Webinfosys's Local News : UN classifies rape as 'war crime'

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council on Thursday demanded an end to persistent sexual violence during armed conflict, calling it a war crime and a component of genocide.

Approved by all 15 members, council resolution 1820 "demands the immediate and complete cessation by all parties to armed conflict of all acts of sexual violence against civilians with immediate effect."

It also urged that "all parties to armed conflict immediately take appropriate measures to protect civilians, including women and girls, from all forms of sexual violence."

Chaired by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the council said "rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity, or a constitutive act with respect to genocide."

It indirectly threatened suspected war-time rapists with prosecution before The Hague-based International Criminal Court.

The resolution was quickly welcomed by Human Rights Watch. "The UN Security Council's new resolution on sexual violence is a historic achievement for a body that has all too often ignored the plight of women and girls in conflict," the rights group said in a statement.

"Human Rights Watch applauds the council for setting out in the resolution a clear path to systematic information-gathering on sexual violence."

Before the vote, in the day-long debate called by the United States, this month's council chairman, Rice spoke strongly against war-time rape.

"Rape is a crime that can never be condoned. Yet women and girls in conflict situations around the world have been subjected to widespread and deliberate acts of sexual violence," she said.

"Today's resolution establishes a mechanism for bringing those atrocities to light," the US chief diplomat said.

She stressed the resolution directs the UN Secretary General to prepare an action plan for collecting data on the use of sexual violence in armed conflict and then reporting that information to the council.

Rice cited the example of Myanmar where she said "soldiers have regularly raped women and girls even as young as eight years old.

"What is tragic also in that country is that instead of being allowed to take the office as the elected leader of Burma's government, (opposition leader) Aung San Suu Kyi is marking her (63rd) birthday this very day under house arrest," the US chief diplomat said.

"We cannot forget as we examine this issue other women activists who struggle for freedom under violent environments," she added.
Rice also referred to widespread acts of sexual violence in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan.

The US diplomat highlighted acts of sexual violence perpetrated by UN peacekeepers in several countries around the world.

"As an international community we have a special responsibility to punish perpetrators of sexual violence who are representatives of international organizations," she noted.

In his remarks, UN chief Ban Ki-moon stressed the world body was "profoundly committed" to its zero-tolerance policy against sexual exploitation or abuse by our own personnel."

"Violence against women has reached unspeakable and pandemic proportions in some societies attempting to recover from conflict," he said.

"We have to view this problem in the broader context of women's empowerment ... We must do far more to involve women in conflict prevention, peace negotiations and recovery after the guns fall silent."

France's secretary of state for human rights Rama Yade said those responsible for sexual violence amid armed conflict should be hunted down and brought to trial even before the ICC.

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Webinfosys's Local News : Jawans forming human chains to stop breach

KOLKATA/SILIGURI: Even as New Delhi talks of taking up the issue of border incursions with China at the "appropriate highest level", up in the Himalayas, the Indian soldiers are using a Gandhian method to stop the People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops from intruding into the Indian territory.

With the PLA making fresh incursions into the Fingertip Area of Sikkim, Indian troops are now blocking the Chinese soldiers by forming human chains.

"We are literally forming human chains to stop the Chinese from crossing over," says a senior Army officer. "If they come in groups of 20, we assemble 50 men and form a human chain. They can't after all push us and cross the border."

Under the terms of confidence-building measures started between the two countries during the days of Atal Behari Vajpayee government, troops on either side do not open fire to stop intrusions in disputed areas.

Hence, the Army is using ingenious methods like human chains. Of course, defences are also being developed in depth, it is learnt. One of the moves is to redeploy the artillery much of which had moved to Jammu & Kashmir during the Kargil operations.

The intrusions in Sikkim have taken the authorities by surprise as the Chinese had never disputed the boundary between Sikkim and Tibet.

"Possibly, they are trying to keep the dispute alive," says an Army official.

There have been 65 transgressions into Sikkim in the last six months and on June 16, PLA men entered the region in light vehicles and later returned to their territory.

Army officers in the area recount numerous attempts in recent months by the Chinese to cross the border and remove the heaps of stones used as border markers.

At Chor La, north of Nathu La, they came twice this month, on June 17 and June 12. At Choragabe, south of Nathu La and close to Torsa Nala which is near the China-India-Bhutan trijunction and already under Chinese occupation, the PLA troops had come two days ago. At the Fingertips Area, in north Sikkim, Chinese patrols have been coming regularly for the past two years, the last being on Monday.

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Webinfosys's Local News : PM ready for N-gamble, but allies baulk at polls

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's ambitious bid to move for the operationalisation of the India-US nuclear deal in defiance of Left's staunch opposition has run into opposition from poll-wary UPA allies once again.

A day after he publicly raised the ante over the deal pushing a reluctant Congress to back him, the UPA allies came out in the open to oppose any course which would precipitate the confrontation with the Left, leading to polls at a time when runaway inflation has soured the public mood towards the ruling coalition and when BJP's challenge is looking more potent than before.

Congress bosses were seeking to tie up support from Samajwadi Party to make up the loss of Left's support to deal with any contingency. SP, which started off as a staunch opponent of the deal, turning the stance over the agreement with the anti-Muslim US into the litmus test of one's "secular credentials", has since mellowed its resistance.

Harried by a tough opponent in Mayawati and anxious to gain time, the party has not scotched the "deal to save the deal" speculation.

Three important satraps — RJD boss and railway minister Lalu Prasad, NCP chief and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and DMK supremo, TN chief minister M Karunanidhi, expressed their misgivings over adventurism on the deal. Lok Janshakti leader Ramvilas Paswan is also learnt to have made his reservations plain.

Pawar said, "It is our duty to take our friends and those who supported us for four-and-a-half years into consideration before taking a final view." Lalu tempered his bold defence of the deal with the diplomatic "we need both the Left and the deal" caveat.

Speaking for Karunanidhi, a DMK spokesperson invoked the threat of "communal forces". "We support the deal but Karunanidhi has stated that any such divisions between UPA and Left will only help BJP."

Congress strategists on Thursday reacted with surprise as it started to unfold that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wanted to push the deal, raising fears of early Lok Sabha polls.

While strong concerns in pro-deal quarters range from salvaging the national credibility in international forum to not foregoing a deal so good, Congress leaders feel the time was up for such considerations, which was well brought out when the PM last year uttered "ours is not a one-issue government".

Though there is no love lost with the Left, seen as indispensable for secular bloc in the coalition era, Congress leaders say the party is ill-prepared to hit the poll turf. Barely up from a debilitating defeat in Karnataka, coming in the backdrop of a string of reverses, leaders point out that the debacle was a result of going to elections unprepared and are unwilling to risk it for the national contest with much higher stakes.

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