Challenging Impunity on Sexual Violence in South Asia

Economic and Political Weekly, Vol - XLVII No. 28, July 14, 2012 Special Articles

by Navsharan Singh and Urvashi Butalia

Despite many attempts by women’s groups to flag the issues of sexual violence, there still is a legal silence around the question of sexual violence and impunity. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and other extraordinary legislations such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act are seemingly "protective" legislations which were put forward by states as necessary for security. In fact, they have been violative of the basic human rights of people in the areas where they are in force. A small group of women activists have initiated a discussion on these extraordinary laws of south Asia which function to create some sort of consent to formal obstructions to justice, and thereby, create a much wider culture of impunity.

Navsharan Singh (nsingh@idrc.org.in) is with the International Development Research Centre, Canada, based in the South Asia offi ce, New Delhi. Urvashi Butalia (urvashi.butalia@gmail.com) is an activist in the women’s movement as well as a writer and the founder of Zubaan, a
women’s/feminist publishing house.

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Challenging Impunity on Sexual Violence in South Asia [full text pdf]

by Navsharan Singh and Urvashi Butalia
in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol - XLVII No. 28, July 14, 2012