Legal Documents

Justiciablity of Economic, Social and cultural Rights Judgements' in Nepal

2011-06-24T22:15:00.000-07:00

Justiciability of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ Judgements in Nepal[1]

Background:

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) comprises all sorts of human rights variables; however, it succeeded to create only moral obligation so that in later days such rights are structured in legal framework at international level. The structured legal framework comes in major human rights instruments, most importantly International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) which is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966, and enforced from January 3, 1976. The ICESCR, then became a part of the International Bill of Human Rights, along with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

In order to domesticate it,

Nepal

became a party to the ICESCR on 14 May 1991. Since the State party has the legal and moral obligation to abide by the provisions of the Covenant, Nepal has the legal basis for the justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs) which emanates from the provision of the Nepal Treaty Act, 2047 B.S (1990). Section 9(1) of the Act provides that:

In case of the provisions of a treaty, to which Nepal or Government of Nepal is a party upon its ratification accession, acceptance or approval by the Parliament, inconsistent with the provisions of prevailing laws, the inconsistent provision of the law shall be void for the purpose of that treaty, and the provisions of the treaty shall be enforceable as good as Nepalese laws.

It gives Nepal the justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights which incorporates some major components for instances; legal framework, judicial admissibility and implementation, evaluation and monitoring mechanism from state level. In the legal framework we can see the vast changes in the development of each Constitution from the Constitution 1947 to the existing Interim Constitution 2007. Though the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990 provided less scope for the personal rights[2] from ESC rights perspectives, however, it shows the sight for the upcoming constitution .The existing Interim Constitution comes with immense development from the human rights perspective. The Interim Constitution 2007 has incorporated judicial enforceable rights in Part III as fundamental rights and Directive Principles and Policies of the State in Part IV. Similarly, the Constitution has guaranteed the right to constitutional remedy in Art. 32 as set forth in Art. 107 which is not only the fundamental right of Nepalese citizens but also a non-derogable right.[3] These instances show that the Interim Constitution has succeeded in inscribing the ICESCR as fundamental rights which are judicially enforceable. From the Human Rights development perspective, this constitution can be termed as PAPER TIGER and its strength is yet to see.

The existing Interim Constitution does not become fabulous in itself. Several other sources contribute further inputs on its betterment. Regarding Political, Economic and Social Transformation and Conflict Management, the Comprehensive Peace Accord, 2006 [4] provides some provisions. Under Art.3 of the Accord, both sides - Government of Nepal (GON) and The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)- agreed to adopt the following policies and programs for the political, economic and social transformation and to manage the existing conflict in the country in a positive manner. In the same manner, under Article 3(1) both sides have agreed to adopt a policy to establish the rights of all citizens to education, health, housing, employment and food sovereignty'[5] which are the great agendas from ESC rights perspectives.

All the provisions mentioned in the Peace Accord, have sought prompt realization from the State’s side on the one hand and The Government of Nepal (GON) and The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) have agreed to ensure several socio-economic rights through new enactments and activities.

Judicial Activism for ESC Rights:

Socio-economic rights can be argued into those that relate to three sets of duties: Provision- imposing a duty on the state to pay for or provide a service directly; regulation – modifying the regulatory environment by imposing (or removing) state-enforced duties on providers; and obligation – modifying the provider-recipient relationship by imposing (or removing) a duty on the provider that the recipient herself/himself must enforce. The level of state intervention and investment required never disappears, but it certainly declines as we move from direct provision, to regulation, to private enforcement of horizontal obligations[6]. In context to Nepal, since several decades with the practice of separation of power, check and balance approach and human rights activism in Nepal, the independent judiciary is also realizing the foremost basic needs of human beings. However, the human rights challenges that Nepal faced prior to the conflict, which continue to challenge development and stability in the country, are broad and widely varied.[7] During Nepal’s most recent review by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), the committee included a litany of abuses, noting primarily extreme poverty, inequalities between men and women, trafficking in women and girls, the high rate of domestic violence, under and unemployment, problems faced by ex-bonded laborers, inadequacies in mandated minimum wages, and the high incidence of Child Labor. [8] Additionally, the right to food, work, health, and housing were all cited as being out of reach for much of the population, especially in rural areas.[9]

By acknowledging all the facts and realities of the Nepalese society, the different sectors of civil society including judges and lawyers are satisfactorily capable to take and deal with the issues of discrimination and ESC rights.

Right to Food:

The right to food is a human right. It is the right of all human beings to live in dignity, free from hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. The food sovereignty is protected under international human rights and humanitarian law and the correlated state obligations are equally well-established under international law. It is noteworthy that the right to food is recognized in the Interim Nepalese Constitution in Art.18(3)[10]. From the jurisprudential notion, the term ‘food sovereignty’ covers the right-duty relation. The Supreme Court of Nepal has also largely interpreted in the light of right to adequate food and free from hunger. There are various landmark cases in which the Supreme Court of Nepal evolved new notion regarding the term food sovereignty. Like in the case of Bajuddin Minhya and Others v GON, Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers[11] which was about the destruction of crops by wild animals from Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve on which the court explained food sovereignty, right to food and right against starvation. Similarly, in the case of Madhav Kumar Basnet v Prime Minister, Girija Prasad Koirala and Others[12] concerning starvation, court acknowledged state responsibility on protection of life . On the other case of Raju Prasad Chapagain and Others representing Pro-Public v HMG, Ministry of Health and Others[13]; the petitioners filed the case in relation to the production of substituting baby food. Since the promulgation of the Mother’s Milk Substituting Matter (Control of Sale, Distribution) Act 2049, the government had not constituted a committee in regard to supervision and monitoring of production, sale and distribution of baby food aimed to substitute mother’s milk. The petitioners also drew the attention of the court to Art 11 of the 1990 Constitution which prescribed special protective measures for children, Art 26( 7)(8 ) which provided for special measures for the protection of the health of the women and children. The Supreme Court issued mandamus in the name of Ministry of Health to appoint inspector in accordance with Section 13 of Mother’s Milk Substituting Matter (Control of Sale, Distribution) Act 2049. The Court also drew the attention of the Ministry for the constitution of the Committee as provided in Sec. 4 of the Act and implementing the Act. In order to enforce the Supreme Court’s order, the Mother’s Milk Substituting Matter (Control of Sale, Distribution) Act 2049 was effectively implemented and some measures had been taken to make committee active with pursuant to Sect. 4 of the Act. However, the progressive report of the second phase of the order has not yet been submitted to the Monitoring and Inspection Section of the Supreme Court.

Similarly, in the case of Prakash Mani Sharma and Others[14], the petitioners addressed that mass starvation seemed to occur in several districts of the hills in Mid and Far Western Nepal. The writ contained that food, shelter, clothing, education, health and employment are basic needs of human life on which state should be liable for its responsibility. Thus, among the various needs, the right to food is the utmost basic need acknowledged by Art. 18(3) of the Interim Constitution, 2007 which guarantees the right to food sovereignty to every citizen of

Nepal

, Article 12 which guarantees the right to live with human dignity and Art. 13 which guarantees the right against discrimination.

The petitioners then cited the report that was published in the bulletin of World Food Program (WFP)- Food Security Bulletin- 20, which states that among the 75 districts of Nepal, 32 districts face food deficit and among them, 16 face acute scarcity. They also referred various news report (national daily newspapers named as Kantipur, The Kathmandu Post and Gorkhapatra) that portray the scarcity of food, mismanagement in the distribution, of food by the Nepal food corporation, distribution of rotten food, various calamities resulting from or abated by mal-nutrition, in the mid and far western hill districts. They asked for the issuance of appropriate order in the name of respondents that guarantee the right to access to food by the citizens, proper arrangement regarding transport, safe custody and distribution of foodstuff in the food deficit zones, special protective measures for aged, children, and pregnant and lactating mothers, and constitution of inquiry commission against the Nepal Food Corporation, necessary legal action against the culprits of the corporation.

In this case the Division Bench of the Supreme Court on 2008-09-25 (2065/6/9) issued an interim order in which it, citing the report of WFP, stated that the drought districts of Kalikot, Humla, Mugu, Dolpa, Bajura, Achham, Dailekh, Darchula, Baitadi, Dadeldhura, Rukum and Jajrakot seem to be affected by food scarcity. It has been said that more than three million people are facing starvation.

Every citizen’s right to live is a fundamental right. The legal counsels representing the Ministry of Agriculture and the Nepal Food Corporation submitted to the court that there is sufficient food stock but it has not been possible to transport food in those districts. Man cannot live without food. And unless the food scarcity is addressed immediately, irreparable loss is imminent, and later the remedy will be like availing doctor after the death of the patient. And therefore, an interlocutory order is hereby issued in the name of respondents to immediately transport and supply foodstuff in those districts also taking note of the fast approaching great Dashain festival of Nepali.

Following the Supreme Court’s order, Home Ministry instructed Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) to supply food to the affected districts. The NFC made the budget of thirty – eight crore and fifty - seven million cost price of the total quantity of rice. Instantly, NFC supplied and made strategy to supply food to the dipo but not every village development committee or ward committee. The government introduced to supply food (only rice) in the quota basis. The government, then, realized the problem of remote districts and started the hierarchical strategic relation in between Ministry of Finance, National Planning Commission and Nepal Food Corporation in order to fill up the shortages of food. Nepal Food Corporation started to supply food in fifty percent discount rate through helicopter to remote areas where markets, roads and transport facilities are not available.

Right to Health:

The right to health is an inclusive right. It is a fundamental part of our human rights and of our understanding of a life in dignity[15]. Regardless of our age, gender, socio-economic or ethnic background, we consider our health to be our most basic and essential asset[16]. The right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, to give it its full name, is not new. Internationally, it was first articulated in the 1946 Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO), whose preamble defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. The preamble further states that “the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1948 also mentioned health as part of the right to an adequate standard of living[17]. The right to health was again recognized as a human right in the International Covenant of Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), 1966[18]. It is noteworthy that the Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007 has also recognized the right to free basic health services as well as the right of women reproductive health and the right of children to ‘care, basic health and social security’ [19]. It is also made as a part of state obligation and distinctly mentioned in Part IV, Directive Principles of the Interim Constitution, 2007.

In the same path to the development of health sectors, the Supreme Court of Nepal has also moved to the novel and landmark steps. In the case, Dilbahadur Bishwakarma v GON, PM and Council of Ministers[20], the petitioners filed a case against social ill practice, known as ‘Chaupadi Pratha’ existed in the Far Western Development Region of Nepal. During the menstruation period, women kept out of the house like – shed and so on which were unhygienic and directly affect to women’s health.

The joint bench of the Supreme Court issued the following directive order:

i. Government of

Nepal

(GON), Prime Minister (PM) and Ministers of Council must declare the Chhaupadi System as social ill practice within a month from the date of directive order.

ii. Ministry of Health should form a committee including medical officer and conduct a research in those districts of psychological effect on women and children. The committee should prepare a report and submit to the Ministry of Health and Supreme Court.

iii. Local self governance committees should take initiation for awareness campaign about the consequences of Chaupaudi System.

iv. GON, Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare Council should make guidelines within 3 months and informed to the Supreme Court as well.

v. The petitioners were the member of NGO’s so that you should also take initiation in making laws and other directives as there was no parliament on the decision.

In order to follow up the directives, the concerned ministries and the committee submitted a report to the GON and the Supreme Court on 2064 (2007). Henceforth, the alleviation of this practice is yet to see effectively in social life.

Similarly, in Prakash Mani Sharma and Others v GON, Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and Others[21] concerning uterus-prolapsed, the petitioner petitioned that prime productive age women were suffering from the problem of uterus prolapsed specially in the hilly districts. From the research work done by Motherhood Network Federation, 2005 in ten districts namely Dhankuta, Siraha, Bara, Nuwakot, Kapilvastu, Baglung, Banke, Surkhet, Kanchanpur and Baitadi, it was found that 4,518 women came to the health camps and from among these women, 415 suffered from the problem of uterus prolapsed. The other report from the health camp conducted by Nepal Family Planning Association, 1999 (2056) in Doti and Acham districts in 1999 wherein, 3,000 women came to the health camps and out of the total women 2,000 women suffering from reproductive problems . In which 25% suffered from the problem of uterus prolapsed. It also brought serious information that the problem of uterus prolapsed was 30% in Terai and 70% in the hilly districts. With such evidence, in 2008, Prakashmani Sharma and others (Pro-public) petitioned the court via PIL in order to have effective order for the protection of the rights of women suffering from the problem of uterus prolapsed. In this case, the court had not only addressed the right to health of women from the sight of feminist jurisprudence but also in wider context that reproductive health related to women’s issue is an issue of all human beings. The court had progressive realization on the recognition of right to reproductive health is not sufficient to write in black letters as a fundamental right in the constitution, however, needed the physical facilities for the enjoyment of this right. Thus, the Supreme Court issued a directive order in the name of the Prime Minister and the Office of the Council of Ministers to hold consultation as per necessary with health related experts and representatives of the society and to draft a Bill and submit it before the Legislature-Parliament as soon as possible. It also issued an order of mandamus in the name of the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare and Ministry of Population and Health to prepare special work plans and to provide free consultation, treatment, health services and facilities to the aggrieved women and to set up various health centres and to initiate effective programs with the aim of raising public awareness on problems relating to reproductive health of women and the problem of uterus prolapsed.

With the directive order of Supreme Court, the Government of Nepal, Ministry of Health and Population, Family Health Division promulgated the Procedural Regulation Relating to Treatment and Surgical of Uterus Prolapsed, 2008 (First amendment, 2009) . The Regulation clearly mentions that the screening camp has to deliver the primary health services to more than two hundred women. In the case of surgery, the Government of Nepal will provide Rs.fifteen thousand, thirteen thousand and twelve thousand to the women of hilly region, mountain region and terai region accordingly. The transportation cost will also provide to the women of hilly region, mountain region and terai region as fifteen hundred, one thousand and five hundred accordingly. There are fifteen government hospitals in five development regions which are carrying out the responsibility. In 2009/2010 the government makes the target for providing services to 18000 women. However, only 10.954 women have got treatment. Besides the government initiation, Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Nepal is also launching activities under the finance of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Then the ADRA Nepal is supporting to the NGOs at district level from which 1237 women are benefitted at all. In the same way, Sagarmatha Foundation, Himal Foundation and Care Nepal are working as supportive partner. However, there is no specific agent of monitoring and supervision of these private initiations. It is appreciable to know that supportive partners and private organizations have to work under the government co-ordination and co-operation. If the government and private organizations can go hand in hand, it is more sustainable and target women will be benefitted. In order to achieve the objective, the government has to focus on both preventive and curative aspect of the problem[22].

In the case, right against sexual harassment in the working places like – cabin, dance restaurant and massage parlour by Prakashmani Sharma and others vs GON, Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare and others[23], several constitutive elements of Women’s human right law has raised. The petitioners advocated for the psychological and safety of health of the working women in such places.

The joint bench of the Supreme Court issued an order to constitute a committee to develop procedural guidelines for the prevention of sexual harassment to the working women at workplaces like dance bar, dance restaurants and massage parlour in the name of the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare on 20 November, 2006 (2063-8-4).

For the enforcement of Supreme Court’s order, the Ministry of Women, Children and Social welfare constituted a committee. The Prime Minister and Council of ministers’ office had corresponded a letter to the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare and Police Headquarter in order to follow the order and procedural guidelines. However, neither of above mentioned ministries had evaluated and monitored the impact of introducing such policies.

The other land mark case of Prakashmani Sharma v HMG, Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare and Others[24], under right to health which relates to maternity leave. The petitioners advocated in regard to reproductory role of women which is associated with several segments of the development of society. Special measures were required for the protection of maternity. Moreover, working women and employees should be observed and pay more attention for safe motherhood.

The petitioners cited various laws relating to employees and working women which fix different time period for maternity leave. For instance, the Civil Service Act 1993 (2050), Rules 1992 (2049), Local Self Government Rules, 1999(2056), Nepal Health Service Rules, 1998 (2055). Appeal Court and District Judges ( Salary and other condition of Service ) Act,1991 (2048), which provide for 60 days maternity leave, while the Labor Rules 2050 (1993) provide leave for 52 days, Tea Estate Labour Rules 2050 (1993) and Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation Employees Condition of Service Rules 2031(1984) provide for 45 days leave. Though, the constitution provided special provision for the protection of rights of women and children. Then, petitioners justified an unscientific and against the provision of CEDAW, CRC and ILO Conventions. Concerning maternity protection as those instruments mentioned 14 week’s maternity leave for women employees.

The special bench of the Supreme Court issued a directive order on 11 September, 2003 (2060-5-25) in the name of GON, Ministry of Health to make necessary arrangement. It, therefore, issued a directive order in the name of the government to make necessary arrangements for the protection of maternity by fixing minimum period of leave for employees and developing standard for the same, by taking note of the legal provisions for the protection of maternity and international instrument for the protection of maternity and child health.

The government had corresponded letters for execution of Supreme Court’s order to the concerned ministries. In response to the letter on 31 July 2007 (2064-4-15) Ministry of Labour and transport informed the exercise for amendment of the laws was going on. The ministry had not informed the completion of task to the date of information got by the paper writer on 4.08.2010.

Right to Education:

Education is a fundamental human right and essential for the exercise of all other human rights. It promotes individual freedom and empowerment and yields important development benefits[25]. The right to education was firstly articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948[26] and then the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966[27]. The 1960 UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education also defines education in Article 1(2) as: "all types and levels of education, (including) access to education, the standard and quality of education, and the conditions under which it is given."

In the same way, the broader meaning of education has been recognized in Article 1(a) of UNESCO's 1974 Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding, Co-operation and Peace and Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The article states that education implies:"the entire process of social life by means of which individuals and social groups learn to develop consciously within, and for the benefit of, the national and international communities, the whole of their personal capabilities, attitudes, aptitudes and knowledge."

Following the international development, the Supreme Court of Nepal has also taken step in acknowledging the basic human rights of Nepalese citizens. In the case of Som Prasad Paneru v GON, PM and Council of Ministers[28] , the petitioner filed a case in regard to young girls subjugated as bonded labour, called as ‘kamalari custom’ in Mid- West and Far- West of Nepal on the first day of Magh (ie. Mid January) in the Tharu Community. Thus, petitioner claimed that numerous children were depriving from education, health and other overall development of human beings. Those rights were guaranteed by CRC and other several human rights instruments and Art. 26 of the 1990 Constitution itself.

The joint bench of Supreme Court then issued mandamus and directive order to the GON, Ministry of Education on 10 September 2006 (2063-5-25) to develop a curriculum exploring the basic information of human rights at school level.

Then the GON sent a letter to the concerned ministries for the application of Kamaiya Labour (Prohibited) Act, 2001 (2058) on 18 September 2007 (2064-6-1). The Curriculum Development Department made human rights based course to study at primary, secondary and higher- secondary level. Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare also started awareness programme in order to alleviate ‘Kamaiya Custom’. However, research seems to be done in order to find out the effectiveness of execution.

In the same way, there are several other cases relating to right to education like; Dilbahadur Bishwakarma and Others v Cabinet Secretariat and Others[29] where the petitioners challenged discrimination in education on the basis of caste on the clause 14.8.6 of Tindhara Sanskrit Hostel’s By-Rule which was against the Art. 11 of the Constituion. Thus, the Supreme Court declared the said clause ultra virus. Following the Supreme Court’s decision, Sanskrit Pathsala’s By- Rule has amended and opens access to hostel for non-brahmin student too. It is notable that the non-brahmin students were allowed to enroll but deprived from hostel of the school before 2008(2065). The decision of the case brought additional responsibility to the Sanskrit Pathsala’s administration. Now, two dalits and four janajatis (including female student – Lalita Gamal) are studying and staying in the Sanskrit Pathsala’s hostel. It seems to be a great achievement in the educational system of Nepal. However, there is not any reservation system for marginalized students in the hostel excluding regional quota (reservation) system. It is noted that only access to shelter is not enough, certainty of having shelter for marginalized students need to make effective with the concept of positive discrimination[30]. The other case, Mohan Kumar Karna and Others v Ministry of Education and Sports[31], petitioned for education free up to secondary level as per the Constitution and Education Rules 2049. Next case, Pradhwosh Chhetri and Others v Office of the Council of Ministers[32] which relates to the grant of quota (reservation) to candidates belong marginalized communities to study graduate programmes in medicine. The case petitioned by Sudarshan Subedi and Others v GON, Council of Ministers and Others[33]; relates to the free education for disable persons in public schools, universities and training centers in which the Supreme Court issued mandamus & prohibition.

Among these cases relating to right to education and right to equality and social justice, Department for Monitoring and Evaluation for the Execution of the Cases is succeed to follow up the case of Dilbahadur Bishwakarma v Cabinet Secretariat and others till the decision taken by Ministry of Sports and Education for the amendment of Act. The remaining development has not been updated by the department. Rest of the cases are in the shadow from evaluation and monitoring by the authority of the government.

Epilogue

The glimpse of aforementioned cases reflects that the Nepalese judiciary is progressing with realistic thought, though; the Supreme Court has neither the full authority to prescribe law nor the jurisdiction to execute the verdict. Whatever, the jurisdiction of Supreme Court is just limited to interpret the black letter words so that the winner of the case can not have the absolute taste of the result.

The problem existing from several decades seems to be acknowledged by the Supreme Court and other state agents reached to establish the department named as “Department for Monitoring and Evaluation for the Execution of the Cases” which is registered in accordance with Article 107(2) (ie. Cases relating to Public Interest Litigation) of the Constitution at 2005/2006 (2062/2063). The paper writer found that the department is succeed to keep only the first phase of record of the implementation of cases and somewhere failing, in following up to the end of the cases. As there is no proper categorization of the cases in accordance with the issues, it fails in giving priority to the urgent need of implementation.

From evaluation of the aforementioned cases, the state seems to be more successful in amending laws, and introducing new laws as per the interpretation of the Supreme Court. The fundamental necessity of human beings ie. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights seems to fall under the shadow of state obligation. The prompt and effective execution should hold of those cases whether that is of majority needs or the minority needs must address immediately. However, it is fact that either the Department for Monitoring and Evaluation or any other associate department of concerned ministry is succeeding to follow up the implementation and keep record for transparency of good governance system. For instance, in the right to food and compensation right case of Bajudhin Minya, it has not been recorded elsewhere about the compensation received by the victims. Similarly, the latest development of the Ministry of Health charged by Prakashmani Sharma and others of Utreus Prolapsed case also has not been updated in the Department of Monitoring and Evaluation for the Execution of the Supreme Court’s order.

The paper writer realizes that there must be effective Central Department for over all evaluation of the implementation of the cases. And associating agents or the departments must update its progress to the central department periodically. The central department also must have effective guidelines and procedural mechanism to look overall act of the state agents in relation to the implementation of the cases. The other state agents must have the chain of working relation with this Department of Monitoring and Evaluation for the Execution of Cases.

The academicians, researchers, judges, lawyers and so on also must give priority to conduct research on the execution part of the cases rather than just interpreting the words of the constitution, laws and the conventions and briefing the details of the cases.

[1] Sharma Laxmi, Research Assistant, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo, 28.10.2010

[2] The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990, Part-III and Part-IV His Majesty of the Government of Nepal, Ministry of Law, Justice and parliamentary Affairs, Law Book Management Committee, Kathmandu, Nepal, (English version), 6-7.

[3] The Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007.

[4] A Comprehensive Peace Accord was signed between Mr. Girija Prasad Koirala, Prime Minister

of Nepal and Mr. Prachanda, the President of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) on 21 November, 2006. Following the Accord, an era of peaceful coexisting has begun ending the insurgency and conflict staged by Maoist since 13 February, 1996. Thus this Accord is considered as a landmark event in the Nepalese political history. (Comprehensive Peace Accord Concluded Between the Government of Nepal and The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), Comprehensive Peace Accord, 2006, Peace Committee, Peace Secretariat, Singh Durbar, preface part.)

[5]Ibid, 3.

[6] Daniel M. Brinks & Varun Gauri, Courting Social Justice: Judicial Enforcement of Social & Economic Rights in the Developing World; edt. Varun Gauri & Daniel M. Brinks, Cambridge University Press, 2008.

[7] Wickeri Elisabeth, No Justice, No Peace:Coflict, ScoEconomic Rhts, AndT N Contitution In Nepal; earlemacklaw.drexel.edu/lawreview/Articles/…/wickeri42790.ashx, 2010.

[8] U.N. Econ.& Soc. Council (ECOSOC), Comm. On Econ., Soc., and Cultural Right, Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Articles 16 and 1, of the Covenant: Nepal, 11, U.N: Doc. E/C.12/NPL/CO/2 (Jan.16.2008).

[9] Ibid.

[10] Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2063(2007)

[11] Writ No: WO-0338 of the year 2064 decision dated 2065/11/5/2

[12] Writ No: Wo- 3341 of the year 2055, decision dated 2055/6/27.

[13] Writ No: WO- 2621 of the year 2059, decision dated, 2061/7/20/6

[14] Writ No: Wo-149 of the 2065, decision dated September 15, 2008

[15] http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/Factsheet31.pdf, visited on dated 21.08.2010

[16] ibid

[17] Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, art.25.

[18] International Covenant of Economic Social and Cultural Rights, 1966, art.12.

[19] See articles 16(2), 20(2) and 22(2) of the Interim Consitution,2007.

[20] Writ No: WO- 061-3303

[21] Writ No: WO- 0230 of the year 2064.

[22] Information gathered from Dr. Sushila Bhaidawa, Coordinating officer, Uterus Prolapsed Division, Ministry of Health and Po pulation, Family Health Division, Teku, Nepal on 24.10.2010.

[23] Writ No: WO - 2822of the year 2062, decision dated Nov 28, 2008.

[24] Writ No: WO - 88 of the year 2059 (2002), Decision no 7268 p 726

[25] http://www.unesco.org/en/right-to-education. visited on 24.07.2010

[26] See Article 26, Universal Declaration of Human Right, 1948.

[27] See Article 14, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,1966.

[28] Writ No: WO - 3295 of the year 2061, decision dated 10 September, 2006 (25/05/2063) .

[29] Writ No: WO- 44 of the year 2005 (2062), decision dated 26 September 2005 (2062/10/6)

[30] Paper writer took an interview with Keshav Baral – student and Indra Bahadur Thapa – staff, Sanskrit Pathsala’s hostel, 24.09.2010.

[31] N.K.P. 2060 No 7/8 p. 551

[32] NKP 2061 No 7. p 901

[33] Writ No: WO- 3586 of the year 2000 ( 2057), decision dated 14 November2003 (2060/7/28)

Women’s Role in Peace Building in Nepal

2011-06-18T09:26:00.000-07:00

Women’s Role in Peace Building in Nepal

Samira Paudel

Introduction

Peace building is an inclusive democratic process that requires a close partnership, respect and dialogue among all stakeholders – including the ordinary citizens. It is the effort to promote human security in societies marked by violence and conflict. The overarching goal of peace building is to strengthen the capacity of societies to manage conflict without any recourse to violence, as a means to achieve sustainable human security and reconciliation in societies.

FES Nepal which was established in 1995, is currently working on activities and issues pertaining to democratization, conflict transformation and peace building. This reflects the basic values of FES namely, social democracy, social justice, solidarity and peace where peace-building is a very important theme for Nepal at this transitional period. After the signing of Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and the CPN-Maoists (Communist Party of Nepal), the ongoing conflict was shifted into the peace process with the aim to hold Constituent Assembly elections by June 2007 so as to draft a new Constitution for a New Nepal. Already, Nepal has endorsed some international agreements on human rights, civil and political rights and social, cultural and economic rights, CEDAW and Beijing Declaration. Still, there is a big gap between the conditions of society and acceptance of human rights principles by CPN (Maoists) and counter-insurgency operations by the state. Further, conflicts are appearing in Terai, hills and mountains for rights, power, resource and identity.

The Framework Condition

In a developing country like Nepal where more than half of the population is women, it is very important to identify the conditions of women and realize the role of women in peace building. More then 13,000 people have lost their lives over the last 12 years due to CPN (Maoists)’s insurgency and counter-insurgency organized by the state. About 300,000 people were displaced from their homes. Innocent civilians mostly women and children were the victims of the ongoing violent conflict where it was estimated that about 37,000 women were affected by the violent conflict. Thousands of children have been affected directly and indirectly where 419 (295 boys and 124 girls) innocent children have lost their lives. Around 40,000 children have been displaced due to the armed conflict and more than 8,000 children have been orphaned. A total of 19 People (2 women) have lost their life in the April 2006 movement where 5,000 people were wounded. Despite women’s crucial participation in political movement their role occupancy in crucial areas of decision-making regarding war and peace has been neglected by their male counterpart.

Nepal’s historically evolved patriarchal tradition and caste-based social structure are not letting women come to the decision making level which indirectly effects the country’s economy and this is also affecting the country’s development. As the voice of half of population is unheard they are still living harder lives in the rural areas facing gender discrimination and exploitation. Women are excluded from the society both as beneficiaries and contributors. They have been deprived of most of the opportunities including access to business, trade and industry, gainful employment, entrepreneurial and skill development opportunities, education, health etc. They are discriminated even by the laws of the land on many matters and this begins from their early childhood socialisation where the preference for male child is still strong due to a religiously ingrained attitude. Conflict has affected men and women differently. Gender-based violence such as sexual violence, rape, unwanted pregnancy, forced recruitment as spy or in the fighting force, psychological damage, life-threatening diseases such as HIV/AIDS, infertility, stigmatization and rejection by family members and society, alienation, divorce, being declared unfit for marriage and severe economic and social consequences, widowhood, psychological shock, economic burden for the family, etc have put women in a disadvantaged position.

Since April 2006 in the political arena, a condition of no-war-no-peace prevails in the country. Political leaderships have announced a series of reforms and committed to provide women 33% of seats in the institutions of governance. Still gender imbalance continues in every aspect of life, such as politics, labor market, education and empowerment. Women’s organizations and the international community are, therefore, pushing for gender responsive governance. The recently published Interim Constitution involved 4 women in the draft committee. It shows a bit of change in attitude of leadership but no women was represented in the peace negotiation that produced the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. This also indicates that leaders have not outgrown their conservative thinking. But the implementation of Interim Constitution is likely to increase women’s seat in the 330-member interim parliament and 425-seat for Constituent Assembly body and increase their voice and visibility in decision making. Gender responsive organizations are struggling to achieve equal outcomes for both men and women from national initiatives.

In May 2006, the parliament passed a proposal which obliged the government to issue a citizenship certificate to children with the mother as approver or legal guardian, to guarantee proportionate representation in all state mechanisms including jobs and other opportunities in the long run and to end all provisions in laws that discriminate against them. The post-conflict peace building efforts require alleviating their suffering and creating equal social, economic and political outcome for both women and men. On December 18, Nepal ratified CEDAW’s Optional Protocol. This provides Nepali women the power to bring claims of gender discrimination directly to the UN committee. However, in rural areas, due to the lack of proper knowledge, law enforcement agencies are exploited by anti-social elements. Rural women require capacity building efforts including access to the institutional resources of the state, market institutions, civil society and the international community.

Women and Peace

Positive peace brings transformation in the society. It helps the citizens to achieve freedom and establishes equality of male and female in all spheres of human lives. The real meaning of politics is to serve public interest, hand out justice and set up cordial relationship between the political actors and stakeholders of the society. It should provide essential education for right conduct and talk about the freedom of all men and women. Proper education, teaching and socialization try to minimize the use of violent words in personal and public communication and action in daily life of society. Gautam Buddha said clearly that peace can be achieved only by peaceful means. This means a culture of peace is essential for the creation of a society for peaceful co-existence.

The recent restoration of democracy and conflict transformation in Nepal confirm the fact that the power of powerless is expressed fully through non-violent means of politics by solidarity, purposeful communication and collective action. This means expansion of the participation of women at all levels of society and every aspect of public life is a way to make politics human, non-violent and peaceful. This has been the cry of Nepalese women since the dawn of human civilization. It is a cry of the majority of the Nepalese population for building an order in society so that stakes for peace become a common concern for all members- women, men, children and disabled. Exclusion of women in the politics of peace means paralyzing more than half the population from creative change and making the change sustainable.

