UN says sexual assaults on young girls in India, Pak 'heart breaking'

United Nations, Feb 2: Underlining that the United Nations is trying to address the issue through access to education and women empowerment, the spokesperson of the UN chief said the recent incidents of sexual assault on young girls in India and Pakistan are "heart breaking".

He was responding to questions on recent incidents of rapes in India and Pakistan. In India, an eight-month-old baby girl was raped last week by her 28-year-old cousin in New Delhi, a shocking incident that outraged the nation. While in Pakistan last month, a seven-year-old girl was brutally raped and murdered allegedly by a serial killer, triggering a national outcry.

"I think these two cases you referred to are heart- breaking," Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said while answering a question on UN's advice for the two countries on this "vicious cycle".

"What is clear is that no country on this planet is immune from the scourge of violence against women, violence against girls. We see it in all country, north, south, east and west," Dujarric said.

Through various programmes, through UN-Women, UNFPA [United Nations Population Fund], UNICEF [United Nations Children's Fund] and others, the UN is working with governments to try to get messages through to communities to respecting girls, to respecting women, he said.

"It's about equal rights. It's about access to health. It's about access to education. It's about empowerment of women. Through a number of its development programmes, the UN is trying to face the issue," said the spokesperson of the UN Secretary General.

PTI