was set on fire while she was live streaming on a social media platform.</p>

<p>The woman, identified as Lamu, was a famous influencer at Douyin, China's version of TikTok, and had hundreds of thousands of followers.</p>

<p>As per police reports, Lamu's ex-husband had&nbsp;allegedly broken into her house armed with a knife and petrol with clear intentions of harming her. At this point, Lamu was live streaming to her audience at Douyin when he forced his way through her house.&nbsp;</p>

<p>She has&nbsp;suffered burns on 90 per cent&nbsp;of her body and died two weeks after the attack.</p>

<p>The local media reports stated that the screens on the live stream went pitch black soon after the live streaming started.</p>

<p>Her ex-husband has also been accused of domestic violence in the past. Her brother-in-law told the local media that Lamu's ex-husband had earlier also been beaten up Lamu.&nbsp;The tangled couple have two children together, and each of them got one child each in the divorce.</p>

<p>Later, he had threatened to kill one child if she didn't re-marry him, to which she bowed down but ran away from his home later.</p>

<p>She had been hiding somewhere and the ex-husband, identified as Tang, had been asking about her whereabouts from her relatives.</p>

<p>Lamu's brother-in-law, identified as Mr Luo, said he had heard his wife "mention that her sister was often beaten by Tang".</p>

<p>The family members also revealed that they had earlier too informed the local police about this, but no action was taken from their side.</p>

<p>The incident happened on September 14, and the woman has now succumbed to her injuries.</p>


A Chinese woman, with the history of domestic violence, was set on fire while she was live streaming on a social media platform. The woman, identified as Lamu, was a famous influencer at Douyin, China's version of TikTok, and had hundreds of thousands of followers.

A Chinese woman, with the history of domestic violence, was set on fire while she was live streaming on a social media platform. The woman, identified as Lamu, was a famous influencer at Douyin, China's version of TikTok, and had hundreds of thousands of followers. As per police reports, Lamu's ex-husband had allegedly broken into her house armed with a knife and petrol with clear intentions of harming her. At this point, Lamu was live streaming to her audience at Douyin when he forced his way through her house. She has suffered burns on 90 per cent of her body and died two weeks after the attack. The local media reports stated that the screens on the live stream went pitch black soon after the live streaming started. Her ex-husband has also been accused of domestic violence in the past. Her brother-in-law told the local media that Lamu's ex-husband had earlier also been beaten up Lamu. The tangled couple have two children together, and each of them got one child each in the divorce. Later, he had threatened to kill one child if she didn't re-marry him, to which she bowed down but ran away from his home later. She had been hiding somewhere and the ex-husband, identified as Tang, had been asking about her whereabouts from her relatives. Lamu's brother-in-law, identified as Mr Luo, said he had heard his wife "mention that her sister was often beaten by Tang". The family members also revealed that they had earlier too informed the local police about this, but no action was taken from their side. The incident happened on September 14, and the woman has now succumbed to her injuries.

Chinese influencer set on fire by ex-husband during live stream

<p>Poland is set to withdraw from a European treaty on violence against women, which the right-wing cabinet says violates parents' rights by requiring schools to teach children about gender.</p>

<p>Poland's justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro said on Saturday the step will take effect from next week. He told a news conference his ministry would submit a request to the labour and families ministry on Monday to begin the process of withdrawing from the treaty, known as the Istanbul Convention.</p>

<p>"It contains elements of an ideological nature, which we consider harmful," Ziobro said.</p>

<p>Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and its coalition partners closely align themselves with the Catholic Church and promote a conservative social agenda. Hostility to gay rights was one of the main issues promoted by President Andrej Duda during a successful re-election campaign this month.</p>

<p>On Friday, thousands of people, mostly women, protested in Warsaw and other cities against proposals to reject the treaty, citing the main motive of the move was to legalise domestic violence.</p>

<p>PiS has long complained about the Istanbul Convention, which Poland ratified under a previous centrist government in 2015. The government says the treaty is disrespectful towards religion and requires teaching liberal social policies in schools, although in the past it has stopped short of a decision to quit.</p>

<p>The World Health Organization says domestic violence has surged this year in Europe during months of lockdown aimed at fighting the coronavirus.<br />
&nbsp;</p>


Poland is set to withdraw from a European treaty on violence against women, which the right-wing cabinet says violates parents' rights by requiring schools to teach children about gender.

Poland is set to withdraw from a European treaty on violence against women, which the right-wing cabinet says violates parents' rights by requiring schools to teach children about gender. Poland's justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro said on Saturday the step will take effect from next week. He told a news conference his ministry would submit a request to the labour and families ministry on Monday to begin the process of withdrawing from the treaty, known as the Istanbul Convention. "It contains elements of an ideological nature, which we consider harmful," Ziobro said. Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and its coalition partners closely align themselves with the Catholic Church and promote a conservative social agenda. Hostility to gay rights was one of the main issues promoted by President Andrej Duda during a successful re-election campaign this month. On Friday, thousands of people, mostly women, protested in Warsaw and other cities against proposals to reject the treaty, citing the main motive of the move was to legalise domestic violence. PiS has long complained about the Istanbul Convention, which Poland ratified under a previous centrist government in 2015. The government says the treaty is disrespectful towards religion and requires teaching liberal social policies in schools, although in the past it has stopped short of a decision to quit. The World Health Organization says domestic violence has surged this year in Europe during months of lockdown aimed at fighting the coronavirus.

Poland decides to quit treaty on violence against women, protests follow

'The rapist is you': Chile protest anthem against sexual violence goes global

<p>A rape survivor was set ablaze in Bihar area of Uttar Pradesh's Unnao on Thursday morning.</p>

<p>The victim has been referred to Lucknow, said Vikrant Vir, Superintendent of Police, Unnao.</p>

<p>"The victim has been referred to a hospital in Lucknow for better treatment. We have rounded up the three accused, search for the other two is underway. The victim had earlier filed a rape case, one accused in that case has also been rounded up," Vir told media here.</p>


A rape survivor was set ablaze in Bihar area of Uttar Pradesh's Unnao on Thursday morning. The victim has been referred to Lucknow, said Vikrant Vir, Superintendent of Police, Unnao.

A rape survivor was set ablaze in Bihar area of Uttar Pradesh's Unnao on Thursday morning. The victim has been referred to Lucknow, said Vikrant Vir, Superintendent of Police, Unnao. "The victim has been referred to a hospital in Lucknow for better treatment. We have rounded up the three accused, search for the other two is underway. The victim had earlier filed a rape case, one accused in that case has also been rounded up," Vir told media here.

Rape survivor set ablaze in Unnao

<p>Parliamentary Standing Committee on Women Empowerment on Thursday met representatives of the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/facebook-corrects-users-post-under-new-singapore-fake-news-law-265378">Facebook</a> group at Parliament House Annexe building in view of rising crime against women on social media.</p>

<p>The Committee chaired by Lok Sabha Heena Gavit will discuss <a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/cyber-bullying-star-suicides-the-dark-side-of-south-koreas-k-pop-world-265173">cyber harassment</a> and cyberbullying with representatives of the social media giant, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.</p>

<p>A meeting of the committee was called on December 4 and 5 in which representatives of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have been called.</p>

<p>On Wednesday, the Parliamentary Committee met Twitter India representatives and had a detail discussion on cyber harassment and cyberbullying, sources said.<br />
<br />
The Parliamentary Committee has called the representatives of social media companies amidst the concerns raised on the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/rape-survivor-set-ablaze-in-unnao-266330">safety of women</a> across the country.</p>

<p>Sources said, Twitter India has given presentations to the Parliamentary Committee on women safety, on how Twitter works, how to report on Twitter and on the basis of complaint how Twitter will take action against complaint.</p>


Parliamentary Standing Committee on Women Empowerment on Thursday met representatives of the Facebook group at Parliament House Annexe building in view of rising crime against women on social media.

Parliamentary Standing Committee on Women Empowerment on Thursday met representatives of the Facebook group at Parliament House Annexe building in view of rising crime against women on social media. The Committee chaired by Lok Sabha Heena Gavit will discuss cyber harassment and cyberbullying with representatives of the social media giant, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. A meeting of the committee was called on December 4 and 5 in which representatives of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have been called. On Wednesday, the Parliamentary Committee met Twitter India representatives and had a detail discussion on cyber harassment and cyberbullying, sources said. The Parliamentary Committee has called the representatives of social media companies amidst the concerns raised on the safety of women across the country. Sources said, Twitter India has given presentations to the Parliamentary Committee on women safety, on how Twitter works, how to report on Twitter and on the basis of complaint how Twitter will take action against complaint.

Parliamentary panel meets Facebook group over rising crime against women on social media

<p>Mother of 2012 Delhi rape and murder victim on Monday welcomed the decision of Delhi government to recommend the rejection of mercy petition of one of the convicts in the case.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/nirbhaya-case-parents-plea-seeking-to-expedite-execution-of-convicts-to-be-heard-by-new-judge-264367">Nirbhaya`s mother</a>, Asha Devi said, "I welcome Delhi government`s decision to recommend rejection of mercy petition of one of the convicts in the case. I hope the accused will be hanged to death soon. I know that the process is still going on but I hope that the accused persons will be hanged to death soon. I believe that there are a few loopholes in our judicial system."</p>

<p>"The Supreme Court twice pronounced the sentence to death for the accused in this case but it`s been 2.5 years now and that order has not been followed," she added.</p>

<p>The Delhi government on Sunday recommended the rejection of the mercy petition of one of the convicts in Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case.</p>

<p>Earlier, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court had dismissed the appeal of the convict Vinay Sharma and had upheld the sentence pronounced by the trial court in the matter.</p>

<p>The petition will now be placed before the Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi for consideration after which it will be sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Central government.</p>

<p>Asha further condemned the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/telangana-fast-track-court-to-deal-with-vets-rape-case-cm-promises-stringent-punishment-to-culprits-265584">Hyderabad veterinarian rape</a> and murder case and stated that because the accused people are still `alive`, it has conveyed a wrong message in the society.</p>

<p><strong>Also Watch:&nbsp;Rape &amp; murder of 27-year-old sends shockwaves</strong></p>

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<p>"Rape and murder of the woman veterinarian was barbaric. Unlike us who had to fight for seven years, she should get justice soon. The administration should reflect on why such incidents re-occur. The accused persons in both the rape cases should be hanged to death," said Asha.</p>

<p>She further asserted that rape incidents occur almost every day but nobody is concerned about such cases.</p>

<p>"We cannot stop such incidents until the accused people are given stringent punishment. It`s time to act now," said Asha.</p>

<p>In December 2012, a 23-year-old paramedic student was gang-raped inside a running bus by six persons and thrown out on the road along with her male friend in the national capital. She succumbed to injuries a few days later.&nbsp;</p>


Mother of 2012 Delhi rape and murder victim on Monday welcomed the decision of Delhi government to recommend the rejection of mercy petition of one of the convicts in the case.

Mother of 2012 Delhi rape and murder victim on Monday welcomed the decision of Delhi government to recommend the rejection of mercy petition of one of the convicts in the case. Nirbhaya`s mother, Asha Devi said, "I welcome Delhi government`s decision to recommend rejection of mercy petition of one of the convicts in the case. I hope the accused will be hanged to death soon. I know that the process is still going on but I hope that the accused persons will be hanged to death soon. I believe that there are a few loopholes in our judicial system." "The Supreme Court twice pronounced the sentence to death for the accused in this case but it`s been 2.5 years now and that order has not been followed," she added. The Delhi government on Sunday recommended the rejection of the mercy petition of one of the convicts in Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case. Earlier, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court had dismissed the appeal of the convict Vinay Sharma and had upheld the sentence pronounced by the trial court in the matter. The petition will now be placed before the Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi for consideration after which it will be sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Central government. Asha further condemned the Hyderabad veterinarian rape and murder case and stated that because the accused people are still `alive`, it has conveyed a wrong message in the society. Also Watch: Rape & murder of 27-year-old sends shockwaves × "Rape and murder of the woman veterinarian was barbaric. Unlike us who had to fight for seven years, she should get justice soon. The administration should reflect on why such incidents re-occur. The accused persons in both the rape cases should be hanged to death," said Asha. She further asserted that rape incidents occur almost every day but nobody is concerned about such cases. "We cannot stop such incidents until the accused people are given stringent punishment. It`s time to act now," said Asha. In December 2012, a 23-year-old paramedic student was gang-raped inside a running bus by six persons and thrown out on the road along with her male friend in the national capital. She succumbed to injuries a few days later.