Violent conflict affects all the citizens; especially the weaker sections of the society like women, children, disabled and the poor. They lack sufficient mechanism for security, safety and protection. They are ones who are the direct victim of various kinds of conflicts direct structural and cultural. Even though the cost of the conflict is borne by these sections of the societies the benefits are shared and taken by the powerful actors and stakeholders mostly male ones. Therefore, the situation of conflict must be removed by the means of democratization of the state, political parties, civil society, economic institutions and also the community themselves. This is only possible when the collective voice of women is expressed in the public sphere and long-term realistic planning of society is made. Peace requires truth telling about the condition where political leaders conservatively maintain a creek between the promise and practice and ultimately fail to recognize the core meaning of politics which is to maintain morality in public life and not to lie to the people. Women’s organizations in Nepal are struggling hard to minimize the level of violence in politics and seeking for legitimate roles in peace negotiation, mediation and in the conflict resolution process.

Human right situation has worsened in Nepal: Amnesty report

Launching its global annual report “the state of the world’s human rights-2010″ on Thursday, the Amnesty International (AI) said human rights situation in Nepal has deteriorated.

The report points out to hundreds of killings and abductions by state forces and armed groups that have contributed to the deterioration in the rights situation. Public insecurity, AI report said, has escalated with growing number of armed groups taking to violent action against civilians.

The police used unnecessary and excessive force to dispel political and right-based demonstrations, and there have been many incidents of torture to the prisoners, according to the report

The global report, which was made public in Kathmandu by its AI Nepal chapter in a press conference Thursday, further said the commitment made in Nepal’s 2006 Comprehensive Peace Accord to uphold civil, political, economic and cultural rights remained unfulfilled.

It has also blamed political division and proliferation of armed groups for the rise in human rights violations.

Women rights defenders were threatened, assaulted and killed during the reporting period. “There has been continuing violence on dowry deaths and sexual violence.”

Amnesty International Nepal chairman Hem Kumar Khadka said the government stalled ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court despite a commitment from Nepal’s then minister of Foreign Affairs.

The AI-Nepal has already submitted more than 13,000 appeal letters to the minister of Foreign Affairs, calling for the government to proceed with ratification, but it didn’t see any progress made though the minister has agreed to begin the process.

The report was prepared after study on torture or other ill-treatment in at least 111 countries, unfair trials in at least 55 countries, restrictions on free speech in at least 96 countries and prisoners of conscience in at least 48 countries.

Human right situation has worsened in Nepal: Amnesty report
Launching its global annual report “the state of the world’s human rights-2010″ on Thursday, the Amnesty International (AI) said human rights situation in Nepal has deteriorated.The report points out to hundreds of killings and abductions by state forces and armed groups that have contributed to the deterioration in the rights situation. Public insecurity, AI report said, has escalated with growing number of armed groups taking to violent action against civilians.The police used unnecessary and excessive force to dispel political and right-based demonstrations, and there have been many incidents of torture to the prisoners, according to the reportThe global report, which was made public in Kathmandu by its AI Nepal chapter in a press conference Thursday, further said the commitment made in Nepal’s 2006 Comprehensive Peace Accord to uphold civil, political, economic and cultural rights remained unfulfilled.It has also blamed political division and proliferation of armed groups for the rise in human rights violations.Women rights defenders were threatened, assaulted and killed during the reporting period. “There has been continuing violence on dowry deaths and sexual violence.”Amnesty International Nepal chairman Hem Kumar Khadka said the government stalled ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court despite a commitment from Nepal’s then minister of Foreign Affairs.The AI-Nepal has already submitted more than 13,000 appeal letters to the minister of Foreign Affairs, calling for the government to proceed with ratification, but it didn’t see any progress made though the minister has agreed to begin the process.The report was prepared after study on torture or other ill-treatment in at least 111 countries, unfair trials in at least 55 countries, restrictions on free speech in at least 96 countries and prisoners of conscience in at least 48 countries.

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A Dalit Community in Nepal

For centuries discrimination and social exclusion have kept the Dalit communities of eastern Nepal living in poverty.

Human Rights activist Janaki Devi Ram, herself a Dalit, says the 1,500-year-old Hindu tradition describes those born into the social group as ‘untouchables’, restricts their employment opportunities and treats them as outcasts of the societies in which they live.

‘We are poor because we are Dalits and must pick up the carcasses of dead animals,’ she says.

Six years ago Ms Devi Ram began a protest in the district of Siraha that has inspired and been repeated by Dalit communities across the country. 150 members of the Dalit community in the town of Lahan went on strike, demanding a just pay for their long hours of work.

‘Immediately the high-caste farmers placed a blockade on us because we refused to pick up the carcasses,’ she explains. Non-Dalit employers across the district barred them from using public services, the water supply and even buying food in the shops. One day into the blockade, Ms Devi Ram says, the Dalits’ determination strengthened and more than one thousand staged a sit-in at the office of the Chief District Officer who ordered landowners to lift their blockade. A few weeks later 10,000 converged on the capital, Kathmandu , and submitted a letter of their grievances to the Prime Minister.

But the discrimination persists and earlier this year a similar protest over low wages in the village of Bhawaniput-Kalabanjur was met with physical abuse of the protesters as well as a blockade. A pregnant woman reported being punched in the stomach and pulled by the hair.

The United Nations human rights office in Nepal (OHCHR) is investigating a number of reports of caste-based discrimination including the beating, rape and murder of members of Dalit groups.

OHCHR officer Sushil Raj says the crimes against this group and their poverty are the result of the discrimination.

‘It is important for everyone to understand the impact of discrimination on the lives of these people,’ he says. ‘All sectors of society can agree on action to change prejudices, empower those facing discrimination and ensure equal social and economic opportunities at the local and national levels”.

Improving respect for human rights is fundamental to improving social and economic development as well as preventing the conditions that can lead to conflict. OHCHR Nepal is working with Dalit communities and activists to raise awareness of the impact on the society of discrimination.

Source: http://nepalhumanrights.com/researchreports/

Children in Nepal : Issues and Challenges

2011-06-17T10:18:00.001-07:00

Children in Nepal : Issues and Challenges

Introduction

Child labor is one of the major issues in many parts of the world including Nepal. An estimate in 1996 showed that about 250 million children of ages between 5 to 14 years were working full-time of part-time. Most of these working children were in developing countries, over 50% of them in South Asia.

Nepal is one of the countries with very high proportion of child labor Force Survey in 1998/99 showed that about 2 million (14%) children out of the total population of 4.9 million of ages between 5 to 14 years were involved in work.

The Gravity of The Child Labor Problem

Awareness towards the gravity of child labor problem is a relatively new development in Nepal as in many other parts of the world. Though children’s health and education has remained a priority of His Majesty’s Government of Nepal for decades, it was only during the 1990s that the magnitude of the problem of child labor was realized. Since the early 1990s the issue of child rights and child labor has received greater attention which is being reflected in national policies and programs. Because of the social and economic circumstances of the country, child labor issue in Nepal is rather difficult and complex. Nepal is one of the least developed countries. About 90% of the population in Nepal lives in rural areas. About 81% of the total population depends of agriculture, mostly subsistence farming. About 42% Nepalese live under the absolute poverty, with income less than one dollar per day. Because most of the adults are illiterate (adult illiteracy rate about 50%), the capacity of most families to undertake alternatives to develop social and economic organize themselves to develop social and economic safety measures ate seriously constrained. Accordingly, HMG/N has adopted poverty reduction Strategy Paper and the Tenth Plan has emphasized poverty reduction as their overarching goal.

(HMG/N) considers educational development as one of the crucial strategy to remove the problem of poverty and child labor. Provision of basic and primary educational is essential for breaking the problem of poverty as well as eliminating child labor. Accordingly, HMG/N has committed itself to the provision of universal quality basic and primary education for all. It has also been engaged in the global campaign of Education for All. Since early 1990, HMG/N is implementing Basic and Primary Education Program which is currently at its second phase to universalize access and it improve the quality and relevance of basic and primary education in Nepal. Many INGOs and NGOs are also working towards solving the problems of poverty and child labor in Nepal. The issues of child labor in Nepal, however, remain ever big and challenging as the number and sectors of employment of children keep growing.

Social Dimension of Child Labor

Unlike in the case of developing countries like Nepal, Child labor is a thing of history in most of the industrialized and developed countries. The success relates it realization of the need it stop child labor and m=nurture childhood in a protective joyful and educational environment. Today, mostly of the developed countries have compulsory school education up to 16 to 18 years(grade 10 to 12), whereby the government guarantees free education up to that level and the parents are required by the law to send their children to school. However, in many underdeveloped countries this realization has yet to come not only among the poor rural families whose children are vulnerable to child labor but also among many privileged communities and families who employ children as laborers.

It is often taken for granted that children of poor need to work. ‘The riches of poor are their children” goes a Nepali proverb. On the one hand, the proverb reflects the future prospects with able people in the family; on the other hand it indicates that children need to bear with the parents in toiling work fro subsistence. For marginally poor families in Nepal there is simply no alternative, no hope, except to accepting the fate.

The social perspective that child labor is compulsive reality is rather of higher concern because it eludes social responsibly. Employment of children as household servants is a normal phenomenon, even a show of affluence by the employer because of such perceptions. The employers of children as laborer even argue that they are providing protection and helping poor children, and therefore, they feel good about it. They fail to realize that such immediate ‘favor’ results in destruction of childhood. In the absence of a feeling of social responsibility the task of protecting child laborers, proving them with educational environment and enabling them to live like children and grow with positive aspirations becomes all the challenging.

Nepalese society needs to look at the issue from humanitarian stance as well as from the perspectives of positive social transformation towards greater creativity and prosperity.

HIV/AIDS and Working Children

HIV/AIDS is gradually on the increase in the country affection the children associated with sex workers as well as people who visit them. Studies indicate that many low income workers such as those involved in transportation, those who are away from family seeking labor in the urban areas are more likely to visit sex workers. The children of these groups are more vulnerable to worst forms of child labor. The other causes of HIV/AIDS are drug abuse and abnormal sexual behavior which is also on the increase especially among the children and teenagers. Street children and working children away from their families are more vulnerable to such situation. Obviously, working children are more venerable to HIV/AIDS because of their exposure to the situational circumstances as well as because of the lack of awareness, care and support. There is still a need for detailed and critical studies in this area to generate analytical information and deeper understanding about the problems, issues and the overall actions needed.

However, there is also a need for immediate measures to prevent proliferation of the problems as well as to address the needs of those already affected.

Street Children

With increasing urbanization and urban-focused opportunities and facilities, the problem of street children is growing year by year. Children from rural villages and districts end up on city streets as a result of poverty, broken families. Physical and mental abuse in the family, abandonment, helplessness, and desire to live in the city. Street children face hunger, lack of health and education facilities, lack of opportunity for skills development, physical and sexual exploitation by elder and former street children, drug abuse, etc. It is also reported that as they grew up they face difficulties in making a livelihood and, consequently, became involved in immoral and illegal activities, contributing to social disorder.

Some NGOs address the issues of street children with transit homes, skills training, socialization centers, counseling, provision of food and education, family reunion, etc.

However, it is recognized that there needs to be preventive and controlling measures at the origins and destinations of these children with issuance of identity cards for rehabilitative services for those who have already arrived in urban centers.

Disabled Children

HMGN initiated special education with a program for blind children in Kathmandu. Now, special education programs for children with many types of disabilities are being launched. However, most children with disabilities are out of reach of such facilities, as these facilities are mainly urban based. HMGN has ratified most declarations related to children with disabilities and promotion of their rights and development. Since the early 1980s government agencies and various associations’ federations and NGOs have been working for children with disabilities mainly in education, skills training, community-based rehabilitation and against social stigma, discrimination and exclusion. Such NGOs are spread throughout the country raising a voice for the rights and development of children with disabilities.

A government survey on the ‘Situation of Disability in Nepal” reports that about two percent of children have disabilities; however other studies place the figure at between one percent and 15 percent. Only about 10 percent of children with disabilities have access to formal and non-formal education.

Children in Armed Conflict

Under the Royal Army Recruitment Rules (1962), no one aged less than 18 years is eligible to join the Army; however at present children as young as 15 years are able to enlist for military training. The Maoist insurgency that started in 1996 has to date claimed several thousand lives including 300 children and injured many others. It is reported that the Maoists recruit children and youths into their movement.

Detailed information on the number of children involved and their situation is however not available. Although the insurgency originated in Nepal’s western and mid-western regions and increasing number of districts ate affected by disruptions and insecurity. Development activities have been adversely affected and the situation for children is deterioration.

Sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking

Sexual abuse exploitation and trafficking are major issues of concern for child rights in Nepal. These practices continue unabated despite efforts by HMGN and civil society organizations. Studies show that sexual abuse and exploitation is found everywhere including at home in schools, communities and workplaces and even in public. Moreover, it is reported that children ate trafficked for sexual and labor exploitation. HMGN is trying to control sexual abuse; exploitation and trafficking in the commercial sector but is yet to address the non-commercial sector. District-level committees have been formed to address the issue of trafficking. NGOs are working on the protection, prevention and rescue of exploited and abused children (inside and outside the country) and their rehabilitation. Some activities to prevent trafficking of girls include community mobilization and peer counseling through child clubs and women’s groups.

Child Labor

The constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal (1991) forbids the employment of minors in a factory, mine or dangerous workplace. The Children’s Act prohibits the employment of children aged below 14 years in factories/industries. It also provides for protective and safety measures for children aged 14 and above. The act also requires employers to send photographs and details of all child laborers to the local DCWB.

The Nepal Labor Force Survey of 1998/99 found that over 40 percent of all children aged 5-14 years or 1.987 million children were economically active. More girls than boys work and the proportion of working children in rural areas is greater than in urban areas. Child labor exploitation has been a major problem in the promotion of the rights of children as a result of weak implementation of laws poverty, landlessness, lack of a monitoring mechanism and lack of a social security scheme. There is also a lack of administrative and legislative mechanisms to address the issues of child labor in the informal sector.

It is necessary to classify child laborers based on vulnerability and exploitation and prioritize program interventions to protect the rights of working children. Maoist activities against child; labor are to be targeted at the rural setting addressing the causes and consequences.

Legal Provisions

There ate a number of international and national legal instruments in place. However, in Nepal their implementation remains a difficult challenge in the face of limited institutional and human resources.

In the first place, the system that is responsible for the implementation has to be made rational committed and adequately sensitive to the issues. Second the society needs to be prepared for the transition to new social responsibility and for co-operation in the law enforcement. There must be a comprehensive approach to eliminate prejudices to enable all concerned to use legal provision and feel self-responsibility. A clear vision is necessary to prepare and mobilized all concerned in a collaborated and coordinated way for an effective enforcement of law.

Lack of social Contexts and Effective Alternative

The bottom line for effective elimination of the issue of child labor is the provision of at pragmatic and effective alternative to children and parents. Schools should be the place for all school age children. For this schools need to be accessible, affordable, directly benefit are relative to the current situation of the children and the parents and it goes beyond the physical entities and professional articulations.

For a marginally poor and disadvantaged family a school at its doorstep could still be socially inaccessible. Similar situation applies in the case of affordability and perception of benefit. For many parents, it is even difficult to meet the minimum requirements for daily subsistence. It is difficult to expect from such families to afford any cost, time or money for the schooling needs of their children. Further it is difficult to expect from such children to be effective and regular students. The future benefit for them from traditional education would be beyond their anticipation and grasp. A report of basic and primary education indicates that 30% of the total primary school age children are still outside the formal school system. Similarly the report of country assessment of EFA, 2000 show that the total enrolment at grade 1, about 40% repeats the class and about 23 % drop out. Although the repetition and drop out at higher grades are not as big as at grade one, the effectiveness and efficiency of school education remains very poor. Those who complete the primary education cycle ate about 50% only. The problem of non-enrolment and dropouts are acute among the poor and disadvantaged communities particularly girls and children with special needs.

Studies show that the current provisions of schooling do not address the educational needs of the disadvantaged parents and children vulnerable to child labor. Similarly, according to annual school based data of MOES (2000), of the total primer school age children 19.6% are never enrolled in school, 45.4% of the children enrolled in priory schools drip out without completing grade five. Dropout occurs mostly at grade one which stand at 14%.The magnitude of the problems of illiteracy non-enrolment and school drop-out varies by region be gender and by difference in social groups. Most disadvantaged family’s need it engages in physical work for long hours in the field or in the factories or as porters just to earn day-to-day living. Education for intellectual tact, skill and health are crucial for any improvement of the disadvantaged groups. However achieving educational provisions that address the needs and prepare a base for effective and sustainable economic development still remains a challenge.

Challenges of Child Labor: Complex Web of Causes

There are several reasons for children joining the workforce: social reasons, economic reasons, psychological reasons, inadequate policy and regulatory system, lack of comprehensive social and developmental infrastructure etc. Complex relationship exists among the various causes as many of these reasons ate interwoven to one another. Often one cause is an effect of another.

A generic causal-relations model is proposed here to understand the relationship of different causes. Mainly, sixteen generic causes are identified in this model. These are: geo-physical and political constraints ‘corrupted’ parents, discriminating behaviors to girls, bad family behavior and break0ups, work opportunities in urban areas, community apathetic attitude, inadequate commitments, instruments and supports, special physical characteristics needed to specific activities cost advantages to employers, non-pecuniary advantage to employers,’ help to community’ rather than ‘trading-a-child’ attitude of the society, majority agrarian an small scale handicraft economy lack of quality and employment opportunities, high fertility rates and large family sizes and unavailability of schooling.

The consequences and social costs of child labor on the affected children are very high. It impairs their physical, mental and moral health at a very crucial and critical stage of life that leaves permanent consequences. Even more destructive to quality of life in long-term is permanent damage caused to the social development of the child.

Refugee Children

There are more than 100,000 Bhutanese refugees of ethnic Nepali origin who have been living in UNHCR-administered camps in east Nepal for the past 10 years. While repatriation talks continue refugees are provided with food, education, health and other services by HMG, UN bodies and a number of NGOs and INGOs (including SC UK, World Lutheran service and OXfam)

Conflict and Child Labor

The conflict situation in Nepal is increasingly affecting the economic and social arenas. The situation is causing adverse conditions in the affected areas. Schools are highly affected by this condition; Schools in rural areas are not being run effectively. Because of the conflict situation many parents are not sending their children to school and many school teachers in rural areas have moved out. Similarly the local bodies including the VDCs, health posts and local development offices are displaced without any economic support and they are displaced without any economic support and they including the children are forced to seek economic engagement for survival.

Secondly dysfunctional schooling means more children without having to engage in recognized future oriented or hope generating activity in school. So children are amore vulnerable to falling on the worst forms of child labor. And thirdly sometimes children are reported to be drawn into the conflict through forced recruitment in the rural areas. This is contributing to worsening of the situation regarding child labor particularly the worst forms of child labor.

The last situation, involvement of children in conflict situation is new development in the country and is of big concern. There is definitely a need for building consensus and commitment to prevent children falling into the conflict situation in general and direct involvement in the conflict in particular. A stronger campaign by all stakeholders, particularly by the civil society is called for to make schools zone of peace. It also necessitates a more comprehensive and integrated intervention package for the children and families affected or displaced by conflict.

Economic Dimension of Child Labor: The Demand Side of the Issue

The child labor issue has always been studied only from the supply side. The studies often point out poverty, high population expansion, illiteracy, biased social values, repressive culture and so on as the main causes behind the child labor issue. All these supply side factors indicate the need for improvement in socioeconomic conditions and support for the poor and disadvantaged through a more inclusive policy and institutional framework.

There are a number of factors in the demand side as well bearing on child labor. There are monetary as well as non-monetary incentives for the demand of child labor. Children are easier to manage as they are submissive, innocent, less demanding. Trustworthy, less inclined to absenteeism and less aware of their rights. Child labor is therefore cheap and easy to manage.

The tradition of transferring workmanship to new generation is another non-pecuniary factor from the demand side that cannot be neglected. Parents feel that their children will be benefited if the children follow their traditional family occupation. Some jobs demand children due to their childlike physical, behavioral and psychological characteristics-non-threatening, charming, amicable and submissive. Children are preferred as domestic workers, sex workers, drug peddlers etc.

Accordingly demand side appears equally responsible, if not more for the current problems of child labor in Nepal. There is a need for combining awareness creation with sensitization and punitive action in a well-concerted way to cope with the demand situation. (National Plan of Action for Children)

Children in Nepal : Issues and Challenges Introduction Child labor is one of the major issues in many parts of the world including Nepal. An estimate in 1996 showed that about 250 million children of ages between 5 to 14 years were working full-time of part-time. Most of these working children were in developing countries, over 50% of them in South Asia. Nepal is one of the countries with very high proportion of child labor Force Survey in 1998/99 showed that about 2 million (14%) children out of the total population of 4.9 million of ages between 5 to 14 years were involved in work. The Gravity of The Child Labor ProblemAwareness towards the gravity of child labor problem is a relatively new development in Nepal as in many other parts of the world. Though children’s health and education has remained a priority of His Majesty’s Government of Nepal for decades, it was only during the 1990s that the magnitude of the problem of child labor was realized. Since the early 1990s the issue of child rights and child labor has received greater attention which is being reflected in national policies and programs. Because of the social and economic circumstances of the country, child labor issue in Nepal is rather difficult and complex. Nepal is one of the least developed countries. About 90% of the population in Nepal lives in rural areas. About 81% of the total population depends of agriculture, mostly subsistence farming. About 42% Nepalese live under the absolute poverty, with income less than one dollar per day. Because most of the adults are illiterate (adult illiteracy rate about 50%), the capacity of most families to undertake alternatives to develop social and economic organize themselves to develop social and economic safety measures ate seriously constrained. Accordingly, HMG/N has adopted poverty reduction Strategy Paper and the Tenth Plan has emphasized poverty reduction as their overarching goal. (HMG/N) considers educational development as one of the crucial strategy to remove the problem of poverty and child labor. Provision of basic and primary educational is essential for breaking the problem of poverty as well as eliminating child labor. Accordingly, HMG/N has committed itself to the provision of universal quality basic and primary education for all. It has also been engaged in the global campaign of Education for All. Since early 1990, HMG/N is implementing Basic and Primary Education Program which is currently at its second phase to universalize access and it improve the quality and relevance of basic and primary education in Nepal. Many INGOs and NGOs are also working towards solving the problems of poverty and child labor in Nepal. The issues of child labor in Nepal, however, remain ever big and challenging as the number and sectors of employment of children keep growing. Social Dimension of Child Labor Unlike in the case of developing countries like Nepal, Child labor is a thing of history in most of the industrialized and developed countries. The success relates it realization of the need it stop child labor and m=nurture childhood in a protective joyful and educational environment. Today, mostly of the developed countries have compulsory school education up to 16 to 18 years(grade 10 to 12), whereby the government guarantees free education up to that level and the parents are required by the law to send their children to school. However, in many underdeveloped countries this realization has yet to come not only among the poor rural families whose children are vulnerable to child labor but also among many privileged communities and families who employ children as laborers. It is often taken for granted that children of poor need to work. ‘The riches of poor are their children” goes a Nepali proverb. On the one hand, the proverb reflects the future prospects with able people in the family; on the other hand it indicates that children need to bear with the parents in toiling work fro subsistence. For marginally poor families in Nepal there is simply no alternative, no hope, except to accepting the fate. The social perspective that child labor is compulsive reality is rather of higher concern because it eludes social responsibly. Employment of children as household servants is a normal phenomenon, even a show of affluence by the employer because of such perceptions. The employers of children as laborer even argue that they are providing protection and helping poor children, and therefore, they feel good about it. They fail to realize that such immediate ‘favor’ results in destruction of childhood. In the absence of a feeling of social responsibility the task of protecting child laborers, proving them with educational environment and enabling them to live like children and grow with positive aspirations becomes all the challenging. Nepalese society needs to look at the issue from humanitarian stance as well as from the perspectives of positive social transformation towards greater creativity and prosperity. HIV/AIDS and Working Children HIV/AIDS is gradually on the increase in the country affection the children associated with sex workers as well as people who visit them. Studies indicate that many low income workers such as those involved in transportation, those who are away from family seeking labor in the urban areas are more likely to visit sex workers. The children of these groups are more vulnerable to worst forms of child labor. The other causes of HIV/AIDS are drug abuse and abnormal sexual behavior which is also on the increase especially among the children and teenagers. Street children and working children away from their families are more vulnerable to such situation. Obviously, working children are more venerable to HIV/AIDS because of their exposure to the situational circumstances as well as because of the lack of awareness, care and support. There is still a need for detailed and critical studies in this area to generate analytical information and deeper understanding about the problems, issues and the overall actions needed. However, there is also a need for immediate measures to prevent proliferation of the problems as well as to address the needs of those already affected. Street ChildrenWith increasing urbanization and urban-focused opportunities and facilities, the problem of street children is growing year by year. Children from rural villages and districts end up on city streets as a result of poverty, broken families. Physical and mental abuse in the family, abandonment, helplessness, and desire to live in the city. Street children face hunger, lack of health and education facilities, lack of opportunity for skills development, physical and sexual exploitation by elder and former street children, drug abuse, etc. It is also reported that as they grew up they face difficulties in making a livelihood and, consequently, became involved in immoral and illegal activities, contributing to social disorder. Some NGOs address the issues of street children with transit homes, skills training, socialization centers, counseling, provision of food and education, family reunion, etc. However, it is recognized that there needs to be preventive and controlling measures at the origins and destinations of these children with issuance of identity cards for rehabilitative services for those who have already arrived in urban centers. Disabled Children HMGN initiated special education with a program for blind children in Kathmandu. Now, special education programs for children with many types of disabilities are being launched. However, most children with disabilities are out of reach of such facilities, as these facilities are mainly urban based. HMGN has ratified most declarations related to children with disabilities and promotion of their rights and development. Since the early 1980s government agencies and various associations’ federations and NGOs have been working for children with disabilities mainly in education, skills training, community-based rehabilitation and against social stigma, discrimination and exclusion. Such NGOs are spread throughout the country raising a voice for the rights and development of children with disabilities. A government survey on the ‘Situation of Disability in Nepal” reports that about two percent of children have disabilities; however other studies place the figure at between one percent and 15 percent. Only about 10 percent of children with disabilities have access to formal and non-formal education. Children in Armed Conflict Under the Royal Army Recruitment Rules (1962), no one aged less than 18 years is eligible to join the Army; however at present children as young as 15 years are able to enlist for military training. The Maoist insurgency that started in 1996 has to date claimed several thousand lives including 300 children and injured many others. It is reported that the Maoists recruit children and youths into their movement. Detailed information on the number of children involved and their situation is however not available. Although the insurgency originated in Nepal’s western and mid-western regions and increasing number of districts ate affected by disruptions and insecurity. Development activities have been adversely affected and the situation for children is deterioration.Sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking Sexual abuse exploitation and trafficking are major issues of concern for child rights in Nepal. These practices continue unabated despite efforts by HMGN and civil society organizations. Studies show that sexual abuse and exploitation is found everywhere including at home in schools, communities and workplaces and even in public. Moreover, it is reported that children ate trafficked for sexual and labor exploitation. HMGN is trying to control sexual abuse; exploitation and trafficking in the commercial sector but is yet to address the non-commercial sector. District-level committees have been formed to address the issue of trafficking. NGOs are working on the protection, prevention and rescue of exploited and abused children (inside and outside the country) and their rehabilitation. Some activities to prevent trafficking of girls include community mobilization and peer counseling through child clubs and women’s groups. Child Labor The constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal (1991) forbids the employment of minors in a factory, mine or dangerous workplace. The Children’s Act prohibits the employment of children aged below 14 years in factories/industries. It also provides for protective and safety measures for children aged 14 and above. The act also requires employers to send photographs and details of all child laborers to the local DCWB. The Nepal Labor Force Survey of 1998/99 found that over 40 percent of all children aged 5-14 years or 1.987 million children were economically active. More girls than boys work and the proportion of working children in rural areas is greater than in urban areas. Child labor exploitation has been a major problem in the promotion of the rights of children as a result of weak implementation of laws poverty, landlessness, lack of a monitoring mechanism and lack of a social security scheme. There is also a lack of administrative and legislative mechanisms to address the issues of child labor in the informal sector. It is necessary to classify child laborers based on vulnerability and exploitation and prioritize program interventions to protect the rights of working children. Maoist activities against child; labor are to be targeted at the rural setting addressing the causes and consequences.Legal Provisions There ate a number of international and national legal instruments in place. However, in Nepal their implementation remains a difficult challenge in the face of limited institutional and human resources. In the first place, the system that is responsible for the implementation has to be made rational committed and adequately sensitive to the issues. Second the society needs to be prepared for the transition to new social responsibility and for co-operation in the law enforcement. There must be a comprehensive approach to eliminate prejudices to enable all concerned to use legal provision and feel self-responsibility. A clear vision is necessary to prepare and mobilized all concerned in a collaborated and coordinated way for an effective enforcement of law.Lack of social Contexts and Effective Alternative The bottom line for effective elimination of the issue of child labor is the provision of at pragmatic and effective alternative to children and parents. Schools should be the place for all school age children. For this schools need to be accessible, affordable, directly benefit are relative to the current situation of the children and the parents and it goes beyond the physical entities and professional articulations. For a marginally poor and disadvantaged family a school at its doorstep could still be socially inaccessible. Similar situation applies in the case of affordability and perception of benefit. For many parents, it is even difficult to meet the minimum requirements for daily subsistence. It is difficult to expect from such families to afford any cost, time or money for the schooling needs of their children. Further it is difficult to expect from such children to be effective and regular students. The future benefit for them from traditional education would be beyond their anticipation and grasp. A report of basic and primary education indicates that 30% of the total primary school age children are still outside the formal school system. Similarly the report of country assessment of EFA, 2000 show that the total enrolment at grade 1, about 40% repeats the class and about 23 % drop out. Although the repetition and drop out at higher grades are not as big as at grade one, the effectiveness and efficiency of school education remains very poor. Those who complete the primary education cycle ate about 50% only. The problem of non-enrolment and dropouts are acute among the poor and disadvantaged communities particularly girls and children with special needs.Studies show that the current provisions of schooling do not address the educational needs of the disadvantaged parents and children vulnerable to child labor. Similarly, according to annual school based data of MOES (2000), of the total primer school age children 19.6% are never enrolled in school, 45.4% of the children enrolled in priory schools drip out without completing grade five. Dropout occurs mostly at grade one which stand at 14%.The magnitude of the problems of illiteracy non-enrolment and school drop-out varies by region be gender and by difference in social groups. Most disadvantaged family’s need it engages in physical work for long hours in the field or in the factories or as porters just to earn day-to-day living. Education for intellectual tact, skill and health are crucial for any improvement of the disadvantaged groups. However achieving educational provisions that address the needs and prepare a base for effective and sustainable economic development still remains a challenge.Challenges of Child Labor: Complex Web of CausesThere are several reasons for children joining the workforce: social reasons, economic reasons, psychological reasons, inadequate policy and regulatory system, lack of comprehensive social and developmental infrastructure etc. Complex relationship exists among the various causes as many of these reasons ate interwoven to one another. Often one cause is an effect of another.A generic causal-relations model is proposed here to understand the relationship of different causes. Mainly, sixteen generic causes are identified in this model. These are: geo-physical and political constraints ‘corrupted’ parents, discriminating behaviors to girls, bad family behavior and break0ups, work opportunities in urban areas, community apathetic attitude, inadequate commitments, instruments and supports, special physical characteristics needed to specific activities cost advantages to employers, non-pecuniary advantage to employers,’ help to community’ rather than ‘trading-a-child’ attitude of the society, majority agrarian an small scale handicraft economy lack of quality and employment opportunities, high fertility rates and large family sizes and unavailability of schooling.The consequences and social costs of child labor on the affected children are very high. It impairs their physical, mental and moral health at a very crucial and critical stage of life that leaves permanent consequences. Even more destructive to quality of life in long-term is permanent damage caused to the social development of the child.Refugee Children There are more than 100,000 Bhutanese refugees of ethnic Nepali origin who have been living in UNHCR-administered camps in east Nepal for the past 10 years. While repatriation talks continue refugees are provided with food, education, health and other services by HMG, UN bodies and a number of NGOs and INGOs (including SC UK, World Lutheran service and OXfam)Conflict and Child LaborThe conflict situation in Nepal is increasingly affecting the economic and social arenas. The situation is causing adverse conditions in the affected areas. Schools are highly affected by this condition; Schools in rural areas are not being run effectively. Because of the conflict situation many parents are not sending their children to school and many school teachers in rural areas have moved out. Similarly the local bodies including the VDCs, health posts and local development offices are displaced without any economic support and they are displaced without any economic support and they including the children are forced to seek economic engagement for survival. Secondly dysfunctional schooling means more children without having to engage in recognized future oriented or hope generating activity in school. So children are amore vulnerable to falling on the worst forms of child labor. And thirdly sometimes children are reported to be drawn into the conflict through forced recruitment in the rural areas. This is contributing to worsening of the situation regarding child labor particularly the worst forms of child labor.The last situation, involvement of children in conflict situation is new development in the country and is of big concern. There is definitely a need for building consensus and commitment to prevent children falling into the conflict situation in general and direct involvement in the conflict in particular. A stronger campaign by all stakeholders, particularly by the civil society is called for to make schools zone of peace. It also necessitates a more comprehensive and integrated intervention package for the children and families affected or displaced by conflict.Economic Dimension of Child Labor: The Demand Side of the IssueThe child labor issue has always been studied only from the supply side. The studies often point out poverty, high population expansion, illiteracy, biased social values, repressive culture and so on as the main causes behind the child labor issue. All these supply side factors indicate the need for improvement in socioeconomic conditions and support for the poor and disadvantaged through a more inclusive policy and institutional framework.There are a number of factors in the demand side as well bearing on child labor. There are monetary as well as non-monetary incentives for the demand of child labor. Children are easier to manage as they are submissive, innocent, less demanding. Trustworthy, less inclined to absenteeism and less aware of their rights. Child labor is therefore cheap and easy to manage.The tradition of transferring workmanship to new generation is another non-pecuniary factor from the demand side that cannot be neglected. Parents feel that their children will be benefited if the children follow their traditional family occupation. Some jobs demand children due to their childlike physical, behavioral and psychological characteristics-non-threatening, charming, amicable and submissive. Children are preferred as domestic workers, sex workers, drug peddlers etc.Accordingly demand side appears equally responsible, if not more for the current problems of child labor in Nepal. There is a need for combining awareness creation with sensitization and punitive action in a well-concerted way to cope with the demand situation. (National Plan of Action for Children)

Property Right of Nepalese Women

2011-06-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

Gender Issues

Property Right of Nepalese Women

Sapana Pradhan Malla

PERSISTING INEQUALITY, DISCRIMINATION AND DISPARITIES

The status of women is defined in terms of their marital or sexual status; the right to ansha is fragile, temporary and imperfect. A woman is entitled to her husband’s property not as an independent co-parcener but because she is his wife. What she receives in terms of ansha from her husband is governed by the continuation of the marital relation with her husband. She can only continue to hold the right to ansha until she remains chaste or sexually faithful to the husband. She is uncompromisingly and strictly prohibited to have sexual relation with any man other than her husband, failure to maintain which deprives her of the right to ansha. A daughter is not entitled to ansha because she gets her status changed by marriage. Yet, under the existing legal system, once she reaches an age of 35 years, she is entitled to ansha because the general presumption is that the chance of changing her status through marriage then becomes almost rare.

