India: Violence against Women. Current Challenges and Future trends

Original Source: http://www.southasia.fnst.org/files/389/30.07.2013_India__Violence_Against_Women.pdf


This report can be accessed through the link mentioned above

Women-only cafes offer new versions of Palestinian public Space

Original source:http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=643647


Discreetly located at the foot of a staircase, the cafe offers a familiar scene: shisha pipes are stacked neatly on the counter, ashtrays dot each table, Lebanese satellite television plays in the background and steaming Turkish coffee is served to a table of regulars. 

Like many other cafes lining the busy avenues branching off of Ramallah’s bustling Manara Square, this is a gendered space. Male employees stand guard outside, surveying the entrance of the cafe with stern eyes.

Unlike most public establishments in Ramallah, Ladies is a cafe for women only.

When the cafe opened in early 2012, it was the first women-only cafe in Ramallah. As in most cities in Palestine, cafes in Ramallah are primarily a men-only affair. Many cafes and restaurants have mixed clientele and some even have delineated "family" sections, but for the most part women rarely frequent cafes on their own.

Ladies promised to provide a different experience, one that barred male clientele and instead offered a public space intended exclusively for women. The hope was that in a society where cafes are traditionally geared towards men, the creation of a women-only cafe would offer women equal access to the public sphere, but on their own terms.

Cafe owner Jamil Ali explains that in a woman-only space, women can feel comfortable and take off their scarves, smoke cigarettes and sit with their legs crossed, unlike in male-dominated cafes where these behaviors might draw attention. 

"She doesn’t want anybody to look at her," he says. "A thousand eyes will go to her, a thousand eyes." But in a public space frequented exclusively by women, she is free to unwind in a comfortable setting. 

In addition to creating a space accessible to women, Ali also sought to ensure that the cafe be economically accessible to a female-only clientele. As he explained, many mixed cafes charge prices out of reach for most Palestinian women. Although the entire menu was originally priced at 10 shekels ($3), after realizing that the prices were still too high for some patrons, the price of drinks were lowered to seven shekels ($2).

"Women don’t have to be on their guard." 

Unlike Jamil Ali, Susie Atilla didn’t set out to create a women-only space three years ago when she co-founded Diva, a cafe patronized predominantly by women inconspicuously located off of a main street in Bethlehem.

Atilla was originally encouraged by the male owner of the commercial center where Diva is located to open the cafe there because a number of other female-oriented businesses had locations nearby. Among Diva’s neighbors are a gym, hairdresser and a Turkish bath.

She explains that even though the cafe was open to a mixed clientele, "the reputation spread that it’s only for women."

"Some men get really embarrassed to come with their wives but we always tell them men and families are welcome!" she adds with a chuckle.

Susie and her sister, Nancy, started Diva as a project meant to provide them with an income for after their retirement from their day jobs. They hoped in the process to create a place where they and their friends could come and socialize. 

When asked about Ladies cafe in Ramallah, Atilla smiles. 

"It’s great for girls to be able to feel comfortable," in a cafe like Ladies. "Women don’t have to be on their guard."

She emphasizes that even though its location is somewhat isolated, Diva offers "privacy," and a place where women feel comfortable. 

The sentiment was shared by many patrons at Ladies interviewed by Ma’an.

A patron from the US uses the cafe as a space for lessons with teenage Palestinian girls she tutors. The parents of the girls, she says, feel comfortable knowing that the cafe only serves women and thus offers a secure public meeting spot for young girls. 

Many of the students’ parents usually only allow their daughters to go to school and come home, the tutor says, but when they heard about the cafe they welcomed the idea.

She concedes, however, that gender-segregated cafes "enforce the idea that girls have to do things in secret."

A Palestinian woman at the cafe adds, "It’s sick, the separation thing. Ramallah is better (than other cities in Palestine, but) you still find people who won’t let their daughters or wives go places."

This customer tells Ma'an that she sees a women-only cafe as another example of the kinds of separation between genders that persists in Palestinian public space. 

She adds that the cafe’s decision to serve an exclusively female clientele furthers the gender divide between men and women in public spaces. 

"The society and the mentality of the people is not going to change soon," she says with a shake of her head.

Creating public spaces for women 

Both cafes, though quite different in mission, have become spaces for women located in a larger urban context that offer comfort and privacy for their patrons. Neither cafe set out to change the fabric of Palestinian society, or the fact that most public establishments primarily cater exclusively to men. 

Rather, each cafe acknowledges the realities of a male-dominated public sphere by offering a place where women can feel comfortable.

Even though all-women cafes like Ladies "(enforce) the separation," a Palestinian patron says, they can also be seen as "a solution that make things easier for some part of society."

And for the many women who frequent Ladies and Diva, but feel uncomfortable or unable to patronize male-dominated establishments, these cafes offer a unique and inviting alternative that offers comfort, privacy, and access.

Atilla, the owner of Diva suggests that "some women in society feel like they need to have a place that is private and that’s where they feel comfortable."

Maoist "sympathiser" Soni Sori granted bail by SC

Original Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/maoist-sympathiser-soni-sori-granted-bail-by-sc/article1-1150180.aspx

Soni Sori, the tribal teacher who was held in New Delhi last October on charges of being a Maoist conduit was granted bail by the Supreme Court on Tuesday, reports said.