Nirbhaya's mother welcomes Delhi government's decision to recommend rejection of convict's mercy petition

<p>Acid attacks on women have declined dramatically in Bangladesh in recent years as tough laws and the closer monitoring of chemical sales have cut down the grisly crime, officials and activists said Monday.</p>

<p>According to Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF), there have been just eight such attacks this year, well down on the 494 cases reported in 2002 when new laws were enacted.</p>

<p>"It is a very good result, but our work hasn't finished yet," said Samanta Lal Sen, a prominent plastic surgeon and ASF trustee.</p>

<p>"We'll celebrate when the number of attacks will come down to zero," he told AFP.</p>

<p>The crime first emerged in the 1990s, with scores of spurned or jilted men throwing sulphuric or nitric&nbsp;acid in the faces of women who rebuffed their advances to "spoil them" for anyone else.</p>

<p>Victims are left with severely disfigured faces, including damaged eyes and skin. In many cases, parts of the face are lost completely.</p>

<p>Survivors also face being made social outcasts,&nbsp;especially in the rural areas of the conservative country that is home to 168 million people.</p>

<p>Officials and experts attributed the declining rate to a coordinated social, legal, and administrative campaign.</p>

<p>"The main reason is that we have enacted tough laws to fight the crime," Bangladesh's home minister Asaduzzaman Khan told AFP.</p>

<p>In 2002 the state enacted a law that threatened the death penalty for anyone convicted of an acid attack.</p>

<p>According to ASF, since then at least 14 people have been sentenced to death, while nearly 700 others have been arrested and 338 jailed.</p>

<p>Minister Khan said a massive public awareness campaign and strict monitoring of the sale of dangerous chemicals also contributed to the decrease.</p>

<p>The government and local charities have also moved to remove the stigma for victims. Since its establishment in 1999, the ASF has worked with nearly 4,000 survivors of acid violence.</p>

<p>In one of the most recent attacks, a man was arrested in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka for throwing acid at his ex-wife and her daughter.</p>

<p>Another survivor, Mosammat Jamila, told AFP she was happy that the number of acid attacks had come down to single digits.</p>

<p>"I never want to hear that the life of another girl is ruined like me. I don't want anyone to go through the nightmares that I suffer," she said through tears.</p>


Acid attacks on women have declined dramatically in Bangladesh in recent years as tough laws and the closer monitoring of chemical sales have cut down the grisly crime, officials and activists said Monday.

Acid attacks on women have declined dramatically in Bangladesh in recent years as tough laws and the closer monitoring of chemical sales have cut down the grisly crime, officials and activists said Monday. According to Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF), there have been just eight such attacks this year, well down on the 494 cases reported in 2002 when new laws were enacted. "It is a very good result, but our work hasn't finished yet," said Samanta Lal Sen, a prominent plastic surgeon and ASF trustee. "We'll celebrate when the number of attacks will come down to zero," he told AFP. The crime first emerged in the 1990s, with scores of spurned or jilted men throwing sulphuric or nitric acid in the faces of women who rebuffed their advances to "spoil them" for anyone else. Victims are left with severely disfigured faces, including damaged eyes and skin. In many cases, parts of the face are lost completely. Survivors also face being made social outcasts, especially in the rural areas of the conservative country that is home to 168 million people. Officials and experts attributed the declining rate to a coordinated social, legal, and administrative campaign. "The main reason is that we have enacted tough laws to fight the crime," Bangladesh's home minister Asaduzzaman Khan told AFP. In 2002 the state enacted a law that threatened the death penalty for anyone convicted of an acid attack. According to ASF, since then at least 14 people have been sentenced to death, while nearly 700 others have been arrested and 338 jailed. Minister Khan said a massive public awareness campaign and strict monitoring of the sale of dangerous chemicals also contributed to the decrease. The government and local charities have also moved to remove the stigma for victims. Since its establishment in 1999, the ASF has worked with nearly 4,000 survivors of acid violence. In one of the most recent attacks, a man was arrested in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka for throwing acid at his ex-wife and her daughter. Another survivor, Mosammat Jamila, told AFP she was happy that the number of acid attacks had come down to single digits. "I never want to hear that the life of another girl is ruined like me. I don't want anyone to go through the nightmares that I suffer," she said through tears.

Tough laws sharply reduce Bangladesh acid attacks on women

<p>Religious persecution and violence against women are some of the most <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/pakistani-man-jailed-for-blasphemous-facebook-post-256785">salient features of Pakistan</a>, said Sindhi-American Human Rights activist Fatima Gul at the United States House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on `Human Rights in South Asia` here on Tuesday (local time).</p>

<p>"Religious persecution remains a salient feature of Pakistan. Hindus, Christians, Ahmedis, Shias, Balochs continued to be victimised by religious extremists who operate with the government impunity. Pakistan is the only country in the world that legislated against its own citizens," Gul informed the US House panel over incidents related to violence committed by Pakistan against the ethnic minorities in its own soil."</p>

<p>Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/hindu-temples-houses-attacked-in-pakistan-after-alleged-blasphemy-by-a-school-principal-249918">Hindu temples, houses attacked in Pakistan after alleged blasphemy by a school principal</a></p>

<p>Pakistan ranks as Sixth most dangerous country for women in regards to violence and rape.&nbsp;</p>

<p>According to Human Rights Watch, child sexual abuse remains disturbingly common in Pakistan. Around 141 cases have been reported just in Lahore in Punjab province of Pakistan.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In the first half of 2018, according to the police reports, more than 1,000 Hindu girls have been abducted and converted to Islam. Nearly, 33 per cent rise in child abuse cases have been witnessed in the country," the activist added.</p>

<p>Elaborating on more facts of victimising minorities in Pakistan, Gul said that on September 15 this year, religious extremists attacked temples, houses, schools, and Hindus in Ghotki town of Sindh province in Pakistan.&nbsp;</p>

<p>She said that the mob left chaos and terror across neighbourhoods as the attacks were carried out on the pretext that a Sindhi Hindu professor named Notan Lal had committed blasphemy. Despite a lack of evidence he was taken into police custody, she said.</p>

<p>"These attacks which lasted for over a week were completely blacked out by Pakistani media," Gul said while stressing on the seriousness of the human rights situation in Pakistan who is rather flagging baseless arguments over the atrocities in Kashmir.</p>

<p>The activist also noted that since the 1990s, some 70 people have been killed for blasphemy; around 40 people are currently serving life sentences while the others are facing death row.</p>

<p>She said based on eyewitnesses, Pakistani military supports terrorists who have carried out massacres of Hazaras- a community whose population today hardly reaches five million mostly concentrate in Quetta, Balochistan.</p>

<p>"For the last four years, Hazaras have been terrified to do even simple tasks like going to their jobs and sending their kids to schools," Gul noted.</p>

<p>In order to second her remarks, Gul also recalled that a bipartisan group of 10 influential American lawmakers in July this year had asked US President Donald Trump to raise the issue of human rights abuses in the Sindh province in his meeting with the visiting Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.</p>

<p>Concluding her statement, the activist recommended that Pakistan should pass legislation that criminalises forced conversions of the young girls of whom a majority are minors.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"The country should allow journalists and other human rights organisations to take into account the full review of the human rights situation there," she added.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, responding to other panellists during the discussion over the human rights situation in Kashmir, senior Indian journalist from Kashmir, Aarti Tikoo Singh, outlined the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir and said, "The very assumption that I keep hearing in this panel is Kashmir is a `state`. But I want to correct that it is a `union territory` which is now divided into Jammu and Kashmir -- with a Hindu majority in Jammu and Muslim majority in the Valley."</p>

<p>The health care and other emergency services are all in place in Kashmir, noted the journalist while adding that this is not the first time when Kashmir is in lockdown.</p>

<p>"Back in 2016, Kashmir was put under lockdown by militants and separatists backed by Pakistan for at least six months. So, the hospitals and other necessary services in Kashmir are used to such contingencies and have functioned smoothly in previous lockdowns as well. So to say that this particular lockdown was different is wrong," Tikoo asserted.&nbsp;</p>


Religious persecution and violence against women are some of the most salient features of Pakistan, said Sindhi-American Human Rights activist Fatima Gul at the United States House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on `Human Rights in South Asia` here on Tuesday (local time).

Religious persecution and violence against women are some of the most salient features of Pakistan, said Sindhi-American Human Rights activist Fatima Gul at the United States House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on `Human Rights in South Asia` here on Tuesday (local time). "Religious persecution remains a salient feature of Pakistan. Hindus, Christians, Ahmedis, Shias, Balochs continued to be victimised by religious extremists who operate with the government impunity. Pakistan is the only country in the world that legislated against its own citizens," Gul informed the US House panel over incidents related to violence committed by Pakistan against the ethnic minorities in its own soil." Also read: Hindu temples, houses attacked in Pakistan after alleged blasphemy by a school principal Pakistan ranks as Sixth most dangerous country for women in regards to violence and rape. According to Human Rights Watch, child sexual abuse remains disturbingly common in Pakistan. Around 141 cases have been reported just in Lahore in Punjab province of Pakistan. In the first half of 2018, according to the police reports, more than 1,000 Hindu girls have been abducted and converted to Islam. Nearly, 33 per cent rise in child abuse cases have been witnessed in the country," the activist added. Elaborating on more facts of victimising minorities in Pakistan, Gul said that on September 15 this year, religious extremists attacked temples, houses, schools, and Hindus in Ghotki town of Sindh province in Pakistan. She said that the mob left chaos and terror across neighbourhoods as the attacks were carried out on the pretext that a Sindhi Hindu professor named Notan Lal had committed blasphemy. Despite a lack of evidence he was taken into police custody, she said. "These attacks which lasted for over a week were completely blacked out by Pakistani media," Gul said while stressing on the seriousness of the human rights situation in Pakistan who is rather flagging baseless arguments over the atrocities in Kashmir. The activist also noted that since the 1990s, some 70 people have been killed for blasphemy; around 40 people are currently serving life sentences while the others are facing death row. She said based on eyewitnesses, Pakistani military supports terrorists who have carried out massacres of Hazaras- a community whose population today hardly reaches five million mostly concentrate in Quetta, Balochistan. "For the last four years, Hazaras have been terrified to do even simple tasks like going to their jobs and sending their kids to schools," Gul noted. In order to second her remarks, Gul also recalled that a bipartisan group of 10 influential American lawmakers in July this year had asked US President Donald Trump to raise the issue of human rights abuses in the Sindh province in his meeting with the visiting Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. Concluding her statement, the activist recommended that Pakistan should pass legislation that criminalises forced conversions of the young girls of whom a majority are minors. "The country should allow journalists and other human rights organisations to take into account the full review of the human rights situation there," she added. Meanwhile, responding to other panellists during the discussion over the human rights situation in Kashmir, senior Indian journalist from Kashmir, Aarti Tikoo Singh, outlined the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir and said, "The very assumption that I keep hearing in this panel is Kashmir is a `state`. But I want to correct that it is a `union territory` which is now divided into Jammu and Kashmir -- with a Hindu majority in Jammu and Muslim majority in the Valley." The health care and other emergency services are all in place in Kashmir, noted the journalist while adding that this is not the first time when Kashmir is in lockdown. "Back in 2016, Kashmir was put under lockdown by militants and separatists backed by Pakistan for at least six months. So, the hospitals and other necessary services in Kashmir are used to such contingencies and have functioned smoothly in previous lockdowns as well. So to say that this particular lockdown was different is wrong," Tikoo asserted.