The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990, under chapter 3 guarantees “right to equality” to all the citizens as a fundamental right. It states that the State shall not discriminate amongst citizens on grounds of race, caste, and sex. It also states that the Constitution is the fundamental law of Nepal and all laws inconsistent with it shall be void. However, discriminatory laws against women in relation to property right still prevail. Nepal has also become a State party ratifying the CEDAW on April 22, 1991, without reservation. Mandatory country report was submitted after a delay of 6 years. The State has made no deliberate effort to eliminate de jure and de facto discrimination against women in accordance the spirit of CEDAW.

Evidence of discrimination and disparities are as follows:

a) A daughter is denied from equal inheritance rights,

b) Daughter is denied the right to maintenance,

c) Discrimination in the line of succession (The line of succession gives a right to inheritance to the daughter only after mother and brother),

d) Discrimination on dolaji property,

e) Discrimination against Married Women to get the Property,

f) Divorcee Woman without Property Right (only conditional maintenance right),

g) Unfaithfulness looses the right in the husband’s property,

h) A victim of rape is considered as ex wife by the law,

i) Discriminatory Property Right of a Widow,

j) Discrimination on tenancy right,

k) Discrimination on Transaction, and

l) Consent needed to dispose off immovable property.

Barriers to guarantee equal Inheritance right for Women are as follows:

i. Lack of Women in Decision-making Bodies,

ii. Lack of Political Power or Political Commitment,

iii. Deep Rooted Gender Discriminatory Value System,

Beliefs Reflecting the Derogatory Attitude Towards Girl Child/Women including the following:

Dhilo paye, Chhora paye (“Let it be late, but let it be a son”);

Chhora paye swarga jaane (“The birth of a son paves the way to heaven”);

Chhori ko janma hare ko karma (“A daughter is born with a doomed fate”);

Chhora paye khasi, Chhori paye Pharsi (“If a son is born, it is celebrated by sacrificing a goat, if it’s daughter, a pumpkin is enough”);

Chhora bhaye sansar ujyalo, Chhori bhaye bhanchha ujyalo (“Son brightens the whole world, whereas a daughter brightens only the kitchen”);

Kanya Daan (“a daughter should be given away as a gift”);

Mare paap, pale punya (“It’s a sin if the groom kills the bride, charity if nurtured”);

Srimati bhaneko paitalako dhulo ho (“Wife is the dust of the foot”);

Chhori mari, thulo ghar pari (“If a daughter dies, we can say she has been married into a rich home”);

Pothi base ghar mahscha (“A woman ruled house is sure to be destroyed”);

and Swasni mancheko buddhi pachhadi (“Women are always shortsighted”).

Holding of such traditional values by both the lawmakers and many common Nepalese people have been detrimental for the realization of equal rights for both sons and daughters. Majority of the population is still exposed to such values because of lack of access to modern education.

Negative Campaign in the Media have had the following messages: The Nepalese society is not yet prepared to embrace equal property rights. Nepalese social structure would be badly disturbed by equal property rights. Hindu religion would be wounded if equal property right is given.

The Bill would destroy the prevailing harmonious family relationships. There already exists many court cases among brothers relating to property rights and equal property rights would only result in increasing their number, as there would be cases among the brothers and sisters as well.

Brothers would no longer show respect and fulfill their responsibilities to their sisters. Equal property rights leads to land fragmentation. Equal property rights in Nepal and prevailing discrimination in neighboring country India Daughters may refuse to get married since they would be economically independent after getting equal property rights.

A woman would be entitled to dual property, one from her father and the other from her husband. If wife is uneducated, her husband and his family might misuse her property and then throw her out of the house. Domestic violence would go up because of conflict of interest between the husband’s family and the natal home. Equal property rights would trigger divorce.

The number of spinsters, polygamy and abortion would increase if women get equal property rights. If daughters should get equal property rights, aged and/or disabled parents would be deprived of care from their sons Property right is a non-issue in a country where the majority of the population lives below poverty line.

What is important to girl child/women is access to education and opportunities and not property rights. In the Hindu tradition, a woman is entitled to her husband’s property making equal property rights irrelevant.

EFFECTS OF DISCRIMINATORY PROPERTY LAW

Effects of disparities in relation to unequal inheritance on women is envisaged to be deep-rooted in their life cycle in various aspects which have impaired their overall self-development as well as their capability in family, community and national development.

Impact on overall development of women and violation of Human Rights of Women The lack of equal inheritance right to women has disabled (without power) them in various fields. The affects in various aspects of a woman’s life can broadly be categorized as follows:

i. Economic dependency

Due to economic dependency, women have to face problems like domestic violence, psychological domination, polygamy, no decision making power in the family, harassment for dowry which in many cases, leads women to accept prostitution as a way of life. They have to bear all these problems as they are denied any financial security. They have hardly any choice during their marriage, which in many a cases, results in unequal or child marriage. As a daughter is taken as an obligation and a liability only, there is also no expectation from her, hence priority is given to male family members , as they are expected to take care of the family.

ii. No independent identity

The fact that women have no independent identity, can be seen from the discriminatory provisions in the Citizenship Act, 1963,and Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal where father is the natural guardian of children. As a woman does not have an independent identity, she can not transfer citizenship to her children and husband, hence she is not recognized as an independent citizen of the country.

iii. Low social preference

As women do not have any inheritance right, they face discrimination right from childhood in matters of nutrition, health, education and distribution of family resources.

This discrimination continues against them all throughout their life till death. Hence one can firmly say that women face discrimination arising out of unequal right to inheritance which affects various aspects of a woman’s life which ultimately hinders their overall development.

This discrimination in relation to inheritance right violates Art 11 of the Constitution of Kingdom of Nepal, Art. 1, 2, 3, 5, 13, 14 and 16 of CEDAW, Art. 1, 3, 16 and 26 of ICCPR, Art 1, 9 and 11 of ICESCR, Art. 2 and 12 of UDHR and Art. 2 of the CRC.

State commitments to guarantee Equal Inheritance Right

State has made commitments to guarantee right to equality to both man and women in all sphere of their life including right to property in different policies, plan, constitution and international conventions which can be seen from the matrix below.

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES

One of the initiatives taken by the government is the Country Code (11th Amendment) Bill 1997. Its major features are as follows:

Progressive preamble:

It is stated in the preamble of the Bill itself that the rights and interests of women in the existing Country Code require timely amendments. It further adds that the Bill was being proposed in view of the constitutional guarantees in favor of equal rights to women, Nepal’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women and as per the Directive Order issued by the Supreme Court to His Majesty’s Government to introduce an appropriate Bill within one year. Daughters are recognized as heir of the family: It recognizes father, mother, son and daughter as equal co-heirs.

Daughters are required to return the remaining property to the other co-heirs on their parents side, if they marry. Married daughters are not included while defining the co-heirs. Court grants wife a share of husband’s property before a divorce: It makes an attempt to eliminate women’s unequal access to property by authorizing the court to grant a share of the husband’s property (matrimonial property) to the wife before granting a divorce, as well as entitling the wife to a monthly or annual maintenance from the husband till the process of partition is complete. The wife is entitled to a share of her husband’s property only if the cause of the divorce is the husband or if the divorce is by mutual consent.

Complete authority of widow in her property: The proposed Bill removes the age restriction placed on widows to claim property and live separately. It also entitles her to have complete authority over her property. However, she must return her remaining assets to the heirs of her first husband if she remarries.

Unmarried daughters are included in the line of succession: In the case of a woman’s exclusive property, even though an unmarried daughter has been included, a married daughter has been placed last in the line of succession. A women’s Daijo and Pewa, unless otherwise stated, must pass in the following order: son or daughter, husband, and then only to the married daughter. The Chapter on Succession also placed the married daughter last in the line of succession.

Recognition of discrimination on inheritance right in the Initial Report to CEDAW In the Initial Report submitted by Nepal to CEDAW, the Government recognized the legal discrimination against women prevailing in the country. It also accepted the fact that girls are assigned unequal legal status in comparison to boys, that the law is silent on the maintenance right of daughter and that in regard to property rights, a male child is entitled to inheritance right from birth while a girl child acquires such property right only if she remains unmarried until the age of 35 years. However, it has not specified initiatives and constraints to guarantee equal inheritance right to the daughter as well as fail to explain limitations of widows, wife and divorcee women to get a share of husbands property.

Political Commitment through the Party Manifestos on equal inheri-tance right

All the political parties have been making various commitments towards women’s upliftment and equality in their manifestos since the restoration of democracy. However, no substantially effective programs have been undertaken to bring about such reforms as yet. The two communist parties, CPN (UML) and CPN (ML) both issued whips to their Parliamentarians to favor the Country Code (11th Amendment) Bill in Parliament in 1998. Unfor-tunately, the whip could not be used for the desired outcome. The major political party, the Nepali Congress, which has been in the Government for the longest duration after the restoration of the multi party system, and other parties which have been in the Government, have not taken any initiatives or actions to fulfill their commitments under their political manifestos. Three major political parties, the Nepali Congress, CPN (UML) and CPN (ML) have pledged to bring about social, economic, legal and other reforms for women, in their party manifestoes for the 1999 general elections for Parliament. The two communist parties have made commitments for the equal inheritance rights of women. How much of these grandiloquent speeches and commitments are actually carried out by these political parties remain to be seen.

Besides their commitment in the election manifesto and being in the Government for the longest period, Nepali Congress has not taken any steps to fulfil their commitments except the submission of Country Code Amendment Bill. Voice of the women Parliamentarians has been margina-lized. Similarly, UML, RPP and Sadhvana party’s’ commitments towards women’s equality is not being fulfilled, despite them being in the Govern-ment. Women’s participation in the cabinet is also very nominal.

Weaknesses in the Government Bill–Discriminatory inheritance provision in the Country Code (11th Amendment) Bill, 1999

The proposed Bill accepted the daughter as an heir of the family. However, the married daughter has been excluded. If an unmarried daughter gets married after succession or partition, the remaining property must be returned to the maternal relatives.

A widow may undergo separation and take away the share of property she receives on behalf of her deceased husband if she so wishes. If she remarries, the remaining property must be returned to the heirs of her former husband.

Married daughters are excluded from equal succession right. The proposed Bill provides that once a woman files an application for divorce, the court should direct partition and should provide one share of the family property to her but it applies only in cases in which the cause of the divorce is the husband.

The proposed Bill makes some effort to reform the discriminatory legal provisions. Accepting daughter as an equal heir as the son, increased punishment and unavailability of bail for polygamy, making abortion legal under certain conditions, etc. are some positive aspects of this Bill. However, it is still discriminatory against women as it fails to deal with the important issue of equality in relation to inheritance right and the problem of different forms of violence against women .

If the property rights provisions in the proposed Bill is examined, it becomes quite clear how even the Bill proposed violates basic human right of non-discrimination. Thus, the proposed property Bill, rather than making women self-reliant, creates inequality between sons and daughters, making them dependent on the father until they marry, and on the husband after marriage. Granting women rights on the basis of their marital status is clearly against Article 1 of CEDAW.

Interpretation of the Court

The Court only declared that the existing provisions for daughters to inherit paternal property is conditional as a daughter has to remain unmarried until the age of 35 to do so, whereas son is entitled to inherit right after his birth. Thus, instead of declaring the laws void, the court passed a directive to the Government to introduce a Bill in the legislature within a year, reviewing laws related to property rights. At the same time, the court also asked the Government to take into consideration the patriarchal nature of the society, social structure, and fears of positive discrimination against men.

A number of questions have been raised in this regard – Is Directive Order for the submission of a Bill alone sufficient to guarantee equal rights to women? If the Parliament does not pass the Bill, what will be the consequence of the court order? Will the human rights of women be protected through judicial intervention in such an eventuality? How do we see the interpretation of the court that is more concerned about protecting patriarchal values than women’s basic human right to equality and to live with dignity? Is the judiciary just shifting its burden to other Government organs by not declaring the challenged provisions and just issuing mere directive orders? Does the judiciary have any role in interpreting or implementing international conventions through its decisions?

Recommendations for Government Activities

Discriminatory provisions as shown in the Evidence of Discrimination chapter should be amended. The law should be enacted on the basis of the principle of equality and without discriminating on the basis of marital status. Advocacy programs and training on state obligations/commitments Judicial Activism

INITIATIVE BY CIVIL SOCIETY

No serious efforts from the Government sector to formulate appropriate legislation were observed following the Supreme Court’s verdict. Therefore several NGOs got together to formulate appropriate Bill.

NGO achievements

Directive Order of the Supreme Court to submit the Bill in the Parliament in regards to property right of women. Despite the negative interpretation of this issue, the challenges against the existing laws has had a positive impact, as a result of which women have become relatively more empowered. Due to the court decisions in the inheritance right case, the entire society has been forced into rethinking about the patriarchal structure, male supremacy, and the status of individual freedom of women. Women have begun to be vigilant about the issues and link them with the broader issue of equality.

In spite of an increasing need for an amendment in the existing legal provisions in order to create a just and equitable society, there have been diverse views and opinions regarding the issue of granting equal property rights to women. Education, political participation, distribution of productive assets and income, employment, social, cultural, religious and legal situations have proved that disparities/ discrimination exists between man and woman in Nepal.

Economic and socio-cultural discriminations have an adverse affect on the lives of women, leaving them far behind men to compete or take part in national development. Various cultural, practical, attitudinal, conceptual, social and political factors have limited women from moving in equal footing with men. Economic rights are one of the measures by which both women and men can achieve self-development. The majority of the Nepalese women are illiterate, have poor health, and are dominated by conservative social value system which makes them dependent on their fathers, husbands or sons, as well as easy victims of domestic and social violence. Thus, it is crucial to enact new legislation guaranteeing equal inheritance right for women to address the problem of discriminatory social and cultural practices.

There is a debate on the question of which should come first – the law giving equal inheritance right to women or an attitudinal change in the society in favor of giving equal inheritance to women? Review of the history of legal changes in Nepal reveal many instances where laws have preceded the change in social attitude and behavior, e.g. abolition of slavery, abolition of wife burning together with the dead husband (sati system), age of consent for marriage etc. This reinforces the fact that if the equal inheritance right law is introduced, it will gradually bring about positive changes in discriminatory attitudes and practices and there shall be an instrument to enforce the law.

There have been arguments that the Bill, if adopted, may upset the social and cultural milieu. It may be true that once the Bill is introduced some upheaval might occur in society as is inevitable with all kinds of changes and transition. Democracy was reinstated in the country in 1990 and even now the country is still undergoing a lot of instability and disorders. That does not mean we should go back to the period before democracy, or even further back to the autocratic Rana regime when there was no democracy at all. So the question facing us today is – do we retain the situation of gender inequality in the country despite the commitment made by the Government in our policy, Plan of Action, Constitution and various UN Conventions for fear of temporarily disturbing the discriminatory social milieu of the country; or look beyond that and work for permanent changes that will benefit the future generation and help to establish a developed society based on gender equality?

By ratifying the Convention and providing equality clause in the Constitution, State recognizes the existence of discrimination and inequality and the need to enact equal inheritance right law. We, as women, have to develop criteria for State action and responsibility. We have to learn to use the state obligation under convention as an advocacy tool to interpret the principles of equality and justice.

Property Right of Nepalese Women
Sapana Pradhan Malla
PERSISTING INEQUALITY, DISCRIMINATION AND DISPARITIES
The status of women is defined in terms of their marital or sexual status; the right to ansha is fragile, temporary and imperfect. A woman is entitled to her husband’s property not as an independent co-parcener but because she is his wife. What she receives in terms of ansha from her husband is governed by the continuation of the marital relation with her husband. She can only continue to hold the right to ansha until she remains chaste or sexually faithful to the husband. She is uncompromisingly and strictly prohibited to have sexual relation with any man other than her husband, failure to maintain which deprives her of the right to ansha. A daughter is not entitled to ansha because she gets her status changed by marriage. Yet, under the existing legal system, once she reaches an age of 35 years, she is entitled to ansha because the general presumption is that the chance of changing her status through marriage then becomes almost rare.
The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990, under chapter 3 guarantees “right to equality” to all the citizens as a fundamental right. It states that the State shall not discriminate amongst citizens on grounds of race, caste, and sex. It also states that the Constitution is the fundamental law of Nepal and all laws inconsistent with it shall be void. However, discriminatory laws against women in relation to property right still prevail. Nepal has also become a State party ratifying the CEDAW on April 22, 1991, without reservation. Mandatory country report was submitted after a delay of 6 years. The State has made no deliberate effort to eliminate de jure and de facto discrimination against women in accordance the spirit of CEDAW.
Evidence of discrimination and disparities are as follows:
a) A daughter is denied from equal inheritance rights,b) Daughter is denied the right to maintenance,c) Discrimination in the line of succession (The line of succession gives a right to inheritance to the daughter only after mother and brother),d) Discrimination on dolaji property,e) Discrimination against Married Women to get the Property,f) Divorcee Woman without Property Right (only conditional maintenance right),g) Unfaithfulness looses the right in the husband’s property,h) A victim of rape is considered as ex wife by the law,i) Discriminatory Property Right of a Widow,j) Discrimination on tenancy right,k) Discrimination on Transaction, andl) Consent needed to dispose off immovable property.Barriers to guarantee equal Inheritance right for Women are as follows:
i. Lack of Women in Decision-making Bodies,ii. Lack of Political Power or Political Commitment,iii. Deep Rooted Gender Discriminatory Value System,Beliefs Reflecting the Derogatory Attitude Towards Girl Child/Women including the following:
Dhilo paye, Chhora paye (“Let it be late, but let it be a son”);Chhora paye swarga jaane (“The birth of a son paves the way to heaven”);Chhori ko janma hare ko karma (“A daughter is born with a doomed fate”);Chhora paye khasi, Chhori paye Pharsi (“If a son is born, it is celebrated by sacrificing a goat, if it’s daughter, a pumpkin is enough”);Chhora bhaye sansar ujyalo, Chhori bhaye bhanchha ujyalo (“Son brightens the whole world, whereas a daughter brightens only the kitchen”);Kanya Daan (“a daughter should be given away as a gift”);Mare paap, pale punya (“It’s a sin if the groom kills the bride, charity if nurtured”);Srimati bhaneko paitalako dhulo ho (“Wife is the dust of the foot”);Chhori mari, thulo ghar pari (“If a daughter dies, we can say she has been married into a rich home”);Pothi base ghar mahscha (“A woman ruled house is sure to be destroyed”);and Swasni mancheko buddhi pachhadi (“Women are always shortsighted”).Holding of such traditional values by both the lawmakers and many common Nepalese people have been detrimental for the realization of equal rights for both sons and daughters. Majority of the population is still exposed to such values because of lack of access to modern education.
Negative Campaign in the Media have had the following messages: The Nepalese society is not yet prepared to embrace equal property rights. Nepalese social structure would be badly disturbed by equal property rights. Hindu religion would be wounded if equal property right is given.
The Bill would destroy the prevailing harmonious family relationships. There already exists many court cases among brothers relating to property rights and equal property rights would only result in increasing their number, as there would be cases among the brothers and sisters as well.
Brothers would no longer show respect and fulfill their responsibilities to their sisters. Equal property rights leads to land fragmentation. Equal property rights in Nepal and prevailing discrimination in neighboring country India Daughters may refuse to get married since they would be economically independent after getting equal property rights.
A woman would be entitled to dual property, one from her father and the other from her husband. If wife is uneducated, her husband and his family might misuse her property and then throw her out of the house. Domestic violence would go up because of conflict of interest between the husband’s family and the natal home. Equal property rights would trigger divorce.
The number of spinsters, polygamy and abortion would increase if women get equal property rights. If daughters should get equal property rights, aged and/or disabled parents would be deprived of care from their sons Property right is a non-issue in a country where the majority of the population lives below poverty line.
What is important to girl child/women is access to education and opportunities and not property rights. In the Hindu tradition, a woman is entitled to her husband’s property making equal property rights irrelevant.
EFFECTS OF DISCRIMINATORY PROPERTY LAW
Effects of disparities in relation to unequal inheritance on women is envisaged to be deep-rooted in their life cycle in various aspects which have impaired their overall self-development as well as their capability in family, community and national development.
Impact on overall development of women and violation of Human Rights of Women The lack of equal inheritance right to women has disabled (without power) them in various fields. The affects in various aspects of a woman’s life can broadly be categorized as follows:
i. Economic dependency
Due to economic dependency, women have to face problems like domestic violence, psychological domination, polygamy, no decision making power in the family, harassment for dowry which in many cases, leads women to accept prostitution as a way of life. They have to bear all these problems as they are denied any financial security. They have hardly any choice during their marriage, which in many a cases, results in unequal or child marriage. As a daughter is taken as an obligation and a liability only, there is also no expectation from her, hence priority is given to male family members , as they are expected to take care of the family.
ii. No independent identity
The fact that women have no independent identity, can be seen from the discriminatory provisions in the Citizenship Act, 1963,and Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal where father is the natural guardian of children. As a woman does not have an independent identity, she can not transfer citizenship to her children and husband, hence she is not recognized as an independent citizen of the country.
iii. Low social preference
As women do not have any inheritance right, they face discrimination right from childhood in matters of nutrition, health, education and distribution of family resources.
This discrimination continues against them all throughout their life till death. Hence one can firmly say that women face discrimination arising out of unequal right to inheritance which affects various aspects of a woman’s life which ultimately hinders their overall development.
This discrimination in relation to inheritance right violates Art 11 of the Constitution of Kingdom of Nepal, Art. 1, 2, 3, 5, 13, 14 and 16 of CEDAW, Art. 1, 3, 16 and 26 of ICCPR, Art 1, 9 and 11 of ICESCR, Art. 2 and 12 of UDHR and Art. 2 of the CRC.
State commitments to guarantee Equal Inheritance Right
State has made commitments to guarantee right to equality to both man and women in all sphere of their life including right to property in different policies, plan, constitution and international conventions which can be seen from the matrix below.
GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES
One of the initiatives taken by the government is the Country Code (11th Amendment) Bill 1997. Its major features are as follows:
Progressive preamble:
It is stated in the preamble of the Bill itself that the rights and interests of women in the existing Country Code require timely amendments. It further adds that the Bill was being proposed in view of the constitutional guarantees in favor of equal rights to women, Nepal’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women and as per the Directive Order issued by the Supreme Court to His Majesty’s Government to introduce an appropriate Bill within one year. Daughters are recognized as heir of the family: It recognizes father, mother, son and daughter as equal co-heirs.
Daughters are required to return the remaining property to the other co-heirs on their parents side, if they marry. Married daughters are not included while defining the co-heirs. Court grants wife a share of husband’s property before a divorce: It makes an attempt to eliminate women’s unequal access to property by authorizing the court to grant a share of the husband’s property (matrimonial property) to the wife before granting a divorce, as well as entitling the wife to a monthly or annual maintenance from the husband till the process of partition is complete. The wife is entitled to a share of her husband’s property only if the cause of the divorce is the husband or if the divorce is by mutual consent.
Complete authority of widow in her property: The proposed Bill removes the age restriction placed on widows to claim property and live separately. It also entitles her to have complete authority over her property. However, she must return her remaining assets to the heirs of her first husband if she remarries.
Unmarried daughters are included in the line of succession: In the case of a woman’s exclusive property, even though an unmarried daughter has been included, a married daughter has been placed last in the line of succession. A women’s Daijo and Pewa, unless otherwise stated, must pass in the following order: son or daughter, husband, and then only to the married daughter. The Chapter on Succession also placed the married daughter last in the line of succession.
Recognition of discrimination on inheritance right in the Initial Report to CEDAW In the Initial Report submitted by Nepal to CEDAW, the Government recognized the legal discrimination against women prevailing in the country. It also accepted the fact that girls are assigned unequal legal status in comparison to boys, that the law is silent on the maintenance right of daughter and that in regard to property rights, a male child is entitled to inheritance right from birth while a girl child acquires such property right only if she remains unmarried until the age of 35 years. However, it has not specified initiatives and constraints to guarantee equal inheritance right to the daughter as well as fail to explain limitations of widows, wife and divorcee women to get a share of husbands property.
Political Commitment through the Party Manifestos on equal inheri-tance right
All the political parties have been making various commitments towards women’s upliftment and equality in their manifestos since the restoration of democracy. However, no substantially effective programs have been undertaken to bring about such reforms as yet. The two communist parties, CPN (UML) and CPN (ML) both issued whips to their Parliamentarians to favor the Country Code (11th Amendment) Bill in Parliament in 1998. Unfor-tunately, the whip could not be used for the desired outcome. The major political party, the Nepali Congress, which has been in the Government for the longest duration after the restoration of the multi party system, and other parties which have been in the Government, have not taken any initiatives or actions to fulfill their commitments under their political manifestos. Three major political parties, the Nepali Congress, CPN (UML) and CPN (ML) have pledged to bring about social, economic, legal and other reforms for women, in their party manifestoes for the 1999 general elections for Parliament. The two communist parties have made commitments for the equal inheritance rights of women. How much of these grandiloquent speeches and commitments are actually carried out by these political parties remain to be seen.
Besides their commitment in the election manifesto and being in the Government for the longest period, Nepali Congress has not taken any steps to fulfil their commitments except the submission of Country Code Amendment Bill. Voice of the women Parliamentarians has been margina-lized. Similarly, UML, RPP and Sadhvana party’s’ commitments towards women’s equality is not being fulfilled, despite them being in the Govern-ment. Women’s participation in the cabinet is also very nominal.
Weaknesses in the Government Bill–Discriminatory inheritance provision in the Country Code (11th Amendment) Bill, 1999
The proposed Bill accepted the daughter as an heir of the family. However, the married daughter has been excluded. If an unmarried daughter gets married after succession or partition, the remaining property must be returned to the maternal relatives.
A widow may undergo separation and take away the share of property she receives on behalf of her deceased husband if she so wishes. If she remarries, the remaining property must be returned to the heirs of her former husband.
Married daughters are excluded from equal succession right. The proposed Bill provides that once a woman files an application for divorce, the court should direct partition and should provide one share of the family property to her but it applies only in cases in which the cause of the divorce is the husband.
The proposed Bill makes some effort to reform the discriminatory legal provisions. Accepting daughter as an equal heir as the son, increased punishment and unavailability of bail for polygamy, making abortion legal under certain conditions, etc. are some positive aspects of this Bill. However, it is still discriminatory against women as it fails to deal with the important issue of equality in relation to inheritance right and the problem of different forms of violence against women .
If the property rights provisions in the proposed Bill is examined, it becomes quite clear how even the Bill proposed violates basic human right of non-discrimination. Thus, the proposed property Bill, rather than making women self-reliant, creates inequality between sons and daughters, making them dependent on the father until they marry, and on the husband after marriage. Granting women rights on the basis of their marital status is clearly against Article 1 of CEDAW.
Interpretation of the Court
The Court only declared that the existing provisions for daughters to inherit paternal property is conditional as a daughter has to remain unmarried until the age of 35 to do so, whereas son is entitled to inherit right after his birth. Thus, instead of declaring the laws void, the court passed a directive to the Government to introduce a Bill in the legislature within a year, reviewing laws related to property rights. At the same time, the court also asked the Government to take into consideration the patriarchal nature of the society, social structure, and fears of positive discrimination against men.
A number of questions have been raised in this regard – Is Directive Order for the submission of a Bill alone sufficient to guarantee equal rights to women? If the Parliament does not pass the Bill, what will be the consequence of the court order? Will the human rights of women be protected through judicial intervention in such an eventuality? How do we see the interpretation of the court that is more concerned about protecting patriarchal values than women’s basic human right to equality and to live with dignity? Is the judiciary just shifting its burden to other Government organs by not declaring the challenged provisions and just issuing mere directive orders? Does the judiciary have any role in interpreting or implementing international conventions through its decisions?
Recommendations for Government Activities
Discriminatory provisions as shown in the Evidence of Discrimination chapter should be amended. The law should be enacted on the basis of the principle of equality and without discriminating on the basis of marital status. Advocacy programs and training on state obligations/commitments Judicial Activism
INITIATIVE BY CIVIL SOCIETY
No serious efforts from the Government sector to formulate appropriate legislation were observed following the Supreme Court’s verdict. Therefore several NGOs got together to formulate appropriate Bill.
NGO achievements
Directive Order of the Supreme Court to submit the Bill in the Parliament in regards to property right of women. Despite the negative interpretation of this issue, the challenges against the existing laws has had a positive impact, as a result of which women have become relatively more empowered. Due to the court decisions in the inheritance right case, the entire society has been forced into rethinking about the patriarchal structure, male supremacy, and the status of individual freedom of women. Women have begun to be vigilant about the issues and link them with the broader issue of equality.
In spite of an increasing need for an amendment in the existing legal provisions in order to create a just and equitable society, there have been diverse views and opinions regarding the issue of granting equal property rights to women. Education, political participation, distribution of productive assets and income, employment, social, cultural, religious and legal situations have proved that disparities/ discrimination exists between man and woman in Nepal.
Economic and socio-cultural discriminations have an adverse affect on the lives of women, leaving them far behind men to compete or take part in national development. Various cultural, practical, attitudinal, conceptual, social and political factors have limited women from moving in equal footing with men. Economic rights are one of the measures by which both women and men can achieve self-development. The majority of the Nepalese women are illiterate, have poor health, and are dominated by conservative social value system which makes them dependent on their fathers, husbands or sons, as well as easy victims of domestic and social violence. Thus, it is crucial to enact new legislation guaranteeing equal inheritance right for women to address the problem of discriminatory social and cultural practices.
There is a debate on the question of which should come first – the law giving equal inheritance right to women or an attitudinal change in the society in favor of giving equal inheritance to women? Review of the history of legal changes in Nepal reveal many instances where laws have preceded the change in social attitude and behavior, e.g. abolition of slavery, abolition of wife burning together with the dead husband (sati system), age of consent for marriage etc. This reinforces the fact that if the equal inheritance right law is introduced, it will gradually bring about positive changes in discriminatory attitudes and practices and there shall be an instrument to enforce the law.
There have been arguments that the Bill, if adopted, may upset the social and cultural milieu. It may be true that once the Bill is introduced some upheaval might occur in society as is inevitable with all kinds of changes and transition. Democracy was reinstated in the country in 1990 and even now the country is still undergoing a lot of instability and disorders. That does not mean we should go back to the period before democracy, or even further back to the autocratic Rana regime when there was no democracy at all. So the question facing us today is – do we retain the situation of gender inequality in the country despite the commitment made by the Government in our policy, Plan of Action, Constitution and various UN Conventions for fear of temporarily disturbing the discriminatory social milieu of the country; or look beyond that and work for permanent changes that will benefit the future generation and help to establish a developed society based on gender equality?
By ratifying the Convention and providing equality clause in the Constitution, State recognizes the existence of discrimination and inequality and the need to enact equal inheritance right law. We, as women, have to develop criteria for State action and responsibility. We have to learn to use the state obligation under convention as an advocacy tool to interpret the principles of equality and justice.

