Sexual violence must end: CHOGM

New delhi: A Communiqué following the conclusion of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London has welcomed the “continuing action by member countries and Commonwealth bodies to prevent and eliminate sexual and gender-based violence”. Significantly, this came on a day when the Indian Government in New Delhi approved an Ordinance to increase punishment for rape including a provision for death penalty to those convicted of raping children up to 12 years of age. The CHOGM Communiqué-issued on Saturday morning (Indian Time) titled “Towards A Common Future”—-also “opposed the use of chemical weapons under any circumstances” and also denounced “violent extremism”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had attended the CHOGM meet and the Retreat that followed on Thursday and Friday.

Probably, in view of the sensitivities of countries such as India, there was no reference to Russia or the recent incident of toxic nerve agent attack at Salisbury in the statement despite the UK directly accusing Russia earlier of carrying out the attack. New Delhi has close strategic ties with Moscow. There was also no reference to the situation in Syria or the alleged recent chemical weapons attack there. The CHOGM Communiqué also said the Rohingyas were facing an “existential threat”, and praised the Bangladesh government for giving refuge to them.