TABLE OF CONTENTS AIM Nepal Human rights violations against minorities in Nepal Human rights events of April 2021 Concluding remarks
GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENCE – April 2021
Monthly report – Nepal
Delyana Petkova- Research Intern ( Team Asia)
Aim
Global Human Rights Defence (GHRD) gathers information from various (local and international) human rights organisations and media sources to monitor the human rights of minorities in Nepal, including the Dalit community, disabled population, and women. This report includes the ongoing research and media monitoring undertaken by various sources who have reported cases such as human rights violations against religious minorities, women, disabled people, and various castes. In this report, there will be an overview of the current situation in Nepal and highlights on the most significant violations committed against minorities in April 2021.
Nepal
Country Profile
● Full name: Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal
● Government: Federal democratic republic with a multi-party system
● Population: 29 million (29,136,808)
● Capital: Kathmandu
● Largest city: Kathmandu
● Area: 147,181 km2
● Major languages: Nepali (44.64%), Maithili (11.67%), Bhojpuri (5.98%), Tharu (5.77%), Tamang (5.11%), Newari (3.20%), Bajjika (2.99%), Magar (2.97%), Doteli (2.97%), Urdu (2.61%) (Statistics, 2012)
● Major religions: Hinduism (81.34%), Buddhism (9.04%), Islam (4.39%), Kirat (3.04%), Christianity (1.41%) (Statistics, 2012)
● Major ethnicities: Chhetri (16.6%), Brahman-Hill (12.2%), Magar (7.1%), Tharu (6.6%), Tamang (5.8%), Newar (5%), Kami (4.8%), Musalman (4.4%), Yadav (4%), Rai (2.3%) (Statistics, 2012)
● Life expectancy at birth: 72 years for females and 69 years for males (Statistics, 2012)
Human rights issues in Nepal and the current situation
Nepalese minorities face discrimination based on several factors, including religion, caste, and gender. According to the Nepal Human Rights Year Report 2020, around 80% of the human rights violations in 2019 were against women. There was a significant increase in cases of rape, domestic violence, and death cases, of which 13 were related to dowry (Sansar, 2020). Regarding religion, the constitution of Nepal recognises Nepal as a “secular” state and guarantees the individuals the freedom to practice, profess and preserve their religion freely. However, Hinduism remains the most commonly practised religion and, as a result, other groups are marginalised and oppressed. This religious separation has also resulted in the establishment of different castes within Nepal. The pure castes, which represent the majority, include Brahman, Chhetri, and Vaisya, while the impure minority groups include Sudra and Dalits, Muslims and foreigners (Torri, 2019). In general, several discriminatory practices based on gender, caste and religion, such as limited access to healthcare, education, and adequate income, as well as violence, remain (Affairs, 2018).
Human rights events April 2021
The international community is critical of human rights violations in Nepal
Image source: https://kathmandupost.com/national/2021/04/08/amnesty-international-paints-bleak-picture-of-rights-situation- in-nepal
In April 2021, Amnesty International released its 2020/2021 Report1 on the world’s human rights, where it calls out Nepalese authorities for human rights violations.2 (Amnesty, 2021)
The police is being accused of failing to independently and impartially investigate in-custody deaths in the country (Amnesty, 2021). While the families of the deceased suspect these deaths to be caused by police brutality, Nepalese authorities are ruling them as suicides (Kathmandu Post, 2021). The report also mentions 66,000 complaints about crimes that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission3 and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons4 failed to investigate effectively.
1 https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/POL1032022021ENGLISH.PDF 2 These include custody deaths, police brutality, limitation of freedoms, and failure to investigate crimes. 3 The Commission’s aim is to investigate human rights violations and crimes against humanity in the Nepalese Civil War. https://trc.gov.np/ 4 The Commission’s goal is to investigate enforced disappeared persons in the Nepalese Civil War, provide compensation and recommend legal sanctions for these crimes. https://ciedp.gov.np/en/home/
Police brutality in the forms of excessive use of force and tear gas usage against peaceful protestors was another violation highlighted by the report (Amnesty, 2021). Even though torture and ill-treatment are criminalised by Art. 167 of the 2017 Criminal Code,5 no one had been convicted of these crimes by December 2020 (Kathmandu, 2021). In addition to the right to peaceful protests, freedom of expression is also threatened in the state (Amnesty, 2021). Dozens of people, some of whom journalists, have been accused of spreading misinformation when accusing the Government about the management of the Covid-19 pandemic and have consequently been detained (Amnesty, 2021). The Nepalese Government has also not withdrawn several controversial bills that aim to limit citizens’ right to privacy, such as the Media Council Bill, the Mass Communication Bill, and the Information Technology Bill,6 despite criticism (Kathmandu, 2021).
5 http://www.moljpa.gov.np/en/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Penal-Code-English-Revised-1.pdf 6 The Bills allow for intrusion in citizens’ right to privacy through surveillance and collection of their information without legal safeguards or judicial authorization.