Source: http://nepalhumanrights.com/researchconflict/

History of Conflict in Nepal

2011-06-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

History of Conflict in Nepal

By Gokul Pokhrel

Until the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1990, internal conflicts in the scale as we see today were quite unknown to Nepalese people. During the last four decades while many countries of South and South East Asia passed through a phase of turbulence and conflicts, Nepal stood an exception and enjoyed a long era of peace and stability unparalled in history. Many political pundits looked at the peace as something Nepal took advantage of the strained relations between China and India, skillfully playing one against the other. But it was more an uneasy calm created by circumstances. Disturbing symptoms were already there when in 1975, at the height of partyless Panchayat era, late King Birendra proposed to declare Nepal a Zone of Peace (ZOP), He felt that the existing guarantees of independence devolving from separate treaties with two big neighbours and enhanced profile in international arena were not enough to sustain the rising tide of Nepalese nationalism. Despite support from 105 nations including all big powers, the ZOP was aborted due to lack of support from one big neighbour which was not convinced about the threat perceptions Nepal felt at that time.
The upsurge in Nepalese nationalism without liberal democratic governance could not last long and had to be overthrown through a popular revolt in 1990. The installation of multiparty democratic system was welcome as a panacea to all the malaise Nepal was facing at that time - strained relations with India, alienation with party-led popular forces and all those values that come along with liberal democratic dispensation. All the paper works following the adoption of new Constitution in November 1990 were excellent as these were not only at par with prevailing international standards but also in close harmony with the political system in India. With improved relations with her close neighbours, people had reasons to be euphoric about the emergence of a long peaceful and prosperous era undisturbed by external influences. The so-called theory of equidistance vis-a-vis the two neighbours was discarded for apparently good reasons and it was hoped this rationale should work fine. The iceberg of discontent was discernible only in 1995 when a dissatisfied faction decided to dissociate from the political mainstream and take up arms against the democratically installed regime. It is now nine years of the most brutal conflict between ballot and bullet which shows no end of the tunnel of peace. A total of 13000 precious lives have been lost and a peaceful country has been plunged into a chasm of instability, dislocation of democratic institutions and a chaos.
The genesis of the armed conflict has much to do with the deviations that had crept in the functioning of the democratically installed governments, their faulty economic planning and policies that ostracized a large segment of rural population and minorities from the mainstream of economic and social development. While political leaders were basking in the fruits of new found democracy that favoured more to the enrichment of the power elites, the insurgents used the very weakness of the political parties to enhance their cause in the remote villages. Their radical slogans of social and economic transformation, backed by strong disciplinarian approach on gun-point has found roots in the heart and minds of rural masses. During the past five years, public support to democratic forces eroded regressively through in-fighting, factionalism and mis-governance, the Maoists have gained in strength. The ensuing instability and chaos has led to the emergence of Royal Palace and the Army in the political scene setting in a triangular power struggle. A compromise of interest among any two of the three protagonists is enough to sway power balance toward either way. It is difficult to say at this stage to what extent external power lobbies have hand in destabilising the country including support to the rebels, but political leaders are warning the people of external influences ca at work in the country. The gruesome massacre at Royal Palace on 1st June 1901 and Maoist leaders claiming affinity with the late king on many issues pertaining to nationalism were not merely casual references.
It is clear that the rebels are using latest guerrilla warfare techniques available in the world today in the repertoire of revolutionary uprising. It is an aberration of globalisation of insurgencies as well. While the extreme Maoist ideology is indigenously grown with roots in remote villages, it cannot be denied that they are supported by various clandestine revolutionary groups of neighbouring countries and elsewhere. Over the years, the Maoists have mustered enormous money, muscle and gun-power and backed by a strong ideological thrust, they are capable of threatening the very foundation of civic life and state security apparatus. Large scale abduction of minors, their forcible recruitment as conscripts, closure of schools and brutal killings terrorising inhabitants of the surrounding form a part of their ideological war. The exodus of people from the villages to safer areas in the cities and across the frontiers in India is enormous.
As direct consequence of mounting insurgency and counter-insurgency operations, media men are now becoming very vulnerable. The gruesome murder of Gyanendra Khadka last year and of Dikendra Thapa of Dailekh in the second week of August, 2004 by the insurgents are a reminder that the Maoists are not going to tolerate freedom of expression that goes counter to their dictates. Human Rights groups and Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) estimate that about a dozen journalists, mostly operating in the remote districts, are abducted by the insurgents. While there were complaints of mistreatment to reporters by security personnel on suspicion that they were critical of their operation, the latest Maoist outrage seems to have surpassed the atrocities meted out by others in proportion.
In addition to military tactics of assault and attacks, the insurgents are active with their political frontal organisations which are strong enough to spread fear, insecurity and threat to the extent of disrupting civil order. Now, everybody seems convinced that the conflict cannot be resolved through military means alone. It is only though dialogue and negotiations between the contending parties that peace can be restored. While the Maoists have demanded the involvement of the United Nations in mediating peace talks, the government is lukewarm to this option and prefers direct talks. This may be so to avoid giving legitimacy to the political entity of the Maoists on the one hand and not giving pretext to internationalise the conflict. Another difficulty lies in the acceptance of this course is that the United Nations and other major powers regard the insurgents as terrorists by the very means they are deploying and it might appear compromising with the stated policy of having no deal with terrorism. But at the face of escalating Maoist pressure, the present regime has little option of either asking more military help from its close neighbours or expedite the process of peace talks by striking compromises in a manner acceptable to the rebels also.
At this time of impasse, while educated elite shudder at the prospect of the return
of Polpot style regime of repression and slavery, the oppressed masses see Maoist doctrine as an instrument of deliverance from exploitation, inequalities and suppression. In fact, the country is experiencing immense political vacuum at the face of ineffectiveness of prevalent political structures. The options lie not only forging strong unity among the democratic forces within the country but also creating a congenial environment of mutual trust externally also. In view of the geopolitical realities of Nepal, lasting solution to peace and stability is possible only through thaw in relations between India and China on the one hand and between China and the United States on the other because we should not forget that the United States regards China as a strategically rival power to contain with. An improvement in global security perspectives in relation to South Asia can be an essential element in the quest of lasting peace and conflict resolution vis-a-vis constructive dialogue with the rebels. We have jettisoned the rationale of ZOP for good reasons but its appeal in different form cannot be easily wiped out in present context.

The emergence of an undaunted media having the skills and capacity to present issues impartially and objectively can prove an asset in strengthening the cause of peace and negotiations. But in order to enable media play its role fearlessly, both the parties should be persuaded to practise high degree of tolerance, providing access to sources of information and creating an environment of trust and confidence. Should not this logic be made one of the agenda of peace dialogue?

The Demands of Dalits in Nepal

2011-06-16T07:39:00.000-07:00

The demands of Dalits to the State are:
1. Express State's apology, through Royal Address to the Parliament followed by enactment of a legislation, for the statutory provisions that legalized caste discrimination and untouchability in the past.
2. Legislate a comprehensive and compelling law to forbid all forms of caste discrimination and untouchability, removing flaws and ambiguity from the existing laws. Put in action the severe punitive measures against atrocities committed to Dalits, but not merely showing in the paperwork.
3. Resolve all problems associated with citizenships of Dalits resulting from caste discrimination. Issue citizenship certificates to all Dalits born in Nepal either from a father or a mother who is a bonafide citizen of Nepal.
4. Reserve special constituencies for Dalits at all levels of peoples' representation including parliamentary House of Representatives and National Assembly.
5. Elevate National Dalit Commission to the status of a Constitutional Body.
6. Free all partially or fully bonded Dalit laborers, and rehabilitate them in appropriate locations where they can live without fear and hunger.
7. Reserve compensatory 20% quotas and special seats for Dalits in opportunities of secondary and higher education, scholarships, employment in public services and any other public appointments at all entry levels.
8. Adopt a strong policy of affirmative action for Dalits in all high level appointments such as Judges, Ambassadors, Government Secretaries, Commissioners, Director-Generals, General Managers.
9. Establish an Institute with one national and four regional multi-purpose trade schooling, training and rehabilitation facilities with the status of a national level technical institution through a legislative Act (on par with BP Memorial Medical Sciences Institute and/or Mahendra Sanskrit University) for all round development of peoples belonging to traditional occupational castes. Mobilize a multilateral International Donors' Consortium for providing financial aids required for this project of long term nature.
10. Denounce and disband all expressions, proverbs, verbatim or written works, which promote hierarchical caste discrimination and untouchability in the society. Entrust Royal Nepal Academy and Legal Book Management Authority with necessary directives to review and recommend corrections to all such official documents that take Dalits and other oppressed people for granted under the age-old caste discriminatory practices, and execute appropriate measures for making such corrections in the context of modern contemporary world.11. Create courteous environment for all Dalits to enter and move around all public premises (including temples) without any hindrance like any other people of Nepal, and provide adequate security support towards this end, as may be required.

Planning and Poverty Alleviation in Nepal

2011-06-15T08:01:00.000-07:00

- Dev Raj Dahal

The information revolution has challenged the concepts and paradigms, which traditionally shaped the culture of centralized planning. There is growing recognition of the sovereignty of people, making them both shaper and creator of their own history. This changed environment is pregnant with new possibilities for direct democracy. In more general terms, the information-induced associational revolution is opening the political space for participatory development and redefining the whole system of relations between the society and the state. Indeed, technological and social change is so momentous and accelerated that it is also generating newer types of risks and challenges in the society without solving the old ones. Along with the existing gaps in wealth, income and access to public services, new gaps have emerged. For example, inequality in access to information technology creates a digital divide posing further problems for the leaders in their quest to make the society a shared enterprise in the new borderless world of information. This relative loss of leadership capacity involves a corresponding loss for its support resulting in institutional decay.

Paradigm Shift
The paradigm shift, induced by the information revolution, is most obvious in the culture of planning-- from paternalistic, centralized and top-down to participatory, decentralized and bottom up. This has made a new form of democratic legitimacy possible in planning decisions and exercise. Collective decisionmaking by the members of society was finally possible. Therefore, how can people use the benefits of the information revolution to construct their own economic, social and cultural model of planning that is mediated by indigenous needs, knowledge and interests?

Planning is meant to seek solutions to problems in public life or to supply a rational foundation for specific forms of development goals. It tries to close the gap between the normative ideals of development and the empirical condition people are caught in. In the developing countries, there is still a widespread optimism about the capability of planning to shape the future of human beings. This makes planning a visionary exercise which serves as a systematic guide for action. A good planning, in this sense, can be a rational tool for sustainable human development. Good public policies and strategies springing from a planning exercise aim to shape the course of its progress that is both just and efficient. One might, however, ask: Should human beings be subjected to the science of planning, fads and models in the name of development? Or, do people have the political choice to plan a course of action, to meet their desired specific needs, in a manner that is comfortable with the general human nature?

Planning is about the choice of public policies, but these choices are not infinite. Although public policies are public goods, the questions regarding choice are essentially political questions decided by the political class. For example, Who does the planning? How is it done? Who sets the development priorities? Who are the target groups or beneficiaries- which class, region, gender or groups of society? Who bears the costs? etc. It is also about the process that creates winners and losers. The nature of the state, the ideology of the political class and the allocation of power and resources are important political considerations that affect the culture of planning. Formulating fair and effective public policy in the glowingly networked society is an enormous challenge and one that would not be overcome just because planners have begun to recognize the inherent complexities. They will be heading in the right direction if they keep the national public interest at the forefront.

The trade-offs of the methodology of planning is also a political question. It is again the political decision that determines whether planning should be top-down or bottom-up, short-term or long-term, sectoral or holistic and centralized or decentralized. Bureaucrats and technocrats are only the means in the process as they are the ones that respond to the incentives and opportunities given by political leaders in policy implementation. Politics cannot be replaced by science, however artistically utilized. But, science can become instrumental in advancing human welfare. Modern planning and policy making is not a mechanical process designed by professional experts. Planning requires more than scientific knowledge, as that scientific knowledge is insufficient to coordinate the relevant knowledge and power needed to make it serve the people.

Planning is, therefore, a part of politics designed by its stakeholders to achieve a cooperative mode of problem solving and gaining national strength. A good planning is intrinsically public, or democratic, and has a positive outcome for the poor. A good planning helps to manage market failures by making alternative arrangements for the delivery of essential public services. It builds the collective capacity of the poor to liberate them from the shackles of poverty and shape political and social opportunities for their empowerment. In other words, planning provides the basis for people to enjoy their legal and constitutional rights. Therefore, an important objective of anti-poverty programs is to develop the political capacity of the poor.

A sound planning, thus, is a participatory process because it builds the stakes of the poor in development outcomes, entitles them with the ownership of polices and programs and enforces the corresponding accountability. Ownership of programmes is essential as it prevents the risks of polarization and guarantees the sustainability of development. And, planning also supports the coalition of the pro-poor and the poor and gives them access to, and benefits from, the processes of the political economy-- production, distribution, control and sustainability. Since poverty means powerlessness, the politics of a successful planning for poverty alleviation involves the political will of the holders of power and authority in society.

The use of governance for subordinating the state to the market forces has made Nepal largely a subsidiary state where the poor subsidize the rich, the periphery the core and the rural the urban areas. The logic of 'market-friendly' planning has not only perpetuated the core-periphery polarization but also made development restrictive and exclusionary, keeping the majority of the poor out of the whole process. The failure of planning in Nepal to meet its objective of poverty alleviation has also to do with the non-implementation of the often-inadequate pro-poor policies. It is not so much the lack of resources as is made out to be.

Planning is, therefore, a medium of social justice that can congregate people around the state and establish their participatory rights in the use of political power for planning. There is a strong correlation between politics and resource allocation for development. If we look at the Nepalese electoral politics, we find that Sunsari district gets more funds than the whole of Karnali zone for development. Size of the geographical territory or interest representation in planning and decision-making can have an inverse relation with the transfer of resources from the centre, if politics is not supportive. Application of the same argument on the Dalits, the marginalized and local government units make Nepalese planning more pre-rational than rational. Consequently, planning has not been conducive to the expansion of production for employment-generation, poverty alleviation and social integration. This leaves advocates opposing the victimization of the weak pleading for universal values like democracy, human rights and social justice.

Poverty Alleviation

Poverty in Nepal largely depends on structural factors, especially on the modes of ownership, production and distribution of productive assets, which have their own dynamics. But, the dynamics is determined by the choice of application of development policy by the political class. For example, the declining forces of production in the country-- in agricultural, industrial and service sectors-- can be attributed to the wrong policy choices of the political class whose allegiance and priority often oscillates, between the general masses during elections and a specific comprador class after elections, causing instability at the level of policy, planning, and politics regarding poverty alleviation. The political class has not been able to capture the middle ground of the Nepalese political economy that stands between capital and labor.

Unable to confront the main intellectual challenge posed by the dominant development paradigm of the day and incapable of indigenising development policy, Nepalese planners from the very beginning of planning history have yielded to the power of exogenous knowledge for national construction, regardless of its effects and relevance on national and local life. The planning process thus became not only dismembered from the Constitutional vision, the public philosophy embedded in it and the social contract that obliges the government to "protect the weak against the strong," but also from the feedback of stakeholders. One can easily detect the effects of the "revenue-oriented", rather than "production-oriented", economic policies on the polity, society and the people. On the lives of the poor struggling to climb upwards, their consequences have been lethal.

This suggests that wrong policies mirror the motives and mentality of the political class in power and the wrong instruments they use to foster patronage politics. Many programs run by non-poor politicians-- like the Constituency Development Fund, B. P. with the Poor, Ganesh Man Peace Campaign, etc-- are geared more towards expanding their political constituency than alleviating poverty. The political culture of the Nepalese political class, that emerges from the aristocratic and feudal segments of society, is more status-bound than entrepreneurial. Therefore, how can the politicians be committed to invest the economic surplus in Nepalese production, job-creation and social integration?

Similarly, Nepalese planners never acted on the principle that knowledge and beliefs are socially located and socially constructed. The whole process is rooted in the Western social science theories, application tools and intellectual assumptions, which have their roots in the Industrial Revolution. The planners, therefore, have failed to grasp the diverse realities created by the predominantly agrarian society of Nepal with its myriad of hierarchies. As Nepalese planners took Western knowledge in historically and socially neutral terms and imposed it on the Nepalese society they, consequently, devalued the existing local, practical knowledge gained from long experience of trial and error. Critics point at the domination of the planning commission by "non-organic intellectuals," to borrow the phrase of Antonio Gramsci, when they blame the whole planning exercise for not only being de-contextualized but also counter-productive to local development. On the contrary, planning for poverty alleviation requires a great level of indigenization and a high level of deliberation and consultation with the stakeholders, not the perpetuation of the idea of self-superiority. The National Planning Commission has been staffed with numerous people with no record of achievement and no vision of the task that suddenly befall them. The culture of planning in Nepal is thus being overwhelmed by enemies from both within and without.

After the onset of the information revolution, the centralized state-centric planning of Nepal was seen to be suffering from its inability to innovate, adjust and deliver. When market-driven planning finally replaced it, it too suffered from its own consequences-- increasing levels of poverty, inequality, dependency, ecological degradation and rebellion. The primacy of market forces over all aspects of social life has not only questioned the legitimacy of planning, but also registered the failure of governance in expanding the miniscule market, coordinating the multiple actors of society and capturing the necessary synergy for development. The general failure of planning and its particular defeat in the battle against poverty have given the planning commission of Nepal a chance to re-examine its objectives, to revise its means and to reconcile its traditions with the experiences and exigencies of the Spirit of the Age. It is an Age that requires the use of planning in process management, connectedness, relationships and contexts, not turning the country into a scene of confrontation and the people into a commodity to act as fuel for the fires of geopolitical manoeuvres.

Beyond the Planning Commission
Planning has to take into account the polycentric and multi-level governance actors-- the state, the market, the civil society and the international regime. The polycentric system does not mean democratic, where public power is proportionately distributed among the governance actors with the necessary checks and balances. New governance patterns have replaced the old hierarchical national political system by the dynamic restructuring of competitive and networking forms of governance. An increasing number of non-states, non-governmental and civil society organizations are taking up public responsibilities, changing the earlier dichotomy where the state is regarded as public and the private sector as non-public. The state is, therefore, facing an adaptation problem-- from its earlier mono-centric problem solving mechanism to the polycentric order. There is a problem of coordination and communication among local, national, state, regional and global orders and orienting these vectors of governance to the poverty project.

This shows that planning and policy making are no longer the prerogative of the National Planning Commission (NPC). The regularity of the Nepal Development Forum and similar policy dialogues indicate that NPC has to share its policy regime with the state, the market, the civil society and the international regimes, especially the donors. The planning and policymaking processes have, therefore, become more complex and interactive. But, the sharing of the policy regime has not established a culture of mutual accountability, for success or failure of policies, regarding poverty alleviation. It has posed difficulty in orienting planning towards pro-poor governance. An incentive for collective action by the poor themselves, from bottom-up, and support by friends of the poor, from top-down and outside-inside, needs to be in place. Such a system needs planning that is capable of linking the Nepalese production and distribution of wealth and power to the objectives of equity and justice.

(Based on concluding remarks as Chairperson in GEFONT/ILO Seminar on PRSP)

Source: GEFONT

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

2011-06-15T07:57:00.001-07:00

Preamble
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in cooperation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, therefore,

The General Assembly,

Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Article I
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11
Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13
Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State.

Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14
Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15
Everyone has the right to a nationality.
No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16
Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17
Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20
Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21
Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly orthrough freely chosen representatives.

Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country.
The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23
Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26
Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27
Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29
Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Source: UNHCHR

Status of women in Nepal

2011-06-10T07:45:00.000-07:00

1. World Scenario:

In the world even though women are the major founders of the society, yet women have not achieved equality with men. Of the world’s 1.3 billion poor people, it is estimated that nearly 70 per cent are women. Between 75 and 80 per cent of the world’s 27 million refugees are women. There are many countries where women are second-class citizens. No matter how talented they are, they never get a chance to develop. A lot of countries are there where women are treated as subordinate and second class citizen, though the equal rights is preserved in the constitution.

The political participation of women in the world seems relatively low and it is duly because of the existence of the patriarchal mindset even in the political parties in almost all countries in the world no matter how advanced and socially, economically, culturally and politically sound the countries are. The participation of women in parliament of Japan and USA is only 7.1% and 17% respectively. While in the countries like Rwanda it’s 49% and in Sweden it’s 46%. The status of women in the developed countries is also lower in all sectors. Leaving some exceptions of European, American and Asian countries, women in the world are socially, economically, culturally and politically dominated and they are excluded from the opportunities. Throughout the world, women face violence every day. From the battlefield to the bedroom, women are at risk from violence in all areas of life. Violence against women persists because of society canopy. Virtually every culture in the world contains forms of violence against women that are often invisible because they are seen as normal or acceptable. The underlying cause of violence against women lies in gender discrimination – the denial of women’s equality with men in all areas of life.

2.Women in South Asia

South Asian countries are primarily linked with the status of women in family, society and the state structures. Traditional ethical code of the society expects women to remain restricted within four walls of home, which is still a common occurrence. In some of the countries of South Asia women are outlawed even to cast votes. In South Asian region, women are discriminated, because of son preference traditions of the society dominated by religious beliefs. Daughters are discriminated from birth to funeral ceremony. Women are also suffering from domestic violence, wrong tradition and cultural malpractices. Some awful examples of violence are: sex selective abortion, wife battering, child marriage, polygamy, rape, sexual violence, trafficking of women & forced prostitution, sexual harassment, dowry, Tilak system, suicide, killings, and domestic violence, still prevailed. They are still accused in the name of Witchcraft.

Women in South Asian countries are witnessing changes through development initiatives. Women are considered as poor people in developing countries, live under the same conditions as men, but suffer additional social and policy biases. Though this problem affects almost all sections of the people, women are recognized to be among the most disadvantaged groups. Political participation of women in the state structure and mechanisms is still a far dream even in this advanced century. Though, constitutions of all the countries have ensured equal status of all citizens without discrimination based on gender in every layers of governance, political participation of women in South Asian countries is very low. The decision and policy level

positions are remains occupied and dominated by males majority of them with the patriarchal psyche.

3. Status of women in Nepal

Nepal, a Himalayan country situated in South Asia, is one of the poor countries of the world. Major reason behind this is the political instability and undemocratic rule for long. Other crucial factors for being the country very poor are due to lack of awareness and access to quality education. As a result, people have superstitious beliefs, there is gender discrimination, and political leaders have decreased political vision. The socio-economic status of women in Nepal is very poor. The women are being discriminated in every aspect of the society. These and so many other factors have contributed to turn Nepal a lower human development state.

3.1 Socio-Economic Status

Nepal is a country of great geographic, cultural, ethnic, religious diversity. Across the diversity, the majority of communities in Nepal are patriarchal. A women’s life is strongly influenced by her father, husband and son. Such patriarchal practices are further reinforced by the legal system. Marriage has a great importance in women’ life. The event of marriage determines the way of her life. The early marriage generally depreciates the women’s life. A woman’s power to accept or reject marriage partner is evidently an index of the degree of freedom she exercises in the management of her own life, and thus also of her status. The status of women is determined by the patriarchal social system, values, and women’s right preserved and protected by the state, and state policy for the development of women.

Women’s relative status, however, varied from one ethnic group to another. The economic contribution of women is substantial, but largely unnoticed because their traditional role was taken as for granted.

Empirical data have proved that situation of Nepalese women is too severe to compare with men. Woman’s situation is very poor in health, education, participation, income generation, self-confidence, decision-making, access to policymaking, and human rights. The insurgency for more than 10 years between the State and the rebel has further widened this gap.

The health status of Nepal’s people is one of the lowest in the South Asian region and this is particularly true for females. Nepal is one of the countries of the world where life expectancy for women is lower than that of men. One fifth of women get married in the early age of 15-19. As a result of their premature pregnancy the deaths of women have been occurring in a very high. High birth rates, low life expectancy, high infant and maternal mortality rates and high death rate indicate the poor health status of women.

National statistics shows that women’s literacy rate is 30 percent while 66percent to male and the national literacy rate is projected as 40 percent. The enrollment of women in higher education is only 24.95 percent. Women’ involvement in technical and vocational education is also lower than men. This is due to the social norms and culture that we follow also. As in rural areas girls are considered as “paraya dhan”(others property) and they don’t get the opportunity to get education.

A large part of women’s work is not considered as economic activity. As a result only 45.2 per cent of women as compared to 68.2 per cent of men are classified as economically active. Women’s average work burden has increased slightly over the past 12 years from 10.8 hours per day in 1981 to 10.9 hours per day in 1995. Men’s average work burden presently is 7.8 hours a day, 3.1 hours less than that of women. Women’s participation in the informal sector has increased significantly in both urban and rural areas – for example vending, petty trade liquor making and vegetable selling are some of the more common employment ventures of women. In rural areas, the employment outside the household generally was limited to planting, weeding, and harvesting. In urban areas, they were employed in domestic and traditional jobs, as well as in the government sector and mostly in low-level positions.

There are very few women working in professional work in Nepal. They may study the law, but few are able to enter the profession. Women’s representation in the bureaucracy is also very low. Only one woman so far has served as ambassador. After 1991 not a single woman has been placed in the diplomatic corps. Limited participation in politics, bureaucracy and judiciary does not stop women from making a remarkable contribution in the decision-making process at the household level. Women serve as decision-makers in farm management, domestic expenditure (food items, clothes and other expenses), the children’s education, religious and social travel, household maintenance and also capital transactions. However, women’s decision-making roles seem to have declined in recent years.

Although some 42 percent of the Nepalese women are literate, and 60 percent of them are said to be economically active (CBS, 2003), participation of women in politics is negligible. Women excluded economically, socially and politically in Nepal. Those women who are in the frontline and may be working in high profile may be benefited, but they are very few and their voice is rarely heard.

3.2 Violence against Women

In Nepal, the violence against women is rampant. Several research projects in Nepal have indicated that 66 percent of women have endured verbal abuse, 33 percent emotional abuse, while 77 percent of the perpetrators were family members (UNICEF 2001). Violence against women is happening day by day but the government and the other civil society members are doing their best but still there is plenty of room to work and control the forms of violence against women. The violence against women in politics is also rampant but we are unaware or the cases have not been come out in the realm of violence against women due to its ignorance. And, even the political leaders are unaware whether the violence happening in political parties to women leaders is duly the violence against women in politics.

3.3 Women in Politics

In Nepal, people were greatly influenced by different freedom struggles. They rose against the Rana regime. Women like Mangala Devi Singh, Sahana Pradhan started coming together, and from 1947 until 1952, several women’s organizations were born to raise the political and social consciousness among women in Nepal. In 1960, the king of Nepal subverted the democratic Panchayat system to an autocratic one. This put a sudden end to all associations and their activities. Women, however, remained politically active. In protest against the undemocratic royal proclamation of 1960, a group of women organizations openly waved black flags in a public procession, and were imprisoned. Later, in the people’s movement of 1990, women actively participated to get rid of the autocratic Panchayat system and to usher in multiparty democratic system. Women of various regions and ideologies contributed greatly to the success of this movement.

The participation and contribution of women in the people’s movement of 2006 and movements for the freedom from long run was very high. However, there is very low participation of women at decision making of all sectors.

Historically, women leaders in Nepal have equally contributed to establish democratic processes in Nepal. Some noted women leaders in Nepal who challenged the conventional tradition are Mangaladevi Singh, Shalilaja Acharya, Sahana Pradhan, Asta Laxmi Shakya, Others eminent leaders especially from the Peoples’ Movement II have been Chhaya devi Parajuli and others.

While we talk about the women’s participation in politics, the common and general answer constitutes as the root cause in poverty and lack of education indeed. The state policy is the most important factor that contributes and ensures to the increased-participation of women at the state mechanism. The important issue is to increase the participation of women and pro-women-male at policy making bodies and lawmakers. The sources of women representation at lawmaking and state bodies are political parties.

The participation of women in the people’s movement (April movement of 2006) was very high and indeed encouraging. There is no doubt that both men and women contributed equally in people’s movement and protection and promotion of human rights, good governance and sustainable peace. However, men only fulfil the state positions. Nepali women have made significant contributions for the democratic processes in Nepal. However, discrimination against women still exists even within the politics. Women face hegemonic character from their male counterparts. They have always been kept away from the decision making roles.

Facts on Woman’s Situation in Politics

Only 32 women have been Members of Parliament after restoration of democracy (1990). Till now, the provision for woman representatives in the National Assembly and House of Representatives is only 3% and 5%, respectively.
Not more than three members have been women so far in the central committees of the national parties like Nepali Congress, CPN (UML) and RPP. The political parties have not adopted the 33 % reservation seats for women in their manifestos.
There were only two women in the special class which totalled 85 seats of Nepalese civil service some five years ago, occupied all the remaining seats by men.
Even in the third class posts, which totalled 7,418 seats, women occupied only eight percent.
Negligible nomination or representation of women found in constitutional bodies, task forces, and organizations.
The conservative feeling that women should not involve in politics is still prevailed in the Nepalese society.

After the restoration of democracy in 1990, only 32 women elected as the Members of Parliaments (MPs). In general, election of 1999, which was the third election held after the restoration of democracy (1999), only 12 women out of 205 seats that is hardly six percent elected as Member of the House of Representatives. The newly reinstated parliament has declared 33 percent seats as the reservation for women. Nevertheless, there is no any action plan for its proper implementation for women who occupy more than half (50.1%) ofthe total population of Nepal. Few women elected to executive positions in local election; only 289 seats of the 3993 wards returned women chairpersons in the last election for VDCs and municipalities. There was not any woman has so far been elected as mayor, deputy mayor or DDC chairperson. There was not any women representative in constitution making body in 1991 and very few in interim constitution draft committee in 2006 after the struggle of women rights activists.

Women less represented in political parties as well. Not more than 3 to 5 members have been women so far in the central committees of the national parties and other political parties. There were only two women in the special class, which totalled 85 seats of Nepalese civil service some five years ago, occupied all the remaining seats by men. Even in the third class posts, which totalled 7,418 seats, women occupied only eight percent.

The participation of women in politics seems insufficient for decision making levels representation. The participation of women in the people’s movement (April movement of 2006) was very high and indeed encouraging. But the interim constitution ensured only 33% women participation in candidacy (process) and not in the result, though the spirit of proportional representation is expressed in the constitution. When constituting the constitution, the political parties almost forgot the contribution of women made at the movement.

3.3.1 Constituent Assembly, A Historic Achievement

Nepal has entered a new political milieu with the successful completion of the Constitution Assembly (CA) election. CA election is itself a triumph in Nepali history; its significant achievement lays in electing 197 women members, which is almost 33 percent of the total seats. These women members have come from the diverse ethnic cultures, tradition, group and geographical areas. They represent the grassroots level, district and national level. We all are honored with the victory of women candidates. Their participation in Constituent Assembly will definitely bring meaningful and remarkable contribution for establishing equal and just society. We are hopeful that the victorious women will take part meaningfully in making our People’s Constitution through gender perspective considerations.

In first ever republic government set after CA elections, the political parties have disappointed in representing women ministers as they declined to bring the proportionate representation of women. The male ministers’ domination is 83.33% on 16.67% female representation. Out of 6 parties of the government, none of the political parties could come in equal basis in representing women ministers.