 Sori was accused of receiving "protection money" on behalf of Maoists from the Essar Group. But she claims she was falsely implicated in a number of cases linking her to Maoist activities.
 
The Supreme Court had admitted Sori's bail plea in September and had sought response from Chhattisgarh government.
 
She had approached the apex court challenging the Chhattisgarh high court order denying them bail on July 8, 2013.
 
Sori has been lodged at the Raipur Central Jail since O

ctober 2011. 
 
She was arrested on October 4, 2011 in New Delhi by a Chhattisgarh police team. She was then taken to Dantewada for interrogation but was not produced before court.
 
Sori has alleged that she was raped and mistreated by the police.
 
The Chhattisgarh police claimed she fell in a bathroom. 
 

Digging Deeper: Water, Women and Conflict

Original Source:http://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/digging-deeper-water-women-and-conflict

It’s not just “carrying water from a water point, but it’s discharging responsibilities that a woman has for using and managing water which may make her vulnerable to violence and bring her into risky areas,” said Dennis Warner, senior technical advisor for water and sanitation at Catholic Relief Services (CRS), at the Wilson Center on August 29.

“It’s really like peeling an onion, quite frankly. All of these issues are embedded within one another,” said Sandra Ruckstuhl, a senior social scientist at Group W Inc. Ruckstuhl and Warner were joined by Carla Koppell, USAID’s senior coordinator for gender equality and women’s empowerment to talk about the relationship between gender, access to water, and violent conflict.

Women: Water Users and Managers

The water for washing clothing, bathing, and general household use is often found in remote locations that may also be insecure. Women, who are primarily responsible for these activities, are therefore vulnerable to violence, including rape and kidnapping. This violence has far-reaching health, social, emotional, and economic impacts on the women themselves, but also has cascading effects on their households and communities.

Warner noted that the design of water systems frequently prioritizes technical efficiency and cost savings but fails to anticipate the vulnerability of women and children or other social considerations. “We need to institutionalize this knowledge on the protection of women in all development sectors, but especially in water, because water is such an obvious and leading edge of development that is subject to so many of these problems,” he said.

In planning water points, therefore, CRS attempts to both improve access and enhance protection of women and children. In Darfur, for example, by providing separate and more secure water points for pastoral and agricultural groups, they reduced both the risk to women and tension between groups. 

Incorporating Social Factors

There is no linear progression from conflict to water access to gender dimensions that could lead to clear-cut interventions, said Sandra Ruckstahl; these issues “are nested within one another.” Citing case studies from India, the West Bank, and Gaza, she explored several factors that can impede water access in conflict situations, including the level of violence, state neglect, the role of non-state actors, and failure to build and/or maintain infrastructure. She also pointed to positive linkages, such as the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where an informal water management arrangement during the conflict created a foundation for post-conflict reconstruction. 

Ruckstuhl indicated that access to water is “defined not just by physical and environmental factors, but also by social factors.” Therefore, interventions should be based on disaggregated data that analyzes the behaviors, priorities, and concerns of different user groups within a conflict area. Furthermore, practitioners should consider secondary impacts, including “other development implications, in terms of productive time for education or to contribute to the local economy.”

Gender Is Core Issue, Not a Sideline

“Too often when we are talking about issues related to women, or gender dimensions, within any development or conflict context, people think about it as a sideline,” said Carla Koppell. She emphasized the centrality of women to the conversation, both because they are profoundly vulnerable and because their vulnerability has a “ripple effect on the entire well-being of communities.”

According to Koppell, interventions should take into consideration the different roles of women and men, and how those roles evolve in conflict situations. She warned against viewing women solely as passive victims and emphasized the importance of leveraging women’s roles as leaders within their families and communities in the search for solutions. 

“[W]hat we need to remember when we are talking about the nexus between water, conflict, and women, and I would say both women and gender issues as well, is that if we do a better job at building this into all of the interventions we’re working in…we will see better development results,” Koppell said. “I think we should all feel like this is quite core to our agenda…we should feel like it is a collective endeavor that we want to move forward together.”

Competing Voices: Gender and Ideology in Egypt

Original Source: http://thedailyjournalist.com/the-strategist/competing-voices-gender-and-ideology-in-egypt/

Secular and Islamist discourse in Egypt share a core essence of masculine dominance.

Egypt and the wider Middle East are undergoing major change following revolutions. But what is the best way to plan for and navigate the future?

A number of post-Arab Spring political and strategic analyses have managed to move beyond a focus on the state to identify trends in order to propose solutions. Among the significant trends, changes can be seen within ideology — which is borne not merely at the state but also at the grassroots level.

But the attention given to what can be leveraged or rather contained is misplaced. Some of these works are pointing to the grassroots level but are superficially fixated on ideology.

The quick conclusion often drawn is the inevitable end of the Muslim Brotherhood. Despite the acknowledgement of lower-level politics and ideological leanings in the shaping of the state, indeed, one pivotal aspect of this political configuration is virtually absent: gender.

The Gender Question

Leaving gender out of a discussion on ideology and its impact on the future is of enormous consequence. Whether we speak of an Islamist discourse or that emanating from the secular stream, especially in the post-revolution Middle Eastern countries, there are virtually nocreative solutions for diplomatic intervention or real steps towards building trust between those of all ideological stances and thus fostering reconciliation.