Religious persecution, violence against women salient features of Pakistan: Sindhi-American activist

<p><strong>By Renee Coulouris</strong></p>

<p>Despite recent success in Tunisia, which elected the capital’s first female mayor in July, many women around the world continue to experience significant violence around election time. This type of violence is not exclusive to one region of the world, but is experienced by women globally as seen in the recent elections in Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Mexico. Both female voters and politicians have experienced increased harassment, violence and psychological abuse. Electoral violence against women must be addressed and ultimately prevented as it is damaging for states attempting to maintain inclusive governance and democratic societies.</p>

<p>Harassment against women, including acts of domestic violence, tends to increase during electoral periods and is not limited to a single culture or context. In 2016, an Inter-Parliamentary Union report discovered that 44 per cent of surveyed elected female officials experienced threats of rape, death and abductions while in office. Threats of violence and acts of violence dissuade female politicians from continuing to run for political positions and also discourages women from voting. Research has confirmed that hindering female political participation negatively impacts constituencies and undermines the overall political process in countries around the world.</p>

<p>During Zimbabwe’s contentious 2018 general election, female politicians faced multiple barriers when competing for office. In many cases, women received frequent&nbsp;threats from opponents, members of their own party and even from their own family members. During the election period, female politicians experience intense psycho-social violence, particularly with the growing prevalence and importance of social media. Unlike their male counterparts, female politicians are called demeaning names and subjected to gender stereotyping. For example, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) quotes one interviewee noting that “A woman still cannot question an MP in parliament without being [told] her thighs are too big.”</p>

<p>Female voters also experience similar cruelty during electoral periods. Throughout ultra-conservative regions of Pakistan, such as in a village near Khubab, in the Punjab region, many women were only able to vote for the first time since independence in 1947 in the 2018 general election even though they have been legally enfranchised since 1956. Despite this milestone, Pakistani women continue to face violence and restrictions when attempting to exercise their right to vote. They are hindered by discrimination that takes place at polling booths as well as outright declarations from the jirgas, or councils of elders, forbidding women to vote, threatening to be shunned from their communities.</p>

<p>These traditional and religious barriers, plus the lack of segregated voting stations, means Pakistani women tend to stay at home instead of exercising their right to vote due to fear of retribution, backlash and even threats to their personal safety. Globally, Pakistan is ranked last when it comes to female participation in elections.</p>

<p>It is critical to promote peaceful and violence-free elections, which necessitates full gender inclusivity at every step of the electoral process. An example of a positive innovation for women within electoral periods is the creation of IFES’ Women against Violence in Elections Advisory Group in Bangladesh, which is an innovative community forum that empowers community members — both women and men — to discuss ways to mitigate electoral violence against women and how to promote overall peaceful elections. The use of community forums and awareness trainings equips women, and also men, with the tools to respond to violent threats and effectively report them back to the authorities.</p>

<p>Legislation can be utilized to protect women against harassment and violence during elections. However, many countries do not have extensive laws protecting women during electoral periods, such as is the reality in Zimbabwe and Pakistan; and if they do, the laws are often not enforced. A positive example of useful legislation is the case of Bolivia, which passed Law 243 specifically focusing on how to address violence against women surrounding elections. Unfortunately, limited financial resources prevent the law from being fully be implemented.</p>

<p>Impunity is an egregious injustice that allows electoral violence against women to continue. In many cases, women are unable to report acts of violence to authorities without fear of backlash or lack of confidence in the officials to do their jobs. Beyond legislation, governments need to support and work with community forums and local non-governmental organizations to both combat electoral violence as well as empower women during electoral periods, whether in their roles as voters or politicians. For instance, governments can hold community forums with security officials, female and male politicians, and other community members to collectively discuss the violence women face during elections and the obstacles they face in finding justice. Including security officials may build more solid relationships between women and those who are supposed to protect them and uphold their rights during electoral times.</p>

<p>In the atmosphere of fear and violence against women voters and politicians during election periods, a country’s overall ability to represent its citizens is diminished as women’s voices are prevented from being represented within the elected governments. This discrepancy perpetuates a vicious circle wherein women will continue to be underrepresented and often outright harmed by legislation that they had no say in.<br />
<br />
<em>(Renee Coulouris is the 2018 gender in foreign policy fellow at Young Professionals in Foreign Policy)</em></p>

<p><em>(This article was originally published on Fair Observer. Read the <a href="https://www.fairobserver.com/more/global_change/women-in-politics-election-violence-sexual-harassment-womens-rights-news-17612/">original article</a>)</em></p>

<p><em>(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)</em></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


By Renee Coulouris Despite recent success in Tunisia, which elected the capital’s first female mayor in July, many women around the world continue to experience significant violence around election time.

By Renee Coulouris Despite recent success in Tunisia, which elected the capital’s first female mayor in July, many women around the world continue to experience significant violence around election time. This type of violence is not exclusive to one region of the world, but is experienced by women globally as seen in the recent elections in Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Mexico. Both female voters and politicians have experienced increased harassment, violence and psychological abuse. Electoral violence against women must be addressed and ultimately prevented as it is damaging for states attempting to maintain inclusive governance and democratic societies. Harassment against women, including acts of domestic violence, tends to increase during electoral periods and is not limited to a single culture or context. In 2016, an Inter-Parliamentary Union report discovered that 44 per cent of surveyed elected female officials experienced threats of rape, death and abductions while in office. Threats of violence and acts of violence dissuade female politicians from continuing to run for political positions and also discourages women from voting. Research has confirmed that hindering female political participation negatively impacts constituencies and undermines the overall political process in countries around the world. During Zimbabwe’s contentious 2018 general election, female politicians faced multiple barriers when competing for office. In many cases, women received frequent threats from opponents, members of their own party and even from their own family members. During the election period, female politicians experience intense psycho-social violence, particularly with the growing prevalence and importance of social media. Unlike their male counterparts, female politicians are called demeaning names and subjected to gender stereotyping. For example, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) quotes one interviewee noting that “A woman still cannot question an MP in parliament without being [told] her thighs are too big.” Female voters also experience similar cruelty during electoral periods. Throughout ultra-conservative regions of Pakistan, such as in a village near Khubab, in the Punjab region, many women were only able to vote for the first time since independence in 1947 in the 2018 general election even though they have been legally enfranchised since 1956. Despite this milestone, Pakistani women continue to face violence and restrictions when attempting to exercise their right to vote. They are hindered by discrimination that takes place at polling booths as well as outright declarations from the jirgas, or councils of elders, forbidding women to vote, threatening to be shunned from their communities. These traditional and religious barriers, plus the lack of segregated voting stations, means Pakistani women tend to stay at home instead of exercising their right to vote due to fear of retribution, backlash and even threats to their personal safety. Globally, Pakistan is ranked last when it comes to female participation in elections. It is critical to promote peaceful and violence-free elections, which necessitates full gender inclusivity at every step of the electoral process. An example of a positive innovation for women within electoral periods is the creation of IFES’ Women against Violence in Elections Advisory Group in Bangladesh, which is an innovative community forum that empowers community members — both women and men — to discuss ways to mitigate electoral violence against women and how to promote overall peaceful elections. The use of community forums and awareness trainings equips women, and also men, with the tools to respond to violent threats and effectively report them back to the authorities. Legislation can be utilized to protect women against harassment and violence during elections. However, many countries do not have extensive laws protecting women during electoral periods, such as is the reality in Zimbabwe and Pakistan; and if they do, the laws are often not enforced. A positive example of useful legislation is the case of Bolivia, which passed Law 243 specifically focusing on how to address violence against women surrounding elections. Unfortunately, limited financial resources prevent the law from being fully be implemented. Impunity is an egregious injustice that allows electoral violence against women to continue. In many cases, women are unable to report acts of violence to authorities without fear of backlash or lack of confidence in the officials to do their jobs. Beyond legislation, governments need to support and work with community forums and local non-governmental organizations to both combat electoral violence as well as empower women during electoral periods, whether in their roles as voters or politicians. For instance, governments can hold community forums with security officials, female and male politicians, and other community members to collectively discuss the violence women face during elections and the obstacles they face in finding justice. Including security officials may build more solid relationships between women and those who are supposed to protect them and uphold their rights during electoral times. In the atmosphere of fear and violence against women voters and politicians during election periods, a country’s overall ability to represent its citizens is diminished as women’s voices are prevented from being represented within the elected governments. This discrepancy perpetuates a vicious circle wherein women will continue to be underrepresented and often outright harmed by legislation that they had no say in. (Renee Coulouris is the 2018 gender in foreign policy fellow at Young Professionals in Foreign Policy) (This article was originally published on Fair Observer. Read the original article) (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Electoral violence against women hinders Democracy worldwide

<p>Pope Francis on Saturday urged Latin America&#39;s faithful to fight rampant violent crime against women including murder, while holding mass in Trujillo, Peru&#39;s largest northern city.</p>

<p>&quot;I wish to invite you to combat a plague across our Latin American region: the numerous cases of violent crimes against women, from beatings to rape to murder,&quot; the visiting pontiff told thousands in Trujillo&#39;s main colonial-era square.</p>

<p>Half of the 25 countries with the greatest number of murders of women are in Latin America, according to UN Women.</p>

<p>In Argentina, the pope&#39;s homeland, there were at least 254 murders of women in 2016 that authorities think were gender-related, which helped spark the online campaign #NotOneMore murder.</p>

<p>&quot;There are so many cases of violence that stay silenced behind so many walls,&quot; Francis said, arousing cheers from the crowd. &quot;I&#39;m calling on you to fight against this source of suffering including legislation and a culture that rejects every type of violence.&quot;&nbsp;</p>

<p>The northwestern city Trujillo is still struggling to rebuild after deadly devastating floods one year ago.</p>

<p>More than 130 people were killed across Peru between January and April 2017 in heavy rains, floods and landslides fueled by the El Nino weather phenomenon, which also left at least 300,000 homeless. Hardest-hit was Peru&#39;s northern coastal region.</p>

<p>Francis acknowledged that many families still could not rebuild their homes after the floods -- then warned of the &quot;storms&quot; of organized crime.</p>

<p>The high crime rate means fewer educational and work opportunities, preventing young people &quot;from building a future with dignity,&quot; Francis said.</p>

<p>The mass took place on a stretch of beach in Huanchaco, a town in Trujillo some 560 kilometers (350 miles) north of Lima. Huanchaco is popular with surfers and known for its distinctive reed watercraft known as &quot;caballitos de totora.&quot;</p>

<p>The pope then boarded his Popemobile to visit Trujillo&#39;s impoverished &quot;Buenos Aires&quot; neighborhood, which was especially hard hit by last April&#39;s flooding.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;We will see if the pope brings along some blessings. And if we can recover completely from everything lost in the floods. We need him to bring some mercy,&quot; said local resident Lidia Garcia.</p>

<p>As on Friday, Francis was accompanied by Peru&#39;s president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.</p>

<p>On Sunday he is slated to hold another beachside mass in Lima.</p>

<p>The visit is a change of pace after a politically charged first day in the South American country where the pope railed against &quot;great business interests&quot; for endangering the Amazon and its indigenous people.</p>

<p>And he lashed out at corruption in politics.</p>

<p>&quot;There is so much damage done by this... thing that infects everything,&quot; Francis said. &quot;And it&#39;s always the poorest and the environment that get the short end of the stick.&quot;</p>

<p>On Friday, he sounded a stark warning about the future of the rainforest and tribe members, saying they had &quot;never been so threatened.&quot;</p>

<p>Bare-chested tribesmen, their bodies painted and their heads crowned with colorful feathers, danced and sang for the pope when he arrived in the Peruvian city of Puerto Maldonado.</p>

<p>Thousands of indigenous people had traveled to meet the pontiff from throughout the Amazon basin region of Peru, Brazil and Bolivia.</p>

<p>Pope Francis, 81, arrived Thursday afternoon in Peru, the second and last leg of a week-long South American visit.&nbsp;</p>

<p>During the first part of his visit, in Chile, Francis highlighted the plight of vulnerable immigrants, offered an apology to victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, prayed with survivors of Augusto Pinochet&#39;s brutal dictatorship, and called for protection of Chile&#39;s persecuted indigenous people.</p>


'I wish to invite you to combat a plague across our Latin American region: the numerous cases of violent crimes against women, from beatings to rape to murder,' the visiting pontiff told thousands in Trujillo's main colonial-era square

Pope Francis on Saturday urged Latin America's faithful to fight rampant violent crime against women including murder, while holding mass in Trujillo, Peru's largest northern city. "I wish to invite you to combat a plague across our Latin American region: the numerous cases of violent crimes against women, from beatings to rape to murder," the visiting pontiff told thousands in Trujillo's main colonial-era square. Half of the 25 countries with the greatest number of murders of women are in Latin America, according to UN Women. In Argentina, the pope's homeland, there were at least 254 murders of women in 2016 that authorities think were gender-related, which helped spark the online campaign #NotOneMore murder. "There are so many cases of violence that stay silenced behind so many walls," Francis said, arousing cheers from the crowd. "I'm calling on you to fight against this source of suffering including legislation and a culture that rejects every type of violence." The northwestern city Trujillo is still struggling to rebuild after deadly devastating floods one year ago. More than 130 people were killed across Peru between January and April 2017 in heavy rains, floods and landslides fueled by the El Nino weather phenomenon, which also left at least 300,000 homeless. Hardest-hit was Peru's northern coastal region. Francis acknowledged that many families still could not rebuild their homes after the floods -- then warned of the "storms" of organized crime. The high crime rate means fewer educational and work opportunities, preventing young people "from building a future with dignity," Francis said. The mass took place on a stretch of beach in Huanchaco, a town in Trujillo some 560 kilometers (350 miles) north of Lima. Huanchaco is popular with surfers and known for its distinctive reed watercraft known as "caballitos de totora." The pope then boarded his Popemobile to visit Trujillo's impoverished "Buenos Aires" neighborhood, which was especially hard hit by last April's flooding. "We will see if the pope brings along some blessings. And if we can recover completely from everything lost in the floods. We need him to bring some mercy," said local resident Lidia Garcia. As on Friday, Francis was accompanied by Peru's president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. On Sunday he is slated to hold another beachside mass in Lima. The visit is a change of pace after a politically charged first day in the South American country where the pope railed against "great business interests" for endangering the Amazon and its indigenous people. And he lashed out at corruption in politics. "There is so much damage done by this... thing that infects everything," Francis said. "And it's always the poorest and the environment that get the short end of the stick." On Friday, he sounded a stark warning about the future of the rainforest and tribe members, saying they had "never been so threatened." Bare-chested tribesmen, their bodies painted and their heads crowned with colorful feathers, danced and sang for the pope when he arrived in the Peruvian city of Puerto Maldonado. Thousands of indigenous people had traveled to meet the pontiff from throughout the Amazon basin region of Peru, Brazil and Bolivia. Pope Francis, 81, arrived Thursday afternoon in Peru, the second and last leg of a week-long South American visit. During the first part of his visit, in Chile, Francis highlighted the plight of vulnerable immigrants, offered an apology to victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, prayed with survivors of Augusto Pinochet's brutal dictatorship, and called for protection of Chile's persecuted indigenous people.

