Presence of military does not contribute to insecurity of women and girls in former conflict zone, Sri Lanka says

Original Source: http://www.colombopage.com/archive_14A/Apr26_1398527610CH.php

Sri Lanka rejected the inference made by certain organizations and reports that the presence of military contributed to the insecurity of women and girls in the former conflict-affected areas.

Speaking at the United Nations Security Council debate on Conflict-Related sexual Violence Friday (April 25), the Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, Ambassador Shavendra Silva said that certain organizations are involved in propagating false reports of sexual violence against the Sri Lankan military.

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in his annual report on the issue submitted to the UN Security Council Thursday noted continued vulnerability of women and children in areas formerly affected by conflict, partly due to the continued militarization in those areas.

The UN Chief citing the UN resolution A/HRC/25/33 said during 2013, women and girls, especially in female-headed households, continued to be vulnerable to sexual harassment and abuse, including at the hands of military personnel.

Giving details the envoy explained that during the conflict period from January 2007 to May 2009, seven Security Forces personnel had been reported as having been involved in five incidents of sexual violence in the Northern Province and in the post-conflict period up until May 2012, 10 Security Forces personnel had been reported as having been involved in six incidents.

The involvement of those personnel as a percentage of the total population accused stood at 5.6 percent in the conflict period and 3.3 percent in the post-conflict period.

The Secretary General however has noted in his report that the Sri Lankan government has reported that the military has taken strict action in such cases.

In a majority of the cases, the perpetrators had been close relatives or neighbors of the victims, Ambassador Silva noted.

He explained that accusations, often with disturbing details have been made for example, in a recent report by human rights lawyer Yasmin Sooka, without providing sufficient details such as a time and place and the identification of victims, to enable investigations and prosecutions.

He said the accusations are then repeated in other publications of different organizations, thereby contributing to forming an opinion which is propagated without evidence.

According to Ambassador Silva, none of these allegations have been substantiated by verifiable data in any of these documents.

"Significantly, no credible evidence has been directly brought to the attention of Government authorities by any of these parties. The Government has not been provided the evidence which is claimed to be in the possession of the authors of these reports in order to investigate and respond," he added.

Therefore, he rejected the inferences made by certain organizations and reports that the presence of military contributed to the insecurity of women and girls in the former conflict-affected areas.

Nagalim: Increasing Rate Of Crimes Mobilizes Women’s Organizations - See more at: http://www.unpo.org/article/17076#sthash.gLK4KjKj.dpuf

Original Source: http://www.unpo.org/article/17076

Several women’s organizations in Nagalim have condemned violence against women, which has considerably increased. There have been several cases of rape of minors, a trafficking case, and the murder of a woman in April 2014. The organizations have appealed for a stimulation of a sense of morality, responsibility, and discipline, and asked law enforcement agencies to do more, warning that otherwise violence against women will continue.

Below is an article published by the Morung Express

The ever-growing rate of crimes against women in Naga society has yet again drawn the ire of Naga women organizations, which have urged law enforcing agencies to ensure befitting punishment, and the society to imbibe a sense of morality, responsibility and discipline.

The Naga Women’s Union (NWU) and the Indigenous Women’s Forum for North-East India (IWFNEI) in a joint statement today [April 22, 2014] condemned acts of gender insensitivity, atrocities and disrespect of women in society. Rampant violence against women, they stated, has reached an “alarming level.” The two women’s bodies cited the examples of the “rape” of a minor girl by Povetso at Mohonkhola, Kohima on April 13 [2014], rape of minor girl by S. Ngaopuni (65) of Poumai Colony at Koirengei Hills, Imphal on April 17, rape and assault of a woman (43) by Waikhom Saratkumar (45) in Thoubal on April 14, rape of minor girl of Sora Mayai Leikai, abducted and raped by Md. Rahman alias Namba (22) of Sangai Humpham Cherapur, and a case of trafficking which came to light when an inmate (minor) of Grace Academy, Hamleikhong in Ukhrul District, escaped from the clutches of alleged traffickers while her younger sister in class V is still believed to be in the custody of traffickers.