At present in the Nepalese society, to address all these issues, women organizations and women themselves have been strongly advocating and lobby for maximum women participation at all levels of state mechanisms. As a result recent Constitutional Assembly election has ensured almost 33% women representation. This is a major achievement in the history of Nepal as well as entire South Asian region. However, Nepalese women holding more than 50 percent population in the total census should not be satisfied with this result. They must strive and fight for ensuring 50% proportional and meaningful representation of women at all level. Also, these women CA members have different challenges ahead, for which they need support and collaboration from all the members of civil society as well as political parties.

There has been change in cultural assumptions about women and leadership in Nepal. But, still women political figures had difficulty gaining a hearing or respect for their ideas, were tied to ‘female issues’ and were perceived as not capable of wining elections. The issues raised by women are treated as ‘Women’s issue’ and not as issues of state. Women serving as ministers, professors, civil society leaders and all have demonstrated

their competencies as leaders to the public. All those constitute opportunities for the public to see female leadership. But as a result of patriarchal thought, still the political positions are not given to the women in political parties and state mechanisms.

A decade long insurgency and the king’s autocratic regime made Nepalese people vulnerable to gross human rights violations. The gross and rampant violation of human rights seemed to be fate of the Nepalese people during that period. Women are also expecting the change in the situation, and now they believe to be behaved like equal citizen as of males. The discrimination and injustice will end in the days to come. The 197 women are given opportunity and this opportunity may result the system development in Nepal regarding women’s representation and participation. But, we need to work a lot to back up and feed them with the women’s issue.

4. Challenges:

No control of women leaders over the state mechanism
Lack of opportunities and access and control over resources
Difficulties to manage the time for political participation
Challenges to be updated on human rights, inclusive democracy and women empowerment issues including international treaties, and provisions etc.
Challenges to cope the barriers of cultural values and practices that are firmly entrenched in systems and structures of society.
Patriarchal structure of society hinders women’s social, cultural, economic and political participation.
Challenges to upgrade and raise the illiteracy rate of women in Nepal, which severely limits women’s participation in politics.
Rampant poverty, illiteracy, ill health, gender, caste discrimination, political conflict and religious fundamentalism.
Rampant Violence against women limits interest and active involvement in political activities.
Families regard female members as weak and in need of protection throughout their lives and women who interact outside prescribed relations are viewed with suspicion of contempt, thus the challenges to overcome such concept.
Unhealthy power relationship.

5. Major Achievements:

In a strongly patriarchal society, women leaders have served and are serving the nation being at the decision level successfully on their visions and that has already established the capabilities of women leaders. Similarly, women’s political, social, cultural and economic awareness level have been gradually developing which is truly a good sign for overall development of women.
Some prominent women leaders became successful to hold the power and their tenure seems relatively successful.
For the first time in the history of Nepal, women’s (191 + 6), 32.77 % representation has been ensured in constituent assembly. However, there is still room to work for ensuring women’s equal participation rights at all state mechanisms. There 197 women CA members are the representatives of all Nepalese, people especially the diverse group of women.

6. Conclusion and Recommendation:

We all know that democratic institutions evolve with vision, hard work and foresight of wise leaders – and leadership is not created overnight. People brought in for emotional reasons interrupt and halt the democratic process, and at times have easily undermined democratic institutions. The quest, and consequent, lust for power is not leadership indeed. Corruption and insatiable ambition are the hallmark of many a leader in region and even women leaders could not free from it. Thus, women leaders need to change this record of political playing and they have to be more visionary by being involved in political participation and lobbying for maximum participation of women in politics. A lot of women leaders have such capabilities and they are waiting for the opportunity indeed. There are many women leaders who are talented and politically gifted to enter into the political arena but an encouraging environment should be created. Lack of proper life skill training for women’s empowerment and awareness is required unless the women are educated they cannot come forward so informal education needs to be focused. The women need to know about their rights and more work needs to be made on it.

The major issue of women, we have to consider is women are affected differently in war, violent conflict and any human rights violation cases. There is always the cost the women pay is very high in comparison to men in any situation. However, the contribution of women always neglected. The issue of women not addressed in the conflict transformation process. There is a need of women’s struggle to break the patriarchal thought, and increase the women’s share in governance and political leadership. The concept on women as weaker-sex and subordinate to the man can be changed through the involvement of women in decision making level at politics, and working in the area where there is more man involvement such as army. So, to generate the strength of women movement for making just society, women organizations and activities have to unite and build solidarity to fight against all kinds of discrimination and promoting women in politics, and state governance.

Socially and economically men are always considered as superior to women, breadwinner, head of the family and the care taker and this is major cause for the low participation of women in civil services in Nepal is in the transitional phase even though women are participating in the political field but it is not up to the level. In order to change the status of women in Nepal socio-cultural change is required which takes a lot of time.

collected by Sujan Babu Adhikari

Source:http://www.everestuncensored.org/3411/2008/12/02/status-of-women-in-nepal/

conflict in nepal

2011-05-30T08:17:00.000-07:00

Women's Rights in Nepal

2011-05-30T07:52:00.000-07:00

NEPAL-- WOMEN'S RIGHTS

THE CONFLICT AND WOMEN'S RIGHTS

Julie Bridgham's film, "Sari Soldiers: Women on the Frontline in Nepal", examines the lives of six different women and their involvement in Nepal's civil war. The Nepali stories include a Royal Nepal Army soldier, a Maoist, a mother of a "disappeared" daughter, an anti-Maoist village activist, a human rights attorney, and a street protester. Her film shows the role of women on all sides of the conflict as well as the greater political and human rights issues in Nepal. Women's rights are human rights, and there have been many instances of human rights abuses during the civil war. Even before the conflict began, women held an inferior position in society. The conflict only exascerbated these inequalities and exposed the vulnerability of the female population in Nepal.

Women have all too often been the unrecognized victims in the conflict because they already had limited access to protection, justice, and equal human rights. The Maoist rebel-Government conflict has created more chaotic conditions for most women in Nepal, especially those living in rural areas. The economic impact of the war has been even worse for the female population because alltoo often they had little before the war and they have limited access to education and other resources. The overwhelming majority of women victimized by Maoists are suffering incredibly because of the lack of timely financial support. Many women are left to fend for themselves economically when their husbands and sons are forced to fight in the war. They are forced to continue their work as well as take over for their missing spouse, while still trying to support and raise their children. Even worse, when a woman's husband is killed, she has no secure source of income for herself or her family, except for a small pension from the army. Already living in impoverished conditions, the conflict in Nepal has only made the situation more unbearable for the thousands of women who must deal with the emotional trauma of losing a family member as well as more economic burdens. Nepali women are the majority of the poor who stand to lose access to critical social services, especially if they are in an area that is mostly under rebel control.

Women in Nepal are also directly affected by the conflict because they are heavily recruited to fight for either side and they are often targets of violence and coercion. Maoists constantly target women and try to recruit them with propaganda about changing the situation of the rural population. The recruitment of women into the activities of the Maoist cause inhibits many women from working and caring for their children. Especially in rural areas, human rights abuses targeted at girls in schools are driving many Nepali families to keep their girls out of school, thus perpetuating the system of inferiority that already exists. In areas of Nepal where the conflict is the worst (the west), many girls are already not attending school because women and girls are most often abducted outside of their homes.

Perhaps the most devastating factor in the fight for women's rights in Nepal is the effect the conflict has on the participatory role of women. Maintenance of national security and peace is an important factor for economic growth and development and the empowerment of women. Violence, political participation, and attacks on women are discouraging political participation and endangering any gains that had previously been made on women's rights in Nepal. Participation in local political groups and community groups becomes more of a burden during times of conflict and it can also become dangerous. Program's targeted at women and other marginalized populations are no longer a priority and are very hard to sustain in the midst of conflict and danger. Yet, if Nepalese women are to play an equal part in security and maintaining peace, they must be empowered politically and economically. Because of gender discrimination, the needs of women themselves have been the first to be sacrificed during times of conflict. Women have been excluded from political decision-making, jeapordizing even more their rights for the future.

"Sari Soldiers: Women on the Frontline in Nepal" examines the role of women in Nepali society from every angle. It also shows how the conflict has impacted women of all economic, political, and regional backgrounds. The film not only looks at the individual struggles of each of the six women, it frames these struggles against a backdrop of economic and political strife. In the next blog, I will discuss the legal framework of this conflict and the human rights abuses that have been documented

The Triple Oppression of Dalit Women in Nepal

2011-05-23T08:41:00.000-07:00

Women's Issues
DALIT WOMEN:
The Triple Oppression of Dalit Women in Nepal by Durga Sob
Background
Nepal is a country characterised not only by biodiversity but also by socio-cultural diversity. Meanwhile, Nepalese political and social life is primarily dominated by the Hindu religion, which divides Hindu society into four varnas, namely, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Sudras. Over a period of time, casteism developed a rigid hierarchical society with the purity and pollution of castes. In this manufactured caste hierarchy, Brahmins lie at the top, and Sudras, or Dalits, lie at the bottom of society.
The word dalit literally means "a person immersed in a swamp." Traditionally, Dalits have been treated inhumanely as "Untouchables." Although untouchability was abolished by the New National Code of Nepal in 1963, its practice still continues. The people belonging to this community are living in a swamp of illiteracy, exploitation, marginalisation, absolute poverty and, above all, caste discrimination. Dalit women, however, are triply oppressed: (1) oppressed by the so-called high caste people, which equally affects both male and female Dalits, (2) oppressed by the design of the Hindu patriarchal system and (3) oppressed by Dalit males.
It is estimated that the Dalit community constitutes 20 percent of the total population of the country, or four million people, and that the population of Dalit women is half of this figure, i.e., two million people. In general, Dalits are characterised as being illiterate, unemployed, landless, poor, ignorant, exploited, docile, unhygienic, dirty, sick and ignored by the rest of society. The Dalit community has lost its self-respect and dignity as a result of centuries of social discrimination, oppression, exploitation and suppression. Despite being marginalised, Dalits are skilled artisans. However, statistics have revealed that Dalits are far behind in the development process compared to other caste groups. Unlike other ethnic groups, Dalits are scattered throughout the country.
In today's context of the globalisation of women's issues, Nepalese women from different segments of society are also raising their voices against discrimination and exploitation. The government has already established the Women Development Ministry to monitor national and international women's issues, which can be viewed as a good initiative. Unfortunately, the Dalit women's issue has not been recognised yet as a national issue. In addition, the so-called "mainstream" women's movement, led by high caste women, ignore Dalit women and their concerns.
In general, the status of women in Nepal is very low, like in other South Asian countries. Among them though, Dalit women face the worst conditions and oppression. Dalit women are living a history of pain, agony, sorrow, misconduct, maltreatment and suffering. They are not only the victim of gender discrimination but also the victim of casteism. Moreover, the lives of Dalit women are spiralling downward from bad to worse. There is no controversy among development planners and workers that there has been very little impact on raising the status of Dalit women from the development initiatives implemented thus far in Nepal.
The Condition of Dalit Women
The difficult lives of Dalit women are perhaps best revealed by studying the social, economic, educational, health and political conditions of Dalit women, which are outlined below.
Social Condition: Untouchability
Though outlawed since 1963 and made punishable by the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal in 1990, untouchability is still practised. Thus, Dalits are treated as socially untouchable even in a democracy. This can be observed around the periphery of the Kathmandu Valley and in the rural areas. Even in public places, such as schools, Dalit students face discrimination. The entire Dalit community is exploited and discriminated on the grounds of caste, but women, as noted earlier, are further victimised.
Untouchability related to women is practised in many ways that affect all Dalit women every day. For example, when Dalit women fetch water from public water taps, wells, etc., they suffer from mental as well as physical assaults. Moreover, by traditional cultural practise, women usually are the member of the family that worships in the temple; but in Nepal, Dalit women are not allowed to enter the temples nor are they allowed to enter the house of upper caste people.
Meanwhile, intercaste marriage is socially disapproved, and Dalit women are the principal victims of this system. If a girl from an upper caste family marries a lower caste boy, for instance, then she is accepted by the boy's family. However, when a marriage takes place between an upper caste boy and a lower caste girl, problems occur as she is not accepted by her husband's family. Subsequently, she is mentally and physically abused and abandoned in many cases.
Economic Condition: Exploitation
Most Dalits have their own traditional occupation, but they are economically exploited. It is estimated that more than 50 percent of the total population of the country lives below the absolute poverty line. Dalits, due to their history of discrimination, exploitation and abuse, constitute a large proportion of this number-approximately 90 percent of the total Dalit population of four million people. Since women have no economic power in the family, it clearly indicates the economic condition of Dalit women. These women have to work hard as labourers to earn a living, but they receive very little in return. Moreover, payment is mostly in kind, and their pay does not justify the intensity of the work. There is no doubt that Dalit women are more economically exploited than their upper caste women counterparts.
Education Condition: Illiteracy
The literacy rate of Dalit women is very low in comparison with high caste women. The present literacy rate of men is 66 percent, and the education rate for women is 30 percent. However, the literacy rate of the Dalit community is 16 percent; and for Dalit women, the literacy rate is only 7 percent. Among two million Dalit women, there are hardly 10 to 15 graduates and postgraduates. Ignorance, absolute poverty, caste and gender discrimination can be considered as the explanation for such statistics.
Health Condition: Lowest Life Expectancy
In Nepal, the life expectancy of women is lower than that of men (Nepal is one of the three countries in the world where women live less than men). Compared though to the so-called "upper caste people," the health condition of Dalits is very miserable. For example, a very backward Dalit caste-the Mushar of Terai -has a life span of 42 years against the national average of 55 years. Moreover, gynecological diseases, like a prolapsed uterus, are very common among Dalit women. They do not know much about birth control and spacing and become pregnant every year. Furthermore, because of illiteracy and ignorance, they live in filthy and unhygienic conditions which further deteriorates their health. The children of Dalits are also severely malnourished. As Dalits do not have easy access to clean drinking water in most places, they are compelled to drink polluted water and thus suffer from various gastrointestinal diseases. In this environment, both the mortality and fertility rates are high.
Political Condition: Non-Representation
Nepalese society is patriarchal, and the involvement of women in public life is not encouraged. This social prohibition applies to politics too. Thus, although Nepali women comprise 52 percent of the country's population, their representation in politics is among the lowest in Asia, i.e., as low as 5 percent. This is in spite of the 1990 Nepalese Constitution in which there is a mandatory provision that 5 percent of all candidates put forward by the country's national parties should be women. However, there were no mandatory rules for women to be represented in local government. In 1997 though, 5 percent of the seats were reserved for women in local government, and yet this rule cannot embrace Dalit women.
Dalits are about 20 percent of the total population, but Dalits are not represented in national-level politics. Presently, there are four nominated parliamentarians in the National Assembly, but there is none that have been elected to the Lower House of Parliament. If the representation of men is so negligible, then one can easily imagine the political participation of Dalit women.
Sexual Exploitation: Trafficking
Because of poverty, ignorance and illiteracy, Dalit women and young girls are compelled to be involved in prostitution. One of the Dalit castes-Badi-is regarded as the prostitute caste. In addition, there is the trafficking of girls. Most of the Dalit girls taken by the brokers are trafficked to Indian brothels. In addition, many women working in carpet factories, hotels and government and private offices are sexually harassed and exploited. Because of the untouchability problem related to caste, Dalit women are deprived of the opportunity of working in the moneymaking professions, i.e., opening teashops and restaurants. Their time is spent on earning subsistence wages, and they do not have time to think about improving their condition.
Solutions
We feel very uncomfortable in reporting that very few efforts have been made by the government of Nepal to eradicate the problems of Dalits in general and of Dalit women in particular.
In recent years, particularly after the restoration of multiparty democracy, the women's movement has gained momentum with the emergence of many women's organisations and leaders. Unfortunately, none of these women's organisations have taken the issues and plight of two million Dalit women seriously. This is why we established an organisation dedicated to the rights and emancipation of Dalit women.
As mentioned above, there is a serious lack of consciousness among the entire Dalit community about their fundamental human rights. Therefore, they accept all forms of discrimination and exploitation as God's grace to them. Meanwhile, the outside world has been silent about caste exploitation and discrimination.
In recent years, we, a few educated Dalit women, have come forward to move the issue forward. We intend to influence the government, donor agencies and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), enabling them to realise the harsh reality of Dalit women and to direct resources for the upliftment of these downtrodden women. We also plan to agitate at the local level against caste discrimination and violence and to join hands with other like-minded organisations.
The vast problems of Dalits and Dalit women cannot be solved through the efforts of one or two organisations though. Therefore, we strongly feel that all national forces should join hands together. In this spirit, we would like to offer the recommendations below.
(1) Various programmes should be launched to uplift the living conditions of two million Dalit women.
(2) Scholarships should be provided from primary to higher education to all Dalit girls.
(3) The practice of untouchability in all public places, like schools, water sources and teashops, should be punished with immediate effect.
(4) All laws and acts which discriminate against Dalits and Dalit women should be rescinded immediately, and a law should be formulated and enforced to discourage the practice of untouchability.
(5) Intercaste marriage between Dalits and non-Dalits should be promoted and protected.
(6) There should be reserved seats for Dalit women in appropriate constitutional bodies, and these seats should be reserved for Dalit women in elections from the local to the national level.
(7) The government should abide by the U.N. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
(8) Dalits and Dalit women should be represented in the National Human Rights Commission.
(9) A separate commission at the national and the international level should be formed to identify the problems of Dalit women and to make recommendations to resolve these issues.
As for national and international NGOs, it is recommended that they consider the steps that follow.
(1) A series of in-depth studies should be undertaken about Dalit women.
(2) All NGOs should declare Dalits as one of their target groups of development and should formulate specific programmes to improve their lives.
(3) All human rights organisations should network with Dalit organisations and expose the human rights problems of Dalit women at the national and international level.
(4) The government of Nepal should be pressured to implement all of the U.N. conventions on human rights.
(5) International NGOs especially should give priority to Dalits and Dalit women in employment and involve them in the formulation of plans and programmes for the Dalit community.

collected by
Sujan Babu Adhikari

Fire destroys over 500 huts in Bhutanese refugee camps

2011-05-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

NHRN
Kathmandu, March 22: A massive fire broke out at the Bhutanese refugee camps in Goldhaap, Jhapa, on Tuesday, destroying over 500 huts out of the total 739. Some 150 huts were dismantled to bring fire under control.
The fire started at about 7.30 am in the morning from the hut owned by Rabilal Timsina of sector B-2 hut number 18 when he was performing puja, informed camp secretary Chiranjibi Rai.
Six fire brigade vehicles and security personnel took the fire in control in three hours.
The fire has also destroyed the godown of World Food Programme and a health centre run by the Association for Medical Doctors of Asia (AMDA) Nepal that provides primary health care to the refugees.
According to secretary Rai, the chief district officer of Jhapa earlier today visited the camp and assured of emergency relief aid. According to him, certain amount of cash would be provided to the owners of the huts destroyed in the fire.
Around 3000 refugees displaced by fire are taking temporary shelter in the camp school and in the nearby forest.
Meanwhile, a second fire that broke out in Sanischare camp of Morang district this afternoon gutted 180 huts. Some 25 huts were dismantled by refugees and security personnel to prevent further damage.
Sanischare camp secretary Champa Singh Rai told Nepalnews that all four sub-sectors of sector B, sub-sector A-5 and C-2 were destroyed by the fire.
"Officials from the UN Refugee Agency, various aid agencies and government representatives visited the camp and assured possible support to the displaced refugees as soon as possible," he said.
The cause of fire that has displaced around 1500 people in Sanischare camp is not yet known.
This is the third major fire in Goldhaap camp which had been totally destroyed by fire twice while Sanischare has witnessed a major mishap like this for the first time.

Sujan Babu Adhikari

co-operative

2011-05-11T09:07:00.001-07:00

Financial Cooperatives, Role And Risks In Economy

Arhan Sthapit

AMID the resource crunch witnessed across the economy against the increasing public demand, cooperatives have become a new phenomenon today. Experience has proved that cooperatives are effective organisations in delivering public goods and services in an efficient and cost-effective way.

Therefore, they could be proposed as a launch pad for securing economic growth in countries like ours where public delivery and production systems are still weak, and, consumers unorganised. Yet, a large number of risks have also surfaced over a period of time while attempting to activate cooperatives in this very economic process.

Nepali roots

The cooperative movement that has become so widespread these days has its original roots in the Guthi system institutionalised in the Kathmandu Valley society since time immemorial. In ancient times, the common goal of a group of people and families was achieved through collective access to property, returns and expenses by promoting the guthi as a ‘kinship-based social institution’.

Over the centuries, the cooperative movement has modified itself to come to what we have established today as a system. It is now based on at least seven principles. Open membership, democratic control and management, and equality are the key principles. Likewise, other important principles are suitable service to its members, financial stability, promotion of cooperative education or lesson, and social responsibility.

The role of cooperatives in Nepal’s financial sector should be substantial as this sector has witnessed a strong presence, particularly after the enforcement of the Cooperative Act, 1992. The law has provided for cooperatives to conduct ‘limited’ financial transactions akin to the banking services. And in a short period of time, the operation of such cooperatives has emerged throughout the nation.

There are more than 20,000 cooperatives registered with the Department of Cooperatives of the Nepal Government in all the 75 districts. Out of them, more than 8,000 savings and credit cooperatives are in operation across the country. The existing financial legislation has recognised them as Class-D financial institutions. They cover more than 2.2 million Nepalese as members, while serving more than 10 million people.

Additionally, a few more thousand multi-purpose cooperatives are also operating financial transactions, as per the Department’s official data. Such coverage in terms of membership and geography highlights the cooperatives’ role in the economy.

The annual turnover of cooperatives is estimated at 80 billion Nepalese rupees (approx US$ 1.08 billion). Given the size of the Nepalese economy, measured in terms of GDP, the cooperatives’ turnover and its contribution to the economy are not small.

Cooperatives operating in the financial sector are highly instrumental not only in mobilising scattered savings across the nation, but in also providing the people, including economically backward and underprivileged citizens, easy access to savings and credit facilities. They serve as an effective catalyst to bridging the people at the grassroots with resources in the community. The testimony to it is the rising popularity and growth of financial cooperatives in the recent years; tens of thousands of such cooperatives are now in operation in the nation.

Some of the credit and savings cooperatives have command over a wide range of depositors and credit-users in different communities; their turnover even exceeds that of finance companies, i.e., Class-C financial institutions. It amplifies the present and potential role of such cooperatives in the country’s financial sector.

The growth naturally brings about not only opportunities but also risks and threats. As a natural law, control and proper regulation should always get tougher, as the number and size of the organisations grow. Hence, there is an imperative need of a control mechanism on the cooperative business.

Nepal Rastra Bank or similar other regulatory authority must be there to play such a role so as to avert financial aberrations and anomalies orchestrated by ill-intentioned cooperatives. In the absence of such an authority, haphazard investment practices, including those in riskier real-estate projects, are reportedly going unabated in the recent years, posing threats to the community and economy. The threats are more serious to economically vulnerable depositors associated with the cooperatives.

Credibility and security are the two key factors critical in the context of savings and credit cooperatives in Nepal. Such cooperatives’ managers are required to know how much risk they can absorb in the given situation. There is an imperative need to devise a customised mechanism of credit analysis and evaluation that they need to perform before making investment decisions. The managers should build professionalism in taking ‘calculative’ risks instead of ‘speculative’ risks.

A code of conduct based on the standards of social responsibility of business (SRB) - one of the principles of cooperatives - should be developed and implemented effectively under the supervision of a well-functioning regulatory authority.

It is highly desirable that cooperatives’ common forums like the Nepal Federation of Savings & Credit Cooperative Unions Ltd and National Cooperative Federation of Nepal play a constructive role. Their collaboration with the regulatory authority and professional banking bodies could be instrumental in developing and implementing an effective framework for investment and deposit mobilisation.

National campaign

Provided that these measures are taken proactively, the country could accomplish the ongoing national campaign "Cooperatives In Every Village, Employment In Every Household" that has been launched in view of the imperative importance of cooperatives in boosting and accelerating economic growth through employment generation and fund mobilization.

Cooperatives Act, 1992

2011-05-09T04:47:00.000-07:00

Cooperatives Act, 1992

(A law enacted to provide for cooperative societies and unions)

History

May 15, 1992 First promulgated. Nepal Rajapatra, Vol. 42, No. 7 (E), Jestha 2, 2049

December 6, 2000 First Amendment. Nepal Rajapatra, Vol. 50, No. 45 (E), Marga 21, 2057

Consolidated Text

Preamble: Whereas it is desirable to make arrangements relating to the formation and operation of cooperative societies and unions of different categories for enabling the farmers, artisans, low capital and income groups, laborers, landless and unemployed people, or social workers, of the country to work for the economic and social development of the general consumers on the basis of mutual cooperation and cooperative spirit, now therefore, the Parliament has enacted this law in the 21st year of the reign of His Majesty King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev.

Chapter 1

Preliminary

1. Short Title and Commencement

(1) This law may be called the Cooperatives Act, 1992.

(2) It shall come into force at once.

2. Definitions

Unless otherwise meant with reference to the subject or context, in this Act,

(a) Society or Union means a cooperative society or union registered under Section 5.

(b) Member means any individual, society, association, or other agency acquiring membership of a society or union by purchasing its shares according to its bye-rules.

(d) Registrar means the Registrar appointed under Section 21.

(e) General Assembly means the General Assembly of the concerned society or union.

(f) Bye-Rules mean the bye-rules of the concerned society or union.

(g) Prescribed or as prescribed means prescribed or in the manner prescribed in the rules framed under this Act.

Chapter 2

Formation of Society or Union

3. Formation of Society or Union

(1) Societies or unions may be formed as follows with the objectives of providing services and facilities for the economic and social development of the members according to cooperative principles:

(a) A primary society comprising at least 25 members.

(b) A union dealing in any particular field with at least five societies according to Clause (a) as its members.

(c) A District Cooperative Union with at least five societies as mentioned in Clause (a), or unions dealing in any particular field as mentioned in Clause (b), or both, as its members.

(d) The Central Cooperative Union with at least 25 societies as mentioned in Clause (a), or at least five unions dealing in any particular field as mentioned in Clause (b), as its members.

(e) The National Cooperative Union with at least 15 unions as mentioned in Clause (b), (c), and (d) as its members.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in Sub-Section (1), several district cooperative unions, or unions dealing in a particular field of the same nature in the same district, or several central cooperative unions of the same nature, shall not be formed.

(3) The jurisdiction of a society or union shall be as prescribed in its bye-rules.

4. Application for Registration of Societies or Unions

(1) The concerned members must submit an application to the Registrar for the registration of a society or union formed under Section 3.

(2) The application mentioned in Sub-Section (1) must be accompanied by two copies of the bye-rules of the concerned society or union, its work plan, and particulars of the shares which the members have agreed to subscribe, and must have been signed at least by the members mentioned in Section 3.

5. Registration of Society or Union

(1) On receipt of application for the registration of a society or union according to Section 4, the Registrar shall conduct necessary investigations to ascertain whether or not the bye-rules of such society or union conform to cooperative principles.

(2) If, after conducting investigations under Sub-Section (1), the Registrar so deems appropriate, he shall issue a certificate of registration in the prescribed manner after registering such society or union.

6. Registration May Be Refused

(1) If, after conducting investigations under Sub-Section (1) of Section 5, the Registrar considers it necessary to make any amendment, he shall notify the persons who have applied for the registration of concerned society or union for such amendment within 15 days.

(2) In case the applicants refuse to make amendments according to the notice issued under Sub-Section (1), or do not do so within 35 days after receiving such notice, the Registrar may refuse to register such society or union. He must notify the applicants accordingly, indicating the reasons why registration has been refused.

(3) In case the Registrar has refused to register any society or union according to Sub-Section (2), the applicants may submit a complaint to HMG if they are not satisfied.

7. Society or Union To Be Corporate Body

(1) The society or union shall be an autonomous and corporate body with perpetual succession.

(2) The society or union shall have a separate seal of its own for all of its business.

(3) The society or union may acquire, use, and otherwise dispose of movable and immovable property like an individual.

(4) The society or union may sue or be sued in its own name like an individual.

8. Liability of Society or Union to be Limited

(1) The liability of a society or union shall be limited.

(2) Every society or union shall use the word "Cooperative" in its name and the word "Limited" at the end.

Chapter 3

Membership of Society or Union

9. Membership of Society

(1) Nepali citizens of the following categories may become members of the society:

(a) Persons who have applied for the registration of the society.

(b) Persons residing in the area under the jurisdiction of the society who desire to obtain the services of the society by purchasing the shares sold under Section 23, agree to bear the responsibility of membership, and fulfil the conditions mentioned in the bye-rules.

(2) A person who desires to become a member of the society must apply to its Board.

(3) In case the Board refuses to grant membership to any applicant, the latter may complain to the General Assembly. The decision made by the General Assembly in that respect shall be final.

(4) Persons who have become members by virtue of their compulsory savings having been converted into share capital shall ipso facto lose their membership after they get refundment of their savings.

10. Membership of Union

(1) Societies coming under the jurisdiction of a union dealing in any particular field may acquire its membership in accordance with the arrangements made in its bye-rules.

(2) All societies within the concerned district, as well as all unions dealing in any particular field, may become members of a district cooperative union according to arrangements made in its bye-rules.

(3) Societies and unions dealing in any particular field may become members of the central cooperative union in accordance with the arrangements made in its bye-rules.

(4) All unions, as well as other agencies as provided for in the bye-rules of the National Cooperative Union, may become members of the National Cooperative Union.

(5) Agencies which purchase shares sold according to Sub-Section (1) of Section 23 may become members of the concerned union.

11. Termination of Membership

The membership of societies or unions shall terminate in the prescribed circumstances.

Chapter 4

Working Procedure

12. Bye-Rules

(1) Subject to this Act and the rules framed hereunder, a society or union may frame bye-rules to run its business. Such bye-rules shall come into force after they are approved by the Registrar.

(2) The operation and management of every society or union shall be in accordance with its bye-rules.

(3) The bye-rules must mention the name of the society or union, its address, its jurisdiction, objectives, procedure of operation, and other prescribed particulars.

(4) Bye-rules may be amended by the two-thirds majority of the members of the concerned society or union present at a general meeting.

(5) The bye-rules amended according to Sub-Section (4) shall come into force after these are approved by the Registrar.

13. General Assembly

(1) Every society or union shall have a General Assembly.

(2) All members of a society shall be members of its General Assembly.

(3) The General Assembly of a union shall comprise members as mentioned in its bye-rules.

14. Functions, Duties, and Powers of the General Assembly

The functions, duties, and powers of the General Assembly shall be as follows:

(a) To examine and endorse the annual accounts of the society or union.

(b) To elect the Board of Directors and the Accounts Committee, and take decisions on the question of removing any Director or dissolving any Committee.

(d) To take decisions on the question of amending the bye-rules.

(e) To take decisions on the question of dividing a society or union, or its amalgamation with any other society or union, or its dissolution.

15. Meetings of the General Assembly

(1) Every society or union must convene a preliminary general meeting within three months after it is registered.

(2) Every society or union must convene an annual general meeting within six months after the expiry of each fiscal year.

(3) In prescribed circumstances, the society or union may convene an extra-ordinary general meeting.

(4) The quorum for meetings of the General Assembly shall be as prescribed.

Provided that while amending the bye-rules, the presence of 51 percent of the total ordinary membership of the General Assembly shall be necessary.

16. Board of Directors

(1) Every society or union shall have a Board of Directors.

(2) The composition of the Board, and its functions, duties and powers, shall be as provided for in the bye-rules of the appropriate society or union.

(3) The term of the Board shall be as provided for in the bye-rules, with a maximum term of five years.

(4) The Board shall have elections held for a new Board before its term expires.

(5) In case the Board does not hold elections within the time-limit mentioned in Sub-Section (4), any member may notify the Registrar accordingly.

(6) On receipt of information according to Sub-Section (4), or even otherwise, the Registrar must hold elections for the Board of Directors within six months after the expiry of its term.

(7) Until a new Board is elected according to Sub-Section (4) or Sub-Section (6), the existing Board may operate the business of the society or union in the manner provided for in the bye-rules.

17. Accounts Committee

(1) The General Assembly of every society may form an Accounts Committee consisting of three members, including the Convenor, through elections.

(2) The Accounts Committee may have the internal audit of the society conducted in a regular manner, and furnish suggestions to the Board.