Pope urges end to violence against women

<p>Well before the United Nations decided to dedicate several days of the year celebrating one or the other women issues, China had taken special initiatives to ameliorate the condition of women in that country. The latest among these measures is the passage of an anti-domestic violence law in December 2015.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>The new legislation signifies one of the novel state initiatives to address gender inequality in the domestic sphere. It is mainly the government-run women&rsquo;s organisation like All-China Women&rsquo;s Federation (ACWF) along with other women&rsquo;s networks which created positive legal awareness about women&rsquo;s rights and, thus,&nbsp;sensitised the Chinese government to formulate laws regarding these issues.</p>

<p>The government in China has managed the social conflict by adopting various social transformative measures from time to time. Immediately after the revolution in early the 1950s, China has formulated the first marriage law which addresses women&rsquo;s equal right to choose life partners. Another important step towards gender equality was the land reform law which ensured women&rsquo;s equal right to property, especially in terms of land entitlement.</p>

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<h5>The Chinese public policies on women have been quite empowering in the sense that women&rsquo;s participation in the economic production was ensured through different mechanisms.</h5>
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<p>So, the government and the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) sought to address gender equality by granting rights to women in personal spheres and also in public spheres. Over the years, the government has also amended these laws on marriage and property to bring new complexities in the different social milieu and, thus, address women&rsquo;s rights pertaining to the right to get a divorce, share in the property and the maintenance rights.</p>

<p>The Chinese public policies on women have been quite empowering in the sense that women&rsquo;s participation in the economic production was ensured through different mechanisms. Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the CPC for almost half a decade coined the phrase &lsquo;Women hold up half the sky&rsquo; to project women as good workers and capable labouring hands. The phrases like &lsquo;Iron Girls&rsquo; and &lsquo;What Men can do Women can do too&rsquo; really captured the equality rhetoric of that era.</p>

<p>Women participated equally in heavy work and also outside the home which is otherwise known as men&rsquo;s domains. In the Chinese official rhetoric, the women were portrayed as role models to be followed by others. Millions of women came out of their home and took active participation in state-run economic and social construction projects.</p>

<p>Moreover, women in China from its imperial past has proved to be most successful whether it is Empress Dowarger CiXi who holds a great political authority in imperial era or Madame Song Qing Liang who made a great contribution in the new People&rsquo;s Republic to female actress Gongli Known for films like Red Sorghum and Raise the Red Lantern, has won awards from the Berlin International Film Festival to Cannes. She was named a UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2000.</p>

<p>Now, women in China have also made a remarkable achievement in the lesser-known women&rsquo;s spheres. It ranges from Guo Jianmei, first public interest lawyer in China, Hu Shuli, the editor-in-chief of Caixin media group and made her name as an investigative journalist. Women are able to enter the domains which were usually dominated by men.</p>

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<h5>Women in China now are leading the economic spheres and women really control the assets and most of the successful entrepreneurs are women in China.</h5>
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<p>Women at a very young age of 30-40 years are able to make a breakthrough in sectors, such as finance, banking and real estate. Soho China CEO Zhang Xin, the real estate developer has transformed Beijing&rsquo;s skyline and Liu Qing, CEO Didi Kuaidi, online taxi services in Shanghai, also made a mark in online shopping commerce platforms.</p>

<p>Women in China now are leading the economic spheres and women really control the assets and most of the successful entrepreneurs are women in China. Women entrepreneurs are moving away from industries traditionally associated with women, such as garments and beauty products and venturing into sectors usually dominated by men, such as digital products and furniture.</p>

<p>Women command greater visibility in all the spheres of China&rsquo;s economy as well as social life. For a visitor who first time travels to China especially from India the public portrayal of confident and successful women images are quite an astonishing phenomenon. Being an immigration officer to taxi drivers, from bank to hotel managers, laoban (Boss) is a common everyday vocabulary used to depict Chinese women&rsquo;s lives.</p>

<p>In China, women are no longer the &lsquo;iron girls&rsquo; of the socialist era, but they have become wealthier compared to women in any part of the world. These women&rsquo;s images have often been displayed by the state-run media channels as &lsquo;capable women&rsquo; who have really carved out space for themselves.</p>

<p><em>(Disclaimer: The author writes here in a personal capacity).</em></p>


Women in China now are leading the economic spheres and they have become wealthier compared to women in any part of the world

Well before the United Nations decided to dedicate several days of the year celebrating one or the other women issues, China had taken special initiatives to ameliorate the condition of women in that country. The latest among these measures is the passage of an anti-domestic violence law in December 2015. The new legislation signifies one of the novel state initiatives to address gender inequality in the domestic sphere. It is mainly the government-run women’s organisation like All-China Women’s Federation (ACWF) along with other women’s networks which created positive legal awareness about women’s rights and, thus, sensitised the Chinese government to formulate laws regarding these issues. The government in China has managed the social conflict by adopting various social transformative measures from time to time. Immediately after the revolution in early the 1950s, China has formulated the first marriage law which addresses women’s equal right to choose life partners. Another important step towards gender equality was the land reform law which ensured women’s equal right to property, especially in terms of land entitlement. The Chinese public policies on women have been quite empowering in the sense that women’s participation in the economic production was ensured through different mechanisms. × So, the government and the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) sought to address gender equality by granting rights to women in personal spheres and also in public spheres. Over the years, the government has also amended these laws on marriage and property to bring new complexities in the different social milieu and, thus, address women’s rights pertaining to the right to get a divorce, share in the property and the maintenance rights. The Chinese public policies on women have been quite empowering in the sense that women’s participation in the economic production was ensured through different mechanisms. Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the CPC for almost half a decade coined the phrase ‘Women hold up half the sky’ to project women as good workers and capable labouring hands. The phrases like ‘Iron Girls’ and ‘What Men can do Women can do too’ really captured the equality rhetoric of that era. Women participated equally in heavy work and also outside the home which is otherwise known as men’s domains. In the Chinese official rhetoric, the women were portrayed as role models to be followed by others. Millions of women came out of their home and took active participation in state-run economic and social construction projects. Moreover, women in China from its imperial past has proved to be most successful whether it is Empress Dowarger CiXi who holds a great political authority in imperial era or Madame Song Qing Liang who made a great contribution in the new People’s Republic to female actress Gongli Known for films like Red Sorghum and Raise the Red Lantern, has won awards from the Berlin International Film Festival to Cannes. She was named a UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2000. Now, women in China have also made a remarkable achievement in the lesser-known women’s spheres. It ranges from Guo Jianmei, first public interest lawyer in China, Hu Shuli, the editor-in-chief of Caixin media group and made her name as an investigative journalist. Women are able to enter the domains which were usually dominated by men. Women in China now are leading the economic spheres and women really control the assets and most of the successful entrepreneurs are women in China. × Women at a very young age of 30-40 years are able to make a breakthrough in sectors, such as finance, banking and real estate. Soho China CEO Zhang Xin, the real estate developer has transformed Beijing’s skyline and Liu Qing, CEO Didi Kuaidi, online taxi services in Shanghai, also made a mark in online shopping commerce platforms. Women in China now are leading the economic spheres and women really control the assets and most of the successful entrepreneurs are women in China. Women entrepreneurs are moving away from industries traditionally associated with women, such as garments and beauty products and venturing into sectors usually dominated by men, such as digital products and furniture. Women command greater visibility in all the spheres of China’s economy as well as social life. For a visitor who first time travels to China especially from India the public portrayal of confident and successful women images are quite an astonishing phenomenon. Being an immigration officer to taxi drivers, from bank to hotel managers, laoban (Boss) is a common everyday vocabulary used to depict Chinese women’s lives. In China, women are no longer the ‘iron girls’ of the socialist era, but they have become wealthier compared to women in any part of the world. These women’s images have often been displayed by the state-run media channels as ‘capable women’ who have really carved out space for themselves. (Disclaimer: The author writes here in a personal capacity).

Opinion: Women in China are wealthier than others

<p>French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday, directed to carry out a slew of measures to fight against the &quot;horrific and shameful&quot; violence against women, and also pledged to make gender equality a major reason of his leadership.</p>

<p>&quot;Our entire society is sick with sexism,&quot; Macron said in a speech in Paris to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.</p>

<p>Macron started off the hour-long speech with a minute of silence to pay respect to the 123 women killed in 2016 in France by their partner or ex-partner, reports said.</p>

<p>&quot;France must no longer be one of those countries where women are afraid,&quot; he said.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s seal a pact of equality between men and women,&rdquo; Macron said in a speech marking the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women. About violence and sexual abuse, he said: &ldquo;It is essential that shame changes camp.&rdquo;</p>

<p>A number of measures have been announced, including education to secondary school children on pornography and making a systematic but easy system for victims to go to the police for rape and assault cases.</p>

<p>Moreover, measures that may be added in a 2018 draft law could consist of criminalizing street harassment and increasing the statute of limitation for the rape of minors to 30 years from 20 years</p>

<p>The leader further said that he may propose to set the age for sexual consent to 15 as there is no such law yet in the country.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Further, changes may be made to administer rape and assault cases and create portals for victims to file complaints online before going to the police. Measure like &#39;on demand&#39; bus stops will also be proposed, wherein women will be allowed to stop the bus at any point to get home safely</p>

<p>French feminist group Osez le F&eacute;minisme said the measures were going in the right direction but must be accompanied by adequate funding.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Without funding, any communication, training, awareness or help plan for the victims will be useless,&rdquo; the statement said.</p>

<p>The conference also had a number of past victims who survived similar cases - a women who survived from being stabbed by her ex-partner, a mother of a student who was killed by her partner and set fire to her body after she ended the relationship, a Moroccan immigrant whose abusive husband burned down their home after she found the courage to flee to safety with their children, a Nigerian who was trafficked into a prostitution ring the day she set foot in Italy - were amongst some.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Nearly 225,000 women are said to have been victims of physical or sexual violence by their partner in France, but fewer than one in five have made a complaint to authorities.</p>

<p>The Harvey Weinstein scandal in the United States has accelerated a rethink of attitudes toward sexual harassment in France, a country that cherishes its self-image as the land of seduction and romance.<br />
&nbsp;</p>


During his speech, Macron observed a minute?s silence for the 123 women killed by their partner or ex-partner in 2016.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday, directed to carry out a slew of measures to fight against the "horrific and shameful" violence against women, and also pledged to make gender equality a major reason of his leadership. "Our entire society is sick with sexism," Macron said in a speech in Paris to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Macron started off the hour-long speech with a minute of silence to pay respect to the 123 women killed in 2016 in France by their partner or ex-partner, reports said. "France must no longer be one of those countries where women are afraid," he said. “Let’s seal a pact of equality between men and women,” Macron said in a speech marking the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women. About violence and sexual abuse, he said: “It is essential that shame changes camp.” A number of measures have been announced, including education to secondary school children on pornography and making a systematic but easy system for victims to go to the police for rape and assault cases. Moreover, measures that may be added in a 2018 draft law could consist of criminalizing street harassment and increasing the statute of limitation for the rape of minors to 30 years from 20 years The leader further said that he may propose to set the age for sexual consent to 15 as there is no such law yet in the country. Further, changes may be made to administer rape and assault cases and create portals for victims to file complaints online before going to the police. Measure like 'on demand' bus stops will also be proposed, wherein women will be allowed to stop the bus at any point to get home safely French feminist group Osez le Féminisme said the measures were going in the right direction but must be accompanied by adequate funding. “Without funding, any communication, training, awareness or help plan for the victims will be useless,” the statement said. The conference also had a number of past victims who survived similar cases - a women who survived from being stabbed by her ex-partner, a mother of a student who was killed by her partner and set fire to her body after she ended the relationship, a Moroccan immigrant whose abusive husband burned down their home after she found the courage to flee to safety with their children, a Nigerian who was trafficked into a prostitution ring the day she set foot in Italy - were amongst some. Nearly 225,000 women are said to have been victims of physical or sexual violence by their partner in France, but fewer than one in five have made a complaint to authorities. The Harvey Weinstein scandal in the United States has accelerated a rethink of attitudes toward sexual harassment in France, a country that cherishes its self-image as the land of seduction and romance.