“These incidents of evil acts have shocked our collective conscience and it is an indication of how inhumane one can become,” stated the NWU and IWFNEI. They appealed to “every sensible person” to denounce these violent acts and “cooperate in rooting out social evils and urge law enforcing agencies to award befitting punishment to the culprits as per the law of the land and promptly trace and rescue the missing minor girl from the kidnappers.” The two women’s organizations also encouraged that “a sense of morality, responsibility, discipline and God fearing is duly imparted in the families, schools, Churches, institutions, etc to eradicate such violence and cruel acts against Women.”

Meanwhile, the Naga Mothers’ Association (NMA) on April 22 [2014] condemned in the “strongest term” the “brutal and senseless murder” of a woman on April 17 in Dimapur, as well as the alleged rape of a minor girl in Kohima. “Such unethical, monstrous and most inhuman crime should be seriously investigated and punished in its severest manner so that it don’t happen again,” stated the NMA in a press release from its president Abei-u Meru and secretary, Lochumbeni Humtsoe. “Violent crimes against women have been re-occuring in our society and just verbal condemnation is not enough. Unless law takes strict action and creates a sense of fear in people, such sad incidents will continue to happen,” it said, also appealing and demanding for the law enforcing agencies to “ensure that the perpetrators are given the strictest punishment possible.”

- See more at: http://www.unpo.org/article/17076#sthash.gLK4KjKj.dpuf

Conflict induced displacement must end

Original Source:

The 30 July 2013 announcement of the Congress Working Committee decision to create a separate Telangana state within the Union of India spurred other statehood demands. In Assam, ethnic groups like the Bodos, Karbis, Dimasas, and Koch Rajbonshis – which have all been fighting for separate states for themselves – unleashed serial agitations and economic blockades to intensify their demands. This fuelled prevailing friction along ethnic lines; tension turned into violence and the result has been large-scale displacement.

December 2013 witnessed another episode in the history of displacement in Assam. More than 3,000 people, a majority belonging to the Rengma Naga tribe, a minority in Karbi Anglong district, have been displaced. Violent conflict between two insurgent groups and a statehood demand are reasons behind this forced displacement.

A series of incidents in Karbi Anglong district, beginning in June 2013, preceded this forced movement. According to AHRC's sources, on 9 June 2013, members of Karbi People's Liberation Tiger (KPLT), a militant organisation, issued a notice to Rengma Nagas to leave the district within a month or face dire consequences. The Rengma Nagas were also asked to surrender cadres of the Naga Rengma Hills Protection Force (NRHPF), an armed group believed to be formed in December 2012 to “protect” the Rengma Naga community.

The shismogenesis of KPLT relates to the history of the Karbi quest for autonomy vis-a-vis neighbouring tribes and in relation to the Union of India. The KPLT, earlier known as the Anti-Talks Factions of Karbi Longri North Cachar Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF-ATF), is an off-shoot of the Karbi Longri North Cachar Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF), which itself broke away from the United People's Democratic Solidarity (UDPS). UDPS signed ceasefire agreement with the Union government and surrendered in December 2011. The KLNLF is itself now in peace negotiations with the government, having signed a Suspension of Operation (SOS). However, the KPLT – formed when 20 members broke away from KLNLF in 2010 – decided to continue demands for the creation of a Hemprek Kanthim (self-ruled homeland) for the Karbi community in the Kabri Anglong and Dima Hasao districts.

As a result of the KPLT notice, as simmering tensions began to boil over, more than 500 villagers fled their homes within a month's time. These internally displaced people found shelter in what is now known as Chokihola relief camp.

October and November 2013 saw the KPLT allegedly impose an economic blockade, restrict movement, and make extortion demands on the Rengma Nagas. This severely obstructed the orange trade in the district, one of vital sources of livelihood of the Rengma Nagas in Karbi Anglong district. The Assam government failed, abysmally, to take measures to lift the isolation and economic blockage that affected the freedoms and trade of minorities in the district.