Brute force, obstinate stances, and the squashing of women’s and minority rights were part and parcel of the Muslim Brotherhood-led government and also the current military rulers in Egypt.

What we have is that although critique has included ideology — to be precise, Islamist ideology beyond the state level — the larger discourse driving this critique is mainly about secularism vs Islamism. The persistent obsession with this ideological split blinds to the fact that both standpoints share a core essence of masculine dominance. With this current essence comes rivalry, mistrust and, significantly, violence.

Women’s oppression is due to a shared ideology on the role and position of the female gender. Islamist politics cannot be singled out as the only arena for the oppression of minorities and women.

It is this shared essence — rooted in the individual’s ethics and consciousness that is going to determine how the masculine or feminine essence will be expressed in home life — in shaping societal norms, laws related to women, human rights or the lack thereof, and the core essence of state politics.

More than an Imbalance in Numbers

This is important to highlight. Women are sorely underrepresented in positions of power and decision-making. However, when the gender aspect is marginalized, the consequence is not that of an imbalance in numbers.

Critically, we witness an imbalance in and distortion of a crucial essence for true transformation. Ideological positions are irrelevant; they are superficially understood. Their essence or what directs discourse on choices and capacities for civility and peace is core.

Women tend to — though not always — produce the critical feminine voice that must account for half of all the ideas, plans, aspirations and insights expressed. That includes the prioritizations around children’s needs, women’s access, diplomacy, peace, and the innate drive for renewal and restoration.

Indeed, men can and sometimes do produce that greatly needed feminine aspect more aptly than women. In my interviews with men leading up to, during and following the Arab Spring in Egypt, I gained insight into the ability of many men to imbue their activism and politics with both feminine and masculine aspects appropriately and in complementarity to produce actions, for example, of compassion; yet, necessarily assertively so.

However, in my personal interaction, interviews and observations, I gained a strong sense that the masculine essence was so distorted and in such form so aggressively dominant that women’s voices around agendas, such as addressing women’s rights or getting their children’s needs protected through appropriate policies, more often become suppressed.

Tactics include not only marginalizing women from “hard” politics in numbers, but also using laws to discriminate against them. They include banning the wife or daughter from educational endeavors of her choice or sometimes in various ways from having her own income.

Indeed, I learned about the various tactics so many women experience from their home life to public life that disable them from fully contributing their passionately felt ideas and capacities. Very recently, I witnessed an Egyptian husband abruptly stop his wife at the dinner table from speaking, reminding her that she is not allowed to speak about politics, as he continued to do so. And in the scheme of it all, that was not an extraordinary event.

The Feminine and Transformation

I also learned from many female, Egyptian activists how important they knew their feminine aspects were to transformation. For example, women expressed that the most important aspect in dealing with people of different ideological orientations and thinking that has been critical to their struggles during the Arab Spring and today, is patience.

Various forms of an inner capacity to tolerate, cooperate, reciprocate and trust were expressed and observed. Such are the core ingredients for civility to grow and civil society to be sustainable — the bedrock for successful transformation. But how many of us will acknowledge that seemingly apolitical forms of interaction in the home and in civil society organizations are absolutely critical to the future of the Middle East?

There is absolutely no other way of moving forward from a consciousness of mistrust, polarization and fear without a capacity to be civil, which is imbued by what I have experienced as largely feminine capacities for compassion, tolerance, forgiveness, receptivity, trust, empowerment, and patience.

Although men can and must contribute to a transformation through such aspects, too, and women do not always live up to any such nurturing, creative or reciprocating role, the torch of the feminine must be carried forward firstly by women.

The majority of NGOs that I entered and studied were mostly populated by women. What is needed, at this point, is that the pivotal actors behind a future transition to peace and prosperity in the Middle East are recognized and embraced for their most essential capacities at the state level, in the judiciary, in strategic planning, and the various projects and initiatives for democratic development.

Women Leading in Post Conflict Nations: Peacebuilding and Development at the Embassy of Sri Lanka

Original Source: http://www.diplomaticourier.com/news/diplomatic-life/1826-women-leading-in-post-conflict-nations-peacebuilding-development-at-the-embassy-of-sri-lanka

On a Tuesday evening in mid-July, the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Washington, DC opened its doors to celebrate 51 female leaders from the Wilson Center’s Women in Public Service Project Institute at Bryn Mawr College, a program co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of State to advance the leadership capacities of women in post-conflict countries. Among the women in attendance were journalists, high court judges, social workers, mentors, civil society activists, and members of parliament who were accepted to the Institute as a result of their work to further facilitate the process of peace in their communities.

Earlier in the day, the delegates attended a two-part panel in their honor at the Wilson Center for International Scholars moderated by Dr. Rangita De Silva de Alwis, director of the Women in Public Service Project. Among the panelists were Dr. Elaine Kamarck of the Brookings Institution and author of the panel’s namesake, How Change Happens: Politics and Policy in America; former Ambassador to Cambodia, Carole Rodley; Afghanistan’s first and only female mayor, Azra Jafari; State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Partnerships and Learning, Jerry White; Kathleen Kuehnast of the U.S. Institute of Peace; Tamara Wittes of the Brookings Institution; South Sudan’s Deputy Minister of Housing and Physical Planning, Mary Nyalung Ret; and Adviser to the President of Serbia, Snezara Kresoja.

