DOCUMENTS/PAPERS

By Mr. Sarba Raj Khadka on behalf of Nepalese Civil Society Organisations on 13th August 2001, Geneva

Madam Chairperson

Ladies and Gentlemen!

While Nepal is constitutionally a democratic multi-national state with provisions to protect the liberty and rights of all Nepali citizens, many individuals are being denied their basic human rights. Currently, there is a powerful ruling class in Nepal that has since long conspired to cover up its character of dividing and oppressing various nationalities. The domination of the elite in the power center has resulted in the rise of regional inequality and oppression in the country, denying many citizens the right to self-determination.

A manifestation of the oppressive nature of the ruling class is the grave lack of legal protection for persons who suffer racial and caste-based discrimination. Discrimination has led to a sort of deprivation, which has political, social, cultural and economic dimensions. People, because of their race or caste, are discriminated knowingly or unknowingly for exercising political power, economic opportunities and equitable policies in terms of regional development, access to education, employment, land and other resources.

The largest group that is currently being discriminated against is the entire female population of Nepal. The discriminatory laws have denied the women the right to receive proper reproductive health care as well as the right to get an abortion. The lack of protection of women has resulted in the trafficking of approximately 200,000 women and girl children primarily for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Women also do not benefit from current marriage and inheritance laws. Women face discrimination, particularly in rural areas, where religious and cultural tradition, lack of education, and ignorance of the law remain severe impediments to their exercise of basic rights such as non-inheritance of citizenship rights, free political expression and to inherit and hold property in their own names.

Madam Chairperson,

Nepal has also passed the Labor Act to ensure that every citizen be given the right to enjoy just and favorable conditions of work. The Labour Act calls for a 48-hour workweek, with one- day off per week, and limits overtime to 20 hours per week. Health and safety standards and other benefits such as a provident fund and maternity benefits are also established in the Act. However, implementation of the new Labor Act has been slow, as the Government has not created the necessary regulatory or administrative structures to enforce its provisions. Currently, workers do not have the right to remove themselves from dangerous work situations. Although the law authorizes labor officers to order employers to rectify unsafe conditions, enforcement of safety standards remains minimal. Furthermore, while the Labor Act specifically prohibits forced or bonded child labor, forced child labor exists in many sectors of the economy.

In addition to the Labor Act, the Parliament has passed the Trade Union Act to provide workers with the freedom to establish and join unions and associations and to protect unions and officials from lawsuits arising from actions taken in the discharge of union duties, including collective bargaining. However, only a small portion of the labor force is unionized in true sense. Furthermore, discriminatory laws have made the right to form effective trade unions difficult.

In terms of efforts to protect and assist families of Nepal, the Government has provided free primary education for children between the ages of 6 and 12, and free health care. Furthermore, the Child Act of 1992 was enacted to establish child welfare committees to provide children with protection in the workplace and in criminal proceedings. However, poorly funded schools, ill-equipped medical facilities and neglect to effectively implement the Child Act, children are not being provided with sufficient resources, facilities and care.

Those with disabilities are particularly underserved. The Government has long been involved in providing for the disabled, but the level of government assistance has not met the needs of the disabled. The 1982 Disabled Persons Protection and Welfare Act, as well as the additional 1994 Rules, mandate accessibility to buildings, transportation, employment, education, and other state services. However, despite government funding for special education programs, the Government does not implement or enforce laws regarding the disabled. A number of NGOs working with the disabled receive significant funding from the Government, but persons who are physically or mentally disabled rely almost exclusively on family members to assist them.

Families are also suffering from inadequate housing and employment policies. With the influx of imports, many workers who depend on agriculture for their livelihood are being put in a situation where they cannot provide abode for themselves and their families. Inefficient use of land, and the inability of farmers to have access to necessary modern agricultural tools can be seen as the primary cause of Nepal’s agricultural industry to compete with these new foreign products. Agriculture and land reform is vital.

The nation falls farther behind in all sectors of scientific innovations. Insufficient human resources and ill-equipped laboratories are not in a position to expedite the process of necessary scientific research and creation to gradually modernize the nation to address the challenges of the contemporary world.

Madam Chairperson,

Now, I would like to propose through you and the respected committee members the following actions to be undertaken immediately by the government of Nepal;

Ø Formulate specific policies and ensures effective measures (legal and administrative) to promote self-respect of women, children and deprived communities including Dalits and other ethnic minorities, with a specific focus on the people living in remote and neglected geographical areas and the conflict prone zones.

Ø In light of Nepal's hasty preparation to enter into the WTO agreement, ensure indigenous rights of the people that are most deriving their livelihoods from the indigenous bio-diversity resources and traditional wisdom.