In order to restore peace and normalcy, community based organisations convened a meeting on 17 December 2013 and concluded that in the future anti-social activities would be monitored and respective tribes would hold their members accountable. The meeting also urged the creation for a police outpost in the area with immediate effect. The absence of police presence in the area to this date is but an indication of a negligent state.

Unfortunately, this community-based peace initiative failed; a series of killings, assaults, and destruction of property ensued, allegedly carried out by both the KPLT and NRHPF cadre.

Subsequent attempts for restoring peace by the social organisations, local political groups, and by police authorities proved fruitless. Violent attacks restarted on 27 December 2013. Fear displaced more than 3,000 people. Police inaction and passivity is considered to have contributed to the fear and exodus.

Tension reached a height again on 3 January 2014 when nine dead bodies were recovered from a grave in Chumukedima near Dimapur, Nagaland. The bodies were identified as those belonging to the Karbi community. NRHPF cadres are suspected to have been involved in these 9 murders in retaliation to attacks committed on Rengma Nagas.

The Assam Government announced compensation of INR 6 lakh for each of these 9 deaths. This announcement created yet another rift between the two communities. This is because of the unequal distribution of compensation to the kith and kin of Karbis and Rengma Nagas killed since end December 2013.

According to media sources, 3,131 people were forced to take shelter in nine relief camps in Bokajan, Assam. Of them, 1,683 are Rengma Nagas and 1,448 are Karbis as of 7 January, 2014. (The Hindu, 7 January 2014).

As on 22 March 2014, a total of 542 displaced persons out of the 1002 people lodged in the Silonijan Relief Camp, in Bokajan Sub division, have returned to their homes. However, being a minority community in Karbi Anglong, fear and insecurity prevails among the Rengma Nagas. Rengma Naga leaders have appealed for financial relief and rehabilitation support for the displaced people of their community.

An independent fact finding mission led by social activists submitted a memorandum to the Governor of Assam on 20 January 2014. The team observed that the state government had failed to maintain law and order despite prior intimation regarding impending violence and heightened conflict. The team expressed concern about the merging of judicial and executive powers in the district, where the Deputy Commissioner has been handling the law and order situation as well as conducting trails for cases. Karbi Anglong is an autonomous district as per Sixth Schedule [pursuant to Articles 244(2) and 275(1)] of the India Constitution where judicial and executive powers are not separated. This status has raised suspicions regarding the possibility of equitable justice guaranteed by the Constitution since often executives are not trained in law to deliver judicial duties.

Another memorandum, submitted on 30 January 2014 to the Governor of Assam by Rengma Naga organisations alleges that Rengma Nagas have been systematically sidelined from decision making processes for decades. The Memorandum includes a long outline of severe human rights violations and deprivation in Karbi Anglong district, which, if accurate, concern the AHRC. The memorandum speaks of multiple levels of corruption, economic blockades, disappearances, violations of right to free movement, general police inaction, and extra judicial killings, amongst other problems.

Displacement, and even the threat of it, affects communities enormously and causes insecurity, both physical and economical. It has been well documented how displacement increases human trafficking, as displaced women seek income and financial security.

The AHRC condemns the violent attacks and calls on the Governor of Assam to initiate an investigation and hold the perpetrators – no matter which ethnic group they belong to – accountable for the multiple acts of killings, torture, and restrictions on freedom. The AHRC urges the Assam government to ensure adequate compensation and rehabilitation of those displaced. Both the government of Assam and Union government should ensure justice, relief, rehabilitation and equal compensation for Rengma and Karbi victims and survivors.

Furthermore, the inactive role of law enforcement agencies in such times of ethnic tension, passivity which displaced itself in the face of repeated and desperate attempts by victims to seek protection, raises deep concern. The roles of the police and security personnel need re-assessment so the forces can become accountable and just. Re-establishing security to life and property with police presence should be a priority.