France's Macron unveils plan to combat 'shameful' violence against women

<p>Perhaps no single demographic faces greater persecution than women living in conflict zones. Either as members of rebel groups or victims of state-led violence, women in armed conflict are vulnerable and usually always the victims.</p>

<p>This victimisation is part of an organised policy that weaponises their bodies and minds for dominance, power and control by men, in war. And it&rsquo;s a method chosen by both state and non-state actors. Whether it be the enslavement of thousands of Yazidi women by ISIS, the abduction of women and girls by Boko Haram in Nigeria, or the mass-scale rapes of women by soldiers in Syria, conflict always reveals horrific levels of repression women across the world continue to face. India is no exception to the rule. Frequently prone to insurgencies and ethnic conflict, the stories of women in India&rsquo;s conflict zones, whether it is Manipur, Chattisgarh, or Kashmir, bear the scars of brutality, sexual violence, and oppression.</p>

<p>One of the most important cases that catapulted the issue of brutality against women in war in India was the murder of a Manipuri girl, Thangjam Manorama by members of the 17 Assam Rifles. The Chairman of the Judicial Inquiry Commission tasked with the responsibility to investigate the murder called it one of the most shocking custodial killings.</p>

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<h5>In Kashmir, years of a brutal insurgency between the Indian state and militant groups inflicted its highest toll on women.</h5>
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<p>Thangjam had been sexually assaulted repeatedly and had eight bullets pumped into her. In Kashmir, years of a brutal insurgency between the Indian state and militant groups inflicted its highest toll on women. Rita Manchanda and Urvashi Bhutalia who have extensively worked on this issue show, in their body of work, that in Kashmir, women are either killed in crossfire, shot at in public demonstrations, blown up in grenade explosions across the Line of Control (LoC) or raped by militants.</p>

<p>Both security forces and militant groups use rape as an instrument of control, though, the objectives are markedly different. While militants use rape to humiliate and silence members of minority communities like the Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs, Indian security forces have used rape to punish those suspected of links to militant groups.</p>

<p>A Human Rights Report published by the US State Department in 1999-2000 documents how paramilitary forces in Jammu and Kashmir and the police were culpable in a broader pattern of custodial abuse. The 1991 Kunan-Pushpora incident is still a dark episode in the history of Kashmir&rsquo;s internal conflict when four soldiers belonging to the Rashtriya Rifles allegedly raped at least 23 women in Kashmir&rsquo;s Kunan and Pushpora villages.</p>

<p>Twenty-six years later, six of the victims are deceased and justice remains elusive. In a separate case in 2009, 22-year-old Neelofer Jan and her 17-year-old sister-in-law Asiya Jan were allegedly raped and murdered by CRPF forces in Shopian, Kashmir. Despite setting up several inquiries to investigate the matter, the results were inconclusive and justice, again, a foregone conclusion.</p>

<p>There is another side to the story, though. A 2017 NPR report reveals how many Kashmiri women are actively aiding militants against the Indian state. Alternatively, Kashmiri Pandit women belonging to the Hindu community are killed in militant attacks, the 1998 Wandhama massacre being the case in point. These stories are telling in that not just majority Muslim women but Hindu women and those belonging to minority groups in Kashmir are caught in a relentless cycle of violence between state and militant groups.</p>

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<h5>The women are deeply indoctrinated into an ideology that views violence as a means of liberation and emancipation.</h5>
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<p>Women living in Maoist-held insurgent territory face a similar fate. In 2015, the National Human Rights Commission reported that at least 16 tribal women were allegedly raped and killed by police in Bastar. While many of these reports are evidence of the impunity state security forces and police exercise in conflict zones, one cannot entirely ignore the role of female Maoist cadres leading an orchestrated campaign of violence against the Indian state.</p>

<p>But their victimisation has a different source. These women are deeply indoctrinated into an ideology that views violence as a means of liberation and emancipation. Much of the result of such ideological violence is that the same women inevitably become victims of both state violence and extremist indoctrination, their bodies constant targets of physical and emotional abuse.</p>

<p>Where do we go from here? There are several ways to address the subjugation and brutalisation of women in India&rsquo;s conflict zones. While these measures will not entirely eliminate the problem, they could alleviate the suffering of many women.</p>

<p>First, a speedy justice system that punishes the perpetrators quickly is essential. Much of the violence against women continues unabated when those perpetrating the abuse are convinced they can get away with it. For instance, problematic parts of laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) need to be amended to place limits on military powers.</p>

<p>Second, police and military personnel must receive mandatory training and socialisation in how to approach women in conflict zones, carrying a penalty for misdemeanours.</p>

<p>Third, civil society must work with non-governmental organisations to spread greater awareness about the experiences of women in violence-afflicted zones and offer assistance in any way possible. Journalists, too, must continue to educate and confront the problem. Finally, cultural norms that sustain a deeply patriarchal society must be challenged and broken. The onus is on us, both men and women, to do it.</p>

<p><em>(Disclaimer: The author writes here in a personal capacity).</em></p>


There is need to end violence against women in conflict zones because as members of rebel groups or victims of state-led violence, women in armed conflict are vulnerable and usually the victims

Perhaps no single demographic faces greater persecution than women living in conflict zones. Either as members of rebel groups or victims of state-led violence, women in armed conflict are vulnerable and usually always the victims. This victimisation is part of an organised policy that weaponises their bodies and minds for dominance, power and control by men, in war. And it’s a method chosen by both state and non-state actors. Whether it be the enslavement of thousands of Yazidi women by ISIS, the abduction of women and girls by Boko Haram in Nigeria, or the mass-scale rapes of women by soldiers in Syria, conflict always reveals horrific levels of repression women across the world continue to face. India is no exception to the rule. Frequently prone to insurgencies and ethnic conflict, the stories of women in India’s conflict zones, whether it is Manipur, Chattisgarh, or Kashmir, bear the scars of brutality, sexual violence, and oppression. One of the most important cases that catapulted the issue of brutality against women in war in India was the murder of a Manipuri girl, Thangjam Manorama by members of the 17 Assam Rifles. The Chairman of the Judicial Inquiry Commission tasked with the responsibility to investigate the murder called it one of the most shocking custodial killings. In Kashmir, years of a brutal insurgency between the Indian state and militant groups inflicted its highest toll on women. × Thangjam had been sexually assaulted repeatedly and had eight bullets pumped into her. In Kashmir, years of a brutal insurgency between the Indian state and militant groups inflicted its highest toll on women. Rita Manchanda and Urvashi Bhutalia who have extensively worked on this issue show, in their body of work, that in Kashmir, women are either killed in crossfire, shot at in public demonstrations, blown up in grenade explosions across the Line of Control (LoC) or raped by militants. Both security forces and militant groups use rape as an instrument of control, though, the objectives are markedly different. While militants use rape to humiliate and silence members of minority communities like the Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs, Indian security forces have used rape to punish those suspected of links to militant groups. A Human Rights Report published by the US State Department in 1999-2000 documents how paramilitary forces in Jammu and Kashmir and the police were culpable in a broader pattern of custodial abuse. The 1991 Kunan-Pushpora incident is still a dark episode in the history of Kashmir’s internal conflict when four soldiers belonging to the Rashtriya Rifles allegedly raped at least 23 women in Kashmir’s Kunan and Pushpora villages. Twenty-six years later, six of the victims are deceased and justice remains elusive. In a separate case in 2009, 22-year-old Neelofer Jan and her 17-year-old sister-in-law Asiya Jan were allegedly raped and murdered by CRPF forces in Shopian, Kashmir. Despite setting up several inquiries to investigate the matter, the results were inconclusive and justice, again, a foregone conclusion. There is another side to the story, though. A 2017 NPR report reveals how many Kashmiri women are actively aiding militants against the Indian state. Alternatively, Kashmiri Pandit women belonging to the Hindu community are killed in militant attacks, the 1998 Wandhama massacre being the case in point. These stories are telling in that not just majority Muslim women but Hindu women and those belonging to minority groups in Kashmir are caught in a relentless cycle of violence between state and militant groups. The women are deeply indoctrinated into an ideology that views violence as a means of liberation and emancipation. × Women living in Maoist-held insurgent territory face a similar fate. In 2015, the National Human Rights Commission reported that at least 16 tribal women were allegedly raped and killed by police in Bastar. While many of these reports are evidence of the impunity state security forces and police exercise in conflict zones, one cannot entirely ignore the role of female Maoist cadres leading an orchestrated campaign of violence against the Indian state. But their victimisation has a different source. These women are deeply indoctrinated into an ideology that views violence as a means of liberation and emancipation. Much of the result of such ideological violence is that the same women inevitably become victims of both state violence and extremist indoctrination, their bodies constant targets of physical and emotional abuse. Where do we go from here? There are several ways to address the subjugation and brutalisation of women in India’s conflict zones. While these measures will not entirely eliminate the problem, they could alleviate the suffering of many women. First, a speedy justice system that punishes the perpetrators quickly is essential. Much of the violence against women continues unabated when those perpetrating the abuse are convinced they can get away with it. For instance, problematic parts of laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) need to be amended to place limits on military powers. Second, police and military personnel must receive mandatory training and socialisation in how to approach women in conflict zones, carrying a penalty for misdemeanours. Third, civil society must work with non-governmental organisations to spread greater awareness about the experiences of women in violence-afflicted zones and offer assistance in any way possible. Journalists, too, must continue to educate and confront the problem. Finally, cultural norms that sustain a deeply patriarchal society must be challenged and broken. The onus is on us, both men and women, to do it. (Disclaimer: The author writes here in a personal capacity).

Opinion: Women and the wounds of war

<p>Is it the policy that should lead practice or vice-versa? No matter which comes first, the debate concerning violence against women calls for the concurrent implementation of policy with practice. The policy and practice alignment will lead to gender sensitisation and elimination of gender-based violence. The International Day for the elimination of violence against women falling on 25th November comes as a reminder to a country like India which still struggles to check violence against women.</p>

<p>If India is known for its women talent and workforce that has made the global headlines, the country is equally acknowledged for its discouraging figures for atrocities against women. The latest 2015 report of the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) comes as a warning which records 32,7394 registered cases of crimes against women across the country. Equally shocking is the 24,379 number of complaints received by the National Commission for Women (NCW) in India during 2015-16.</p>

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<p>These numbers are embarrassing for India&rsquo;s global standing. A number of reasons such as social complexities, economic dependency, backward social standards and lack of vigilance to protect women interest could be prime reasons behind these cases. Besides, in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society like India, discrimination against women, would be hard to completely wipe out. But does that mean that the 21st century India should not rise to the occasion to protect women and their interest which comprise almost half of India&rsquo;s total population?</p>

<p>India needs a national call characterised by practice plus policy coordination which must have uniformity to protect the interest of the women. The practice-policy coordination means wherein the policy and practice must drive concurrently to complement each other towards eliminating violence against women. Making only policy would not help India to address the violence against women.</p>

<p>In fact, in terms of policy initiatives, India has introduced a number of flagship policy programmes such as National Policy for Empowerment of Women (2001), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme, SABLA, UJJAWALA Scheme, SWADHAR Greh which are designed around the objective of women empowerment and protecting the interests of women.</p>

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<p>Certain legislations such as Sexual harassment of women at workplace Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal Act 2013; Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961; Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 also forms part of the mechanism to combat any gender-based abuse. The issue of violence against women has been highlighted in international development agenda through Sustainable Development Goals.</p>

<p>However, the similar spirit of placing women at the core of national and international development agenda has not yet been translated into practice. When India has been implementing various schemes and policies for women empowerment and safety, the country must realise that simply making policies will not be helpful to address violence against women. Rather, the focus should be on how to make realise the importance of these policies before they are actually implemented. This calls for a national educational consciousness - be it at primary or higher education level- in the favour of women.</p>

<p>The national policies are no doubt effective but the same will yield faster and long-term results if these are not implemented in isolation. Instead, policies must be aligned with the day-to-day practices that may initially be deliberate and are more likely to leave a greater impact and sense of responsibility towards the cause. Both primary, as well as higher education, can create a favourable condition in this regard.</p>

<p>Indeed, a credible environment in favour of the women workforce is missing in India even though the international community looks at India as a country leading the path to its power. India does not lag behind in establishing parity between women and men, breaking the gender discrimination. Still, the country struggles from the psychosis of a deprived environment to effectively protect its women population. Sincere public awareness and effective primary and higher education concerning women and their interest can make a huge difference. The necessity of the time is to educate the public over protecting women&rsquo;s interest and rights which are fundamental to nation-building.</p>

