New Delhi: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon yesterday said he “counts” on India to act on the report of Justice J S Verma suggesting stricter laws to deal with crimes against women.
Delivering the 13th Sapru House Lecture at the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), Ban said India has a responsibility for South Asia to “stop” countries from developing nuclear arsenal.
Ban said he wants India to support the UN’s women programme for fostering equality.
“Justice Verma delivered valuable recommendations to prevent violence against women. I count on the government to act on them,” he said.
Justice Verma, who died in April 2013, chaired the panel that came out with recommendations on improving women’s security following the December 16, 2012, gang rape.
“No country can prosper while its women suffer and are held back,” Ban said, adding that though women constitute more than half of the world’s population, they were the least utilised resource.
In a tacit reference to the rights of homosexuals and transgenders, Ban said: “I call on India to promote gender tolerance and non-discrimination, and with the full participation of women and all minority groups through sustainable peace.”
The UN secretary general, speaking on the subject “India and the United Nations in a Changing World”, said he was deeply influenced by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and that there was a need for “collective responsibility to conserve the spirit of Gandhi’s teachings”.
He said that while India has laws that enshrine equality and laws that address past discrimination, “millions of Dalits and tribals and others still face discrimination, especially women and girls. In too many communities, religious minorities also suffer, and must continue battle for equality”.
He said that if Gandhi’s teachings were followed in their true spirit, there will be no corruption or inequality.
“Let his teachings inspire all of us,” he said, and added that “education is the key and schools should be the gardens of global citizenship, not battlegrounds of divisive ideology”.
Referring to the Mumbai terror attack and the recent terror attack on an army school in Peshawar, Ban said the UN has a comprehensive counter terror policy that India fully supports.
He urged India to “walk with its neighbours” on the ways to tackle terror through preventing and combating terror, controlling it and ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law.
He also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ as a “very good policy”. “’Make in India’ is a very good policy to make the country into a manufacturing hub. I saw the possibility in Gujarat in Vibrant Gujarat, I felt the vibrations... the whole world is vibrating with its dynamism.
IANS
New Delhi: UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged India yesterday to help shore up stability in war-torn Afghanistan after the departure of US troops, saying the world was relying on South Asia’s powerhouse to play a lead role.
Speaking on a visit to the capital New Delhi, Ban said India had a “huge role” to play on the security front in a region that has been beset by unrest.
“The world is looking at India to help advance peace and prosperity in South Asia,” the UN secretary general said at a pubic lecture.
“Continuing instability in Afghanistan and Pakistan is not only the responsibility of these two nations. These challenges should be addressed through greater bilateral parleys.
“The security challenges in Afghanistan cannot be solved by military process. It needs regional support from India,” he added.
India has poured $2bn in reconstruction aid into Afghanistan and has been asked for further support, including military assistance in Kabul’s battle to contain a Taliban insurgency after a Nato combat mission wound up at the turn of the year.
But while pledging to do all it can to promote stability, New Delhi is wary of being sucked into a “proxy war” in Afghanistan involving allies of its nuclear-armed neighbour Pakistan.
Neither country has signed up to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) but in his speech, Ban urged India to embrace the idea of nuclear disarmament to avoid a “nightmare” scenario.
“South Asia faces danger of nuclear weapons. Addition to arsenal raises risk of nuclear nightmare. I request India to express solidarity in nuclear disarmament,” Ban said.
He said India was a backer of a nuclear-weapons-free world and therefore “India has responsibility for South Asia to stop developing nuclear arsenals” which he said was all the more important in the context of rising terrorism.
Since first becoming a nuclear power in 1974, India has said it would only ever use atomic weapons in response to an attack as part of its “no first use” doctrine.
Agencies
