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It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Tuesday called for efforts to protect women in conflict and to promote women's role in peace processes.
Protecting women in armed conflict and promoting their participation in political and peace processes is an important part of the Security Council's women, peace and security agenda. To achieve these goals, the council should stick to the right direction and stay on the right course, said Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations.
Women affected by armed conflict are all entitled to security and protection, regardless of whether they are part of the peace process or not. They should be treated equally without exception, he told a Security Council open debate on women, peace and security.
"To protect them requires a comprehensive approach and collective efforts. Parties to conflict should fulfill their obligations under international humanitarian law and renounce all violence against women, including sexual violence," he said.
China supports relevant UN organizations in actively carrying out their work in accordance with their respective mandates in this regard. The international community should intensify relief efforts in line with the UN guiding principles for humanitarian assistance and meet the basic living needs of women affected by conflict. Countries with historical responsibilities for hot-spot issues are duty-bound to provide more financial and in-kind support, said Zhang.
He stressed the importance of addressing both the symptoms and root causes of violence and conflict.
In conflict situations, the risks of violence, displacement, poverty and famine often rise exponentially among women. There is a need to be tough on violence against women. Yet nothing can provide more basic protection for women than a holistic approach to conflict prevention and resolution, he said.
Peace and stability can only be restored through dialogue and consultation between parties concerned. Civil society can play a constructive role by advocating a culture of peace. As an important force for peace, women should be given equal opportunities to participate in peace negotiations. All parties should remove undue hindrances and practice gender equality in political processes, he said.
The Security Council bears the primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security. It must work harder to eliminate the root causes of conflict, pursue political solutions to hot-spot issues, and unremittingly seek the peaceful settlement of disputes through dialogue, mediation and consultation, so that all women and girls can enjoy peace and live in tranquility, said Zhang.
He also stressed the need to unswervingly support women's empowerment and development.
Security Council Resolution 1325, as a milestone on women, peace and security, redefines the nexus between women and peace. Supporting women's empowerment and development and amplifying women's initiative, participation and power to change in the field of peace and security can help ensure the steady and far-reaching impact of the women, peace and security agenda, he said.
"We should strive to fill the development gap faced by women in conflict areas, prioritize development in UN's work, and seek early harvest in women-related goals of the 2030 Agenda," said Zhang. "We should effectively protect women's economic and social rights, and guarantee their right to education, because knowledge can change life. We should help more women get employed, emerge from poverty, achieve economic autonomy, thereby creating conditions conducive to their effective participation in peace processes."
As the host country of the Fourth World Conference on Women, China always advocates gender equality and women's empowerment, promotes women's development globally, and follows the women, peace and security agenda with concrete actions, said Zhang.
Over the past three decades, more than 1,000 Chinese women have served in UN peacekeeping operations, making important contributions toward peace. In recent years, China has actively worked with other countries, especially developing ones. China helped developing countries implement 100 maternal and child health projects and train 130,000 female professionals, lending strong support to women's empowerment in these countries. China also partnered with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in setting up a prize for girls' and women's education to galvanize action for this worthy cause, he said.
The Global Development Initiative put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping aims to advance the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and global development, which will lend strong impetus to equal rights for women and the global cause of women's development, he said.
"As is often said in China, women hold up half the sky. We are ready to work with the international community to promote women's empowerment and development, support women's role of holding up half the sky in international peace and security, and build a peaceful and beautiful future together," said Zhang.
India’s Congress Party Pins Revival on Women in Major State Poll
Upmanyu Trivedi, Bloomberg News
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, general secretary of the Congress party, holds up a copy of the Congress manifesto at an event marking the document's launch at the party's headquarters in New Delhi, India, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. India’s main opposition Congress party has pledged to tackle unemployment and poverty as it seeks to wrest power from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling coalition just days out from a national election. , Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) -- An actress jailed for protesting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s controversial citizenship law, the mother of a rape survivor, and a beauty pageant winner. These are the women leading India’s once-dominant Congress party as it seeks to reinvent itself in a hotly contested state election.
The slew of female candidates in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh is part of a new campaign led by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a scion of India’s once-powerful Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. With a catchy slogan “I’m a girl and I can fight” in Hindi, the campaign underscores the growing importance of women voters in the world’s largest democracy.
Vadra has pledged 40% of Congress party’s candidates for the 403-seat state assembly will be women. She has met that promise in the first list of candidates her party announced for the state polls that will be carried out in seven phases starting from Feb. 10. The election results will be released March 10.
“If you have suffered in the past, you have to fight and grab power to fight for your rights,” Vadra said in a video posted on Twitter last week. Congress party’s list of candidates is a new kind of politics, she added.
India is no stranger to powerful female politicians. Vadra’s grandmother and former prime minister, Indira Gandhi, towered over India’s politics for decades, while West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati have wielded considerable power.
While political parties have courted female voters, it hasn’t translated to greater numbers of women lawmakers. India was ranked 147th of 193 nations last year on the percentage of women in its powerful lower house, according to data released by Inter-Parliamentary Union.
During the 2017 polls in Uttar Pradesh, when the BJP’s Hindu hard line leader Yogi Adityanath swept his party to victory, less than a tenth of the candidates fielded across party lines were women. They saw little success with only 39 clinching seats then, according to a tracker by Ashoka University.
With about half as many people as the European Union, Uttar Pradesh is seen as a major indicator of national mood ahead of the next general election in 2024. Congress party won just seven seats in the last state polls as it has struggled to gain traction since the BJP come to power in 2014.
Fighting Girls
The women fielded by Congress party are diverse. Sadaf Jafar, the actress who was jailed for her role in demonstrations against a religion-based citizenship law is now a Congress spokeswoman. Another candidate Poonam Pandey, led a protest for wages by women frontline workers who are helping India to achieve its vaccination targets.
The rape survivor’s mother has promised to work for the poor in her district if she is elected. Her daughter’s rapist, a former powerful legislator, has been found guilty for sexual assault as well as murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
For Vadra, who in 2019 formally joined the Congress party that her family has controlled for most part since India’s independence in 1947, the gambit is crucial. Her party has seen its star decline in Uttar Pradesh over the last two decades.
It remains to be seen if the BJP and its rival for power in the state, the Samajwadi Party, see this as a serious challenge. So far the BJP fielded 10 women out of a 107 candidates while Samajwadi Party is putting forward one female candidate from its alliance with a regional party.
“When one party promises, other parties try to match it,” said Sudha Pai, a professor at the Centre for Political Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. While fielding more women might help Congress party gain some seats, India’s tilt toward Hindu nationalism and protests by the farmers who forced Modi to reverse new agriculture laws may overshadow the effort, she added.
“It doesn’t take away the fact that the Congress party hardly has an organizational structure and workers on the ground,” she said. “So how far it will help in reviving the party is very questionable.”