Yet, Indian criminal laws have failed to contain its incidence. All civilized societies have castigated sexual violence as a grave crime against human beings. It depicts in the mind of the perpetrator a culture of violence and a patent lack of respect for others. Sexual violence is an ‘invisible’ yet one of the most heinous crimes being committed mainly against women, girls and children, both during armed conflict and in the absence of armed conflict. ICRC Customary IHL rule 93 quite simply postulates: “Rape and other forms of sexual violence are prohibited.” Its commentary is summarized as follows: “State practice establishes this rule as a norm of customary international law applicable in both international and non-international armed conflicts.” 1 SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND ARMED CONFLICT: NEEDS AND OPERATIONAL OBSERVATIONS This is the first of several such contributions by experts participating in the conference that we will be posting on our blog. Mani, Director, Jaipur National University, who is scheduled to speak on the first day of the Kathmandu conference. The meet is being organized jointly by the Government of Nepal and the ICRC from 8-10 April.īringing this issue to the fore on the New Delhi Blog is a piece by Professor V.S. In keeping with this, the Fifth South Asian Conference on International Humanitarian Law to be held in Kathmandu, Nepal will be centred on the theme ‘Sexual Violence and Armed Conflict’. The goal is to improve the quality and reach of its response to victims of sexual violence, while strengthening its action aimed at preventing such violations. It has pledged to reinforce its response to such violence with a four-year (2013–16) commitment. ©ICRCįor the past year, the ICRC has been drawing attention to the largely invisible problem of sexual violence in armed conflict. Mani, Director, Jaipur National University. The NCAT stated that the country needs to amend Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) as well as Section 6 of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) to remove the requirement of prior sanction with respect to rape by a member of the armed forces deployed in a conflict-hit area in order to fully implement the UNSC Resolution 1325.Professor V.S. The NCAT statement also mentioned acts of sexual violence against women committed by armed militant groups in the conflict-ridden areas but doesn’t provide any figure on such instances. The list was released on Saturday to mark the 20th year of adoption of Resolution 1325 by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) which calls upon all parties in armed conflicts to respect international law applicable to the rights and protection of females.Ĭlause 11 of the resolution emphasises the responsibility of all states to “put an end to impunity and to prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes including those relating to sexual and other violence against women and girls”. It also mentioned that, as per official figures, a total of 9,448 people were killed in conflict areas during 20, including 3,747 in Left-wing extremism affected areas, 3,070 in northeast states and 2,631 in Jammu & Kashmir. The list included 42 cases of rape, 6 of murder, 3 cases of rape of pregnant women, 4 cases of rape of differently-abled, 3 cases of being shot dead for resisting molestation and rape, attempt to rape, stripping, molestation, among others.Īlso read: Jharkhand BJP chief charged with sedition after comment on Hemant Soren govtĪ total of 74 of the total victims were in the age group of 7 to 17 years and 156 (or 69.6 percent) of the victims were tribal women and girls, the list stated. The list, prepared by National Campaign Against Torture (NCAT), mentions 114 cases of rape, molestation and other forms of sexual violence recorded between November 1, 2000, to October 30, 2020, in 11 states across the country affected by armed conflicts.īesides Assam, other states included in the list are Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Odisha and Tripura.Īssam recorded 21 cases of sexual violence, followed by Manipur (18), Chattisgarh (17), Jammu and Kashmir (16), Tripura (14), Jharkhand (7), Meghalaya (6), Arunachal Pradesh (6), Odisha (5), Andhra Pradesh (3) and Maharashtra (1).Ī total of 224 females were victimized in the 114 cases with the highest number reported from Chattisgarh (92), followed by Assam (26), Manipur (21) and Jammu and Kashmir (20). Image for representation.(Raj K Raj/HT Photo) Assam tops the list of sexual violence against women by central armed forces in the past 20 years, says a compilation of cases by a platform of NGOs against torture.
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