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<p>Instead of building this necessary public awareness, India is rather waiting for a time when policies are framed to add-on the practices and practices facilitate the implementation of policies to reach the last target. For this, it is important that India should realise the significance of education and importance of convergence between different public realms concerning education.</p>

<p>In fact, the role of education in uplifting the economic status of women and empowering them in terms of financial independence leading to their participation in decision making has been long established and accepted. However, economic development is just one part of what education can do in terms of women empowerment. It is important to perceive education as a life experience leading to beliefs formation and overall personality formation. Education, as such, can be utilised to bring into practice what forms the basis of policies regarding women safety and security.</p>

<p>Hence, it is important that the agenda of sensitisation on issues related to genders such as violence and abuse should be introduced at an early age, at the primary education level. There is no better way to start a national practice in doing this than in public and private schools and higher education institutions for bringing about the desired attitudinal change.</p>

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<p>This is especially relevant when the Right to Education Act, 2009 talks about bringing all children to school, compulsorily completes elementary level education and help them to learn the basics of livelihood. The role of classroom interaction, whether in schools or colleges or universities, is not limited to exchange of textbook knowledge, but it creates an environment where students learn beyond textbooks.</p>

<p>Issues concerning women and their protection should, therefore, become an integral part of our learning process in schools and colleges. This learning is important in fixing the values and ideas that will lead to eliminating bias against women and will lead to acknowledging women&rsquo;s place in society as an equal human-being. Besides, a national agenda on women safety focusing on education practices as a mean to promote equality needs to be implemented across the country.</p>

<p>In addition to all these, numerous policies will not bring in the desired results if implemented in isolation. These have to be embedded in the social reality and day-to-day practices especially in various educational institutions, both formal and non-formal such as adult learning centres. In a federal practice, both the Centre and the States are responsible for planning and implementing education-related legislation, schemes and policies giving States flexibility to implement the policies as per their requirement. Value-based education relating to women must be a universal national practice in India no matter how the Centre and States work.</p>

<p>Rather, a national call on adopting practices for eliminating violence against women and implementing policies for women empowerment have to supersede the debate of centre-state and be executed uniformly all over. India does not have to choose between policy and practice, it needs a national perspective that may be implemented universally in which policy and practices go hand in hand.</p>

<p><em>(Disclaimer: The author writes here in a personal capacity)</em></p>


A national agenda on women safety focusing on education practices as a mean to promote equality needs to be implemented across the country

Is it the policy that should lead practice or vice-versa? No matter which comes first, the debate concerning violence against women calls for the concurrent implementation of policy with practice. The policy and practice alignment will lead to gender sensitisation and elimination of gender-based violence. The International Day for the elimination of violence against women falling on 25th November comes as a reminder to a country like India which still struggles to check violence against women. If India is known for its women talent and workforce that has made the global headlines, the country is equally acknowledged for its discouraging figures for atrocities against women. The latest 2015 report of the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) comes as a warning which records 32,7394 registered cases of crimes against women across the country. Equally shocking is the 24,379 number of complaints received by the National Commission for Women (NCW) in India during 2015-16. A number of reasons such as social complexities, economic dependency, backward social standards and lack of vigilance to protect women interest could be prime reasons behind violence against women. × These numbers are embarrassing for India’s global standing. A number of reasons such as social complexities, economic dependency, backward social standards and lack of vigilance to protect women interest could be prime reasons behind these cases. Besides, in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society like India, discrimination against women, would be hard to completely wipe out. But does that mean that the 21st century India should not rise to the occasion to protect women and their interest which comprise almost half of India’s total population? India needs a national call characterised by practice plus policy coordination which must have uniformity to protect the interest of the women. The practice-policy coordination means wherein the policy and practice must drive concurrently to complement each other towards eliminating violence against women. Making only policy would not help India to address the violence against women. In fact, in terms of policy initiatives, India has introduced a number of flagship policy programmes such as National Policy for Empowerment of Women (2001), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme, SABLA, UJJAWALA Scheme, SWADHAR Greh which are designed around the objective of women empowerment and protecting the interests of women. The country must realise that simply making policies will not be helpful to address violence against women. × Certain legislations such as Sexual harassment of women at workplace Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal Act 2013; Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961; Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 also forms part of the mechanism to combat any gender-based abuse. The issue of violence against women has been highlighted in international development agenda through Sustainable Development Goals. However, the similar spirit of placing women at the core of national and international development agenda has not yet been translated into practice. When India has been implementing various schemes and policies for women empowerment and safety, the country must realise that simply making policies will not be helpful to address violence against women. Rather, the focus should be on how to make realise the importance of these policies before they are actually implemented. This calls for a national educational consciousness - be it at primary or higher education level- in the favour of women. The national policies are no doubt effective but the same will yield faster and long-term results if these are not implemented in isolation. Instead, policies must be aligned with the day-to-day practices that may initially be deliberate and are more likely to leave a greater impact and sense of responsibility towards the cause. Both primary, as well as higher education, can create a favourable condition in this regard. Indeed, a credible environment in favour of the women workforce is missing in India even though the international community looks at India as a country leading the path to its power. India does not lag behind in establishing parity between women and men, breaking the gender discrimination. Still, the country struggles from the psychosis of a deprived environment to effectively protect its women population. Sincere public awareness and effective primary and higher education concerning women and their interest can make a huge difference. The necessity of the time is to educate the public over protecting women’s interest and rights which are fundamental to nation-building. The role of education in uplifting the economic status of women and empowering them in terms of financial independence leading to their participation in decision making has been long established and accepted. × Instead of building this necessary public awareness, India is rather waiting for a time when policies are framed to add-on the practices and practices facilitate the implementation of policies to reach the last target. For this, it is important that India should realise the significance of education and importance of convergence between different public realms concerning education. In fact, the role of education in uplifting the economic status of women and empowering them in terms of financial independence leading to their participation in decision making has been long established and accepted. However, economic development is just one part of what education can do in terms of women empowerment. It is important to perceive education as a life experience leading to beliefs formation and overall personality formation. Education, as such, can be utilised to bring into practice what forms the basis of policies regarding women safety and security. Hence, it is important that the agenda of sensitisation on issues related to genders such as violence and abuse should be introduced at an early age, at the primary education level. There is no better way to start a national practice in doing this than in public and private schools and higher education institutions for bringing about the desired attitudinal change. Issues concerning women and their protection should, therefore, become an integral part of our learning process in schools and colleges. × This is especially relevant when the Right to Education Act, 2009 talks about bringing all children to school, compulsorily completes elementary level education and help them to learn the basics of livelihood. The role of classroom interaction, whether in schools or colleges or universities, is not limited to exchange of textbook knowledge, but it creates an environment where students learn beyond textbooks. Issues concerning women and their protection should, therefore, become an integral part of our learning process in schools and colleges. This learning is important in fixing the values and ideas that will lead to eliminating bias against women and will lead to acknowledging women’s place in society as an equal human-being. Besides, a national agenda on women safety focusing on education practices as a mean to promote equality needs to be implemented across the country. In addition to all these, numerous policies will not bring in the desired results if implemented in isolation. These have to be embedded in the social reality and day-to-day practices especially in various educational institutions, both formal and non-formal such as adult learning centres. In a federal practice, both the Centre and the States are responsible for planning and implementing education-related legislation, schemes and policies giving States flexibility to implement the policies as per their requirement. Value-based education relating to women must be a universal national practice in India no matter how the Centre and States work. Rather, a national call on adopting practices for eliminating violence against women and implementing policies for women empowerment have to supersede the debate of centre-state and be executed uniformly all over. India does not have to choose between policy and practice, it needs a national perspective that may be implemented universally in which policy and practices go hand in hand. (Disclaimer: The author writes here in a personal capacity)

Opinion: Violence against women has to stop. But how?

<p>The Bengaluru mass molestation has evoked a litany of anguished complaints against our collective existence as civilised human beings. Data crunching is being done to show, rightly, that precious little has changed despite the amended rape law or the oft-repeated promises on women&rsquo;s security. Half-a-billion citizens of this country have to try hard, on an everyday basis, to keep their bodily integrity intact.</p>

<p>But why is everybody silent about the body, the focal point of this discourse?</p>

<p>One of the challenges facing a sexual assault victim is to regain her ability to love her body as before. Almost everything around her stymies this effort. PTSD, somatic symptoms&nbsp;and depression are some of the commonly spoken about aftermaths of a sexual assault. The assaulted body not only bears the marks of the violation suffered, it also writhes in neglect and loathing. The victim fights a battle with not just the world outside but also within and the body is caught in this crossfire.</p>

<p>While studying child sexual abuse in the Jewish community, Rachel Lev, a US-based clinical psychologist, observed that insensitivity and ignorance displayed by institutions around the victim (healthcare, education, security, religion et al) severely hinder recovery and healing of the victims. Lev&rsquo;s 2003 book &lsquo;Shine the Light: Sexual Abuse and Healing in the Jewish Community&rsquo; emphasises the need for &ldquo;compassionate, informed and proactive community&rdquo; that helps in healing. An earlier research on rape victims (University of Illinois, 2001) establishes that while positive social reaction has a&nbsp;negligible impact on victim&rsquo;s recovery, negative social reactions hinder it substantially. Ironically, it is the community&rsquo;s collective failure that breeds sexual assault on an industrial scale.</p>

<p>How, then, can the victim emerge from the cesspool of shame, trauma and that unhealthy tendency of seeing the body as the cause of her woes? There are no prescribed answers or standard operating procedures. Yet, there can be some universal whistle points. To begin with, it is essential to recognise sexual assault to be what it is: a criminal act. Just like stealing, robbery, and murder. The victim needs to learn and internalise it. A sparkling SUV, straight out of the showroom, did not ASK to be stolen. It just was.</p>

<p>The body has an inbuilt self-healing mechanism. The victim needs to tap that. The ableist approach in combating violence against women, with its insistence on putting the onus of safety on the potential victim, has been rightly criticised by the gender equality activists and other stakeholders. However, a lot stands to be gained while leveraging the ability of a victim, post facto. It is also a step towards establishing a continuum of empathy. A victim, at ease with herself, is likely to extend support to those who need it. Mukhtar Mai of Pakistan, Sunitha Krishnan of Bengaluru, and Suzette Jordan of Kolkata were assaulted but not broken.</p>

<p>A victim has no agency in deciding what happens to her body. The victims of child sexual abuse do not even have the vocabulary to describe either their bodies or what is done to them. Yet, there is a shroud of shame with which the victim is expected to cover her bruised honour with. The body does not get impure or tainted by unwanted touch or penetration. Yes, it causes pain physical and mental. The ideas of impurity and honour are carefully placed constructs to silence the victims.</p>

<p>Silence suits the perpetrators and, unfortunately, even some secondary survivors. A victim&rsquo;s loved ones are the co-sufferers of an assault, yet the worst ordeal is reserved for the victim herself. Do remember the &lsquo;honourable&rsquo; killings (inclusive of abetment to suicide) of countless women by family members during the Partition because they were or could be sexually assaulted. Thus, the onus to reclaim the battered body needs to be on the victim. Negative social reactions to assault or even the body in the first place, however, disallows this process of rebuilding.</p>

<p>Learning to see the&nbsp;body as a&nbsp;whole and not disambiguated body parts, with a hierarchy of honour to define them, is the first step towards recovery. Learning to see a crime as crime is the essential second. When the individual heals, society heals. And vice versa.</p>

<p>(WION)</p>


Ideas of impurity and honour are carefully-placed constructs to silence victims of sexual attacks

