Rape and murder dehumanise societies in profoundly dangerous ways: UN Women chief

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 gang rape 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," she said.

The senior UN official said families of both the victims have suffered losses 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.

"Through recognition and change of the context that allows these attacks to occur, lies a vital path to broader action on gender equality, to tolerance of difference or belief, and an absolute end to impunity without exception for all those who transgress universal human rights," she said.