(3) The Accounts Committee must present its report about the accounts to the General Assembly.

18. Expulsion of Members of the Board or Dissolution of the Board

(1) In case the General Assembly approves by a majority a resolution presented by 5 percent of the members maintaining that it will be appropriate to expel any elected member of the Board, or to dissolve the Board, such member may be expelled, or the Board dissolved.

(2) In case any member of the Board is expelled according to Sub-Section (1), another member shall be elected by the General Assembly to fill up that seat for the remaining term.

(3) In case the Board is dissolved according to Sub-Section (1), the General Assembly shall make arrangements for electing a new Board.

(4) All the provisions mentioned in Sub-Section (1), Sub-Section (2), and Sub-Section (3) shall be applicable in connection with the expulsion of members of the Accounts Committee, or the dissolution of the Accounts Committee as well.

19. Sub-Committees

(1) For the purpose of operating the business of the society or union, the Board may form Sub-Committee as provided for in the bye-rules.

(2) The functions, duties, and powers, as well as the working procedures, of Sub-Committees formed according to Sub-Section (1) shall be as provided for in the bye-rules.

20. Appointment of Employees and Advisors

(1) For the purpose of running the business of the society or union, the Board may appoint employees and advisors according to need in accordance with the procedure approved by the General Assembly.

(2) The remunerations and other conditions of service of employees and advisors appointed under Sub-Section (1) shall be as mentioned in the bye-rules of the concerned society or union.

Chapter 5

Registrar

21. Appointment of Registrar

(1) Subject to this Act and the rules framed hereunder, HMG shall appoint a Registrar to register societies or unions, and perform other prescribed functions.

(2) The remunerations and other conditions of service of the Registrar shall be as prescribed.

22. Delegation of Authority

The Registrar may delegate any or all of the powers vested on him under this Act or the rules framed hereunder to any subordinate officer.

Chapter 6

Financial Sources and Mobilization

23. Sale of Shares

(1) The society or union may collect share capital through the sale of shares to persons within the area under its jurisdiction who are eligible to become members, as well as to members and other prescribed agencies.

(2) With the approval of HMG, a society or union may sell shares amounting to not more than 20 percent of its total share capital to any foreign cooperative society or union which is a member of the International Cooperative Alliance.

(3) A society must sell shares according to Sub-Section (1) in such a manner that no individual or society gets more than 20 percent of the total share capital.

Provided that this restriction shall not be applicable to HMG or a society or agency owned by it.

(4) Irrespective of the number of shares purchased by any member, voting shall be only according to the principle of one person one vote while operating the business of the society or union.

24. Loan Bonds and Loans

A society or union may issue loan bonds, or obtain loans from any local or foreign bank or any other agency.

Provided that before issuing loan bonds, or obtaining loans from a foreign bank, it must obtain the approval of HMG.

25. HMG Guarantee for Loans

(1) In case any society or union desires to obtain the guarantee of HMG for loan bonds issued by it, or loans to be obtained by it from any foreign bank or other agency, it must submit an application to HMG for that purpose.

(2) HMG shall consider the application submitted according to Sub-Section (1) and, in case it so deems appropriate, provide guarantee for such loan bonds or loans. While providing such guarantee, HMG may prescribe necessary conditions and restrictions in respect to the redemption of such loan bonds or loans. The society or union must redeem such loan bonds or loans subject to such conditions and restrictions.

26. Power to Undertake Banking Business

(1) A society or union may accept saving deposits from its members and also supply loans to them.

(2) A society or union must obtain the prior approval of the Nepal Rastra Bank in order to engage in other banking businesses, including accepting deposits and supplying loans, in addition to the businesses mentioned in Sub-Section (1), but only with its own members. Such societies or unions must comply with the terms and conditions prescribed and the directives issued by the Nepal Rastra Bank.

(3) Every society or union which has been engaged in (such) businesses after being registered before the commencement of this Act must make arrangements for operating its businesses under Sub-Section (1) or Sub-Section (2) within one year from the date of commencement of this Act.

(4) Notwithstanding anything contained elsewhere in this Act, societies or unions may unitedly establish a cooperative bank.

(5) In case an application is filed for the establishment of a bank according to Sub-Section (4) along with the recommendation of the Nepal Rastra Bank, the Registrar may conduct necessary investigations and register such a bank.

(6) A bank established after being registered under Sub-Section (5) may engage in any such banking businesses under the 1974 Commercial Bank Act as are approved by the Nepal Rastra Bank, and it shall be mandatory for such a bank to comply with the terms and conditions prescribed and the directives issued by the Nepal Rastra Bank from time to time.

27. Distribution of Savings

(1) After at least one-fourth of the net savings of any year is credited to the reserve fund, a society or union may use the balance to set up funds in the prescribed manner.

(2) Funds other than the reserve funds may be used for the distribution of dividends or bonus within the limits mentioned in the bye-rules according to the objectives of the funds.

Provided that the amount of dividends in any year shall not exceed 15 percent of the share capital.

28. Financial Cooperation Not To Be Provided

No society or union shall make contributions or provide any other type of financial cooperation to any political party, or any institution or association which works for any religion or sect.

29. Contracts Not To Be Given

A society or union shall not grant its contract to any member of its Board or Accounts Committee or to any employee.

30. Shares or Rights of Members Not To Be Sold by Auction

The shares or rights of any member in the principal capital of any society or union shall not be sold by auction in consideration of any loan or liability, other than the loans or liabilities of such society or unions.

Chapter 7

Amalgamation or Division

31. Amalgamation or Division

(1) A two-thirds majority of the General Assembly of the concerned society or union is necessary for the amalgamation of two or more societies or unions, or the division of any society or union into two or more societies or unions. While taking such decision, the conditions and procedures of such amalgamation or division must also be mentioned.

(2) On the basis of the decision taken under Sub-Section (1), the Registrar may amalgamate or divide the concerned society or union.

Chapter 8

Notices, Records, and Examination of Accounts

32. Records of Decisions

Every society or union must maintain updated records of the meetings and other business of its General Assembly the Board, the Accounts Committee, and Sub-Committees.

33. Accounts and Other Records

Every society and union must maintain records of the accounts of its entire business, as well as other necessary records, in the prescribed manner.

34. Notice To Be Furnished

Every society or union shall submit an annual report of its business, the audit report, as well as a report containing the following particulars, to the Registrar or to an authority designated by him, within the prescribed time limit.

(a) Policies and plans finalized in respect to the distribution of savings.

(b) Names of Directors and their remaining term.

(d) Other particulars prescribed by the Registrar from time to time.

35. Power to Seek Explanations and Clarifications

(1) In case at least 5 percent of the members of any society or union submit an application to the effect that such society or union has not worked in a satisfactory manner, the Registrar may personally demand explanations or clarifications, or empower any officer in writing to do so.

(2) In case the Registrar feels that any society or union is not conducting its business in a satisfactory manner, he may demand explanations and clarifications, or have any officer do so.

(3) In case the Registrar, or any officer empowered by him according to Sub-Section (1) and Sub-Section (2), demands explanations and clarifications, it shall be the duty of every member and employee of the society or union to furnish the information requested and extend cooperation in every manner.

(4) Notice of the results of the explanations or clarifications sought according to Sub-Section (1) or Sub-Section (2) shall be made available to such society or union in writing.

36. Power to Conduct Inspection and Offer Suggestions

(1) The Registrar, or an officer empowered by him, may inspect the society or union.

(2) While conducting inspection according to Sub-Section (1), in case it is found that this Act or the rules or bye-rules framed hereunder are not being complied with, the concerned officer may offer necessary suggestions to make arrangements consistent with the Act, rules or bye-rules.

37. Examinations of Accounts

(1) A society or union must have the accounts of each financial year audited by a registered auditor approved by the Registrar or an officer designated by him within three months after the expiry of such financial year.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in Sub-Section (1), the General Assembly of the concerned society or union may, with the approval of the Registrar, appoint a registered auditor for auditing its accounts.

(3) While appointing an auditor according to Sub-Section (2), the same person or company shall not be appointed for more than three consecutive terms.

(4) The report of the examination of accounts must be presented to the General Assembly for its endorsement.

(5) In case the General Assembly does not endorse the report of the examination of accounts presented to it according to Sub-Section (4), it may appoint another auditor and conduct investigations or a fresh audit.

(6) The remunerations and facilities of the auditor shall be as determined by the General Assembly.

Chapter 9

Immunities and Facilities for Societies and Unions

38. Immunities and Facilities for Societies and Unions

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in current law, a society or union shall be entitled to the following immunities and facilities:

(a) A society or union need not register any document relating to its transactions, except in the case of immovable property.

(b) No revenue stamp fee or registration fee shall be charged on documents relating to transactions or sale or purchase of immovable property by a society or union, or in any other type of document.

(c) No income tax shall be collected on the profits made by a society or union, and on the dividends received by its members. No house and compound rent tax or property tax shall be collected from a society or union.

(d) Local taxes shall not be collected on goods dealt in by a society or union.

(2) HMG may wholly or partially waive by notification in the Nepal Rajapatra according to current law customs duty or sales tax on machinery, industrial and agricultural equipment, parts thereof, raw materials, official equipment, and means of transport to be imported by a society or union for its use.

(3) HMG may wholly or partially waive by notification in the Nepal Rajapatra according to current law the excise duty or sales tax due on any goods produced by any society or union.

(4) A society or union engaged in industrial production shall be entitled to other immunities and facilities, as well as protection, due to industries under current law, in addition to the immunities mentioned in Sub-Section (1), (2) or (3) above.

39. Collection of Arrears of Payment Due to Societies or Unions

The society or union, or the Registrar on its recommendation, may sell by auction according to the prescribed procedure the assets of any person who has defaulted in the repayment of loans obtained from the society or union, or of other arrears due to such society or union, or the amount or the value of the property of the society or union which he has misappropriated, along with interest thereon.

40. Society or Union to Get Priority

In case any member defaults in the payment of any amount due to a society or union, provision shall be made for the settlement of the rights or claims of HMG, if any, to the property of such member, and the society or union shall have preemptive right to the balance.

Chapter 10

Dissolution of Society or Union, and Cancellation of Registration

41. Dissolution and Cancellation of Registration of Society or Union

(1) A two-thirds majority of the total membership of the General Assembly of the society or union may take a decision to dissolve such society or union.

(2) After receiving an application along with a copy of the decision taken under Sub-Section (1), the Registrar, or a person empowered by him, may cancel the registration of such society or union.

(3) In case enquiries conducted according to Sub-Section (2) of Section 35, or inspection conducted according to Section 36, reveal that any society or union has conducted no transaction and has remained inactive for two consecutive years, or in case any society or union is found to have performed actions contrary to its objectives, the Registrar, or a person empowered by him, may cancel the registration of such society or union. In case registration is cancelled in this manner, the society or union shall be dissolved, and the certificate of its registration shall be ipso facto invalid.

42. Appointment of Liquidator

(1) In case a society or union is dissolved under Section 41, the Registrar, or a person empowered by him, shall appoint a liquidator to implement the related matter.

(2) The functions, duties, powers and the remunerations of liquidator shall be as prescribed.

Chapter 11

Fines and Penalties

43. Fine For Failure to Submit Particulars

A society or union which does not submit a report under Section 34, or does not furnish information according to Sub-Section (3) of Section 35, shall be fined with an amount not exceeding Rs 1,500 on the order of the Registrar.

44. Fine for Conducting Business by Using the Term "Cooperative"

Any person who engages in trade or other enterprise in contravention of Section 46, except in the case of a society or union registered under this Act, shall be fined with not more than Rs 2,000 on the order of the Registrar. In case such person repeats the offense, he shall be fined with an amount not exceeding Rs 5,000 for each additional offense.

45. Appeals

The concerned society or union, or individual who is dissatisfied with the cancellation of the registration of any society or union by the Registrar or the person empowered by him according to Sub-Section (3) of Section 41, or with the order issued by the Registrar under Section 43 or Section 44, may file an appeal to the Appellate Court within 35 days.

Chapter 12

Miscellaneous

46. Prohibition to Use The Term Cooperative or Any Equivalent Term

No person, firm, or institution, other than a society or union registered under this Act, may use the term cooperative, or its English equivalent, in his/its name or business.

47. 1964 Company Act Not To Be Applicable

The 1964 Company Act shall not be applicable in the case of societies or unions registered under this Act.

48. Power to Frame Rules

(1) HMG may frame necessary rules to implement the objectives of this Act.

(2) Without prejudices to the generality of the powers conferred by Sub-Section (1), such rules may provide for the following matters in particular:

(a) Specimen forms of application for registration of societies or unions, and certificate.

(b) Powers and working procedures of general meetings and extraordinary general meetings of societies or unions.

(d) Supervision and inspection of societies and unions.

49. Repeal and Saving

(1) The 1984 Cooperative Societies Act has been repealed.

(2) Societies and unions registered under the 1984 Cooperative Societies Act shall be deemed to have been registered according to this Act.

Royal Seal Affixed on: Jestha 2, 2049 (June 15, 1992).

Violence Against Women in Marginalized Madheshi Community: Root Causes -Consequence and Prevention

2011-05-07T03:24:00.000-07:00

Violence Against Women in Marginalized Madheshi Community: Root Causes -Consequence and Prevention

(A Case study of Saptari District. Eastern Terai Region of Nepal)

Social Inclusive Research

Submitted to

Social Inclusion Research Fund Secretariat (SIRF)

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, Nepal

Bakhundole, Lalitpur

Kathmandu

For the project

Code No.SIRF/AG/07/

Ms. Kabita Kumari Mandal

e-mail: umekab@yahoo.com

Mobile:9841700080

Kirtipur, Kathmandu

2008

Acknowledgements

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Social Inclusion Research Fund (SIRF), SNV Netherlands Development Organization ,Nepal, Bhakundol, Lalitpur, supported by Royal Norwegian Embassy for providing me a chance to carry out the present social inclusive research entitled Violence Against Women in Marginalized Madheshi Community: Root Causes -Consequence and Prevention , A Case study of Saptari District, Eastern Terai Region of Nepal under Research Apprenticeship Grant Scheme.

I am indebted to members of Interim Screening Committee (ISC) - a high level committee to select the proposal relevant based on the criteria mentioned in Proposal Guidelines. I am indebted to my Mentor, Dr.Seira Tamang, Sociologist and Anthropologist for her valuable guidance, instructions and encouragement for the completion of the present apprenticeship research.

I am thankful to Ms. Sita Rana , Research Associate, & Ms. Swasti Pradhan, Secretary SIRF,SNV Netherlands Development Organization for the preparation of agreement/contract document including all essential formalities to proceed the research activities ahead.

I would like to express my appreciation to Mr. Sujeet Pokharel,Advocate & Chairman of HUPAC, Ms Ava Setu Singh, treasurer of Setu Samudaik Bikas Manch, Mr. Satish Pokharel, Advocate & member of District Bar Association, Mr. Madhusudan Adhikari, Member of HUCODAN for their active participation in Focus Group Discussion.

I would like to appreciate Mr. Gyanendra Phuyal, Inspector of District Police Office, Saptari, Mr. Surendra Prasad Yadav, CMA of Illaka Health Post, Pato, Ms. Kiran Kumari Mandal, teacher of Chandra Kant Secondary School, Pato and Miss Punita Mandal, Ex-coordinator of Main Streaming Gender Equity Programm, Rajbiraj for their kind information provided as key informants in different sectors .

I would also like to acknowledge support of Mr. Shiv Narayan Sah, proprietor of Sajha Ofset Press producing Rajbiraj Today Daily for making me available of one–year back Newspapers at most and Mr Deo Narayan Mandal, community-leader for providing community-level information and all women respondents of Aurahi VDC for completing all questions in the field.

The logistical support provided by Ms Lalit N Mandal during a week-long survey at Rajbiraj,headquarter of Saptari District, and my mother: Ms Rajeshwori Devi & my uncle Mr Deo Nath Mandal, during household survey in AurahiVDC -4, Bathanaha is duly acknowledged.

Last not the least, I would like to appreciate my husband, father, brother and my lovely sons: Rikesh & Nikesh for their patience during the completion of this work.

Ms.Kabita Kumari Mandal

Teacher

M.B.M.Campus, Rajbiraj

Tribhuvan University

Table of Contents

Page

Acknowledgements i

Table of Contents ii

List of Tables iii

List of Figures iii

List of Boxes iii

List of Photos iii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1-4

1.1 Background 1

1.2 Research Objectives 2

1.3 Research Problems and Issues 3

1.4 Research Hypothesis 4

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE 5-8

2.1 Review of Literature related to Violence Against Women 5

2.2 Review of Literature on Social Exclusion and Inclusion 6

2.3 Nepalese Contexts on Violence Against Women 7

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 9-14

3.1 Constraints and Considerations 9

3.2 Study Design 9

3.2.1 District headquarter- based information design 9

A. Case Inventory Sheet 9

3.2.2 VDC- households based Information design 10

A. Selection strategy of sampled VDC in the district 10

B. Selection of sampled households/respondent from

sampled VDC in Saptari district 10

3.3 Methods of Data Collection 11

3.3.1 Questionnaire survey 11

3.3.2 Focus Group Discussions with agency involved

in women's empowerment, welfare and right 12

3.3.3 Survey of Key Informants and Case Studies 13

CHAPTER IV NATURE AND FORMS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN 15-20

4.1 District Level NGO Based Information 15

4.2 District Level GO Based Time Series Information 16

4.3 Local Newspaper Based Information 18

4.4 Sampled VDC Level Information 19

4.4.1 Psychological Violence 19

4.4.2 Physical Violence 19

4.4.3 Traditional Practices 20

CHAPTER V FACTORS, CAUSES OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN 21-28

5.1 Root causes of Violence Against Women 21

5.1.1 Lack of literacy and knowledge 23

5.1.2 Patriarchal Structure of Society 24

5.1.3 Economic Problem 25

5.1.4 Traditional culture and practices 26

5.1.5 Lack of legal measures of violence protection 27

5.1.6 Maoist revolution and armed underground conflict group 28

CHAPTER VI EFFECTS OF VIOLENCE ON WOMEN’S LIFE AND FAMILY

AND PREVENTIVE MEASURES 29-35

6.1 Effects of Domestic Violence on Women development 29

6.1.1 Barrier in personnel carrier development of a woman 31

6.1.2 Interruption of family development 32

6.1.3 Emergence of socio-cultural conflict 32

6.1.4 Health condition of woman 33

6.2 Preventive Measures of Violence against Women 33

6.2.1 Adult literacy programme 33

6.2.2 Mass awareness programme 34

6.2.3 Income generation programme 34

6.2.4 Social security mechanism 34

6.2.5 Legal measures provision and its strict implementation 35

CHAPTER VII SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 36-40

7.1 Major Findings 36

7.1.1 District level 36

7.1.2 VDC level 37

7.2 Policy Recommendations 38

7.2.1 Policy related to women empowerment 38

7.2.2 Policy related to rehabilitation of victim of violence against

women 39

REFERENCES 41-42

APPENDDIX 43-51

List of Tables

Table 3.2.2 Distribution of total households and sample size 11

Table 3.3.2 Focus group discussion held with government and non- government

organization during field survey 13

Table 3.3.3 Key informants interviewed during field survey 14

Table 4.1a Forms of violence against women, HUPAC,2007 15

Table 4.1b Forms of violence against women, Setu Samudaik 2007 15

Table 4.2 Forms of violence against women, district police office 2007 17

Table 4.3 Types of violence against women 18

Table 4.4.1 Forms of psychological violence 19

Table 4.4.2 Forms of physical violence 19

Table 4.4.3 Forms of Traditional violence 20

Table 5.1 Weighted ranking of respondents’ perceived causes 21

Table 5.1.1 Literacy condition of women respondent & their husband 23

Table 5.1.2 Perpetrators of incidence of violence against women 24

Table 5.1.3 Situation of food sufficiency 26

Table 6.1 Weighted ranking of respondents’ perceived effects of VAW on

women development 29

List of Figures

Fig. 4.3 Types of violence against women 18

Fig. 5.1.2 Perpetrators of VAW 22

Fig. 5.1.3 Situation of food sufficiency 26

Fig. 6.1 Effects of violence on individual, family &child & society 30

List of Boxes

Box 4.2 Victims of gang rape 17

Box 4.4.3 Polygamy practice has forced wife to become nun 20

Box 5.1.4 Dowry leads to murder of wife 26

Box 6.1.1 Sima Singh: a victim of relation (Natasambandh) 31

Box 6.1.2 Mina Devi, a victim of domestic violence 32

List of Photos

Photo 3.3.2 Focus Group Discussion with NGOs: HUPAC & Setu Samudaik 12

Photo 3.3.3 Interview with key informant (medical person) in Pato Ilaka Health Center 13

Photo 4.1 Interaction with NGO member, HUCODAN 16

Photo 4.2 Victims of gang rape 18

Photo 4.3 Searching incidence of VAW in Rajbiraj Today Daily Newspaper 18

Photo 4.4 Interviewing with respondent in Aurahi VDC 20

Photo 6.1.1 Sima Singh: a victim of relation (Natasambandh) 31

Photo 6.1.2 Mina Devi,a victim of domestic violence 32

Chapter I

Introduction

1.1 Background

Women of Nepal comprising 50.1% of the total population has been discriminated since time immemorial in all sectors of national life due to an age -old patriarchal value system, cultural practices, non-supporting legal provision. Such discrimination caused "Violence Against Women" squarely within the discourse of human rights, affirming that women are entitled to equal enjoyment and protection of their human rights and fundamental freedoms. The magnitude of the violence against women could not be adequately ascertained owing to the " culture of silence” and social stigma attached to it but it exists in many forms such as domestic violence, rape, sexual assault, prostitution, trafficking and pornography representing symptom of an unjust society, a society which is unsafe for women (UNDP/NPC 2004).

Even though the women in hill and mountain have some access/approach to the government wings regarding human development concerns such as education, administration, legislation, employment and defense as being the first class citizen , are suffering from various forms of violence: rape ,incest and polygamy etc, what about the miserable situation of poor Madheshi women who are extremely excluded from access of government services and facilities or beyond government and treated as second class citizen in their own land ,Nepal. Madheshi Community is defined as one of the umbrella of social groups representing regional based discrimination, composing more than sixty ethnic and caste groups including Adibashi/Janjati, Dalit, Muslim with variation in language, culture, customs and religion integrating them by their common feature of non-hill origin and deprived of their identity. This community has been extremely marginalized in all spheres such as politics, economy, civil service, education, police-military etc and human development dimensions ranging from their identity in their own land to livelihood strategies.

Regional marginalization of Madheshi community has been seen in one of the national lives: education where their literacy level is more than two times less than that of hill community (Yadav 2006). So far women are concerned, in terms of female-male literacy ratio, it is 28 :100 as compared to 52:100 with compare to hill community (Chhetry 1996 cited in Yadav 2006). Madheshi women's poverty appeared by regional marginalization has been clearly spelt out in their per capita income reflected in Terai Janjati (Rs.12,467) and Dalit(Rs.10889) which is quite low even those of hill–dalit (Rs.13,340)( CBS/NG 2004). Madheshi women's representation in civil service can be imagined yourself from the representation figure of whole Madheshi that is 8.4 % in 1991 against 92.4 % for hill community while representing only 68% in total population.

Such deprivation/exclusion has created unequal access to food, education and health care, limited opportunities to earn incomes, limited access to resources etc. Such situation and circumstances directly has created many forms of violence particularly domestic against Madheshi women and indirectly has made them to survive in their traditional, cultural, and religious and superstition value added thought and beliefs deep rooted in rural areas of Madhesh.

The most common form of violence against madheshi women is the violence based on superstitions such as torture for alleged witchcraft, sexual harassment, family violence such as domestic violence, polygamy, child marriage and dowry related violence. The domestic violence has been occurred by mostly women's own husband and close family members and relatives. The major cause of violence is spousal conflict and alcoholism of husbands and male members. Such violence against women has created serious health impacts on women –often multiple consequences raging from gynecological problems, trauma, early and unwanted pregnancy, mental and physical injury, denial of fundamental of women's right and children's well-being. Despite the increasing recognition of the impacts of violence against women, supporting legislation and policies have not yet been formulated nor enforced to address them adequately. This is a serious impediment particular to Madheshi women's advancement of community welfare and capability enhancement compared to men that needs to be addressed in the capability approach for the establishment equitable society in Madhesh region

Domestic violence against Women in Madheshi community (VAWMC) in its forms of physical, sexual, psychological and economic abuse has been found in varying degree depending upon the caste, class and socio-economic condition. Due to the sensitive nature of the issue no factual information is available in Madheshi women community. This "Violence against Women in Madheshi Community" has been a pioneering effort undertaken by the involvement of madheshi women itself in the hope of exploring the fundamental cause, its major impacts on socio-economic-demographic health life and human right protection and preventive measures to ensure the women rights by bringing positive changes in the society. Such findings of this research are applicable in order to formulate Madheshi women development strategy , policy, plan and programs for improving their existing situation of exploitation, eradication of gender discrimination, protection of women rights and welfare and equal representation in main stream of national development for the empowerment of Madhesh women .

1.2 Research Objectives

The overall objective of the present research is to explore and identify the root causes of different forms of violence against Madheshi women and their preventive measures for the Madheshi women development society. This has been sought in order to provide the bases for policy guideline formulation and planning measures for sustainable Madheshi women resource development. The following are the specific objectives:

• To explore and explain the root causes of different forms of violence against women in Madheshi community.

• To examine the impacts/consequences of these violence’s on different spheres of quality of women life: education, health, access to resources and control over them, employment and representation in public work.

• To explore the potential preventive measures for the proper management of violence against women in Madheshi community for the greater community participation in mainstream of national development.

• To draw the inferences from the study as a guide to increase the awareness of women rights and proper utilization of it for the establishment of gender-equitable violence less of community in Madhesh region.

1.3 Research Problem and Issues

Even though Nepal's 150 special measures for women regarding political and public participation, education, employment, health, violence against women, court procedure and gender justice and marriage and family life have been made among 56 different laws, but all are confined to areas of political participation and maternity benefits rather than adopting holistic approach( NHDR 2004). The violence and exploitation against women in madheshi community may vary with literacy level, poverty level, participation in community/public affairs, empowerment level, types of traditional work employed in agriculture and wage labour, industry, religion, caste and preference of boy, leadership of male, social norms-values and superstition belief/thoughts. Legislators, legal interpreters, law enforcers and human right pleaders and also policy makers were not much aware of such complexity of violence driven by multiple factors in Madheshi community and thus failed to prevent violence and consuming women's fundamental rights and freedom. The proposed study will be aimed at specific violence against women issues or problems of women in the Madheshi community; it will have several planning implications for its proper elimination and eradication from the Madheshi society. It is not possible to work towards the establishment of social justice based on gender-equality and equity, withought having in-depth understanding of those problems, which is essential for formulating women's development policy and programs regarding the exploitation and mainstreaming. In the situation of increasing such violence rapidly and decline quality of life and ignoring women right, deep-seated violence understanding of Madheshi community is of prime importance for sound social integration of the society.

In this context, for the reduction of violence and empowering of women with their own decision, the following issues or problems will be raised or stated for the proposed discussion and investigation:

• What are the substantial causes/circumstances behind the violence against women in Madheshi community?

• What are the impacts/consequences of such violence on different spheres of national life of victim women in Madheshi community?

• How potential preventive measures have adopted for eradication of violence and enhancing the empowerment of victim women with developing their decision making skills?

To answer or address the problems or issues mentioned above, the following facets are essential for investigation:

• Substantial causes for responsible for violence against women

• Impacts of violence on every sphere of quality life of victim women.

• Suggestive preventive measures to be adopted for violence reduction

1.4 Research hypotheses

In the connection of fundamental causes of violence against women and its impacts on their socio-economic life, the following hypotheses have been formulated:

 The women who are unemployed in government service and public affairs and self-employed in their own traditional occupation: agriculture, are facing more violence.

• The women whose work are stereos type and economic dependences, are suffering more violence and perceive such behavior as normal

• Dowry and superstitions are root causes of domestic violence occurenance deep-seated in Madheshi community.

• More negative impacts have been supposed to be generated on socio-economic life of victim women.

• Rising of awareness against the dowry and superstitions and access to government works, services and facilities have been one of substantial preventive measures of violence elimination in the society.

Chapter II

Review of Literature

2.1 Review of Literature related to Violence Against Women

Nepal cuts across caste, class and age as there is social sanction of the practice. Rigid patriarchal norms dominate the Nepalese society. Women are subject to physical, sexual and psychological violence on a daily basis. It includes domestic violence, rape, incest, harassment for dowry, public stripping, trafficking and forced prostitution (Deuki). Nepal Human Rights and Informal Sector Service Centre, (2005) stated that women have lately become victims of the political conflict within the country and also women have lately become victims of physical and mental torture in the Maoist insurgency. International Labour Organization (ILO) says that Nepal is a source country for internationally trafficked women and children as they are viewed as family commodities that, like property, can be bought and sold. Nepalese women are trafficked to India, Hong Kong, Thailand, and countries in the Middle East.

Ms. Radhika Commaraswamy, the former UN Special Reporter on Violence against Women defined Trafficking in persons as recruitment, transportation, purchase, sale, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons: by threat or use of violence, abduction, force, fraud, deception or coercion (including the abuse of authority) or debt bondage, for the purpose of placing or holding such person, whether for pay or not, in forced labor or slavery-like practices, in a community other than the one in which such person lived at the time of the original act. Published figures suggest that between 5,000 and 7,000 Nepali are trafficked for sex work each year, and 200,000 Nepali women and girls are working in the sex industry in India. However, the extent of the problem is far more but difficult to measure. Statistics are unreliable as the activity is illegal.

United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and Institute for Integrated Development Studies (2004) conceptualized trafficking could either be hard or soft. The former is conducted through force and false promises. In the case of the latter, the nuclear and/or extended family members play a role

SAATHI (1997) has carried out the works related to violence against women and girls (VAW & G). Such works are "Situational Analysis of Violence Against Women and Girls in Nepal", “Psycho-Social Impacts of Violence Against Women and Girls with Special Focus on Rape, Incest and Sexual Harassment In Public Places In The Kathmandu Valley". These works are claimed as pioneering effort in motivating women from all strata of society to work towards their own betterment. Towards this end SAATHI networks with policy groups and grass roots women's groups for exchange of ideas, information and knowledge. As a first step SAATHI is working in the area of violence against women in the streets and inside the home. Based on social research, SAATHI is currently involved in creating public awareness and designing possible interventions against violence against women in Nepal.

2.2 Review of Literature on Social Exclusion and Inclusion

Madhesh and Madheshi have been a major flaming problem in the current days for the present eight-party collaborative newly government after nineteen days' great revolution for establishing federal loktantrick inclusive democracy against feudal ,one-caste/class and region dominant democracy opening up possibilities for the transformation Nepal's decade–old violent conflict. Madhesh and Madheshi have been suffering from the vicious problem of their identification and recognition of their existence with their own distinct culture, customs, language and region. Many unrealistic questions have been raised from different geographical corners of the country by the feudalistic, high ranked bureaucrats, planners, decision makers and political party leaders "What is Madhesh ? , who Madheshi are? and hill people are also claimed themselves as Madheshi”. In this context, the clear statement made by Late H. Gurung has been seemed more relevant in order to know who Madheshi really are. He stated "In Nepalese politics, there are three major social groups that have been extremely marginalized by the state's biased monopolistic policy”. They are the Janjati, as ethnic groups on the basis of culture, the Dalits as untouchables on the basis of caste, and the Madheshi on the basis of geography (Gurung 2005)". Even though, he has defined Madheshi on the basis of regional discrimination and exploitation under the internal colonization by the state, but actually it is culture-custom- language- tradition and non-hill origin separable distinct community's characteristics through which every one can easily recognize or identify every where in the country as regionally excluded community. Such separable unique characteristics are the sufficient evidence of Madheshi identification rather than looking back for formal definition in their own native land, Madhesh, Nepal.

'Marginal ' entity in any context is the one that counts the least in the 'mainstream' situation. This may apply to physical and biological resources or condition of the people and their sustenance systems (Chambers 1987 and Lipton 1983 quoted in Jodha 1992).In this context Late H. Gurung has expressed reality of exclusion problems deep rooted in culture, economy and political sector of feudal government and thus conceptualized the agendas for inclusion in terms of regional autonomy, proportional representation in every sphere of national life first time for the Madheshi community through the Social Inclusion Research Scheme of SNV in Nepal

Even though, Nepal is a home to the mosaic of ethnic groups and diverse nationalities included Madheshi with their multiple socio-cultures, religions and languages, but it is facing a vicious circle of poverty incidence particularly high in Madheshi dominated Terai district as compared to hill (UNDP 2004). Such high spatial intensity and severity of poverty has been resulted due to the regional biased development pattern and process.