The panelists’ remarks focused on the theme of women “outside the power structure acting as agents of change” in their communities. Ambassador Rodley shared her experience working in Cambodia, touching on the importance in post-conflict countries of dropping what so often becomes a “backward-looking narrative” in favor of her strategy of “changing attitudes, changing behavior, and changing the rules” in order to move forward in peacebuilding and development. Rather than forcing foreign perspectives and notions of development, Rodley asked “who is better to know what needs to be done” in a post-conflict society “than the people who live there?” She expressed the importance of “training...survivors to tell their own stories” as a mechanism of empowerment for domestic ownership of a nation’s history. She spoke of the issue of sex slavery in Cambodia and how important it is that the women involved saw themselves as survivors rather than victims, allowing them to help other women out of the trade by sharing their experiences to empower and educate in the fight against sex slavery. She encouraged the delegates from the Institute in the audience to “have a vision, make it a big vision...[and to] find a way to tell the story.”

Azra Jafari spoke of her experience as Afghanistan’s first female mayor, several times eliciting swelling applause for her bravery and strength in the position in such a volatile environment. She provided a picture of the situation for many women in Afghanistan, detailing the tribulations of her journeys to Kabul for mayoral duties. Because “security is the main problem in Afghanistan for women in rural areas” and Jafari must travel from the central Daykundi province over 270 miles to Kabul, she must switch vehicles several times and cover her face completely so as not to be recognized by the Taliban. Given these challenges, it was quite hard to believe when Jafari then explained that the Afghan government is in talks to form a peace agreement with the Taliban. This proposal, Jafari explained, is as alarming to many women in Afghanistan as it was to the audience.

In such post-conflict societies it is imperative that we “don’t wait for the revolution to be over to claim women’s rights.” For Afghanistan, this means not succumbing to what Tamara Wittes described as a tendency of leaders in post-conflict societies to set women’s issues aside as a luxury. Engaging in peace talks with an organization that would assassinate Jafari if they could is not the way to do this. Wittes explained that there are consequences of “that silence” that can shroud women’s issues in post-conflict negotiations—that “gender issues are not only relevant, [but] they’re essential” to an inclusive and humane society. She encouraged the delegates to “organize [their] collective voice and constantly bring it forward”, to provide social accountability to documented human rights norms to which their countries may be signatory but not necessarily practitioners of. This means bringing women into the official negotiation process so that they are present at the peace-making table. Wittes encouraged the delegates to incentivize their inclusion in these talks by representing themselves as a constituency that their governments need, to “demonstrate that there is a critical mass in society that cares” about the fate of women.

Taking these words of advice, the 51 delegates later joined guests from all over the city at the Sri Lankan Embassy for an elegant evening of storytelling, networking, dance, and exquisite cuisine. In celebration of their completion of the two-week institute, the delegates enjoyed the opportunity to extend their experiences to those outside of the Wilson Center and Bryn Mawr college, discussing the circumstances in their countries with actors in the non-profit and private sectors around Washington, DC. While the Ambassador himself was unable to attend, the party enjoyed his country’s hospitality—mingling in an enclosed terrace decorated with figures of the Buddha, enjoying a traditional Sri Lankan dance performance, and feasting on an extensive buffet including cashew white curry, brinjal moju, papadam, chicken curry, yellow rice, soya meat curry, fruit salad, and cake.

Most of the delegates I spoke with were heading back to their home countries after they returned to Bryn Mawr College that night. Although their experiences in the program and around DC over the two weeks contrast highly with the work they will return home to do, they are now equipped with the strength and support of each others’ stories, and the vision that activism and social justice are more than buzzwords, but actually the key pieces of an emergent global approach to realizing change.

This article was originally published in the Diplomatic Courier's September/October 2013 print edition.

Bangladesh's War Toll on Women still remains undiscussed

Original Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/world/asia/25iht-letter.html?_r=0

The numbers are in dispute, but the story they tell has remained the same for four decades: 200,000 women (or 300,000, or 400,000, depending on the source) raped during the 1971 war in which East Pakistan broke with West Pakistan to becomeBangladesh.

The American feminist Susan Brownmiller, quoting all three sets of statistics in her 1975 book “Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape,” compared the rapes of Bangladesh with the rapes of Chinese women by Japanese soldiers at Nanjing in 1937-38.

Accepting even the lowest set of figures for Bangladesh forces a horrifying comparison — the 1992-95 Bosnian war saw one-tenth the number of rapes as did the Bangladesh war. The rapes of Bosnian women forced the world to recognize rape as “an instrument of terror,” as a crime against humanity. But so far no one has been held to account for the sexual violence against Bangladeshi women in 1971.

As the 40th anniversary of the 1971 war approaches, the Bangladeshi government has set up an International Crimes Tribunal to investigate the atrocities of that era. But human rights advocates and lawyers fear that the mass rapes and killings of women will not be adequately addressed. They hope to ensure they are.

“There has been a denial by certain political groups of the history of the war, and a failure to account for the crimes of sexual violence against women,” said Sara Hossain, a human rights lawyer based in Dhaka.

For years, the experiences of women — the independence fighters, the victims of rape, the widows — during the war received little attention, their stories seldom told, the violence they experienced rarely acknowledged.