Ø Devise specific and sufficient legal and regulatory provisions and administrative mechanisms to protect the rights of women, children, the aged, disabled, economically and socially oppressed caste and classes.

Ø As compared to men, women are deprived of their human rights, such as the inheritance property rights and reproductive health rights. Therefore, laws need to be enacted to safeguard these rights.

Ø Similarly, the economic, social and cultural rights of the women and children particularly in remote and conflict prone areas need to be ascertained by the state. It lacks the safeguarding clauses to protect the economic, social and cultural rights of the people, particularly in remote and poorly developed and areas of social strife.

Ø There is an urgent and pressing need to develop infrastructures in the conflict prone areas, specifically to assist the orphaned children ad the widows, therefore the government must have separate support and focused programme mechanisms with significant amount of year marked budgetary provisions.

Ø As the NGOs, human rights activists and the general people are strongly opposing the newly introduced Public Security Regulations that bars freedom of expression and freedom of mobility and gives discretionary power to the Chief District Officer, the government has to comply with the human rights principles and existing judicial system and should cancel this immediately.

Ø About 47% of the population is either unemployed or partly employed, therefore, the government must guarantee the rights to work of all the citizens. At the same time, suitable policy mechanisms must be formulated to provide unemployment allowance to the people who are unemployed and/or underemployed.

Ø In one hand, the government reports that child labour is band through legislation, but it confesses that the children are considered as the source of income, on the other. Therefore, the government has to create sufficient economic opportunities to the grown ups that could support to their children through effective mechanisms and practices so that child rights are protected.

Ø The government must set realistic periodic targets and effective plans so that all people are employed in dignified work and the level of poverty is reduced from 45% to 10% by next 20 years. Also, the government has to constitute immediately the High Level Poverty Alleviation Commission as mentioned in its report. In the mean time, the government must initiate alternative livelihood options for those who are in urgent need.

Ø Fix the minimum wage rate that is sufficient to meet the daily requirements of an individual. The minimum wage rate of Nepali rupees 60 (US$ 0.80) per day that is declared for the agricultural workers must be revised and should be operationalised immediately.

Ø The Kamaiyas that were declared liberated last year are still facing the problems of housing, alternative employment, livelihood, etc. Therefore, an immediate action must be initiated for the dignified socio-economic rehabilitation of the Kamaiya families and the internally displaced people. Also, the act of Kamaiya declaration must be legalized through appropriate legislation.

Ø Suitable reforms in the financial administration are mandatory, particularly to reduce the burden of paying nearly 30% of the national annual budget (FY 2001/2002) for debt servicing, and increase the investment in the social development sectors.

Ø The government must devise policy and time bound plans to implement the free and compulsory education programme for all children at least up to Secondary Level.

Ø The issues of land ownership and agrarian reforms are the ones that need highest priority to ensure food security in a country like Nepal where above 80% of the population depends on agriculture and agriculture contributes nearly 40% of the GDP. Not only the upper ceiling of the land holding but also the lower limit should be fixed for the peasants.

Ø At present there is gross lack of pricing and marketing support policy and law. Unless this is managed properly, the farmers are not going to benefit from their surplus produce. Therefore, mechanisms need to be established to ensure reasonable price of the farm produce, particularly in areas where there is no accessibility and lack of markets.

Ø Although the government has developed a national shelter policy, but there is lack of strategies and mechanisms to operationalise it. As the recent development, instead supporting the landless and the squatters, the government has dissolved the Commission to Resolve the Problems of Landless Squatters. We urge to reinstate it and ask for effective implementation mechanism.

Ø There is an urgent need to commission a National Mental Health Board to rehabilitate the mentally disturbed citizens.

Ø We reiterate to enact the Reproductive Health Rights Law for the protection of women health.

Ø The government has grossly failed to ensure right to education of all the children. Furthermore, the children of Dalits and ethnic minorities are further marginalized. Therefore, the government must develop time bound policies to provide education for all and devise effective monitoring mechanism. Specific package programmes need to be undertaken for the girls to increase their enrollment in the schools.

Ø In the 9th Five Year Plan (1997-2002), the government has stated that the primary education will be made free and compulsory but nothing has been materialized so far when only one year is left for the completion of the plan period. In this context, the government must fix a date to implement and expand it to lower secondary as well as secondary levels.

Lastly, on behalf of the NGO Working Group, Nepal, I am glad to submit the details on the CESCR situation in Nepal that follows.

Thank you,

Sarba Raj Khadka
Executive Director
Rural Reconstruction Nepal