India Tells UN 75 Crore Women Live Near Conflict Zones

The number seventy-five crore is a tough sum to hold in one’s mind. It is the number quoted by P. Harish, India’s permanent representative at the UN, to the UN Security Council while asserting that nearly seventy-five crore women and girls, or approximately around seven hundred fifty million, live within fifty kilometers from a war zone. He was addressing an open debate on women, peace, and security, and he combined that figure with a number that is even more difficult to comprehend: it has been shown that cases of sexual violence related to conflicts have more than doubled. One cannot but combine the two numbers and get a picture where for millions of women, wars no longer seem to be a distant occurrence but are rather part of their everyday life.

Behind the statistic

It is worth pausing and imagining what that means for life within just fifty kilometres of the fighting. It is a school that may or may not open the next day, a clinic that has run out of supplies, a visit to the market that involves doing a risk calculation. Women here are unlikely to have been the ones to initiate war or sign a peace deal, but they are suffering the most, whether through displacement, mass rape, or other sexual violence. The rise Harish described is a reminder that these are not side effects of war. They are often part of how it is waged, and treating them as secondary is a choice.

This is exactly why the principle behind the Security Council's women, peace and security agenda is so uncontroversial: peace is more likely to endure when those it impacts have a say. In key Female Empowerment News India, this week, UN Secretary-General António Guterres cautioned that restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan are tightening, showing that there is still a big gap between principle and practice.

What India can bring to the table

India at the UNhas some credibility in this conversation. Back in 2007, the first police unit composed entirely of women was sent on a UN mission to Liberia, and ever since, it has continued to raise its voice on the matter. However, speaking is the easy part of diplomacy. The hardest part is finding funds to be allocated for programs aimed at protecting women in the camps and along the borders, supporting the investigation of the violators of rights, and making sure that women are present at the negotiating table. It should be noted that money is scarce and there is no political will to follow through. A declaration at the UN is a starting point; however, what matters for the 750 million women in question is whether it is going to be transformed into safe roads, schools, or women who are believed.