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WILPF India Participating to CEDAW

30 June 2014

WILPF India and the Human Rights Programme are engaging this week at the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women Session. We have submitted a report that raises awareness on many issues related to peace and freedom for women in India.

WILPF is increasingly worried about lack of implementation of UNSCR 1325, increasing militarisation, continued violence in the Northeast of the country and discrimination of minority women in Gujarat.

Women’s participation and UNSCR 1325

Structural and institutional inequality persisting in India is the major cause of the various forms of discrimination against women, which manifests itself in all public and private spheres of life. This is exemplified in women’s political representation, which is significantly low in houses of parliament and other decision-making bodies. Further, women’s role in peace-building has also failed to be acknowledged by the State as mandated by UNSCR 1325. In the Kandhamal district in Orissa, conflict and riots led to forced displacement and consequent human rights violations. Peace Committees in refugee camps were organised to deal with the situation, but not a single woman was involved. The State needs to exercise a clear political will towards the inclusion of women in conflict resolution, as it is the only way to ensure that their rights are protected in post-conflict situations, such as refugee settings.

Weapons and Militarisation

The presence of a militarised society constitutes a serious threat to women’s safety and empowerment by fostering an insecure environment that hinders women’s participation in society. The rise in gun culture is a main component of this insecurity that hinders women’s right to freedom of movement for fear of being subjected to violence, including sexual violence, and contributes to a more generalised culture of violence against women. India is currently the largest importer of arms in the world and is constantly increasing defense spending. The standard set by the government is filtering into civilian culture, and is fueling a significant increase in private gun ownership and a culture of violent masculinity. Besides increasing the likelihood of violence, gun culture creates an atmosphere of impunity and normalised acceptance.

Additionally, the failure of the government of India to make available the necessary resources to address critical gender equality needs is directly linked to the growth of defence and security spending. We also wish to raise our concern that public expenditure on the maintenance and modernisation of nuclear weapons is shielded from transparency and democratic oversight under the pretense of “national security”.

Violence by Security Forces in the Northeast of the Country

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act is an extreme example of militarised responses of the government. Under AFSPA, the governor of a state can declare an area as disturbed, which in turn gives armed forces extraordinary powers. In reality this means that members of the security forces can steal, arrest, harass, confiscate money, enter premises, use any force deemed necessary in their opinion, including shoot to kill, without any real legal recourse being available to the victim. Its continuation amounts to state sanctioning of human rights violations, especially of women, as there is concrete evidence of mass rapes and other forms of harassment of women by the armed forces.

There is momentum, and a willingness from the highest levels of government to alter the institutionalised violence and discrimination present as a result of AFSPA.

We urge engagement with local women’s peace and disarmament movements, and the articulation of a clear policy of armed violence reduction in the Northeast. Such an approach must include the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act of 1958 and a clear process of de-militarisation, and the implementation of the Justice Verma Report’s recommendations on the prevention of violence against women in the Northeast.

Status of Women in Gujarat

Finally we would like to bring attention to the situation of violence in Gujarat, where the communal riots in 2002 resulted in women being subjected to rape, looting, destruction, abuse, and some were even burnt alive.

There were no efforts made to provide any kind of protection to women and there was no existing institutional mechanism through which they could seek justice. Crimes are also terribly underreported. These violations have also had a negative effect on women’s access to social and economic opportunities, as both Muslim and Hindu women face systematic discrimination.

 

For more information, have a look at WILPF’s report: “Caught Between Arms: The State of Women’s Rights in India”

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Matt Mahmoudi

Matt Mahmoudi (he/him) is a lecturer, researcher, and organizer. He’s been leading the “Ban the Scan” campaign, Amnesty International’s research and advocacy efforts on banning facial recognition technologies and exposing their uses against racialized communities, from New York City to the occupied Palestinian territories.

Berit Aasen

Europe Alternate Regional Representative

Berit Aasen is a sociologist by training and has worked at the OsloMet Metropolitan University on Oslo. She has 40 years of experience in research and consultancy in development studies, including women, peace, and security, and in later years in asylum and refugee studies. Berit Aasen joined WILPF Norway five years ago. She is an alternate member of the National Board of WILPF Norway, and representing WILPF Norway in the UN Association of Norway, the Norwegian 1325 network and the Norwegian Women’s Lobby. Berit Aasen has been active in the WILPF European Liaison group and is committed to strengthening WILPF sections and membership both in Europe and relations across continents.

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Melissa Torres

VICE-PRESIDENT

Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.

Jamila Afghani

VICE-PRESIDENT

Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.

A woman in a blue, black, and white dress smiles radiantly in front of a leafy green background.

Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo

PRESIDENT

Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. She has a multi-disciplinary background with a track record of multiple socio-economic development projects implemented to improve policies, practices and peace-oriented actions. Sylvie is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and was the Section’s president until 2022. She co-coordinated the African Working Group before her election as Africa Representative to WILPF’s International Board in 2018. A teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations, Sylvie has extensive experience advocating for the political and social rights of women in Africa and worldwide.

WILPF Afghanistan

In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region. 

IPB Congress Barcelona

WILPF Germany (+Young WILPF network), WILPF Spain and MENA Regional Representative

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Demilitarisation

WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.

Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.

Militarised masculinity

Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.

WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on men’s physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. It recognizes that these notions are not representative of all Afghan men, contrary to the publicly prevailing notion.

Feminist peace​

In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.

In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.