India: WA Shishak- Abuse of women rooted in discrimination

April 3, 2008 – (The Imphal Free Press) Violence against women is not accidental but is a weapon of war and the abuse of women in armed conflict is rooted in a global culture of discrimination that denies women equal status with men, said WA Shishak, chairperson of the Manipur Human Rights Commission at the inaugural session of a three-day workshop on `Women’s human rights in armed conflict` held at Hotel Imphal today morning.

The workshop was jointly organized by the All India Women’s Conference and Women’s Education and Development Association.

The program started with the lighting of the lamp of the inaugural function by the chairman of the Manipur Human Rights Commission followed by Dr. Manorama Bawa, the ex-president of the All India Women's Conference, New Delhi.

T. Bhavananda Singh in his keynote address said that in armed conflict, women witness and experience terrible atrocities resulting in profound psychological and social effects. He mentioned that many forms of violence that women suffered during armed conflict were gender specific in both nature and result.

WA Shishak who was the chief guest maintained that armed conflict was a very complicated topic and no one was willing to speak or talk about it. However, if we stop speaking out or raising our voice against it, one day we all would have to perish, he said.

He maintained that people need to consider that security forces were not the only main cause of armed conflict in the state since there were so many conflicts happening in and around the state. He expressed that we had already borne enough of it and time had come to bring a holistic solution in the state.

"We, the people of Manipur, sometimes forget the value of women’s life and they become victims of rape, sexual and other physical violence, and harassment. These tactics are tools of war and instruments of terror designed to hurt and punish women, wrench communities apart, and force women and girls to flee their homes. And more often women in north east India have reported brutal rapes, sexual assaults and mutilation committed by male combatants," he observed.

In Manipur the women had the potential for bringing peace and they do that at the grassroots level and to enhance the role of women in peace building certain steps could be taken like launching and supporting alliances with and between grassroots, national, regional and international women’s group as well as to train women in political skills, including communication, mediation, and negotiation skills. It was also necessary to support the fund raising activities of local women’s organizations, he noted.

Expressing her deep concern for women’s human rights in armed conflict, Dr. Manorama Bawa who presided over the function reacted on the various issues of women who face different kinds of harassment and cruelty.

She said that issues of women and armed conflict were issues of violence against women and women’s human rights. While armed conflict affected women in a number of forms that are conflict-specific, certain trends are prevalent across conflicts and regions.

It was important to note that most women suffer the impacts of armed conflict in multiple ways like rape and other types of physical violence, use for trafficking and sexual slavery and displacement of women is the most common consequence of armed conflict and women the most affected civilian population, maintained Bawa.

She further revealed that women were not only victims but were actors who need to be empowered in such situations.

The impact of armed conflict manifests itself in gender-specific ways. More often than not women’s burdens in times of war were especially heavy as they took various responsibilities. As a result wome’s usual functions within the household become more difficult to carry out. And if they are forced to become the sole provider for their families, the absence of an adequate infrastructure often leaves women unable to feed their families or find paid work, she noted.

Hence, the redesigning of economic policies both national and global are required to remove poverty in women and education to each and every girl child in the state as well as the country and advocating greater involvement of women in peace and development processes and promoting their role in decision-making at all levels is required, she said.

From:http://www.kanglaonline.com/index.php?template=headline&newsid=41639&typeid=1