And, if the government of Assam and the Union of India ever wish to amend their policy of governance by neglect, a long term strategy for conflict resolution among different communities in north east India might be wise and in the interest of peace and justice.

Educated women in Srinagar pessimistic about elections

Original Source: http://kashmirreader.com/educated-women-in-srinagar-pessimistic-about-elections/

Most of the educated women in Srinagar appear not to be interested in casting their vote during upcoming parliamentary elections, citing reasons like less rights and privileges which the women enjoy.
Many educated women who chose to speak to Kashmir Reader said they fervently believed their vote won’t make any difference.
Lawyer Narjees Nawab, for instance, believes that women’s vote is not of much help and it is a socio-political election with no gender sensitivity. “Gender has no significant role to play, neither inclusion nor reference in any election manifesto, be it from female contender or male. There is no gender sensitivity,” she said.
Nawab said that the issues pertaining to women are always given less priority over other things. “Like always, gender is a non-issue in here. It becomes an issue only for teaching moral values to girls,” she said.
Echoing similar views, Shaheen Bashir, a college lecturer said, “As per government revelations only 12 per cent of women constitute its workforce. A government where there is such less space for a woman, what significance does her vote hold? Probably nothing.”
Mariya Zahoor, a banker, said that women’s right to vote has no importance at a place where women’s safety and empowerment are taken for a ride. “I would have voted for a government that ensures safety of women. But sad enough, they only talk about bijli, sadak and pani. Nobody talks about women empowerment, women safety. Every other day, a woman faces one or the other form of brutality in Kashmir. And the culprits roam around freely. I cannot think of casting my vote under such deplorable condition of women folk,” said Zahoor.
Adding another dimension, Dr Taizeena Khan, Founder/Principal ‘Red Letter Phyline(RLP)’, Centre for women’s and Pediatric Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, said that it is unfair for people to vote at ‘gunpoint’.
“I wonder how people can cast their votes under restrictions. It is quite likely that on the day of voting, we will be put under curfew or restrictions and asked to vote. How fair is that? In my opinion, nobody should vote, be it women or men. Let them first provide us freedom of speech and then ask us to vote for them,” Khan said.
Adding to it, Sabah Yaqoob, a Management student, said, “Our state is politically unstable and I think it is of no use to cast a vote. How can we caste our votes when the government could not punish the rapists and murderers of Asiya and Neelofar (in Shopian in 2009). Our women have been molested and our governments have tried to shield the culprits. So I would say whichever party comes to power in Kashmir, it is all the same as long as our issues aren’t solved.”

Afghan women break tradition, join April 5 elections

Original Source:http://www.nation.com.pk/international/22-Mar-2014/afghan-women-break-tradition-join-april-5-elections

KABUL- Pictures of female candidates on the walls of the Afghan capital city alongside male contenders in the April 5, 2014 general elections speak volumes on the country's transition from the iron-clad rule of the Taliban more than 13 years ago.

Scores of female politicians, some of them pretty enough to be beauty queens, are now openly campaigning for seats in the provincial councils or assemblies thus elevating the status of Afghan women in the traditionally patriarchal society. These young and ambitious female contenders, in full beauty make-up, along with elderly women candidates, have come up with promising mottoes such as "equity, justice and social welfare" for all Afghans regardless of gender and stations in life. They urged all Afghans to use their right of suffrage in next month's presidential and provincial councils' elections.

Afghanistan is a country of traditions and tribal customs. Many Afghans, especially those living in the rural areas, are against women participation in social activities including politics, even opposing education for girls. "Learning from the past experiences plus today's efforts for the rights of women can guarantee a better future for Afghan women," one female candidate for the Kabul Provincial Council said in her campaign poster.

Although there is no female candidate for president, there are two women vying for the position of vice president. "We believe in act and not in empty word," says a slogan written below the photo of Habiba Qaderi, a candidate for a seat in the Provincial Council in Kabul. The slogan - "The knight of your demands" - in a billboard with the photo of woman candidate Shukiba Saifi Kamal has drawn the attention of voters in the capital city. Khatera Ishaqzai is another female candidate for a seat in Kabul's Provincial Council. In her campaign posters, she is promising to "ensure justice, human rights and women rights" for all.

