Could you describe your work with the International Criminal Court
for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda?

We wanted to make sure that rape and sexual violence were recognised
as 'crimes' before the International Criminal Tribunals for the
Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

In the beginning, these crimes were ignored and charges were brought
that did not include sexual violence. So, we filed amicus briefs to
bring this failure to the court's notice. In other cases, issues of
process that required feminist perspectives on the law were taken
up. These briefs were instrumental in moving the prosecution and
jurisprudence forward.

You also headed the team of legal advisors to the judges of the
International Women's Criminal Tribunal on Japan's Military Sexual
Slavery.

Yes, the movement highlighting sexual violence committed by the
Japanese imperial army during World War II brought to the attention
of the international community the magnitude of human rights
violations perpetrated against the so-called 'comfort women' 50 years
ago. An important outcome of the tribunal was to establish that women
victimised in time of wars and conflict can seek redressal under
principles of international law.

You have visited Gujarat and met many of the affected women.

We spoke with many Muslim women who told us of their experiences
during the attacks since February 27. We were struck by repeated
stories of men in the mobs, publicly stripping, exposing themselves,
and taunting women. As in other conflict situations like Bosnia,
women were attacked both as symbols of the community's honour and as
its sustainers and reproducers. At the same time, what seemed unique
about this violence was its explicit connection to the need for men
from one community to prove their masculinity and sexual superiority
over those from the other. While sexual violence is implicitly an
assertion of threatened masculinity, I haven't seen it flaunted so
explicitly.

At the same time, the police and medical professionals prevented, in
various ways, the few women who sought to register FIRs against
sexual violence. In every society, women still fear the stigma of
rape. When justice doesn't respond, it pushes them back into the
realms of secrecy and shame...In addition, when rapists are allowed
to roam free in the community, there is more terror.

Do you see the relevance of your earlier work in Rwanda/Bosnia to Gujarat?

Great progress in international law has been made in recent years and
it should be applied to Gujarat. For example, International Criminal
Tribunals recognise rape as a crime against humanity, a form of
torture and an act that contributes to genocide. The Rome Statute of
the International Criminal Court (ICC) codifies this. The ICC statute
contains norms also for the prosecution of rape, which counter many
of the discriminatory obstacles in domestic law: for example, the
requirements of penile penetration, resistance by the victim, and
medical evidence. All these are contrary to international standards.
As I understand the Indian courts, domestic law is supposed to be
reconciled with international law whenever possible. So legal redress
for women is possible.

Aside from law, what other forms of redressal would you suggest?

Reparations, including the payment of compensation, rather than
relief which is a gratuity and, in this case, a pittance, and
provision for services, including economic and psychological support,
to victims. Reparations must come from the government, as it is a
critical way of reaffirming the citizenship of minorities.

Are there any signs of hope?

In some quarters, there is hope that the Indian Supreme Court will
finally act on cases before it. It will also implement the
recommendations of the National Human Rights Commission. It is
critical that civil society does not allow Gujarat to be swept under
the rug. I oppose at home the US-led 'war on terrorism' and its
demonisation of certain communities and the legitimising of violence
to 'control' them. We are living in times when the rule of law, human
rights and democracy are being traded for illusory and violent
notions of national security, where force has substituted justice.
But we must keep hope and act on it.

Is it an exaggeration to compare Nazi Germany with the current
Gujarat scenario?

I am Jewish and I saw in the faces of the women and children to whom
we talked the desperate looks of my own ancestors in Eastern Europe.
There are parallels between the Gujarat situation and the persecution
of the Jewish people in Germany. The congealment of the divide and
the electoral 'victory' of the BJP and its determination to take the
Gujarati experiment elsewhere makes it even more worrying. We can't
take elections, in the context of propaganda of hate and fear that
demonises a minority, to be a legitimate mandate.