Efforts must be stepped up to fight crimes against women around the world in view of recent high-profile cases, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said Thursday in Geneva, ahead of International Women's Day. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights welcomed the tougher laws in India that have been proposed by experts and were partly approved by the government Monday, in reaction to the gang-rape and killing of a student in New Delhi in December.
Looking to Women's Day on Friday, Pillay also pointed to the public outrage that three incidents caused last month: the torture and killing of an alleged witch in Papua New Guinea, the rape and killing of three sisters in an Indian village, and the death of a teenaged South African rape victim. However, she warned: "It is not enough simply to pass legislation." She added that "temporary outrage is not enough." The real problem in many countries was that politicians, police, justice officials and citizens "collectively shrug and look away when they hear of rapes and other sexual or gender-based crimes," she said.
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