Because of security problems, most women candidates are limiting their campaign sorties in the capital since campaigning in the rural areas could pose danger to their lives. The militant Taliban has openly threatened to disrupt the election process, even saying that they would kill candidates who will join the election as well as their supporters. The Taliban has said that the election is another ploy of the U.S. to continue its stranglehold of Afghanistan.

The Taliban threat has prompted male and female candidates to call on the government to provide them with security escorts, especially during the campaign and on the election day. A statement posted on the Taliban website last week ordered its fighters to target election workers, election sites and security escorts given to candidates. At least a dozen election workers have been killed since the start of the election campaign on Feburary 2, 2014. In a latest attack on a police station in Jalalabad city, eastern Afghanistan, on Thursday for which the Taliban claimed responsibility, 18 people including 10 police were killed and 15 others sustained injuries.

War and famine, peace and light? The economic dynamics of conflict in Somalia 1993–2009

Original Source: http://jpr.sagepub.com/content/50/5/545.full

The literature on war economies argues that prolonged civil wars have an economic logic: certain groups may obtain material gains from committing acts of violence and hence resist peacebuilding efforts. Objective tests of these predictions have so far been limited, as corruption and conflict prevent the collection of reliable economic data on the ground. Remote sensing and Geographic Information Science techniques enable us to overcome these problems of terrestrial data collection. Electricity consumption manifested as night-time light emissions recorded in satellite images is proposed as a proxy for changes in disposable income in Somalia’s cities. The nightlight images provide striking illustrations of economic decline and recovery and clearly show the contrast between the stable regions of Northern Somalia and the chaos and anarchy of Southern Somalia. Based on geospatial analyses of settlement patterns in Somali cities, we argue that specific metrics of light output can be used to proxy for the incomes of different social groups. We use geo-coded conflict event data to analyze the economic impact of conflict on local light output and therefore incomes. We find a significant peace dividend for poorer households located at the margins of cities, which benefit both from local stability and more peaceful conditions in the country as a whole. By contrast, the central business districts are relatively well insulated from the effects of local conflict, and violence in Mogadishu has positive effects on light output from cities where humanitarian aid agencies are located. Future peace initiatives need to confront these economic incentives for continued conflict and state failure in Somalia.

There is currently much political and academic interest in Somalia. Addressing issues of governance in Somalia is important for maritime security, for regional stability and to help millions of victims of periodic drought and conflict. Considerable political and financial resources have been invested by the international community to resolve the civil conflict over the last two decades. However, so far all attempts to bring about effective and consensual central governance have failed, either through domestic ‘spoilers’ or through the intervention of neighbouring countries (Menkhaus, 2007a,2009). Questions are raised about the potentially counterproductive effects of international intervention in Somalia. Eminent country experts argue that international actors may contribute to the ‘war economy’ and (inadvertently) fund the conflict (Hansen, 2007; Hansen et al., 2012; Menkhaus, 2009). To design more effective interventions we need evidence on how the Somali war economy operates.

The literature on ‘war economies’ argues that in some countries war is not a temporary breakdown, but a sustainable, alternative form of social order. The absence of central government creates economic opportunities for some groups, which have no interest in bringing the conflict to an end (Duffield, 1998). Conflict can therefore become entrenched as ‘economics by other means’ (Keen, 1998). The simplest form of the ‘war economy’ is banditry and looting. In more advanced war economies armed groups provide ‘protection’ for (legal and illicit) businesses, tax production, trade and financial flows and manipulate and divert humanitarian and development aid. Warlords provide government functions in so-called ‘shadow states’ (Reno, 1998, 1999). Violence is an integral part of the war economy as elites use it to extract, contest and redistribute economic rents and attract and divert humanitarian aid.

