A report from a UN-affiliated working group on human rights in India exposes the constant struggle that women face, as sexual violence is used by security forces to implement their whims and targeted against lower castes.

Drafted by the Working Group on Human Rights in India and the UN (WGHR), “Human Rights in India: Status Report 2012” covers the gamut of human rights failures that take place within the state. Several sections deal with sexual assault and violence towards women in both conflict zones and during peacetime, highlighting the neglect that many of these cases face from the legal system and authorities. Among other statistics the WGHR uncovered, one of the most staggering is that “every 60 minutes two women are raped, and every six hours a young married woman is found beaten to death, burnt or driven to suicide.”

Security forces within India are frequent perpetrators of violence against women, according to the report, though the stigma associated with victimhood results in cases of rape being under reported. At one point, the report accused the armed forces of thwarting investigations where “circumstantial evidence strongly indicates the involvement of armed forces.” Prosecution of those in the armed forces discharged for committing rape is particularly difficult as well, thanks to provisions in India’s legal system that require a waiver from the state or central government to allow charges to go forward.

Women of the Dalit group — the lowest place in the Indian caste system — face a particular stigma and are the subject of a disproportionate amount of violence:

Violence against Dalit women is targeted, 361 and atrocities committed against them include: verbal abuse and sexual epithets, naked parading, pulling out of teeth, tongue and nails, and violence, including murder. Dalit women are also threatened by rape as part of collective violence by higher castes. The National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) reported a total of 1,349 rape cases of Dalit women for 2010, with the state of Madhya Pradesh reporting 316 cases, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 311 cases. There are cases of kidnapping and abduction of women, with Uttar Pradesh alone accounting nearly 48.5% of the 511 cases for 2010. Notably, there is no disaggregated data collected on atrocities against Dalit women.

The report comes at a time when violence against women is in the spotlight in India, following the horrific rape and death of a young woman in the capital city New Dehli. Mass protests broke out throughout the country in the aftermath of the vicious attack on the victim — identified as Jyoti Signh Pandi — with the potential for a change in India’s laws beginning to take shape.

Meanwhile, the trial against the accused attackers has already been closed to the media due to the interest the case has generated. The trial is sure to be contentious as defense lawyers have already both engaged in blaming the victim for the attack and claiming that police tortured a confession out of one of the defendants.

France has responded to a request for help from Mali by sending military forces to aid in the Malian government’s push back on an offensive launched by rebel forces in the north of the country.

The initial forces on the ground are there to take part in a United Nations-authorized mission to boost training of the Malian Army, ahead of an international force due to be deployed in the fall of this year. Several other European countries have also pledged to send trainers to Mali, but France surprised many with the swiftness of its action. President Francois Hollande laid out the thinking behind France’s decision in a speech on Friday:

“France, like its African partners, cannot accept this. I have decided that France will respond, alongside our African partners, to the request from the Malian authorities.

“We will do it strictly within the framework of the United Nations Security Council resolution. We will be ready to stop the terrorists’ offensive if it continues.”

France — which has a history of intervening in the region, such as in Cote d’Ivoire in 2011 — had previously indicated publicly that it would wait for a further clarification of U.N. resolutions before taking action. While these forces are not necessarily mandated to engage in combat with the coalition of rebels and Islamists in control of Northern Mali, French diplomats are now arguing behind closed doors that previously passed U.N. resolutions give them the authority to do so, should France choose. Given the ease in which the rebels, whose make-up include groups thought to be affiliated with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), took a key town on Thursday, Hollande may make that call relatively soon.

France’s speedy response may help make U.S. decision-makers coming to a conclusion regarding the region far easier. After the Sept. 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, reports floated the possibility that the U.S. was considering launching drone strikes against AQIM. Those strikes never came to fruition, but remain a distinct possibility, as J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center, sees U.S. counter-terrorism officials being increasingly open to air strikes. “Drone strikes or airstrikes will not restore Mali’s territorial integrity or defeat the Islamists, but they may be the least bad option,” said Mr. Pham, a senior strategy adviser to the U.S. military’s Africa Command.

A Hungarian journalist with ties to the right-wing government has advocated for a “final solution” to the Roma living in Hungary, reflecting a rise of ultra-conservative nationalism in Eastern and Central Europe.

In an article published last week in the far-right wing newspaper Magyar Hirlap, commentator Zsolt Bayer unleashed a tirade against the Roma — the preferred term for “gypsies” — for their suspected involvement in a bar fight. The rant borders on the genocidal given the language used, made all the more horrific due to the connection Bayer shares with the Prime Minister of Hungary:

A significant part of the Roma are unfit for coexistence. They are not fit to live among people. These Roma are animals, and they behave like animals. When they meet with resistance, they commit murder. They are incapable of human communication. Inarticulate sounds pour out of their bestial skulls. At the same time, these Gypsies understand how to exploit the ‘achievements’ of the idiotic Western world. But one must retaliate rather than tolerate. These animals shouldn’t be allowed to exist. In no way. That needs to be solved — immediately and regardless of the method.

The Roma, who were among the many targets of the Holocaust in 1940s Germany, make up approximately seven percent of Hungary’s total population and are the frequent target of attacks by vigilantes enforcing “public order.” While right-wing parties have made a stir for xenophobic and anti-Semitic language recently, including a politician in the third-strongest party calling for a “list of Jews,” the proximity of Bayer to power makes his comments all the more stunning.

Bayer was one of the founding members of the ruling Fidesz Party, which has over the last year consolidated power in the hands of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. While some members of the party have condemned Bayer’s statements, including Justice Minister Tibor Navracsics, the odds that Bayer will be prosecuted for incitement or expelled from the party for his statements are slim. Though he holds no official role in the government, Bayer was one of the organizers of the “Peace March” in Jan. 2012 that showed support for Orbán’s government amid European Union protestations that Hungary’s new Constitution violated E.U. treaties.

The unwillingness of Fidesz to officially criticize Bayer reflects the growing prominence of far-right wing parties in European politics during a time of economic downturn. The Golden Dawn party in Greece has made a name for itself — and increased its standing in the polls to enter Parliament for the first time — by railing against foreigners amid Greece’s lengthy depression.