“As a young teenager in 1971, I had heard a lot about female university students, young village girls and women being raped and held captive, effectively forced into sexual slavery, in the military cantonment. But after the war, very soon, one heard nothing more,” said Irene Khan, former secretary general of Amnesty International.

“Yes, we talk often of the hundreds of thousands of women who were raped, forced into sexual slavery, sexually attacked, but rarely are there any names or faces or individual stories,” said Ms. Khan, who was born in Dhaka, now the capital of Bangladesh, and studied in England and the United States. “A conservative Muslim society has preferred to throw a veil of negligence and denial on the issue, allowed those who committed or colluded with gender violence to thrive, and left the women victims to struggle in anonymity and shame and without much state or community support.”

In Dhaka, Meghna Guhathakurta, executive director of the nongovernmental group Research Initiatives, Bangladesh, insists that the plight of these women must not be ignored. “The issue of women’s roles in the war of liberation has been foregrounded from time to time by women’s groups. It cannot be evaded any more.”

Later this year, the first English-language translation of an important oral history, “Women’s 1971,” will be published. This gathers the testimonies of women who were not just victims, but fighters like Taramon Bibi, one of only two women decorated for their combat service during the war, or who, like Ferdousi Priyobhashini, now a sculptor, used their experiences in the war as a springboard for self-transformation. Of the 19 women whose stories appear in this collection, 15 are Muslims, 2 are Hindus and 2 are Buddhists.

Ms. Guhathakurta writes in her introduction to the book: “Out of the 19 interviewees, 9 were rape victims. The rest spoke of their trials and tribulations after members of their families were killed.”

The trauma of those who survived rape and other violence has been insufficiently addressed in Bangladesh, she says. “We feel it is necessary for officials, civil society and the international community to revisit the issue of sexual violence and war crimes.”

Some believe that breaking the decades of denial is crucial.

“The major challenge,” said Mofidul Hoque, trustee and member secretary of the Liberation War Museum in Dhaka, “is how to read the silence. I am confident we will hear lot of new voices, witness the breaking of the silence.”

One of the major events planned for the 40th anniversary next year is a documentary film festival focusing on the 1971 war and human rights, with a special section on women. Another project focuses on research into the lives of the children born after 1971 to the “birangonas,” or “blameless ones,” as they were called by the new Bangladeshi government in 1972, in a not entirely successful attempt to persuade families to accept back the women who had suffered sexual violence.

And this war yields haunting stories. A young filmmaker, Ananda, documents the continuing trauma of the village of Shohagpur in his film “The Village of Widows,” which will also be screened next year. In July 1971, Pakistani soldiers descended on this quiet hamlet, which was suspected of supporting the Mukti Bahini, the independence fighters. They rounded up all the men and killed them. Four decades later, as Mr. Ananda records, Shohagpur has no old men. The women live alongside the graves of their dead.

Is justice, after so many decades, possible? Is it even being demanded? The International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh has begun issuing indictments.

However, said Ms. Hossain, the lawyer: “It is not clear if crimes of violence against women will be addressed or form the basis of prosecutions. There are no women among the tribunal members, or prosecutors. But we hope that the investigators will highlight this issue — and that the government will ensure a safe and secure environment for women to testify before them.”

Ms. Khan, whose career as a human rights advocate has taken her to Bosnia, Sierra Leone and other theaters of war, is more skeptical.

“It was only after Bosnia that the Rome Statute,” the treaty that set up the International Criminal Court, “made rape a war crime. Forty years ago, gender violence as a weapon of war was poorly understood, not just in Bangladesh but worldwide,” she said.

“Bangladesh is only now grappling with war crimes — and with great difficulty, given the way the issue is mired in the politics of religious fundamentalist parties,” she said. “The gender dimension of the atrocities is not fully acknowledged, nor is the huge contribution that women made to the liberation struggle as fighters and supporters. Bangladesh remains a conservative, patriarchic society where women’s role continues to be undervalued — past or present.”

India's Child Soldiers: Reality Check

Original Source: http://www.claws.in/Indias-Child-Soldiers-Reality-Check-Pratibha-Singh.html

I joined the military dalam when I was 13 or 14 years old. I was studying in an ashram school (government run residential school) in eighth standard, when Naxalites came to my hostel. I did not want to go. They said I could study until the 10^th standard, but I should go with them. We got training, learnt about landmines and a little karate. (Finally) I had an opportunity to run away… One year after I ran away, both my younger brothers (age 8 and 12) were killed (by the Naxalites in retaliation). They beat my mother and broke her arm. They burned our house and took all our things. (Former Child Dalam member, December 2007)[1]

The police asked me also to become an SPO( special police officer) but I refused because I did not want to become an SPO and commit heinous crimes. I did not want to shoot and kill people. They do not ask anyone how old they are. Even 14 year olds can become SPOs if the police want them to become SPOs. (Poosam Kanya(pseudonym), former resident of Errabore Camp, December 2007)[2]

The above two statements exemplify the horror of exposing children to conflict. They find themselves sandwiched between the violence perpetrated by armed opposition groups and the State armed forces. The Government of India is a signatory to the optional protocol on the Involvement of children in armed conflict[3], which was further ratified on 30^th November, 2005.