The literature on war economies is based on detailed case studies and generates clear testable implications for the economic dynamics of conflict. However, because of the absence of regular and reliable data collection, the economic dynamics of civil war have not yet been statistically explored. In this article we use remote sensing and geographic information science techniques to recover the economic history of Somalia’s cities during the civil war from the archives of images of night-time light emissions. This allows us to test key hypotheses of the ‘war economies’ literature with economic data that are not manipulated by any of the conflict parties. Night-time light emissions have been shown to be an excellent proxy for income especially in statistically underdeveloped and corrupt countries (Chen & Nordhaus, 2011;Henderson, Storeygard & Weil, 2011). We present striking images of the patterns of economic decline and recovery across Somalia from 1993 to 2008, indicating the effectiveness of informal governance in supporting local economic development as well as the costs of high intensity conflict.

We create proxies for changes in income for different social groups by looking at changes in the intensity of light use among those already using electricity and changes in access to electricity at the cities’ margins. We show how these correlate with exogenous economic shocks and variations in local and overall conflict intensity derived from the EDACS geo-coded conflict event data on Somalia. Finally, we statistically explore the economic dynamics of the Somali conflict in a multivariate statistical model.

We show that the rich are relatively well insulated from the economic costs of violence, whereas the poor experience significant peace dividends. Conflict outside a city may even bring local benefits, either through diverting investment from more violent areas or through triggering international aid flows. Changes in light emissions from Somalia therefore provide evidence for the existence of a profitable war economy. This may explain the apathy and occasional resistance from political and business elites to previous international efforts to resolve state failure in Somalia.

The article is structured as follows: in the second section we review the literature on war economies and derive our hypotheses. In the third section we review the nightlights literature, introduce our method and data and present visual images of the economic history of Somalia’s cities. In the fourth section we show correlations between nightlight emissions, conflict and exogenous economic shocks, providing preliminary evidence of the validity of the income proxies and the war economy hypotheses. We then present the results of a full multivariate econometric model. The fifth section concludes.

Indian girl tonsured for 'speaking to friend'

Original Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2014/03/indian-girl-tonsured-speaking-friend-201431462552469982.html

A girl in the eastern Indian state of Bihar was tonsured and paraded after her face was blackened by village elders as punishment for talking to her boyfriend.

The police have arrested six people after the incident on Tuesday in Kadwa Tola village of Purnea district, about 300km from the provincial capital, Patna.

The 14-year-old girl, an orphan, lives in the village with her grandparents. Her grandfather is a cycle-rickshaw puller.

According to the girl's complaint to the police, the village court ordered the punishment after she was caught talking to her boyfriend.

The girl belongs to the Dalit ("oppressed") community, whose members often face discrimination in India's caste-ridden society.

"They tied us and kept us in a room for whole night and next day the village court slapped the judgement," the girl told Al Jazeera.

The villagers imposed fines of Rs12,000 ($195) on both the boy and the girl for their "act of indiscretion".

"But they let the boy go when his family promised to pay the amount and since we are poor, my family was unable to pay the fine and they meted extreme humiliation to me," she said.

"They first shaved my head and then blackened my face with ash and paraded me in the village," she said.

A local police official said that some villagers had caught the girl talking to the boy at the Gulab Bagh market yard while returning from her school.

"Altogether six out of total seven named accused persons in the case have been arrested and sent to jail," Shweta Gupta, the officer-in-charge of Purnea Women police station, told Al Jazeera.

The village headman, who presides over the court, was among those arrested.

'Unrepentant'

Police officials said some of the villagers were still unrepentant, saying the punishment was for maintaining "social discipline and moral propriety".

Several Indian provinces are notorious for village councils (locally called Khap Panchayats) that have no legal sanction, but yet adjudicate over personal matters.

Scores of boys and girls have died in suspected honour killings ordered by such councils for daring to fall in love and defying caste and cultural restrictions.

In West Bengal state, a woman was allegedly gang-raped recently as punishment for being found with her lover.