Human rights lawyer and social activist Rutuparna Mohanty, who recently visited the University of San Diego, USA, for two months as the lone Woman PeaceMaker from India among three others from Pakistan, South Sudan and Bosnia, speaks to The Pioneer Correspondent Debadas Pradhan.
How do you feel after attending Women PeaceMaker programmeIJ
The Women PeaceMaker programme is a very prestigious programme organsied by the University of San Diego of California State of the USA every year. The main objective of the event is to document the stories and best practices of international women leaders who are involved in human rights and peacemaking efforts in their home countries.
A writer was engaged to record our experiences, activities and insights. The programme offers an opportunity for women leaders who want to document, share and build upon their unique peacemaking stories.
In addition to documenting their stories, the women give presentations on their work both at the John B Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice (IPJ) and in the San Diego community and have opportunities to exchange ideas and approaches to peacemaking and justice, increasing their capacity to participate in conflict resolution and peace building efforts and in post-conflict decision-making. As one of the IPJ’s flagship programmes, the Women PeaceMakers Programme seeks to project awardees as experts and advocates in gendered peace building processes locally, regionally and internationally.
Do you think peacemaking is a dangerous workIJ
Sometimes, the path of peacemaking is not necessarily nonviolence; so sometimes, we have to go through a very dangerous process. But I believe there is no way to peace; there is only peace.
Please tell about the process of your selection as a Woman PeaceMaker
It took two years for selection. They received applications from across the globe. Out of 35 to 40 countries and thousands of applicants, they chose four women from four countries looking into their biodata, track records, knowledge and practice about conflict resolution throughout the nation. I was the only Indian who got selected. It has given me a broad networking.
What reaction do you get from others when you tell them what you’re doingIJ
In their view, a woman peacemaker is a very prestigious personality and doing a very noble job. The natures of conflict in our country and in their country are a little different. Common citizens, students, civil society groups and academia appreciated my courage in addressing the issues of distressed women and slum dwellers.
You emphasised on the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi as a peacemaker, and what was the response thereIJ
During my public conversation with students, intellectuals and academicians, I was so happy to know that they admire Mahatma Gandhi as a great peacemaker of the world. But in India, I feel the Mahatma is not a role model among students and youth mass. My public conversation in the USA was on October 1 and October 2 (Gandhi Jayanti). And
everybody promised with me to contribute there time to bring peace in the world in the name of Gandhi.
What will be your suggestions to Government to ensure peace and justice in IndiaIJ
I would like to urge the Union and all State Governments to ensure opening of Peace and Justice Schools and include Peace and Justice as a subject in the curriculum starting from schools to the university level, thereby facilitating peace and harmony in our country.
Government should facilitate intermediation between various stakeholders involved in the diverse conflict constellations in the region, be it the public, civil society activists, State representatives, journalists, academicians and researchers, contributing to promotion of integration and social bonding into a democratic political culture through dialogue and civic education. The overall objective should be to promote peaceful coexistence of conflict-affected ethnic groups through strengthened democratic processes, with gender being a crosscutting issue.
What prompts you to support women to stand up to justiceIJ
I am the daughter of noted freedom fighters and social workers Bichitrananda Mohanty and Nirmala Mohanty. From my childhood, I learnt about values. I have chosen the field that requires a great deal of social courage and commitment. Hence, I resigned from a Government job and devoted tie to social services.
In my society, women are treated as secondary citizens. Every five minutes, a woman is either assaulted or abused and exploited. Women are grossly deprived of their
participation in socioeconomic and political floors and most women have no voice against the violation of their human rights. I am connecting myself to them throughout the State.
Do you think there is an urgency to ensure peace and justice in the globeIJ
Yes, very much. The areas of conflicts are many and we can’t address them by deploying armed force. Peace and justice is a new domain for India as well for Odisha. We should use this domain for prevention of conflicts.
What are the conflict areas you find in India and what is your suggestion to Government to ensure peace and justiceIJ
There is a multitude of conflicts that undermine the idea of India as a prosperous and functioning democracy. For instance, the Naga insurgence, which started in the 1950s, known as the mother of the Northeast insurgencies, is one of the oldest unresolved armed conflicts in the world.
Internal conflicts have been a permanent feature of the Asian political landscape since 1945, of which post-colonial India is no exception. Currently, most of the States in the region are affected by some form of conflict, expect for Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Sikkim in which the situation is at the moment relatively stable. Hence, their allegiance to the newly-formed Indian nation-state was lacking from the beginning accentuated by the creation of East Pakistan (today’s Bangladesh) which meant the loss of a major chunk of the physical connection between mainland India and Northeast India. Interestingly, 99 per cent of the Northeast’s boundaries is international and only one per cent is domestic boundary.
The fear of a growing Chinese influence, as well as the increasing cross-border terrorism is also a challenge. Unfortunately, the data on the region are not sufficiently analysed and communicated between the region and the Centre, contributing to further misinformation, mismanagement and alienation.
The Indian Government’s past and ongoing processes of national integration, State-building and democratic consolidation have further aggravated the conflict scenario in the region. For instance, the eight States comprising the Northeast is populated by nearly 40 million inhabitants who vary in language, race, tribe, caste, religion, and regional heritage.
Therefore, most often, the clubbing of all these States under the tag of ‘Northeast’ has tended to have a homogenising effect with its own set of implications for policy formulation and implementation; not to mention local aversion to such a construct. The politico-administrative arrangements made by the Government have also been lacking.