According to Asian Centre for Human Rights, there are 3000 child soldiers (including State forces and armed opposition groups) in India (as of March 2013), 500 in the State of Jammu and Kashmir and Northeast India; 2500 in the left wing extremism affected areas. These figures form only the tip of the iceberg. The periodic report submitted by the Government of India (prepared by Ministry of Women and Child Development) in 2011 on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict to the Convention on the Rights of Child has not only denied the existence of child soldiers in India but also misrepresented facts regarding sub conventional conflict taking place in various parts of the country. The report states “Even though India does not face armed conflict, there are legislative provisions that prevent involvement of children in armed conflict and provide care and protection to children affected by armed conflict”[4]. UN Committee on the Child of rights is scheduled to consider it during its 66^th pre-sessional working group to be held in Geneva from 7-11 October, 2013.

This denial has not only distorted facts but also justified or rather absolved rampant recruitment of child soldiers in the armed opposition groups who are increasingly becoming an internal security threat. While terrorist organisations in India have an unprecedented number of child soldiers in their ranks, there are reports of the state police forces too, having recruited people below the age of 18 years. As per unconfirmed reports, the Chhattisgarh police has recruited approximately 300 “Bal Rakshaks” seven of whom are posted with 4^thbattalion (engaged in counter insurgency) of Chhattisgarh Police at Mana in Raipur. These reports still need to be verified.

Considering there is a large number of children in the armed conflict of left wing extremism, which has caused an irreparable damage to their lives, it becomes imperative to analyse what drives so many children to pick up arms. Recently, Muppalla Laxmana Rao aka Ganapathi in a 7000  words letter to party members has admitted having crisis within the party due to lack of leaders not only at the top but also in party ranks. Lack of volunteers for the cause is perhaps driving the Maoist leadership to recruit child soldiers. This is clearly visible in the exceptional number of women and children in the naxal cadres. Around 40 to 60 percent of naxal cadres now comprise of women.

Maoists also have a policy of forcibly recruiting at least one child from every family. With heightened security in the region, they use children for covert operations, which involve planting and ferrying lethal weapons and explosives. Mass exodus of leaders from Maoist cadres has led to large-scale recruitment of children who are easy to terrorise and manipulate. A top commander of a banned terrorist outfit (on condition of anonymity) revealed to Tehelka Magazine that, “Minors are an easier lot to train. Initially the boys cry but they also fall in line quickly, because they are fresh and smart. By the time they are fully trained, they can serve the party for a long time. We even recruit girls; they are not given arms training. Some freelancers and collaborators recruit minors for us on commission basis”.

In September 2013, few gun toting rebels abducted eight children and two adults to groom them to make bombs. “They forcibly dragged our children into the nearby jungles and disappeared even as we pleaded for mercy”, says Bilokhan Lohra. His 10 year old son, Pardeshi Lohra was amongst those who were abducted. A week ago, his mutilated body was found dumped near his house, his stomach ruptured and hands torn. The post mortem report has revealed that he lost his life during an explosion. No child of a tribal family deserves that fate. As per the report by Hindustan Times on September 20, 2013, Jharkhand Police has prepared a list of Maoist leaders whose lives are soaked in corruption. The Maoist leaders are busy carving out bright prospects for their own children while putting the lives of other’s children at risk. Some details are:

• The son of CPI Maoist Central Committee member Pramod Mishra arrested from Dhanbad colliery town of Jharkhand some years ago, is a qualified engineer.
• Ugeshwarji, sub zonal commander of the CPI (Maoist) leads the operation in the border areas of Bihar and Jharkhand has four daughters, three of whom study in a private English school in Latehar.
• Maoist Commander Shivlal Yadav’s sons study in a good private school in Daltonganj.
• Gopal Ganjhu the sub zonal commander sends his two kids to a popular school.

In left wing extremism affected areas, schools are being targeted to propagate the Maoist ideology. Lessons imparted to young, impressionable minds are distinctly anti-establishment and give a message that a revolution is necessary to overthrow the Government. Government run schools have shut down due to high violence levels forcing the locals to send their children to naxal run schools. This way, many children voluntarily fall into their trap and launch attacks against the State forces.

Due to lack of state intervention in the developmental paradigm of the region, glorification of war by the naxals and the irreparable psychological damage caused by a long drawn conflict, children are increasingly drifting towards the Maoist ideology. As per Mr. Shubhranshu Choudhary, founder of CGNET Swara and author of “Let’s call him Vasu”, “300 boys of the naxal cadres went to Nayagarh from Chhattisgarh. They walked undetected for 3 months with two guns each on their shoulders. If this is possible in India, then we are headed for a very dangerous situation”.

India’s denial of the existence of child soldiers in its armed conflict deprives many families of mere hope to receive justice for having sacrificed the lives of their children. At a time when International Court of Justice has given verdicts against terror outfits in Africa for using child soldiers, which has also contributed towards maligning their image, India has perhaps missed the opportunity. Few recommendations that emerge out of the article are as follows:

• Awareness has to be generated regarding the issue of child soldiers in India through media and academic circles.
• Integrated Child Protection Scheme launched by the MWCD in 2009 already provides care and protection to children affected by or involved in conflict. A comprehensive rehabilitation scheme should be designed especially child soldiers to control their ever-increasing number.
• Strict action should be taken against individuals or groups who are responsible for recruiting child soldiers.
• Integration of children into mainstream society through intervention in the field of education and health in conflict zones would be vital.

