Rape dehumanises society: UN official

United Nations: Acts of rape and murder “dehumanise societies” and letting the perpetrators of such crimes go unpunished is a “warning” sign for all, the head of UN’s agency on women empowerment said, amid the outrage over Kathua and Unnao rape cases.

UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said the statements by the UN Resident Coordinator in India and the “condemnation” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the gangrape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua district and a 17-year-old girl in Unnao are “important” but even more important is the “action that follows”.“To rape and kill children is to defy and violate fundamental aspects of our shared humanity. No rape and no murder is justifiable,” Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Tuesday. She said acts of rape and murder “dehumanise societies” in ways that are profoundly dangerous. “If they go unchallenged and unpunished, they speak to a reduced value of human life and of an abdication of responsibility that are warning signs for us all,”  The senior UN official said families of both the victims have sufferedlosses and await justice.

There have been too many such atrocities and too often it is women and girls who are deliberately targeted, intentionally instilling fear and building divides, she said.