Mitigating Manipur’s Conflict, 59 Years of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 on April 24, 2016

Manipur, 23 April 2016 – The twentieth century has witnessed 250
conflicts and over 100 million casualties. Civilians remain the main
targets of contemporary conflicts and account for over 90 per cent of
casualties. Over 23 million people have died in more than 160 wars and,
after 1945, overwhelmingly in the Third World. These wars have resulted
in millions of people being displaced from their homes, and the numbers
are rising each year. Women and children are victims of war and conflict
in a variety of other ways as well. The loss of family members, which
includes husbands, brothers and children, has long-term psychological
effects of women. The suffering endured by women as caretakers and those
who pick up the pieces after conflict and devastation results in
emotional and mental stress.

North-east region has been witness to an ongoing low-intensity conflict
for a long period of time. While the entire region continues to suffer,
women living in such conditions are most vulnerable due to the
restrictions on their mobility, the limited access to health services
and most importantly, the lack of opportunities for education,
employment and even leisure. Women have been, in internal war, the
targets of sustained and frequently brutal violence committed by both
parties of armed conflict. Both the sides often use violence to punish
or dominate women believed to be sympathetic to the opposite side.

Women have been threatened, raped and murdered during the conflict.
(Human Rights Watch 1998).Armed conflicts greatly affect the lives of
women and can completely change their role in the family, the community
and the ‘public’ domain. Armed conflicts have created large numbers of
female-headed households where the men have been conscripted, detained,
displaced, have disappeared or are dead. Women invariably have to bear
greater responsibility for their children and their elderly relatives,
and often the wider community when the men in the family have gone.

AFSPA was introduced in 1958 in Nagaland to fight the Naga secessionist
movement and was later applied in Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir, and
some other parts of the Northeast. The AFSPA gives wide discretionary
powers even to junior army officers to use force as a method of warning,
to search any shelter that could be a hideout and to conduct searches
without warrants. Despite appeals to the courts, this particular Act
continues to be operational. In 1972 the AFPSA was extended to all
states and Union Territories. All the laws mentioned have been in force
in various parts of the North East at all times since independence and
they allow the state to suspend civilian rule for an indefinite period
without review.

Due to protection under Section 6 of the Act, some security force
personnel even violated the human rights of people and left the victims
without any effective remedy. The failure to identify those responsible
for human rights violations and to bring them to justice has meant that
some members of the security force continue to believe that they are
above law and can violate human rights with impunity.

To discuss this situation Control Arms Foundation of India along with
Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network and Northeast India Women Initiative
for Peace is convening a conference under the title “Mitigating
Manipur’s Conflict, 59 Years of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958
& Its Impact on the Lives of Women and Children in Manipur” on 24th
April 2016 at Siroy Conference Hall, Imphal Hotel, Manipur. Women
leaders and civil society from all across Manipur including families who
survived AFSPA will be present. The event will bring academicians,
experts, to discuss this important issue and to seek solutions.

The event will also bestow “Brave Girl of Manipur” tittle to 6 year old
Ms Lansinlu Gonmei, daughter of (L) Tiken from Tamenglong district,
Manipur who died in 6 year old case on 28 February 2016. Manipur has
lost 20,000 people due to the conflict and over 20,000 women have been
registered as widows.

We look forward to your support in covering the event and giving to this critical topic the media attention it deserves.

When: 24 April 2016 (9.30 am to 4 pm)
Where: Venue: Siroy Conference Hall, Imphal Hotel, Manipur

For any questions for clarifications, kindly contact

Office of Control Arms Foundation of India/ Northeast India Women Initiative for Peace

B B5 / 146, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi-110029, India

Phone: +91-11-46018541 Fax: +91-11-26166234

Web: www.cafi-online.org

Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network

Old Palace Road, Imphal West, Manipur