The author is a Research Assistant at CLAWS

 Views expressed are personal

References:

-Asian Centre for Human Rights, India’s Child Soldiers, March 2013

-Murthy Vijay and Sharma Vishal, “Jharkhand: 2 abducted kids flee Maoists, return home”, Hindustan Times, September 2013

-Murthy Vijay, “Children of Gods: tactics using minors easy option for reds”, Hindustan Times, September 2013

-Singh Pratibha, “Naxal Target Schools”, CLAWS, March 2013

-Choudhary Randip, “No Child Soldiers says India. Truth says otherwise”, Tehelka.com, May 2013

-Krishnan Murali, “India pressed to address child soldier issue”, Deutsche Welle, May 2013

---

[1]Dangerous Duty: Children and the Chattisgarh Conflict, Report by Human Right Watch, September,2008

[2] Ibid

[3] Article 2 of the Optional Protocol to the CRC provides that “State parties shall ensure that persons who have not attained the age of 18 years are not compulsorily recruited into their armed forces”. Article 3 further provides the minimum age for the voluntary recruitment into the national armed forces shall be 18 years and above. Article 4 states that the armed opposition groups should not under any circumstances, recruit or use in hostilities persons under the age of 18 years and the State parties shall take all feasible measures to prevent such recruitment and use

[4] Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Child on the “Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict”, 2011,Ministry of Women and Child Development(GOI), Under Article 4, point number 15, 16 and 17 http://wcd.nic.in/crc3n4/crc3n4_2r.pdf

A village in a once Maoist hotbed gives a thumbs up to woman power for two decades

Original Source:http://www.theweekendleader.com/Success/1626/women-first.html

Kultikiri is a special village. Located in Sankhrail block of West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district, a region once infamous for being the hotbed of Maoist activity, the people of this small hamlet have set a unique precedent – for the last two decades now, they have only voted women into the local panchayat.

Contrary to what many may assume, Kultikiri has successively elected all women panchayats not because of the reservations for women.

Kultikiri’s village pradhan, Anamika Sahoo addresses the local women (Photos: Saadia AzimWFS)

The fact is that its women leaders have beaten their male counterparts fair and square on the basis of their superior leadership qualities and a spectacular track record of development.

These days, Anamika Sahoo, a 38-year-old mother-of-two, is at the helm of the village panchayat. She is a first-time panchayat member, elected to be the pradhan (head) of a seven-member gram panchayat.

Talking about the reasons behind Kultikiri's legacy of grassroots women's leadership, she proudly says, "Although this has been a woman-ruled panchayat for the last 20 years, it's not like the men have not stood for elections. They have simply lost every time. What has worked in favour of women for four consecutive terms is our good work."

According to local activist Partha Khanra, West Bengal has successfully held regular panchayat elections for the last 35 years and it is a great model for thriving grassroots democracy.

"In fact, it is the only state in India where even panchayat elections are a very political affair.

“The Left Front, which ran the state government for over 35 years, initially promoted Kultikiri as an all-women panchayat with the idea of giving a fillip to women's participation in grassroots politics.

“Today, however, it is a well-established, successful panchayati raj unit running on its own merit," he says.

Ever since the women gained control of the Kultikiri panchayat, the 12,000 people who inhabit this village have only prospered.

The literacy levels are generally high – around 70 per cent women and 60 per cent men are educated; and nearly everyone is gainfully employed, thanks to the proper implementation of the central government's flagship scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

In the last fiscal year, the panchayat actively disbursed more than Rs 53 lakh under this scheme. Says Sahoo, "Our major thrust has been to identify work and then facilitate the proper disbursement of funds under the MGNREGA."

Significantly, every woman in Kultikiri enjoys economic independence and is in a position to contribute to the family income. They are either running small village-level enterprises or have joined different Self Help Groups. Pradhan Sahoo, a graduate, also supplements her earnings by taking tuitions.

What Kajal Rawat, 27, the Up-Pradhan (deputy village head), is most satisfied about is the high rate of literacy in her village. "Ours is not just any all-woman panchayat. We are young, energetic women, who are full of new ideas that can enable our community to grow and flourish.

“The fact that all of us in the panchayat are well educated has made a big difference. I can confidently say that we do not have a single drop-out from our village," remarks the youthful leader, who after graduating from a local college now divides her time between her panchayat duties, her job as a school teacher and taking extra classes for the girls in the village.

Besides Sahoo and Rawat, there's Pramila Singha, a panchayat member who is also an ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) worker, and Sushama Kisku, 26, another part-time teacher.

All the women take their official work very seriously. Says Kisku, "I go to the panchayat office every afternoon after school. In the evening, I meet up with the Self Help Groups that the panchayat has helped set up.

“These all-women groups undertake a variety of activities, including integrated farming, bamboo basket-making and puffed rice and bori (sun dried lentil nuggets) making. The stuff they produce or make is sold in the local village market. On our part we also conduct regular weekly village haats (market fairs) to promote fair business practices amongst farmers and cattle breeders."

Ramani Singha, 26, another enthusiastic panch, is really glad she got the opportunity to work with such a committed group of women.