The Bengaluru mass molestation has evoked a litany of anguished complaints against our collective existence as civilised human beings. Data crunching is being done to show, rightly, that precious little has changed despite the amended rape law or the oft-repeated promises on women’s security. Half-a-billion citizens of this country have to try hard, on an everyday basis, to keep their bodily integrity intact. But why is everybody silent about the body, the focal point of this discourse? One of the challenges facing a sexual assault victim is to regain her ability to love her body as before. Almost everything around her stymies this effort. PTSD, somatic symptoms and depression are some of the commonly spoken about aftermaths of a sexual assault. The assaulted body not only bears the marks of the violation suffered, it also writhes in neglect and loathing. The victim fights a battle with not just the world outside but also within and the body is caught in this crossfire. While studying child sexual abuse in the Jewish community, Rachel Lev, a US-based clinical psychologist, observed that insensitivity and ignorance displayed by institutions around the victim (healthcare, education, security, religion et al) severely hinder recovery and healing of the victims. Lev’s 2003 book ‘Shine the Light: Sexual Abuse and Healing in the Jewish Community’ emphasises the need for “compassionate, informed and proactive community” that helps in healing. An earlier research on rape victims (University of Illinois, 2001) establishes that while positive social reaction has a negligible impact on victim’s recovery, negative social reactions hinder it substantially. Ironically, it is the community’s collective failure that breeds sexual assault on an industrial scale. How, then, can the victim emerge from the cesspool of shame, trauma and that unhealthy tendency of seeing the body as the cause of her woes? There are no prescribed answers or standard operating procedures. Yet, there can be some universal whistle points. To begin with, it is essential to recognise sexual assault to be what it is: a criminal act. Just like stealing, robbery, and murder. The victim needs to learn and internalise it. A sparkling SUV, straight out of the showroom, did not ASK to be stolen. It just was. The body has an inbuilt self-healing mechanism. The victim needs to tap that. The ableist approach in combating violence against women, with its insistence on putting the onus of safety on the potential victim, has been rightly criticised by the gender equality activists and other stakeholders. However, a lot stands to be gained while leveraging the ability of a victim, post facto. It is also a step towards establishing a continuum of empathy. A victim, at ease with herself, is likely to extend support to those who need it. Mukhtar Mai of Pakistan, Sunitha Krishnan of Bengaluru, and Suzette Jordan of Kolkata were assaulted but not broken. A victim has no agency in deciding what happens to her body. The victims of child sexual abuse do not even have the vocabulary to describe either their bodies or what is done to them. Yet, there is a shroud of shame with which the victim is expected to cover her bruised honour with. The body does not get impure or tainted by unwanted touch or penetration. Yes, it causes pain physical and mental. The ideas of impurity and honour are carefully placed constructs to silence the victims. Silence suits the perpetrators and, unfortunately, even some secondary survivors. A victim’s loved ones are the co-sufferers of an assault, yet the worst ordeal is reserved for the victim herself. Do remember the ‘honourable’ killings (inclusive of abetment to suicide) of countless women by family members during the Partition because they were or could be sexually assaulted. Thus, the onus to reclaim the battered body needs to be on the victim. Negative social reactions to assault or even the body in the first place, however, disallows this process of rebuilding. Learning to see the body as a whole and not disambiguated body parts, with a hierarchy of honour to define them, is the first step towards recovery. Learning to see a crime as crime is the essential second. When the individual heals, society heals. And vice versa. (WION)

Bengaluru mass molestation: Woman's scarred psyche and society's unholy mind

<p>A Moroccan television channel partly-owned by the state has apologised following outrage over the broadcast of a programme tutoring women on what make-up to use after they have been hit.</p>

<p>The programme was broadcast by 2M last week on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.</p>

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<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>The programme &quot;Sabahiyate&quot; showed &quot;the type of make-up to use when a woman has been hit&quot;.</p>

<p>A woman with a swollen face was depicted with the presenter showing how to &#39;&#39;camouflage the reddish part&#39;&#39;. The green applied with a brush should be followed by &quot;an orange corrector then yellow, then a foundation&quot;, she said.</p>

<p>The presenter clarified that the woman had not really been hit, the bruises were just &quot;cinematic effects&quot;.</p>

<p>The aim of the tutorial was to &quot;provide solutions to women who need such advice so they can continue with their daily lives and go to work&quot;.</p>

<p>On Monday, 2M said it was sorry in a video posted on Facebook.</p>

<p>&quot;We have always put women at the centre of our debates and have taken the defence of their rights to heart,&quot; it said. &quot;We apologise for broadcasting the makeup segment, the result of an error of judgment on our part, and beg your indulgence and understanding.&quot;</p>

<p>The video gained more attention when it was uploaded to the channel&#39;s website after its initial broadcast on Wednesday. Social media reacted with outrage and shock Friday, after which it was removed from the website.</p>

<p>&quot;So 2M has decided to celebrate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women with anti-bruise makeup!&quot; was one comment, AFP reported.</p>

<p>Another social media user noted: &quot;Ladies, 2M has the solution if you get punched in the face by your husband, father or brother.&quot;</p>

<p>&quot;Black eye? Bruising? No problem! 2M&#39;s makeup artist has a miracle product!&quot; wrote another.</p>

<p>Last Friday, the channel&#39;s management had issued a statement offering &quot;sincere apologies given the sensitivity and seriousness of the subject&quot; and called the sequence &quot;completely inappropriate .</p>

<p>Human Rights Watch acting women&#39;s rights division director Janet Walsh wrote on Monday that Morocco was &quot;still discussing a draft domestic violence law&quot;&nbsp;</p>

<p>The New York-based HRW has said that violence against women is common in the North African country, AFP said.</p>

<p>In an official 2009-2010 study, it was found that almost two thirds of Moroccan women had been physically, psychologically, sexually or economically abused, and that of those, some 55 per cent said they had suffered domestic violence.</p>

<p>(With inputs from AFP)</p>


2M broadcast a programme last week tutoring women how to cover up their bruises with make-up after they've been hit

A Moroccan television channel partly-owned by the state has apologised following outrage over the broadcast of a programme tutoring women on what make-up to use after they have been hit. The programme was broadcast by 2M last week on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The programme was broadcast by 2M last week on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women × The programme "Sabahiyate" showed "the type of make-up to use when a woman has been hit". A woman with a swollen face was depicted with the presenter showing how to ''camouflage the reddish part''. The green applied with a brush should be followed by "an orange corrector then yellow, then a foundation", she said. The presenter clarified that the woman had not really been hit, the bruises were just "cinematic effects". The aim of the tutorial was to "provide solutions to women who need such advice so they can continue with their daily lives and go to work". On Monday, 2M said it was sorry in a video posted on Facebook. "We have always put women at the centre of our debates and have taken the defence of their rights to heart," it said. "We apologise for broadcasting the makeup segment, the result of an error of judgment on our part, and beg your indulgence and understanding." The video gained more attention when it was uploaded to the channel's website after its initial broadcast on Wednesday. Social media reacted with outrage and shock Friday, after which it was removed from the website. "So 2M has decided to celebrate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women with anti-bruise makeup!" was one comment, AFP reported. Another social media user noted: "Ladies, 2M has the solution if you get punched in the face by your husband, father or brother." "Black eye? Bruising? No problem! 2M's makeup artist has a miracle product!" wrote another. Last Friday, the channel's management had issued a statement offering "sincere apologies given the sensitivity and seriousness of the subject" and called the sequence "completely inappropriate . Human Rights Watch acting women's rights division director Janet Walsh wrote on Monday that Morocco was "still discussing a draft domestic violence law" The New York-based HRW has said that violence against women is common in the North African country, AFP said. In an official 2009-2010 study, it was found that almost two thirds of Moroccan women had been physically, psychologically, sexually or economically abused, and that of those, some 55 per cent said they had suffered domestic violence. (With inputs from AFP)

Morocco TV says sorry for make-up for battered women

<p>Today marks the 25<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against women.&nbsp;Historically, the date is based on the date of the 1960 assassination of the three Mirabal sisters who were political activists in the Dominican Republic protesting&nbsp;against the dictatorship of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Trujillo">Rafael Trujillo</a>. In 1981, activists marked November 25<sup>th</sup> as a day to combat and raise awareness of violence against women more broadly and, later in 1999, this day was officially adopted by the UN General Assembly as a day to raise awareness of this issue, which still remains largely hidden.</p>

<p>That was many years ago and yet the same struggle endure. Twenty-five years on, the global crisis of violence against women and girls is endemic. Around the world, <b>one in three women</b> will experience domestic abuse, sexual violence or some other forms of violence in her lifetime.&nbsp;In India, this number is even higher&mdash;around 40 per cent of women say they are subject to domestic violence.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

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<p>Violence happens everywhere, across social groups and classes. Women and girls in poverty suffer most. From sexual harassment to child marriage or &#39;honor killing&#39;, violence devastates the lives of millions of women and girls around the world and fractures communities. It is both a cause and a consequence of women&rsquo;s poverty.</p>

<p>There are many complex causes driving this violence against women and girls. But it is ultimately rooted in the reality that women and men are not treated equally.&nbsp;</p>

<p><a href="http://strive.lshtm.ac.uk/system/files/attachments/What%20works%20to%20prevent%20partner%20violence.pdf">When communities share expectations that men have the right to assert power over women and are considered socially superior</a>, violence against women and girls increases. It creates a reality whereby men can physically discipline women for &lsquo;incorrect&rsquo; behavior, one where sex is men&rsquo;s right in marriage.&nbsp;</p>

<p>These are examples of &#39;social norms&#39;, the unwritten rules which dictate how we behave. They are fundamental in allowing violence against women to flourish.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Let me explain. Most people, most of the time, conform to social norms. We continuously absorb subtle messages about what is and isn&#39;t appropriate to do, say, and think from our family, our friends, our colleagues, from education, culture, the media, religion, and law. These sources are not neutral. They are informed by long histories of inequalities and prejudice, and by economic and political forces.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

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<p>Our world is one in which social norms grant men authority over women&#39;s behavior. They encourage men&rsquo;s sense of entitlement to women&#39;s bodies, spread harmful notions of masculinity, and enforce rigid gender roles.&nbsp;</p>

<p>These norms are insidious and powerful, often transmitted through throwaway comments or casual actions: telling a woman who was raped that &lsquo;she was out late at night, drunk or traveling alone and was therefore responsible for the violence&rsquo; &ndash; or brushing off harmful misogyny as &lsquo;locker room banter&rsquo;.</p>

<p>Formal laws may not reign here. Attitudes like these create an environment in which violence against women and girls is widely seen as acceptable, even where laws call them illegal. Studies from India, Peru, and Brazil have linked the acceptance and approval of wife beating from individuals and communities with rates of actual violence. One UN study found that, on average, men with gender discriminatory attitudes were <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/what-works-in-preventing-violence-against-women-and-girls-review-of-the-evidence-from-the-programme">42 per cent</a>&nbsp;more likely to abuse their partners.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The same study examined men&rsquo;s reported motivation for rape. In most countries, 70&ndash;80 per cent&nbsp;of men who had ever forced a woman or girl to have sex said they had done so because they felt entitled to have sex, regardless of consent.&nbsp;</p>

<p>We must be aware of how social norms operate before can we change how we respond. Violence against women and girls is sustained by a net of harmful attitudes, assumptions and stereotypes. It&rsquo;s a net which so many are caught in: not always felt, but as strong as steel.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

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<p>We can break free. We can change the harmful beliefs at the core of this problem. What was learned can be unlearned.&nbsp; <b>Our rallying cry in India is #BanoNayiSoch </b>(roughly translated as &lsquo;be the change&rsquo;).<b>&nbsp;</b></p>

<p>Oxfam is taking a step in this direction and launching the #BanoNayiSoch campaign in Bihar to recognise and appreciate a state where domestic violence has declined significantly from 59 per cent&nbsp;to 43 per cent during the last decade.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

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<h5>Oxfam is taking a step in this direction and launching the #BanoNayiSoch campaign in Bihar</h5>
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<p>All of us can play our part to End Violence Against Women and Girls. It starts with challenging and changing our own behaviour and then engaging our our families, friends, neighbors and colleagues about unequal power between men and women. Governments and public institutions &ndash; and the private sector too &ndash; must ensure their policies tackle, not accentuate, harmful social norms. &nbsp;</p>

<p>India, along with all other countries in the world, has recently committed to the Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved by 2030. Goal number 5 (or SDG 5) is the following:&nbsp;<b>Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.</b>&nbsp; One of the targets of this goal is the following: E<b>liminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.</b></p>

<p>India needs to work to make sure that in 2030 it can stand proudly and declare that we have achieved this goal.&nbsp; The violence that women and girls face is not inevitable. Nor will it naturally disappear. We must speak out! We must act!&nbsp; Not another girl or woman should have to suffer. This must be an urgent imperative for all of us.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