Madheshi women has been obviously excluded and are politically peripheral in the power structure since time immemorial and dominated by hill origin rulers reflecting well in the education, administration, economy, Judiciary- national legislation and police- army. The nominal representation in the candidates passing for gazetted post has been reveled from the fact that in 1984/85, the proportion of madheshi community in successful ones was only 8.5 percent and then this figure has also been drastically declined to 3.2% in 2000/2001 where as the Madhesh population has been increased 4.3 times during 1952/54 -2001 that is far greater than national increment (2.8 times)( Gurung 2006).

The major challenges of Madheshi women's violence i.e. there is rapid growth of un- accessibility in education, health, employment in one side and prevailing traditional belief of dowry system, preference of son in another side including the unpalatable work load of agriculture related work, household and reproduction responsibilities. These two situations have played a catalytic role in increasing the prevalence, intensity and severity of violence against madheshi women.

Violence Against women in Marginalized Madheshi community has been a sensitive issue for the planners and policy makers in Madhesh Region. Some works at national level have been carried out by the women-empowerment oriented agencies. Few of the works promoting the greater understanding the proposed problems under the study will have been reviewed.

2.3 Nepalese Contexts on Violence Against Women

Violence Against Women is a widespread in Nepal including Madhesh region but it is problem of non-reporting or unreported .The literature or studies on the issue are very few. Records of the Central Women Police Cell registered 3,505 cases on domestic violence between 1998 and 2004. Women’s organizations, however, maintain that a majority of cases remain unrecorded as women remain vulnerable and largely dependent on men. Research in 2000 by a non-government organization SAATHI revealed 66 per cent of the women in the country endure verbal abuse, 33 per cent emotional abuse, and 77 per cent of the perpetrators of violence to be family members. Fifty eight percent of women who suffered domestic violence confirmed daily abuse. A UNICEF (2001) study confirms these findings.

The Nepal Human Development Report (2004 reinforces domestic violence to be a grave and unaddressed problem. But the government is still to enact a law to prohibit domestic violence and develop comprehensive legal and administrative measures to support women who have been abused in their own homes. Most perpetrators of domestic violence escape persecution under the Nepali criminal justice system. Though the National Human Rights Commission works actively on the issue, other human rights concerns in this war-torn country take precedence. Population Briefs, a newsletter of the Population Council (September 2005), reports a high level of physical abuse in homes among pregnant women in Nepal. A survey by a Kathmandu-based NGO CWIN found a majority of children who run away from home do so because of violence within them. And National Network Against Girl Trafficking as a media monitoring team has confirmed an increase in the cases of domestic violence in 2004.

Also, by law men are the sole inheritors of property. A law in 2002 did broaden women’s property rights but women cannot still sell, rent or otherwise transfer property without the consent of her spouse and sons. Little or no access to land restricts women’s ability to obtain credit, be financially independent and move out of violent relationships and homes.

Social, cultural, economic and religious factors reiterate male dominance and allow systematic discrimination and violence to pervade women’s lives. According to the Nepal Human Development Report 2004, women’s literacy rate is 35 per cent as compared 63 per cent for men; maternal mortality rates of Nepali women rank among the highest in the world; one out of every 185 women dies because of pregnancy and childbirth-related complications. Nepal has one of the highest indices of son preference in the world and estimates by local NGOs show organized gangs traffic some 5,000 to 12,000 Nepalese girls to work in brothels each year.

It is extremely difficult for a woman to prove that she is being abused within her home in Nepal. Women who do decide to come forth and demand justice face an uphill task. Unless community attitudes change and people recognize violence against women to be a crime, women will continue to suffer daily abuse at the hands of their partners and within their very homes.

Chapter III

Research Methodology

3.1 Constraints and Considerations

In the process of designing the project on Violence Against Women in Madheshi Community (VAW- MC), an attempt has been made in selecting representative units from the known universe of Saptari District, Eastern Madhesh Region, Nepal. Because of cost and time constraints and nature of study itself, it is decided to use non-probability purposive sampling method for better representation of the root- causes and consequence /effects of existence of incidences relating to VAW –MC.

3.2 Study Design

Two types of study designs have been adopted for the selection of representative events, Target groups/Organizations and households occurring in multi-ethnic and religious groups of district population with the distinct spatial variation.

3.2.1 District headquarter- based information design

In the first round, district headquarter, Rajbiraj is entertained considering as research spatial unit where most of the relief and rescue places such as District Police Office, District court and District based I/NGO/GO such as Setu Samudaik, HUPEC and HUCODAN, are located and victims come into contact in getting rights or services of those incidents that has been occured in different parts of district areas such as settlements or communities related to VAW. Thus these district based offices are target organizations of violence related cases and victims to come into contact for relief and rescue in order to consume women human rights and welfare. VAW related data, facts and figures are recorded into case inventories sheets including its nature and status.

A) Case Inventory Sheet

Case inventory sheet that is prepared to record all possible existing incidents because of the fact that no factual numerical information regarding the record of different types of violence have been filed in Saptari district .Thus each and every search attempt is sought in order to find prevalence, intensity and severity of such violence occurred in the particular VDCs before doing in-depth study on specified VDCs. For this, following works are carried out:

 Local newspaper one year back is scanned and picked out the number, types, place of event happened in Saptari district and doers of such incidents and filled up the Case Inventory Sheet –A given in Section-I of Appendix.

 Illaka hospitals’ records of admission of victims are read out carefully and Case Inventory Sheet-B was filled up with those information (Section-I of Appendix).

 The registered case of such events by Women's Cell of Nepal police in the district is reviewed and kept the record of such events in Case Inventory Sheet –C ( Section - I of Appendix).

 The cases of victim women registered in the district court through the Women Cell have been reviewed and kept the record of such events in Case Inventory Sheet –D ( Section-I of Appendix )based on the prevalence, intensity and severity of violence occurred in the settlements of the district.

 SETU SAMUDAIK, HUPEC and HUCODAN involved working in VAW have been intensively entertained with the aim of finding out the events occurred in the village (Case Inventory Sheet-E of Section-I, Appendix).

3.2.2 VDC- households based Information design

After the first round survey, case inventory sheets were completed based on the incidents happened in the past in different corners of the district and registered in different concerned offices. It guides to conduct the second round survey particularly in the selection of VDC where there are no any committees in order to look women’s violence. In this respect Women Committee Against Dowry has been formed by SETU SAMUDAIK Organisation and Para-legal Campaign Committee by HUPEC and Women rights and disputes mediation Committee by HUCODAN . but those vdcs having more prevalence and intensity of such incidence based on the nature, types and locations of settlements.

A) Selection strategy of sampled VDC in the district

Saptari district has the highest number of village development committees in the country (114) and so do the variability in different forms of such incidence. Aurahi VDC has been selected for household survey The followings are the major criteria considered in the selection of Aurahi VDC among the 114 VDCs in Saptari District.

• There are no any committees against women violence that have been formed till date by any organizations but highest prevalence, intensity and severity of incidence related to VAW-MC found in the first round survey.

• Diversified social–ethic groups such as Dalit,Janjati, middle cast , and higher class caste Brahmin/Chhetri were available

• Both religious groups: Hindu and Muslim are covered

B) Selection of sampled households/respondent from sampled VDC in Saptari district

The followings are the sampling strategy adopted to determine the sample size and its distribution among all social and religious groups identified mentioned above.

• Purposive sampling technique is adopted to select the household units from the VDC selected based on the criteria mentioned above.

• All together 100 households/respondents are entertained as the total sample size from the sampled VDC selected in the second round survey.

• Even though, 20 households/respondents from each five strata/layers of social-religious groups have been proposed to select as Quota sampling: Dalit, Janjati, middle caste, Brahmin/chhetri and Muslim, but due to unavailability of Brahmin/Chetri, its sample size was reduced to six only (Table 3.2.2).

• Snow-ball sampling procedure is adopted as the sample selection process to select victim/injured/ suffered women from specified groups/strata fixed in previous step.

Table 3.2.2: Distribution of total households and sample size

Social groups Castes Total households* Sampled households

1. Higher caste • Rajput,

• Brahman 6 6

2. Janjati • Tharu,

• Dhanuk 88 20

3. Middle caste • Teli, Baniya,

• Majhi, Rajdhob

• Kumhar, Yadav,

• Barhi , Hajam 318 30

4. Dalit • Khatwe,Dusadh,

• , Kami, Dom, Mushar

• Chamar 124 25

5. Muslim • Muslim 76 19

Total 612 100

*Voter List of VDC

3.3 Methods of Data Collection

Six methods of field data collection, namely observation, questionnaire, interview, focus group discussion, triangulation and key informants are used to suit the violence against women study objectives. Field observation and site visit is made in order to see the situation of such victim women in the society. Semi-structure and structure questionnaire are administrated to grasp the information regarding the socio-cultural- inherent characteristics of Madheshi women. The researcher have made interview with the stakeholders and target groups of the community with the pre-defined standard questionnaire.

3.3.1 Questionnaire survey

Questionnaire Survey is made to those respondents/households (100) selected above with filling up the standard questionnaire pertaining the objectives specified. Based on the questions are divided into three sections : root causing factors specifying socio-economic, cultural and demographic variables included attitudes and opinions; the effect of domestic violence on quality life of women and on children and preventive measures included reporting of one particular incident of VAW -MC. The questionnaire is comprehensive and easy to understand by both the interviewers and respondents. The questionnaire is pre-coded for the ease of computer processing and data analysis in SPSS.

3.3.2 Focus Group Discussions with agency involved in women's empowerment, welfare and right

In order to discuss and deliberate on the content and to exchange ideas and views of community people on the subject of VAW -MC, a half day-long focus group meeting is organized by the researcher herself. Women- teacher, women community worker and ward representatives, and health worker and representatives of various NGOs involved in working in related areas such as SETU SAMUDAIK, HUPEC and HUCODAN are entertained and actively participated in the focus group discussion. Focus Goup Discusion is made with two levels of organization groups: one is based on Community/village/settlement level or rural vdc and another is district level organization related to areas of VAW or urban. Focus Group Discussion is made with the community members/NGO members pertaining major causes, impacts, preventive measures, women participation and future needs of women community. Triangulation as a procedure of cross-checking is applied with the professionals, experts and women community worker, women representatives and beneficiaries groups in one place to make the true picture of violence incidents. The Government and Non-government Organisation working in favor of women rights and welfare protection and raised their voices against such events are undertaken in the Focus Group Discussion.

The organizations that are actively involved in women rights and welfare establishments in government and informal sectors at district level have been entertained in Focus Group Discussion (Photo 3.3.2) and the persons involved in excusitive bodies have been enlisted in Table 3.3.2

3.3.3 Survey of Key Informants and Case Studies

In addition to 100 filled questionnaires collected from the general respondent sample population and FGD, the research design also included interviews with members of the society most likely to come into frequent contact with VAW –MC cases and victims. Thus, community leaders, doctors, police officers and female lawyers are included in the survey as key informants (Photo 3.3.3). The researcher keeps some of the records of personal case studies events to complement the survey findings. The name and positions of key informants to whom discussion made have been given in Table 3.3.3.

Chapter IV

Nature and Forms of Violence Against Women

This chapter describes the nature, types and forms of violence against women in Madheshi Society. The analysis has been done on two ways: one is based on the district level information as such and another is sampled VDC, Aurahi. This has been essential for seeking the understanding of different types of violence incidence occurred against women empowerment

4.1 District Level NGO Based Information

Saptari as a district of Eastern Madhesh Region of Nepal has been known as one of district having maximum disputes and cases filed related to land, properties ,child and women. In similar to Nepal, Madheshi occupied society in Saptari , domestic violence, rape, sexual abuse, human trafficking, accusation of witchcraft, child abuse, child marriage, and disputes related to land and dowry are not entirely unfamiliar. People have heard about it, witnessed or even experienced it themselves, and they dealt it in their own way. Some says “problems of women are their on fate” .

Human and Public Advocacy Center (HUPAC),Saptari is one of non-profit social organization basically operated its activities related to security system based Community Organization (Photo 3.3.2). Its major role is to formulate Para-Legal Committees at VDC and ward level of Saptari district in order to change women destiny through collective work for women rights preservation. Along with, this social organization also provides the training to committee members that have been formed in 22 VDCs of the Saptari District till date. Through these training, women are aware or getting knowledge about different types of legal measures mentioned in existing laws accordance the violence occurred against women. Table 4.1a shows the types of violence from which women in this district suffering from and such cases are filed to the concerned offices by HUPAC through the Para-legal committee working over the vdcs in Saptari District up to July, 2007. Facts presented in Table 4.1a clearly show that more than eighty-five percent of violence against women is related to family or domestic. These violence include polygamy, beating, scolding and disgracing of women in their own family basically happened by the family members particularly husband, brother of husband and father and mother in-laws. If spatial distribution concerns, it is found that Dharmpur and Kanchanpur VDCs located in east-north part of district has highest number of domestic violence.

Setu Samudaik is another social organization established four years back and conducted programs in 11 VDCs of district (Photo 3.3.2). These programs are basically related to against dowry that is deep seated social evil of the Madheshi Community in Saptari District. This community based organization has formed women groups against dowry practices in the society. Based on such sources Table 4.1b has been formed from the incidence of women violence cases filed to different concerned authority such as CDO,DSP office and District court in 2006 and 2007 June by the SETU Samudaik. Setu Samudaik filed cases one-third of total incidence that is related to rape of women considered as the extreme case of women social and personal prestige and stigma. A woman raped by more than a man is very severe has also been found in this district. If such types of rape case are analyzed by ethnically or socially, most of Dalit women are found as victims suffered.

Human Rights & Community Development Academy(HUCODAN is another social organization established in 2000 and conducted programs in twenty-27 VDCs of district. These programs are basically related to women human rights, social conflict/dispute resolution through establishment of community mediation committee at VDC and its ward level(Photo 4.1).

Polygamy has been stood as second rank of violence case order that has constituted more than 20.0 percent of total women violence case filed by Setu Samudaik. Similarly Beating of wife has been seen as normal social practice that have been heard by many key informants in different sectors of social life such as education, health safety and security. Normal beating and verbal abuse were not recorded in any office and community. Only severe beating sometimes filed cases in human welfare organizations for their relief and rescue.

4.2 District Level GO Based Time Series Information

District Police Office, Saptari is most important government office in terms of dealing total violence occurred in district including women. Table 4.2 shows the incidence of violence against women recorded in the office at different time period. The period 2064/65 includes only four month’s record from Shrawan to Kartic of 2064 rather than whole year.

Table 4.2 exclusively indicates that suicide of women has been found as dominant type of women violence that ranges from 68.7 percent in 2064 to 88.6 percent in 2061. Second important form of the violence is rape of women cases registered in the office. Such type of violence has also been shown in highest in district based organizations. One of the remarkable fact is that polygamy as another form of women violence has not be filed case for the formal legal treatment even though it has been shown relatively higher in NGO based community organizations . It is due to mediating role of NGOs for the solution of these problems at community level rather than registering cases in concern government office. Time series data mentioned in Table 4.2 has shown the overall increasing trend of different types of women violence in Saptari district even though it has relatively low record in 2062. It is due to population increase and present condition of politics, economy and human development situation. It is great challenge for the community and the country to eliminate such violence through the adoption of proper mechanism.

4.3 Local Newspaper Based Information

Rajbiraj Today Dailly is the most popular local newspaper widely covered the local news of all types of violence happened in the local rural areas of the district as well. This newspaper of one year back from 2063, Kartik to 2064 Asoj(18 October,2006 to 17 October 2007) is thoroughly scanned by searching and picked out the incidence of women violence and filled up the Case Inventory Sheet- A( Section-I of Appendix and Photo 4.3).

Table 4.3: Types of violence against women

Psychological Violence (n=54,ƒ=7) Physical Violence (n=54,ƒ=44) Traditional practices

(n=54,ƒ=3)

• Sexual harassment in fair

• Money demand by Husband’s kidnapping

• Citizenship problem

• Force to suicide

• Torture • Murder

• Suicide

• Rape

• Beating

• Head injured

• Sexual exploitation

• Suicide by hanging

• Kidnapping

• Murder after rape

• Suicide by poison

• Gang rapping

• Severe attack on accusing of witchcraft

• Physical torture after kidnapping

• Affected by poison spread on crop

• Robbery of women’s ornaments

• Giving birth of a child after rape • Acquisition of witchcraft

• Polygamy rejecting Ist wife

Source: Rajbiraj Today Daily Newspaper

Table 4.3 has been prepared enlisting all types of women violence including its different nature. Altogether fifty-four cases representing women violence has been published in local newspaper that is assumed to only twenty percent of the total violence event occurred in the district. Out of three major types of violences, physical violence has been found as highest constituting more than 80 percent of the total women violence in the district. Remaining two types share only less than 20 percent of the total violence. Psychological and traditional types of violence have not been so much exposed upto the Newspaper level. It is adjusted in community and culture itself It is because of the Sensitive Issue in one side and Culture of Silence in other side.

4.4 Sampled VDC Level Information

Sample Survey at household level has been conducted to see the picture of violence after the district level information. Aurahi has been taken as sampled VDC and 100 households were taken as sample size with the varied number based on the ethnic, caste, social group and religion (Photo 4.4). Based on such sampled information, different types of violence have been analyzed in following ways.

4.4.1 Psychological Violence

Household survey clearly shows that eighty percent of the total respondents are in one way or another under the different types of violence. Only twenty percent reported that they are not suffering from any types and their forms of the women problem. Out of the eighty, sixty three are suffered from the different forms of psychological violence in which verbal abuse has been found as dominant one (52.4 percent) followed by mental torture (34.9 percent) ( Table 4.4.1)

4.4.2 Physical Violence

Physical violence has been reported as second type of

Physical Violence Sampled HH,

(n =80,ƒ=47)

Frequency Percent

Beating 21 44.7

Force to divorce 9 19.1

Force to go parent's house 8 17.0

Beating by drinking wine 9 19.1

women violence that shares more than fifty percent of total violence occurrence. Among different forms of physical violence, wife-beating is found as highest share. Such beating of women has been occurred due to the bad habit of alcohol item consuming by male. The male has forced some of the women to leave his house and compelled to live in their parent’s house and consume their resource and property rather than husband’s whenever the understanding between them has disturbed (Table 4.4.2).

4.4.3 Traditional Practices

Traditional practices Sampled HH,

(n =80,ƒ=54)

No Percent

Bonded labour 3 5.4

Accusation of Witchcraft 1 1.8

Polygamy 29 52.7

Dowry related violence 1 1.8

Untouchables 18 32.7

Being a single women 3 5.4

Polygamy in the sampled study area is reported as the most deep rooted social evil in the madheshi community that is scaled by the more than fifty percent of traditional violence suffered respondent and twenty nine percent of the total respondent surveyed (Table 4.4.3). Among 29 percent of the respondent, 22 percent has two wives and remaining has three wives.

Such problem of women has not been highlighted in the record of district based NGO such as HUPEC and Setu and also in the District Police Office and other concern offices. This problem has been occurred due to the weak economic condition and further traditional way of thinking. Box 4.4.3 shows how number of wives increased in hope of getting child after then the door of heaven will be opened for them.

Late H Gurung has stated that one of the deprived groups is Dalit who is marginalized from the main stream of the national development on the basis of caste. It has also been seen as social malady in the Madheshi community as in other communities in the country. Among the untouchable castes, Dom, Chamar, Dusadh and Khatwe are highly boycotted from the middle and higher social groups. Out of 25, eighteen respondents have reported that they are suffered from untouchability in spending their social life.

Chapter V

Factors and Causes of Violence Against Women

This chapter focuses an analysis of major-causes of violence against women inside and outside the family, in relation to women rights, welfare and empowerment for human resource development in the study area. Beside this, it also includes the violence process

5.1 Root causes of Violence Against Women

Every action must have a cause is well-known universal truth. Similar to this, these different forms of physical and social violence against women must have causes that have directly or indirectly influenced the incidence of violence. These driving factors or causes basically related to male personal prestige and its social stigma, social structure of society, traditional culture and practices. As other communities in the country, Madheshi is also one of them who do not open their mouth in spite of severe torture it is developed as culture of silence. Even though Madheshi women are symbol of silence against incidence of their torture, some of the root causes have been explored from different focus group discussion; interview of key informants; seminar and workshop against women violence reported in locally widely accepted newspaper. The followings are the root causes of violence against women, have been briefly explained

Most of literature makes the explanation and discussion of driving forces/ factors associated with the cause of violence. In this empirical research, the causing factors that compelled to occur such incidence in Madhesh region have been major objective to be explained and analyzed in order to reduce the magnitude and direction of such incidence of violence for making peaceful and violence less society

Table 5.1 shows the major factors/causes or problems of 80 sampled respondents out of 100, why they suffered from the violence either domestic or outside the family. The female respondent have been asked to identify reasons and rank three of them on the basis of the severity/intensity they perceived from the list of specified causes.

The driving factors or problems have then been weighted accordingly: in this case most intense factor that the victim woman perceives has been given the weight 3, the second most intense problem 2, and the third most intense problem 1. On this basis, a factor/ cause intensity index (FII) has been calculated, using the following formula (Dale 2004):

Factor Intensity Index = [( one x 3) + ( two x 2) + ( three x 1)/n

Where:  one = frequency of the most intense factor

 two = frequency of the second most intense factor

 three = frequency of the third most intense factor

n = total number of the victim sampled respondent

Finally, the dominant factor/cause have been explored and shown in the last column. The lack of education and knowledge has been considered as most severe/intense factor among all those listed indicating the highest score of FII (2.00). Similarly, male chauvinistic attitude, economic problem and traditional practice are also found as the second (1.16), third (0.91) and fourth(0.57) most severe causes respectively by which the women in Aurahi VDC are severely suffered from different forms of psychological, physical and traditional violence.

The root- causing factors responsible for violence against women has been presented in Fig 5.1 illustrating how a husband enters into a many times marriage situation in which women have to tolerate/ bear the problems resulted from polygamy. Fig. 5.1 shows the various inducing factors pushing or affecting a man to commit multi-marriage and deteriorating of women socio-economic-health life in one side and decline of woman welfare & right in another.

The major driving forces induced to women violence have been explained in detail under sub-headings.

5.1.1 Lack of literacy and knowledge

Literate condition is the one of major indicator of knowledge and education in any society and region. In this respect, literacy condition of woman and her husband has to be explored and analyzed in micro-level and thus Table 5.1.1 has been depicted. This sampled VDC has wide spread of illiterate problem prevailing in rural people that is clearly indicated by the fact that 91 percent of sampled women is found to be illiterate and 14 percent is spending their life without husband as single woman (widow). If such fact is to be seen in case of their husband, it has been evident that more than 55 percent is illiterate. Thus illiteracy is explored as one of prime cause of women violence in rural madheshi community.

Polygamy cases that have been seen as social crime in this study area are the result of such ignorance of knowledge and education and in the belief of getting son as capital, number of wives have been increased so that the door of heaven will not be closed for them. Third wife was brought by a 60 yrs old man in order to have a son that was not given birth by previous two wives. Because of illiteracy, a large number of daughters have been given birth in hope of getting son.

The analysis of facts published in one year back Rajbiraj Today, Daily Newspaper reveals that more than 25 percent women violence particularly rape, sexual exploitation& harassment have been occurred due to the uncontrollable sexual temper of violent man and 20 percent was due to the robbery ,family conflict and ethnic clash

5.1.2 Patriarchal structure of society

Similar to Nepalese society, Madheshi community has been also dominated by male in form of husband, son, father-in-law brother-in-law etc. The decision either financial, social and resource use to run the family is not collective and cooperative but one- sided, male dominated. A single mistake committed by a wife, a mother or a girl has been a causal factor of their social, physical and psychological torture starting from verbal abuse to murder through different intensity of beating, scolding and disgracing. Woman was considered as a horse on which a male can ride whenever he likes to do rather than a life partner who can sometimes shows a bright way of family progress. Most of the women in Madheshi community are dependent in all respect of family development concern. Similar to Chinese proverb:

“ A wife married is like a pony bought;

I will ride her and whip her as I like”.

One of the proverbs traditionally practiced and still practising in Madheshi Community is

“ Dhol, Pashu Aur Nari,

E Sab Tajan Ke Adhikari”.

The traditional meaning of this proverb is that these three things Drum in Madhesh Dhol, Animal (Pashu) and woman (Nari) are subject to beating in order to control or rule over them. Most of women in this community are involved in domestic, household and indoor works such as cooking food, washing cloth, giving birth to child and caring it. They are rarely exposed to outside works in decision making, attending office,I/NGOs and establishing relation to other family, caste, religion, community and society. That is why the condition of Madheshi women is very worse than even in women of Dalit social group in Hilly region.

Two types of information have been analyzed in order to identy the patriarchal structure of the society in Terai as a major cause of violence against women: Household survey at VDC level and Newspaper based information at district level The dominancy of male has been reflected in different socio-economic activities of family requirements from fulfilling their basic need to family progress. Generally woman is not being asked to take the decision of any activities of their concern and also not allowed to participate in development program designed to benefit them. The mobility of a woman gets restricted by a vicious circle of threat to their purity and physical harm that is the same findings for overall communities in Nepal. Legally they are not allowed to do the official works related to property rights.

Table 5.1.2 exclusively depicts the types of perpetrators who are involved in occurrence of women violence in the society. Even though the nature, forms and types of women violence reported in Newspaper are different in terms of intensity and magnitude from the household survey at VDC level ( Table 4.2 in Chapter IV, but in terms of perpetrators they are more or less same. The analysis at household level shows that 65 per cent of the perpetrators of violence against Madheshi women were reported as being from within the family, whereas only 35 per cent of the perpetrators were from outside the family. Such trend of pattern is similar with slight more (77 per cent) within the family and less (23 per cent) from outside the family in case of Nepalese women (Deuba & et al 1997). In the district, almost 15.0 percent violence has been done by the husband of victim women only, where as such figure seemed to be more in case of VDC level (48.75 percent). Similarly for 25 percent of the total women violence, community people are responsible for doing this incidence. One of the remarkable positive correlations has been explored in both sets of data for supporting each other.

5.1.3 Economic problem

All types of the violence either domestic or beyond the family have been basically rooted in economic condition of the society, community, religion and caste and particular household they suffer. Madheshi community in the country has been obviously suffered from the regional marginallisation since Rana rule not only in politics but also in economic structure. Such fact has been proved by reflecting the per capita income surved by The Nepal Standard Living Survey-II,2001. It has provided the latest information by caste/ethnic groups. The Newar ranks highest with an average per capita income of Rs 38,193 followed by high caste( Rs.24,399), Janjati( Rs.15,630), the Dalit(Rs.12,114) and the Muslim ranks lowest at Rs.11,014. It has clearly stated that Terai Janjatis(Rs 12,467) have lower average per capita income than Hill Dalit(Rs. 13,340) and Terai Dalit(Rs.10,889) are worse off than Muslim( CBS 2003) and It has been obviously concluded that the large number of Madheshi communities such as Yadav, Koiri, Teli, Gupta, Kanu Kalwar which are neither included in Janjati nor Dalit but called as Other Backward Castes(OBC) not falling in higher castes also are worst off than all above social groups.

Weak economic condition has been positively correlated with the incidence of violence against women that has been reflected in food sufficiency of the sampled respondent’s households. Table 5.1.3 & Fig 5.1.3 exclusively explains the fact that relatively more sampled respondent’s households are under the problem of food sufficiency than those non suffered .More than 50 percent respondents reported that they have their own food resource sufficient only for three months of the year. Chi-square test proved that there is significant dependency of incidence of violence against women on their situation of food sufficiency throughout the year.

5.1.4 Traditional culture and practices

Dowry and witch craft are major root causes of violence occurrence against women reported by many key informants in the field of health, justice and social workers in Saptari. These social evils are deep seated since long time in Madheshi community. Having son in this community has been perceived as wealth of that family and daughter as loan or deficit. They have positive attitude towards son’s education and health and in the same time it is negative for daughter. In marriage practice, bridegroom has been sold in cash by the hand of bridge’s father. One to five lakh NRs. was found in transition of such selling and buying of bridegroom for bridge. Some cases were reported related to wife murder event happened by family members because of the fact that she did not bring sufficient amount of dowry from her fathers’ house (Box 5.1.4).

Witch craft is another social and cultural evil practiced since longtime in Madheshi community. Most of people in western world thought that witch craft is traditional belief or religious superstition and actually it is not in society. But such Tantra Mantra or TUNA MUNA is still prevailing in society and many of people and animal have been died by this practice and still many people are being suffered. Such feelings have also been felt by the researcher herself during field survey. It is one of divine powers through which every evil work is being done to harm other person and property. Many cases were found related to acquisition of witch craft and women were suffered by mental and physical torture.

5.1.5 Lack of legal measures of violence protection

Legal measures are not sustainable and strong reported by the lawyers involved in Appeal and District Court of Women Cell in Saptari district. Punishment in terms of physical and financial is very nominal with respect to the nature, types and intensity of crime done by male to the female. Similarly punishment for the rape and murder of women are nothing but 5 to 10 yrs imprisoned rather than death penalty. Similarly in case of Witchcraft, there is no any legal options mentioned in existing constitution and it is very difficult to prove the person of accusation of witch craft.

In my career, I have seen many laws for establishing human rights but did not see that it is only one month imprisoned punishment for a man when he commits polygamy that is increased up to three years now, even it is not sufficient

- A legal practitioner

Most of the perpetrators from high social class and so called community leaders know most of legal options and its rate of penalty in different crime before doing that. But poor madheshi women are very far from the knowing of this legal treatment basically due to the lack of literacy and poor economic condition. Thus it has been emphasized by concerned key informants that legal aspect of violence against women should be strong based on written rule, laws and other options in Constitution.

Beside the adequacy of legal measures for the protection of violence against women, there is more discriminating laws against the women right protection still prevailing in the present constitution. Some of the them are as follows (DFID 2006):

• The rape of married woman technically creates an end of the family relation, because the husband is considered as an ex-husband by laws.

• Definition of Hakwala(owner) includes seven generations on the male side only rather than female.

• Tenancy right is transferable only to an unmarried daughter after she attains the age of 35 years.

Some of these discriminatory laws prohibit the utilization of women right and not strengthening them rather to increase vulnerable situation for the male dominated society.

5.1.6 Maoist Revolution and armed underground conflict group

Women in Madheshi community were very much affected by the Maoist revolution and under going existing conflict of different groups such as Terai Jantantrick Mukti Morcha Goit and Singh group, Cobra group, Virus group Nagraj group. President of single women group in Saptari district claimed through her paper in an interaction program that 86 women have been singled due to murder of their husbands by the existing ongoing struggle of Madheshi and Maoist movement.

Local Newspaper Rajbiraj Today has recorded that armed conflict violence includes all most 8 percent of total women violence in the last one year (Table 5.1.2)

Chapter VI

Effects of Violence on Women’s Life and Family and

Its Preventive Measures

In order to have a better understanding of the present scenario of women in madheshi community for protection of women rights ,this chapter begins with the analysis of consequences resulted from all types of psychological, physical and traditional practices. The other section deals with the preventive measures of violence against women.

6.1 Effects of Domestic Violence on Women development

There are many consequences of the violence against women on their different facets of life such as education, health and empowerment outside the society. Women in Madheshi community are not empowered since long time ago. They are very much depressed, unhealthy and dissatisfied towards the family, community and society. More than 36 percent of women in Saptari are suffered from falling of uterus that is reported by one of mediation persons in a district level workshop. If such analysis has to be done with respect to social and income groups, it was found that most of low income groups and Dalit are basically suffered. More than 85 percent of illiterate women, 46 percent of wage labor and 33 percent of those aged between 20-25 women were suffered from such falling of uterus disease.

One of key executive members of Setu Samudaik claimed in a seminar that in the name of dowry elimination, the inter-caste marriage without the acceptance of her father/guardian, 75 percent women’s family life is not success & suffered from painful actions. It has been reported that 50 percent of women have been trafficked in the name of self-determination of love marriage crossing over the caste. 56 percent of women have been suffered from domestic violence.