She is currently pursuing her Masters degree in Bengali literature and feels that it is her education that has motivated her to do something for her people. "We feel so empowered because we can understand the community’s needs," she notes.

But even as these women understand what works for their people and have also been able to deliver on their expectations, the political environment is becoming increasingly tougher for them.

Panchayat elections in West Bengal were scheduled to be held in early May. But because of a case in the Calcutta High Court between the State Election Commission and the state government over the deployment of para-military forces during panchayat elections the polls had been deferred.

Now fresh dates have been announced and elections are to be held from June 28 onwards in three phases.

Of course, in this election season, Kultikiri's panch's have been at the receiving end of political mudslinging.

Says Sahoo, "The village is now politically very sensitive. After the Left Front was voted out of power there have been several instances of clashes because of political enmity.

The all woman panchayat of Kultikiri ensures that people get their dues under various government schemes. Here Anamika Sahoo, the pradhan, (left) hands over a cheque to a beneficiary, Uma Singha

“My husband is on the run for the last one year after he was threatened with dire consequences by rival outfits. But I have not lost hope. We have the people's support and I will fight for my rights."

Kisku has her own take on the situation, "All members of Kultikiri gram panchayat had been Left nominees and the seat was with the Left parties since 1992. But with the change of power at the helm of the state, the political approach is also changing."

Another reason for the rise in threats is the fact that whereas earlier "even rival political parties had nominated women to fight elections in this village now the people want to grab power and not leave it solely for women".

But Rawat and Singha are not too worried about their political future as they are both contesting elections.

Explains the duo, "There has been pressure to grab power from elected members like us. Our panchayat members were jeered at and asked to resign by our rivals.

Even now, although the polls have been deferred, we are being constantly threatened and asked not to file our nominations when the time comes. But we will fight the next elections just as we have done in the past."

Sahoo, the leader of this inspiring bunch, has the final word: "We do not want this seat to be reserved for women. All these years, our village has been a model for women's empowerment.

“These days we even have a woman chief minister, so all we hope is that whenever panchayat elections are held in West Bengal they will be free and fair. If they are indeed free and fair, women will certainly come to power again.” - Women's Feature Service

- See more at: http://www.theweekendleader.com/Success/1626/women-first.html#sthash.rAdWM6Di.dpuf

Are Young Women really racing to Syria's front lines to wage sex jihad?

Original Source: http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/09/26/sorry_the_tunisian_sex_jihad_is_a_fraud

It's the story that launched 1,000 headlines. And it's not hard to see why: Tunisian Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou announced last week that Tunisian women were traveling to Syria to wage "sex jihad," where they were having sex with "20, 30, [or] 100" militants, before returning pregnant to Tunisia.

There's only one problem: There's no evidence it's true. The Tunisian Interior Ministry has so far failed to provide any further information on the phenomenon, and human rights activists and journalists have been unable to find any Tunisian woman who went to Syria for this purpose.

"Everything I've heard were very broad allegations that didn't really have all the features of a serious reporting about the case," said Amna Guellali, the Tunisia researcher for Human Rights Watch. "All I have is very sparse, very little information, and I think that's true for a lot of people working in the human rights community, in addition to reporters."

According to Guellali, the political context of the statement could shed light on why the interior minister chose to make this accusation now. The Tunisian government has been under fire for allegedly asking adult women for authorization from their husbands or fathers before they travel to certain countries in the Middle East -- Ben Jeddou was justifying any restrictions by saying that the government was attempting to prevent women from embarking on "sex jihad" in Syria. The interior minister has also made the fight against extremist Salafi groups a centerpiece of his term in office. Suggesting that Tunisian Salafi women are sleeping with dozens of Syrian rebels could be another way to discredit them.

Reports of Tunisian women engaging in "sex jihad" in Syria have ping-ponged around the media for months, though the interior minister's statement is the first time it has been given an official imprimatur. As journalist Sana Saeed catalogs, the first reports appeared on Lebanese new channel Al Jadeed and in the pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat, which cited a fatwa by famed Saudi cleric Mohammed al-Arefe justifying the practice. Arefe, however, subsequently denied that he had done so, saying that "no sane person" would sanction such a thing.

Pro-Assad media have been only too eager to advance the idea of "sex jihad" as a way to tar their opponents. Syrian state television ran an interview with a 16-year-old girl named Rawan Kaddah in which she admitted to the practice. The Syrian opposition, however, denounced the program as staged and blasted the regime for exploiting children in such a way.

The only real evidence of women embarking on "sex jihad," comes not from Syria but from Tunisia's Chaambi Mountains, an area in the west of the country that has often been the site of clashes between the military and jihadists. Tunisian security forces there arrested several girls who were allegedly involved in the practice. Guellali said that she spoke to the mother of an 18-year-old female who was involved -- the mother said that a woman close to the Tunisian militant group Ansar al-Sharia got her daughter tangled up in a network of girls in the area.

But the scope of the problem -- and whether it is related to Syria in any way -- remains a complete mystery.

"It's a bit disturbing that we have these kind of declarations and then there is no follow-up," said Guellali. "[The authorities] threw out this information that they had several cases of women coming back pregnant, but there is no tracking of the cases either by the Ministry of Women or the Ministry of Interior. And they won't give any further information."