Social norms are fundamental in allowing violence against women to flourish

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against women. Historically, the date is based on the date of the 1960 assassination of the three Mirabal sisters who were political activists in the Dominican Republic protesting against the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. In 1981, activists marked November 25th as a day to combat and raise awareness of violence against women more broadly and, later in 1999, this day was officially adopted by the UN General Assembly as a day to raise awareness of this issue, which still remains largely hidden. That was many years ago and yet the same struggle endure. Twenty-five years on, the global crisis of violence against women and girls is endemic. Around the world, one in three women will experience domestic abuse, sexual violence or some other forms of violence in her lifetime. In India, this number is even higher—around 40 per cent of women say they are subject to domestic violence. Around the world, one in three women will experience domestic abuse, sexual violence or some other forms of violence in her lifetime × Violence happens everywhere, across social groups and classes. Women and girls in poverty suffer most. From sexual harassment to child marriage or 'honor killing', violence devastates the lives of millions of women and girls around the world and fractures communities. It is both a cause and a consequence of women’s poverty. There are many complex causes driving this violence against women and girls. But it is ultimately rooted in the reality that women and men are not treated equally. When communities share expectations that men have the right to assert power over women and are considered socially superior, violence against women and girls increases. It creates a reality whereby men can physically discipline women for ‘incorrect’ behavior, one where sex is men’s right in marriage. These are examples of 'social norms', the unwritten rules which dictate how we behave. They are fundamental in allowing violence against women to flourish. Let me explain. Most people, most of the time, conform to social norms. We continuously absorb subtle messages about what is and isn't appropriate to do, say, and think from our family, our friends, our colleagues, from education, culture, the media, religion, and law. These sources are not neutral. They are informed by long histories of inequalities and prejudice, and by economic and political forces. Our world is one in which social norms grant men authority over women's behavior. × Our world is one in which social norms grant men authority over women's behavior. They encourage men’s sense of entitlement to women's bodies, spread harmful notions of masculinity, and enforce rigid gender roles. These norms are insidious and powerful, often transmitted through throwaway comments or casual actions: telling a woman who was raped that ‘she was out late at night, drunk or traveling alone and was therefore responsible for the violence’ – or brushing off harmful misogyny as ‘locker room banter’. Formal laws may not reign here. Attitudes like these create an environment in which violence against women and girls is widely seen as acceptable, even where laws call them illegal. Studies from India, Peru, and Brazil have linked the acceptance and approval of wife beating from individuals and communities with rates of actual violence. One UN study found that, on average, men with gender discriminatory attitudes were 42 per cent more likely to abuse their partners. The same study examined men’s reported motivation for rape. In most countries, 70–80 per cent of men who had ever forced a woman or girl to have sex said they had done so because they felt entitled to have sex, regardless of consent. We must be aware of how social norms operate before can we change how we respond. Violence against women and girls is sustained by a net of harmful attitudes, assumptions and stereotypes. It’s a net which so many are caught in: not always felt, but as strong as steel. It’s a net which so many are caught in: not always felt, but as strong as steel. × We can break free. We can change the harmful beliefs at the core of this problem. What was learned can be unlearned. Our rallying cry in India is #BanoNayiSoch (roughly translated as ‘be the change’). Oxfam is taking a step in this direction and launching the #BanoNayiSoch campaign in Bihar to recognise and appreciate a state where domestic violence has declined significantly from 59 per cent to 43 per cent during the last decade. Oxfam is taking a step in this direction and launching the #BanoNayiSoch campaign in Bihar × All of us can play our part to End Violence Against Women and Girls. It starts with challenging and changing our own behaviour and then engaging our our families, friends, neighbors and colleagues about unequal power between men and women. Governments and public institutions – and the private sector too – must ensure their policies tackle, not accentuate, harmful social norms. India, along with all other countries in the world, has recently committed to the Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved by 2030. Goal number 5 (or SDG 5) is the following: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. One of the targets of this goal is the following: Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation. India needs to work to make sure that in 2030 it can stand proudly and declare that we have achieved this goal. The violence that women and girls face is not inevitable. Nor will it naturally disappear. We must speak out! We must act! Not another girl or woman should have to suffer. This must be an urgent imperative for all of us.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women: Unwritten rules of our social conduct

<p>Irom Sharmila or Sharmila Chanu began her fast in the year 2000 and instantly became an icon.&nbsp; She soon became the symbol of liberation for those who were fighting state repression. When feminists all over the world were debating on how to facilitate women&rsquo;s participation in activism for peace and security under the aegis of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, Sharmila took matters in her hands and began a fast against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the backwaters of Manipur. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Although the Naga Mothers were also agitating against AFSPA, it was Sharmila&rsquo;s activism that brought AFSPA squarely into urban coffee table debates. She was the symbol of middle-class respectability, a figure of protest contained in a hospital ward.&nbsp; She was our white dove and people soon forgot her revolutionary self that found the courage from nowhere to take on the mighty AFSPA. &nbsp;</p>

<p>AFSPA was passed way back in 1958 and later amended in 1972.&nbsp; It was a lift-off, with modifications, from the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Ordinance 1942 of British India.&nbsp; Only in its present form, it is much harsher than the Ordinance.&nbsp; AFSPA was created to suppress civil society, curb dissent, and legitimise state violence. As Khatoli Khala, a social activist informs us, &ldquo;logic demanded that an India that fought against such powers would, when independent, get rid of such legislation.&nbsp; Events, however, have proved the contrary.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Parliamentary debates bear testimony to the fact that when the Honourable Home Minister brought this bill to the floor in 1958 even the speaker was shocked. He said &ldquo;Does the Honourable Minister feel that this is the procedure? He can shoot if it is a disturbed area and that is the procedure established by law? <i>He can shoot</i> [italics added].&rdquo; Yet the Act was passed without a single amendment suggested from the floor.&nbsp; Women from most of Northeast India are unanimous in their opinion that in terms of brutality the Act surpasses all others by severely militarizing the region and unleashing an unforeseen culture of rape and relentless repression. &nbsp;</p>

<p>That women&rsquo;s reaction to AFSPA was not a product of feminine hysteria was proven by another event that took place in Manipur in 2004.&nbsp; In the early hours of July 11 a young woman named Thangjam Manorama was allegedly raped, tortured and murdered by members of the Assam Rifles.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Protest against AFSPA immediately took the character of a mass uprising.&nbsp; The Meira Paibies were in the forefront of this protest. They created an assemblage of protesting organisation called Apunba Lup that was responsible for the spectacular naked protest of middle-aged women in front of the Kangla Fort carrying placards that said &ldquo;Indian Army Rape Us.&rdquo;.&nbsp; Among all these events Sharmila Chanu resurfaced as a symbol of respectable protest and hope. Her Gandhian ways convinced many that even if all others fail Sharmila will succeed. That happened way back in 2004.</p>

<p>By 2012 women in India faced many new realities from which violence was never far removed. The December 2012 events in Delhi once again triggered debates over women and violence. The complexity of the situation was confirmed when even the Verma Committee was unable to address the issue of AFSPA and its effects on women.&nbsp; Also, the new rape laws failed to address the question of rape with impunity by the armed forces. There were those, such as myself, who argued that to understand violence against women in the Indian mainland one needs to hark back to the violence faced by women in Northeast India and investigate if there is a continuum between what is happening for decades to women in Northeast India to what is happening to women in rest of the country today. Irom Sharmila resurfaced in our conversation as the symbol of women&rsquo;s activism in Northeast.&nbsp; But in Northeast India, new and somewhat disturbing realities were emerging.</p>

<p>My visit to Northeast in 2013 brought those realities starkly to the forefront of my consciousness and writings for which I was censured by some. We had heard that for the last one decade the Government of India was making targeted policies of development that would particularly benefit the women of Northeast.&nbsp; The women were also embarking on a new diplomacy, siding sometimes with their erstwhile allies, and at other times with their previous antagonists.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Many were shocked when the Naga Mothers&#39; Association (NMA) brought a case against the HoHos because they were denied 33 % representation.&nbsp; Old alliances over self-determination were crumbling and a new crop of women&rsquo;s leadership was emerging. There were many like me who looked at these events with concern and wondered if the state machinery was finally succeeding in their appropriation of women&rsquo;s voices.&nbsp; With Sharmila&rsquo;s ending of her legendary fast, some say that we have come to the last act of that play.&nbsp;</p>

<p>I, however, feel that in this case, the truth might be somewhat different. Sharmila is an extremely skillful political actor who has understood that for any change hereafter she needs a new arsenal.&nbsp; In much of Northeast India people have become conscious that they can no longer shun electoral politics as an alien process.&nbsp; To make changes women need to appropriate all space, albeit even the ones considered &ldquo;dirty&rdquo;.&nbsp; For now, we should take the political activist by her word. Sharmila has always shown courage and more so now than before by coming out of a safe cocoon in the face of great opposition by those she considers her own, and challenging that the only respectable mode of protest for women is fasting.&nbsp; Instead of shunning her we ought to agree that there is no one way to peace. Perhaps the conundrum is not so much hers but ours. Why are we so comfortable for a woman to be a symbol and so disturbed when she wants to be an agentive actor?</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


To make changes women need to appropriate all space, albeit even the ones once considered ?dirty?.

Irom Sharmila or Sharmila Chanu began her fast in the year 2000 and instantly became an icon. She soon became the symbol of liberation for those who were fighting state repression. When feminists all over the world were debating on how to facilitate women’s participation in activism for peace and security under the aegis of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, Sharmila took matters in her hands and began a fast against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the backwaters of Manipur. Although the Naga Mothers were also agitating against AFSPA, it was Sharmila’s activism that brought AFSPA squarely into urban coffee table debates. She was the symbol of middle-class respectability, a figure of protest contained in a hospital ward. She was our white dove and people soon forgot her revolutionary self that found the courage from nowhere to take on the mighty AFSPA. AFSPA was passed way back in 1958 and later amended in 1972. It was a lift-off, with modifications, from the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Ordinance 1942 of British India. Only in its present form, it is much harsher than the Ordinance. AFSPA was created to suppress civil society, curb dissent, and legitimise state violence. As Khatoli Khala, a social activist informs us, “logic demanded that an India that fought against such powers would, when independent, get rid of such legislation. Events, however, have proved the contrary.” Parliamentary debates bear testimony to the fact that when the Honourable Home Minister brought this bill to the floor in 1958 even the speaker was shocked. He said “Does the Honourable Minister feel that this is the procedure? He can shoot if it is a disturbed area and that is the procedure established by law? He can shoot [italics added].” Yet the Act was passed without a single amendment suggested from the floor. Women from most of Northeast India are unanimous in their opinion that in terms of brutality the Act surpasses all others by severely militarizing the region and unleashing an unforeseen culture of rape and relentless repression. That women’s reaction to AFSPA was not a product of feminine hysteria was proven by another event that took place in Manipur in 2004. In the early hours of July 11 a young woman named Thangjam Manorama was allegedly raped, tortured and murdered by members of the Assam Rifles. Protest against AFSPA immediately took the character of a mass uprising. The Meira Paibies were in the forefront of this protest. They created an assemblage of protesting organisation called Apunba Lup that was responsible for the spectacular naked protest of middle-aged women in front of the Kangla Fort carrying placards that said “Indian Army Rape Us.”. Among all these events Sharmila Chanu resurfaced as a symbol of respectable protest and hope. Her Gandhian ways convinced many that even if all others fail Sharmila will succeed. That happened way back in 2004. By 2012 women in India faced many new realities from which violence was never far removed. The December 2012 events in Delhi once again triggered debates over women and violence. The complexity of the situation was confirmed when even the Verma Committee was unable to address the issue of AFSPA and its effects on women. Also, the new rape laws failed to address the question of rape with impunity by the armed forces. There were those, such as myself, who argued that to understand violence against women in the Indian mainland one needs to hark back to the violence faced by women in Northeast India and investigate if there is a continuum between what is happening for decades to women in Northeast India to what is happening to women in rest of the country today. Irom Sharmila resurfaced in our conversation as the symbol of women’s activism in Northeast. But in Northeast India, new and somewhat disturbing realities were emerging. My visit to Northeast in 2013 brought those realities starkly to the forefront of my consciousness and writings for which I was censured by some. We had heard that for the last one decade the Government of India was making targeted policies of development that would particularly benefit the women of Northeast. The women were also embarking on a new diplomacy, siding sometimes with their erstwhile allies, and at other times with their previous antagonists. Many were shocked when the Naga Mothers' Association (NMA) brought a case against the HoHos because they were denied 33 % representation. Old alliances over self-determination were crumbling and a new crop of women’s leadership was emerging. There were many like me who looked at these events with concern and wondered if the state machinery was finally succeeding in their appropriation of women’s voices. With Sharmila’s ending of her legendary fast, some say that we have come to the last act of that play. I, however, feel that in this case, the truth might be somewhat different. Sharmila is an extremely skillful political actor who has understood that for any change hereafter she needs a new arsenal. In much of Northeast India people have become conscious that they can no longer shun electoral politics as an alien process. To make changes women need to appropriate all space, albeit even the ones considered “dirty”. For now, we should take the political activist by her word. Sharmila has always shown courage and more so now than before by coming out of a safe cocoon in the face of great opposition by those she considers her own, and challenging that the only respectable mode of protest for women is fasting. Instead of shunning her we ought to agree that there is no one way to peace. Perhaps the conundrum is not so much hers but ours. Why are we so comfortable for a woman to be a symbol and so disturbed when she wants to be an agentive actor?

Sharmila Chanu: Beacon of Hope or Symbol of Betrayal?