Within last two years, 66 percent women are victimized by the existing under-ground rebellion acts conflicts and remaining by the government army.

The major effects of violence on the women of the study area, Aurahi VDC occur through the negative changes in the personal carrier development, family progress interruption and social interaction with the community people. Regarding this perspective during the field survey, the victim respondents were asked how they mark the effects of violence in their intensity order of socio-economic and community life and basic human right and then explored the empirical findings. Intensity order of effects of VAW has been developed in order to identify the major aspects of quality of life in which the violence affect. The structure of this index is the same as used in identifying the root causes of VAW in Chapter V.

Fig 6.1: Effects of violence on individual victim, family &child & society

• Exclusion of family from society

• Difficult in practicing social behavior

• Place of happing incidence is blamed

• Marriage conflict

• Interruption of child development

• Economic loss of family

• No participation in decision making process

• Creating many conflicts in a family having more than a wife

• Unhappiness

• Feeling insecurity

• Leaving husband’s house

• Become mentally depressed

• Living with hunger, clothless & shelterless

• Unhealthy life

• Blaming of infecund

• Illiteracy

• Unempowerment

• Commit suicide

• Physical impairment

• Become helpless

Finally, the major areas of their effects for women right protection have been explored and shown in the last column of Table 6.1 and Fig 6.1 Unhappiness is explored highest intensity of effect they think among all those listed. This is supported by the highest score of EII (1.8). Similarly beside this, other five affected aspects have been explored from this analysis. They are becoming mentally disturbed, negative impact on child care, feeling of insecurity, emerging socio-cultural conflict and leaving husband’s home identified on the basis of higher score of EII as compared to average value (0.37) of all items mentioned in Table 6.1 The effects of Violence Against women listed in a large number as responses of basic women right have been grouped as the critical concern of all terain women and explained in detail under sub-headings. The grouping of all effects includes barrier of personnel carrier development, Interruption of family progress and emergence of social cultural conflicts.

6.1 .1 Barrier in personnel carrier development of a woman

In terms of basic human right conservation, women in Madheshi culture were very much badly affected in their personal carrier development. Such affected areas were reflected in indicators of human development that is crucial concern of human right strenghting agencies. One of the far most indicators is adult literacy. In this matter, the sampled survey clearly shows that 91 percent of women are illiterate that is far less than their husband (51.0 percent) in the same community (Table 5.1.1). If the occupational structure of these affected women is concern, it is found to be 3.1 percent who involved in government services at most as primary teacher and remaining are compelled to survive as wage labor particularly agriculture labor. Only 28.0 percent were in their own farming and household’s work. More than 70 percent victim women are under financial dependency.

The matter reflected in Box 6.1.1 and Photo 6.1.1 is the example of extreme effect of domestic violence created by family members. Not only this, 20 percent of women who are suffering from polygamy as the traditional practices had to leave their husband home and spending their life in their own parent place. How a married woman became nun (locally Sanyansi) from the event of polygamy in stead of spending peaceful life with her husband, has been truly reflected in Box 4.1.3

6.1.2 Interruption of family development

Lack of opportunities for personal development of a woman, the family progress and prosperity were not possible to develop where most of illiterate women are there in Madheshi community. It is told that mother is the first teacher of the school. The illiterate women were not asked to share the decision in family level decision making process. Socio-economic decision for family operation is only up to husband, son and parent-in-laws. It can be imagined how bad situation will be for those forcedly excluded from the family with a daughter of one year( Photo 6.1.2) .The major effect has been seen in the interruption of child development in terms of their proper education and health to be provided. These victim women are suffering from the livelihood problem for caring their son. They have neither filed the case legally so that they would get the share in husband’s property nor they have any job to solve the problem of food, fiber and shelter. Most of the victim women, are having a common husband, is compelled not to file the case under polygamy provision due to the social prestige and pressure. It seems natural in one side after the divorce, she will not have anyone to look after and she also is not independent in terms of financial situation. But it never is accepted on human welfare ground.

6.1.3 Emergence of socio-cultural conflict

Most of the victim women thought that response made by them against violence either occurred by husband or parent-in-laws are not accepted by the community people and such family people would not be looked by good eyes and but it is blamed. One of the community leaders regarding polygamy has expressed as below:

“ Mard Ke Dash Shrimati

Jana Brahama ke Dash Mukh”.

- Traditional Community Leader

It has been meant by the speaker that the husband ( locally called Mard) can able to drive up to ten (dash) wives like a Brahama(God) is having ten mouths( Mukh).

Beside domestic violence or beyond the family, some socio-cultural violences were also found in the sample survey. It is occurred between the touchable and non-touchable higher castes. Basically it was found with the Dom, Chamar, Mushhar and Bantar.

6.1.4 Health condition of women

VDC level sample survey indicated that 14 percent victim women are found as widow or single women. Their husband has died due to either health disease or social conflict. These single women are under the health disease stress. They can not solve this problem due to economic failure and their ignorance about health education.

If the district level information is concern, 48 percent women are affected by uterus falling that figure is 12 percent more than the neighboring district, Siraha. Such information is delivered by a mediating person, Rai in the workshop on Reproduction Right of Women

Single woman is very much affected by the acquisition of witchcraft and it is superstition widely practiced in the district that when a woman become widow then her dead husband will come and bite his wife in bad manner. Based on such belief, family members exploited widow sexually in the name of Tant and its treatment. In a conference on Single Woman, chairman of single woman association claimed that social security has to be ascertained in order to prevent such violence against woman.

6.2 Preventive Measures of Violence Against Women

“Prevention is better than Cure” is the proverb, widely accepted in health science and it can also be extended to the security science. All attempts either by government or society and community should be towards the prevention of the violence against the poor women rather than searching the possible ways to overcome the incidence of violence. The following measures have been forwarded to prevent the incidence of violence against women.

6.2.1 Adult literacy program

VDC level household survey may not be conclusive whatever the fact and figure have brought out regarding the violence against women for the strategy to be developed for the elimination of such violence. But one thing it is clear that such survey is must for the indication of events where and in what direction it is going on. In this respect, based on the women illiteracy (more than 90 percent) explored from the empirical research, Adult literacy program should be implemented in order to make them capable to read and write the simple books/booklet regarding violence incidence. It will help to protect the women from getting the advantage of their illiterate condition in most of the place such as government office and their working places where they do as wage labour, household labour and agriculture labour.

6.2.1 Mass awareness program

Saptari is one of peculiar districts in the country with respect to having the highest cases filed to the different concern officies. Among these cases, the violence against women is not less. In this stream, one of advocates says that as there are no special legal provisions to handle the case of witch craft, he feels that Mass/ Public awareness is the best solution. Mass awareness program should be conducted in two ways: one is regarding the importance of quality of life, human rights, women empowerment and another is against the social maladies such as dowry and witch craft. Such mass awareness program should also be designed for the male side because of the fact that most of the women killer explored from the empirical research are nobody but male.

6.2.3 Income generation program

Significant dependency of violence occurrence has been found on economic condition of poor madheshi women. Thus in orders to support the economic condition, income generation programs have to be operated to reduce the poverty situation and then economic dependency on the land owner and the employee. It will help to protect from those conditions where there is exploitation in the name of economic support to the poor.

6.2.4 Social security mechanism

From the key informants: lawyer, security staff, medical person and focus group discussion with the NGO, local newspaper based information and household survey, they all emphasized that women inside the family and beyond the family were not feeling safe and they are exclusively exploited by the family member and the community people. The situation of incidence forced them to suicide themselves. Thus social security mechanism should be developed in order to reduce the insecure feeling and empower them to protect the incidence against perpetrator.

6.2.5 Legal Measures Provision and its strict implementation

One of the remarkable facts that have been explored is the belief and faith of the victim women. Their faith towards the legal treatment of incidence of violence is gradually decreasing. In the answer of the question why they are not reporting the incidence of violence is the lack of trust in the law enforcing agencies and they are seemed as hopeless persons, power less and linkless to security and legal agencies. Thus their faith towards this is must to be raised not by creating controversial articles of law but by pure implementation in actual sense and practices. There must be visual impact of the treatment either by legal justice or by police that victim could see herself and let their communities see what is the effect of bad doing .

One of the significant laws and its provision that has been left in our Constitution is the law against witchcraft. The event remains in our society even though it seems as superstition by the concept of western world even though its fact and figure is challenge to come out. It is deep rooted associal malady and its legal provision has to be mentioned in Laws.

6.2.6 Regularity of Para-legal Committees at VDC level

Para-legal committee is one of the community-based efforts supported by UNICEF since 1999. Initially it was introduced as the part of anti-trafficking project in the UNICEF Country program of 1997-2001. Based on the review of the project, it was expanded to address all forms of violence, abuse and exploitation of children and women. Since 2002 UNICEF promoted VDC Para-legal committee as the core of violence in the approach of DACAW. These committees were repositioned as an integral part of District Protection System linking them with various support services providers, government agencies and NGOs at district level. Para-legal committee is a community-based security system performing four major activities: prevention, early detection, case follow-up and monitoring/reporting. These committees are the best medium for changing deep-rooted conservative beliefs and norms by raising awareness among the people in the community. Victim women and children of this district were benefited free legal aid by these committees. Mediation as an essential part of crisis management without letting the parties going to court is the prime task of Para-legal committees.

Presently this program is run as a project, but based on their previous work it should be turned into regular work by establishing a mechanism by the local authority under the Self Governance Act.

Chapter VII

Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations

7.1 Major Findings

7.1 .1 District level

• Saptari located in the eastern terai region of Nepal is known as the district of having maximum cases registered in the concern office particularly courts, district administration and district police office. Such cases are related to land disputes, family conflicts, community clash , violence against women.

• Saptari district is found having dominant form of physical violence in comparison to psychological and traditional practices representing more than 80 percent in total incidence of violence against women.

• Rape, suicide, murder, sexual harassment, robbery and kidnapping are widely spread among the different forms of physical violence in the district in which rape is found severe that shares more than 18 percent included more than 9 percent of gang rape raped followed by suicide (15 percent) murder (11.2 percent), sexual harassment (7.5 percent), robbery (7.4) and kidnapping(5.8 percent).

• Uncontrollable sexual temper and social conflict were identified as root-causes of rape and sexual harassment where as family conflict, dowry, unsimilar caste marriage, politics and sexual interest were the prime causes explored for the incidence of murder in the district.

• Husband, state police force and armed conflict groups are found involved as perpetrators in the incidence of murder of women, in general 15.0 percent, out of total perpetrators of violence incidence are no body but their husband only. Community male members are identified as Rapist in the district incidence.

• The women from other backward castes (OBC), Dalit and Janjati are in rank order of mostly affected social groups by the incidence of violence that constitutes 31.0 percent, 24.0 and 20.0 percent respectively. Dalits are found as highest at risk social group in terms of extreme type of violence such as rape, suicide and murder as compare to others. Beating of wife, getting injured, citizenship problem and sexual exploitation are relatively found more in other social groups. If caste/ethnic concern, Brahmins are more hazardous not by extreme nature of violence but by other form of social maladies such as robbery, kidnapping, getting injured by family clash and polygamy.

• Sixty-nine percent of the total incidence occurred in the district are age specific to the range from 10 -29 yrs of victim women and rape ,suicide and murder have been confined to this same age group in which most of the Dalit women are suffered.

• With respect to spatial distribution of incidence of violence against women, rural areas located in eastern part of the district for example Fatepur, Sakarpura and Portaha are found as relatively more concentration of such incidence as compared to the other areas of the district. Rajbiraj as headquarter of the district is not less in this concern.

• In response to temporal situation, from 2061 BS and onward, its trend has been gradually increasing that constitutes only 30 percent of incidence that occurred in the district is registered in the District Police Office.

7.1.2 VDC level

• Out of hundred respondents interviewed in household survey, 80 percent women are under the stress of violence in which 14 percent are single women/widow.

• VDC level sample survey reveals that psychological violence and traditional practices are major forms of violence relatively prevailing more in rural areas than that of physical one. It is quite reverse than those in Newspaper based information. It supports the fact of cultural silence

• Verbal abuse is found as dominant form of psychological violence that constitutes 52.0 percent followed by mental torture (34.0 percent). Beating of the wife is identified as most severe form of physical violence representing 45.0 percent of the total physical violence. Similarly polygamy and untouchables are the deep-rooted social maladies that shares 53.0 percent and 33.0 percent respectively. Polygamy that is less exposure in the district level sources such as Newspaper, NGO & the government office support the character of Madheshi women as commonly accepted social practices.

• If it is come into across the social groups, Dalit is found at high risk that constitutes 24 percent followed by other backward caste group (22.0 percent) and Muslim (15.0 percent and Janjati (14.0 percent). Beyond the psychological violence in general Janjati is suffered more by physical where as Dalit is by traditional practices.

• Lack of literacy and knowledge, patriarchal structure of society and traditional culture and practices are identified as root-cause of different forms of incidence of violence against women in the sampled VDC.

• More than 90.0 percent sampled women are illiterate, more than 50 .0 percent are under the starvation or threat of food material throughout the year and only one percent is employed in government job, more than 40.0 percent are engaged in ancient deficit agriculture ,10.0 percent in traditional occupation and reaming are in wage labor. These facts and figure are crucial for accelerate the incidence of violence against madheshi women directly or indirectly.

• The present constitution has lacking off sufficient regulatory legal measures with respect to social maladies like acquisition of witchcraft in one side and even existing laws and regulations are discriminative supporting the male dominancy in patriarchal structure of madheshi society.

• Barrier in personnel carrier development of a woman, interruption of family and child development, emergence of socio-cultural conflicts, unhealthy condition of woman are major effects or consequences of violence in Madheshi society.

• Women rights, welfare and powers in madheshi society are in getting down and have to be empowered for the establishment of equitable classless society.

• Adult literacy programm, mass awareness programm , income generation program social security mechanism and regularity of Para-legal committees at VDC level are the sustainable measures in order to prevent the incidence of violence against women in madheshi society.

7.2 Policy Recommendations

The findings of the present research will have important and relevant policy implications in order to formulate policy, program and strategy for women development of Madheshi Community. Although Saptari as one of the districts of entire Terai or Madhesh region including a case study of Aurahi Village Development Committee, a small part of Madhesh has been taken for the sample study, the findings will have a wider substantial relevance to adopt preventive strategy of violence against women and its empowerment strategy and policy development. Basing on the research findings, the following recommendations are put forward with regard to women led equitable human society establishment and Madhesh development.

7.2.1 Policy related to Women Empowerment

Women in Madheshi community do not get chance & opportunities to exercise and consume their human rights, skills, knowledge and power because of the unfavorable characteristics of the society itself such as forceful attack on women, gender biased traditions, superstition and mental stress based culture, feudalistic mentality of men, social insecurity, restricted mobility. Empowerment of Madheshi women is an essential task for the central government including madhesh federal state that is prime agenda of newly federal democratic republican, Nepal. The following points are put forward as policy strategies to be adopted for empowering and strengthening women rights and power in their social structure.

• Formation of women groups based on economic activities

Women in rural Madhesh are totally lacking off their groups in order to express their difficulties facing inside home and beyond the family. Women groups on varied economic activities should be formed under the provision of self-governance act for the generation of collective power against social maladies such as wife-beating, drunkenness, anti-alcoholism and personal health problems in one side and become financial independent through skill and knowledge exchange based on economic activities promotion.

• Active participation in community-based development decision

Women’s participation in community’s concern issues is found negligible assuming that attending meetings is wholesale authority of male i.e. father-in-law, husband or son. Thus provisions of active participation in decision-making process of community problems such as health- sanitation, improvement of trails, road and sewage, formation of embankment and plantation, irrigation and construction and improvement of temple and monastery buildings should be made under self-governance act. Such participation enables them to express their skill, knowledge and views against curbing, gambling and domestic violence and child marriage - labor in one side and compelling their husband to involve households chores giving their wives time to attend meetings.

• Guaranteed of mobility in safe environment

Women in Madheshi community are fully prohibited or restricted from moving beyond the confines of their village in the name of their purity and physical harm; the possibilities of their interacting with outsiders usually made them gossip. Thus their mobility beyond the home such as visiting government offices, health centers and CBOs should be made by guaranteeing the social security. Such mobility enriches their capacity, knowledge accordance the problem facing and enables them to spend their own life style as an independent person.

• Ascertaining the rights over the resources

Women in Madheshi community do not have socio-cultural rights and control seen in practices over the resource and properties they own. The family decisions either financial or resource based is basically limited to household head usually male as a bonafied earning member. Thus the provision of women’s access, rights and control over the resource should be made in such a way that each and every decision about potential long-term socio-economic activities such as launching a small enterprise, vegetable farming, pursuing credit, purchasing gold and land, selling agriculture product and children’s school enrollment and attendance have to be made by consulting their wives in safe environment. Such process enhances the economic empowerment of rural poor women in Madheshi community.

7.2.2 Policy Related to Rehabilitation of Victim of VAW

After the occurrence of the incidence, victim should be provided relief and rescue for overcoming the injures on the background of humanity and welfare. The following important points are put forward based on the suggestions derived from field study at district as well as VDC level.

• Victim support program

Victim support package should be developed at local level planning units under the provision of self-governance act. Such program should include emotional - legal counseling, safe houses and shelters, prompt access to medical and police service, crisis intervention including offenders and other family members of the victim.

• Establishment of women cell in concern office with sufficient training and orientation

It was found during the interaction & focus group discussion with the key informants that there were lack of separate women cell in District - Appeal Court, District Police and Administration Office, Illaka Police Office and Appeal and District Bar Association for taking immediate action against offenders .

• Strengthening legal measures

The public thinking on prompt legal actions towards law enforcing agencies as characterized as After Death Doctors has to be raised up to the substantial level by establishing the Family Court for expediting arbitration of such cases.

• Controlling measures for drunkenness and alcoholism

The bad habit of consuming alcohol even in the rural areas has been rapidly increasing due to the creation of small market centers and globalization impacts of urbanization and then their effects on increased incidence of violence. Such users should be strictly banned by awareing them showing their negative impacts on human health.

• Development of network on VAW

The Network of Violence against women should be developed at National level, Federal state level and local level by making the triangulation of MOH, MOE, M0H and NGOs , lawyers & medical practitioners association for building of collective efforts for overcome of grief’s of victims.

• Expansion the support of NGOs and CBOs

Setu Samudaik,HUPAC and HUCODAN are the non-profit NGOs working in favor of victim suffered from domestic violence, child marriage and labor. These NGOs should be expanded by supporting financial aid all over the Village Development committees in the district.

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Appendix

Section-I

Case Record Inventory Sheet: A (local newspaper)

(This sheet is used to keep the record of incidence of violence against women in the district, Saptari that are published in local newspaper at district headquarter, Rajbiraj)

S.N. Date of incidence occurred Name, caste, ethnic of victim Address of victim Nature, types of incidence Name, caste, ethnic of perpetrator Legal steps implemented

Case Record Inventory Sheet: B ( Health post and Zonal hospital)

(This sheet is used to keep the record of incidence, violence against women from health post, sub-health post and zonal hospital, Rajbiraj where victims admitted after the incidence for rescue, relief and treatment)

S.N. Date of admission Name, caste, ethnic of victim(patient) Address of victim(patient ) Nature, types of incidence How happened: Accident or Incidence Status of patient: improved or Not

Case Record Inventory Sheet: C (Local police office or Women cell in district police office)

(This sheet is used to keep the record of incidence violence against women in the district/vdc, Saptari from police office in local level or women cell in district police office at district headquarter, Rajbiraj)

S.N. Date of admission Name, caste, ethnic of victim Address of victim Nature, types of incidence Name, caste, ethnic of perpetrator Status of legal steps implemented

Case Record Inventory Sheet: D (District Court)

(This sheet is used to keep the record of cases related violence against women filed in the VDC office or district court, Saptari at district headquarter, Rajbiraj)

S.N. Date of case filed Name, caste, ethnic of victim Address of victim Nature, types of cases Name, caste, ethnic of perpetrator Legal steps processed

Case Record Inventory Sheet: E (I/NGOs)

(This sheet is used to keep the record of incidence violence against women dealt by the AMA SAMUH or district based NGOs, at district headquarter, Rajbiraj)

S.N. Date of incidence occurred Name, caste, ethnic of victim Address of victim Nature, types of incidence Name, caste, ethnic of perpetrator Legal steps implemented

Section-II

Questionnaire for household survey on

Violence against women:

A case study of ……..Village Development Committee in Saptari district,Eastern Terai Region

(The study is conducted with the aim of exploring nature, type, the root causes, and consequence of violence against the women in Saptari district. Individual information is confidential and will not be released to any person or organization. The gathered data will be quantitative /qualitative analyzed and used for research purposes only)

Q1. Background Information

V.D.C. …………………… Ward No. ………… House No. ………… Village ………… Name of the respondent ………………………………………….. Religion ……………Ethnic/caste ……………… Dalit /Janjati/ middle caste/Brahmin/ Chhetri…………….

Total No. of Family ………… Male ………… Female …………

Total cultivated land in kattha……………………………………….

Q2. Demographic Information

S. No. Relation with HH Sex Age Marital Status Occupation Education level

Primary Secondary

Q3. Emigration Information:

Have your family members gone abroad ? 1.Yes………………2.No ...................

S.N Name Relation with victim Destination Age Sex Marital

status Education Contact process Time spent in destination

Telephone letter

Q4. How long have you been married and what types?

Time period ( yrs) 1.Wife………………… 2. Husband ……………………………

Types of marriage 1.Arranged………………2. Others …………………………

Q5. Would you specify your present marriage frequency including your husband also?

A). Husband : 1st……………2nd……………………..3rd ……………………….

B). Wife : 1st……………2nd……………………..3rd ……………………….

If it is not your first marriage, please specify the major causes:

a) Death of the first husband b) dowry related issue c) lack of children preferably son. d) fall in others’ love e) Others

Q6. Would you tell the expenditure (amount) spent by your parent in your present marriage?

Total :………………………………………………………………

a) dowry(Tilak):…………………………b)decoration ………………………..

c)guest(Janti) service………………………… d)girls item………………………….

Q7. Would you tell the food situation of your family with respect to your production?

a) Insufficient around the year b) sufficient c) surplus

If it is deficit, specify the magnitude in months: a) 1-3 b) 1-6 c) 1-9 and c)1-12

Q8. Would you like to mention the major occupation of your own and your husband?

Husband (please  ) Occupation Wife (please )

1 Farming 1

2 livestock 2

3 Poultry 3

4 Small scale business work 4

5 Sewing & weaving 5

6 Wage labor 6

7 Foreign employment 7

8 Household work 8

9 Others 9

Q9. Would you like to mention the economic status of your own and your husband in terms of economic dependency?

A). Husband: 1 economically dependent……………2 economically independent

A).Wife: 1 economically dependent……………2 economically independent

Q10. Did you suffer from any incidence of violence in your own life?

i) Yes ………..ii) No…………….

If yes, please specify the form of incidence, its perpetrator and its cause

Psychological Violence (please ) Perpetrator specific cause (please mention)

1.Mental torture

2.Emotional torture

3.Verbal abuse

4.Sexual harassment in the work places

5.Forced to commit suicide

6. Force to divorce

Other (specify)……………..

Physical Violence

1.Beating

2. Burning

3.Sexual Exploitation

4.Torture in police custody

5.Abortion

7.0ther(specify)……………

Traditional practices

1.Bonded Labour

3.Accused of Witchcraft

5.Forced Abortion

6.Polygamy

7.Dowry/related violence

8.Untouchability

9.Others……………………

Perpetrator:

Husband……1 family member……2 Community…..3 Out of community……4

Q11. What is the root causes of such incidence of violence mentioned in Q10?. Specify in intensity order: 1(first), 2(second) and 3(Third) ?

a) Lack of education & knowledge…………….. b) Male chauvinistic attitude

c) Economic problem……………d) Traditional culture………e) others……

Q12. What are the consequences of such incidence of violence mentioned in Q10?.

Effect of violence on women(please ) Effect of violence on women(please )

Feeling of insecurity Physical impairment

Unhappiness Irresponsible towards family progress

Negative psychological impacts Leaving husband’s house

Loss of interest in career development Commit suicide

Become mentally disturbed Others (specify)

Negative impact on child care

Q13. What are the effects of such incidence of violence mentioned in Q10 on family development? Specify in intensity order: 1, 2 and 3?

a) Interruption of child development…………….. b) Economic loss

c) Disturbance of women progress……d) Loss of social prestige ………e) others……

Q14. Do you take /report any actions to possible place/authority against the incidence of violence happened with you for rescue and relief?

a) Yes………..1 b) No ……..2

If yes, to whom you report

Rescue & relief place/authority (please  ) Rescue & relief place/authority (please  )

Report to community leader Respond verbally/physically

Social worker Seek help from Local Political Leaders

Ignore the incident Seek help from CBOs i.e. AMA SAMUH

Tolerate it quietly Report to police

Inform relatives/friends Others (specify)

File the case

Q15. If you don’t report, what are the factors/causes that prohibit victims to perform actions against such violence of incidence in the family/society?

Factors/causes prohibiting actions against

incidence of violence (please  ) Factors/causes prohibiting actions against

incidence of violence (please  )

Financial dependency Social pressure, e.g. family prestige

Lack of education Negative attitude of concerned authorities

No link/power to concerned places Unable to report and no helping person

Tradition/Culture Lack of trust in the law enforcing agencies

To keep marriage intact for children Attitude of male domination

No place to go to/ Lack of support systems Others (specify)

Fear of repercussions or reaction

No power/link to concerned authorities

Q16 What is your opinion on reporting and tolerating any physical and traditional violence occurred in the family/community?

Physical violence to be reported (please  ) Traditional to be tolreted(please  )

Strongly agree Strongly agree

Agree Agree

Disagree Disagree

Strongly disagree Strongly disagree

Don’t know Don’t know

Q17. How do you prefer to have the means of protection and support for the victims of violence in the community?

Preferred Types (please ) Preferred Types (please )

Crisis intervention services Safe house provision

Emotional Counseling Awareness programme

Family mediation Victim support programme

Legal counseling Improvement of laws & restrictive provisions

Free legal service Economic support

Hotline telephone service Others

Medical service facility

Q18 What are your suggestions to prevent/eliminate the incidence of violence from our community/ society? (Priority order)

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Section III

Focus Group Discussion on Violence Against Women in Saptari district

(Check lists/Guidelines for CBOs i.e. AMA SAMUH/ MAHILA SAMUHA)

1. Define incidence of violence against women

2. List different forms of violence against women occurred in the Family/ community /society

3. List the different causes of incidence of violence against women in your community

4. Give opinion about Dowry (Tilak/Dahej) system/practices suffered by your community and its impact on violence against women

5. Give opinion on accquision of Witchcraft and its relation to violence against women

6. Mention kinds of support and services do you provide to victims of violence

7. Describe measures to be taken to prevent violence against women

8. Give opinion of general public/society, police and other concerned authority regard violence against women

9. List any other organizations in your work area with the victims of violence against women

10. Describe the problems faced by your organizations in attempting to address the issue of violence against women

11. Specify the ethnic/caste groups of severely suffered from violence against women

Schedule for Key Informant Survey on Violence Against Women in Saptari district

(Guidelines for Health in-charge, CMA and medical doctor)

1. Female frequency daily injured from incidence of violence

2 Types and nature of their injuries

2.1 Small injuries

2.2 Big injuries

2.3 Broken limbs

2.4 Rape

2.5 Burnt

2.6 Poison suffered case

2.7 sunk in pond case

2.9 Others (specify).

3. Give opinion regarding the victims of telling the true cause of their injuries

4. Spell out the opinion handling domestic assault cases differently from the normal assaults.

5. Measures to be done in order to maximize the efficiency of the medical personnel while trying to solve cases of violence against women

6. Services provided by the police are sufficient or not

7. Encounter any political pressure while dealing with cases related to violence against women

Schedule for Key Informant Survey on Violence Against Women in Saptari district

(Guideline for Police staff in local police station)

1. Types of incidents of violence against women which you have encountered

2. Frequency of the cases of violence against women reported to the police within the last one year and its time of reporting

3. Steps to be taken when you are called to a domestic dispute in which the woman has been assaulted

Report the case to a superior

Separate the abuser from the victim

Mediate the case on site rather than court

Others

4. Helping steps when a woman does not want to file a case

5. Various circumstances filing a case

6. Formal or informal groups and agencies responding to and investigating violent incidents against women

7. Special training to deal with and investigate cases of violence against women

8. Keeping record of all cases of violence against women

9. Organizations i.e. AMA SAMUH supporting victims of violence

10. Immediate steps to be taken in order to improve the efficiency of the police staff in dealing with this issue and providing service regard to counseling

{Source: SIRF}

Hybridity to Identity Crisis

2011-05-07T02:59:00.000-07:00

Hybridity to Identity Crisis

It is both the way true: through an unconscious process of hybrid mixture or creolization and through a conscious process of deliberate assimilation people tend to acquire hybridized identity.

Sujan Adhikari, 42, a migrated Green Card holder, has the same problems to share with his original community while he is back to Nepal for a short visit. His two daughters, Betty and Dolly can hardly speak a complete Nepali sentence. They are reared in western cultures, western schools and western upbringing, and therefore, the new generation of Nepalese-American are totally cut off from their origin.++

However, in the deepest substratum of their heart, they share an impulse to have a firm and stainless identity that could attach them to their origin. Betty and Dolly feel that they are not totally assimilated with the white children out there is American society. They feel like estranged in the group. While back to Nepal, they are stuck at their anonymity and at their cultural distance. While the parents refresh their relationships and friendships with their long missed kins and friends, the two daughters have to start anew for they were born in the

USA

. Betty and Dolly try their best but fail to achieve anything. Frustrated and dejected they wish to go back to USA to take refuse.

Who is there to share their pain? It is a pain of identity crisis, especially experienced by the generation of Green Card Holders. It is a pain that leads to existential crisis and there is perhaps no solution to it – either side you are rejected.

While I see the vogue among the middle and lower class Nepali to win Green Card Lottery, I prefigure a sort of dreadful nightmare to be rehearse very soon.

Off the cuff from Subau

2011-05-07T02:52:00.001-07:00

Off the cuff

Since newspapers are one of the media, it has to be understood as a means that is supposed to mediate between audience and reality. This act of mediation, which we call representation, is never uninfluenced. Human cultural and social sciences are constructed with the production and consumption of meanings with the modes and media of representation -- such as newspapers -- in which they are articulated (Brooker 192). Different forms of media facilitate this job. Technology is only a facilitator. What gives meanings to different representational signs is the conventions, agreed upon sets of significations.

Large corpuses of media representation today indicate a trend that show that the modes of representation are going increasingly visual. In fact, modern life takes place onscreen (Mirzoeff 2002). However, a series of problematic implications are connected with the modes of representation.

It is generally informed that the visual representation does not merely reflect another or prior reality but instead functions to construct and mediate potential meanings. How do media representations communicate something that was or is already there? Is there reality prior to representation, which when "re-presented" could be less original or less real? If not, how meanings or representations are communicated and understood? Critics like Roland Barthes say that signs do not "mean" by themselves, it is the conventions of the society that interpret them. But in course of time, whether this visual culture is changing or it is static is the question. How meaning is being constructed along the dynamics of visual culture, if it is changing? This research has made an attempt to investigate the dynamics of such visual culture in the field of print media and representation.

Visual culture, to borrow Nicholas Mirzoeffs definition, is perhaps "best understood as a tactic for studying the functions of a world addressed through pictures, images, and visualizations, gestures, rather than through texts and words" (Mirzoeff, 2002)[i]. Most of our experience of the media, particularly the postmodern media machinery, is a hybrid of texts, images, and sounds, rather than pure states of any one mode of them. Therefore, the visual is always "contaminated" by the non-visual elements such as ideologies, texts, discourses, beliefs, subjective perspectives, intertextual presuppositions, prior experience and "visual competence" etc.

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[i] Mirzoeff, Nicholas. "What is Visual Culture," from The Visual Culture Reader, ed. Nicholas Mirzoeff. 2002

Inauguration of LegalNp Blogspot Dot Com

2011-05-07T02:44:00.001-07:00

Dear valued visitors,
This is the inauguration of the blog LegalNp Dot Blogspot Dot com
This blog will have a lot of information on issues concerning law and human rights in the Asia and other regions.
Keep vising this blog for new updates. This blog will be updated with new information and important data and documents on weekly basis.
Thank you
Sujan Babu Adhikari
Kathmandu, Nepal