Provisions for creating employment for indigenous women
Image source: https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/provisions-for-creating-employment-for-indigent-women
The Government has developed the “Standard for the Operation of Livelihood Improvement Programme, 2021”, which prioritises the employment of destitute and single women based on their skills, capacities and qualifications to provide them with economic and social opportunities. The standard, approved by the Council of Ministers, aims to engage women in national development through empowerment, see President Women Upliftment Programme7. The standard has set three objectives: improving women’s living standards, empowering them through entrepreneurial development by ensuring meaningful use of local resources, and consolidating the capacity of organisations established by women to improve income generation and livelihoods. (The Himalayan times, 2021)
It is expected that 55 districts lagging in Nepal’s Human Development Index8 will benefit from this programme. “This programme will mainly focus on the agriculture and livestock, tourism and non- agriculture sectors and will provide grants to women to start and run businesses by equipping them with the necessary skills and by supporting them in creating jobs and opportunities for self-employment,” the
7 https://risingnepaldaily.com/main-news/presidents-women-upliftment-programme-saving-lives-of-rural-women?fbclid=IwAR1vrCDMJOKLB6- 51VNC9ibL024ohq0Tbov4ix06X8yKHyN73fFc6FGOGQM
8 http://hdr.undp.org/sites/all/themes/hdr_theme/country-notes/NPL.pdf
Standard said. The non-agricultural sector includes the production and processing of forest products, weaving, embroidery, hosiery, bakery, handicrafts, motoring, plumbing, beauty parlour, and saloon. The standard requires the concerned local levels to select the registered organisations by soliciting proposals through a public notice (The Himalayan times, 2021).
The organisations selected to implement the standard programmes should prioritise needy, single, COVID-19-affected, violence-affected and unemployed women. “ Selecting beneficiary women ensures that only one woman from a household is selected,” it says. The programme's implementation is to be monitored by the respective local level (The Himalayan times, 2021).
Nepalese children’s health is threatened due to child labour and on-site education
Image source: https://nepalesevoice.com/banner-third/1-1-million-children-in-nepal-engaged-in-child-labour-says-report/
According to the Nepal Child Labor Report 20219, 1.1 million children in the country are engaged in child labour (ILO, 2021).10 Among them, the majority are engaged in the agricultural sector (87%), and most of them are members of the Dalit community (19.4 %) and the Karnali province (24.6 %) (NV, 2021). In addition, the report stated that girls are more likely to be engaged in child labour than boys
9 https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---ilo-kathmandu/documents/publication/wcms_784225.pdf 10 Among the seven million children aged between 5 and 17, this number amounts to 15.3 % of the total number of children and is slightly lower than it was in 2008 - 1.6 million.
and that children in urban areas are involved in more hazardous activities than their peers in rural areas (ILO, 2021). The Director of ILO Country Office for Nepal, Richard Howard, urges the Nepalese Government to coordinate their efforts and create new laws and policies that prevent child labour (NV, 2021).
The Covid-19 pandemic has created additional threats to children’s rights in Nepal - namely to the right to education11 and health.12 The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) found in their on-site monitoring of schools that safety measures and compliance with health protocols were abided by less in public schools than in private ones (HT, 2021). The failure of teachers to implement the guidelines and isolate pupils with Covid-19 symptoms were some of the main reasons why these children were more susceptible to the virus (HT, 2021). In fact, more than 300 children have been infected over a period of 2 weeks in all schools (HT, 2021).
In places where remote education was opted for, though the children’s health was protected, their right to education was threatened. According to the National Campaign for Education,13 online learning was ineffective for 64.3% of the children they questioned.14 The pandemic has exposed the digital divide, according to which more than ⅔ of Nepalese school children lack virtual learning means, as found by UNICEF Nepal (Kathmandu, 2021). So far, neither the state, nor schools have tried to improve the online education system, so that more school children could benefit. The NHRC urges authorities to guarantee the fulfilment of its national and international child rights obligations (HT, 2021).
11 Art. 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights establishes the right to free and accessible education which covers at least the minimum educational standards. https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cescr.aspx 12 Art. 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights establishes the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health which includes obligations, such as prevention of diseases and improvement of medical services. https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cescr.aspx 13 NCE is a network of organizations striving to strengthen the public education in Nepal by improving its quality and making it free for all schoolchildren. https://ncenepal.org.np/ 14 https://ncenepal.org.np/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Annual-Report-2020_NCE-Nepal.pdf
Questioning NHRC’s independence
Image source: https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/04/1090692
The United Nations Independent Human Legal experts expressed serious concerns over the recent appointment of the new members of Nepal’s National Human Rights Commission, which they said, “undermines its independence, integrity and legitimacy” (OHCHR, n.d.). In a statement, the experts said that the appointment process “failed to implement the essential requirements of the Paris Principles,15 including the need for an open, transparent and participatory process with broad consultations.16 We are deeply concerned that the appointment process is not in line with international standards and undermines the independence, integrity and legitimacy of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and limits the ability of the people of Nepal to seek appropriate remedies for alleged human rights violations. This will have a chilling effect on civil society actors” (UN NEWS, 2021). The experts urged the Government to reverse the appointments and to “allow for a new process characterised by openness, transparency, broad consultation and participation” (UN NEWS, 2021).
The statement underlines that an independent and impartial national human rights institution is crucial for promoting and protecting the civil space and, in particular, the right to assemble and associate. It is also critical to the process of transitional justice and to ensure accountability for crimes committed
15 Paris principes are the international minimum standards to which an national institution should adhire https://www.asiapacificforum.net/support/what-are-nhris/paris- principles/#:~:text=The%20Paris%20Principles%20are%20the%20international%20minimum%20standards%20that%20all,for%20an%20NHRI%20is%20independence.
16 https://www.theioi.org/ioi-news/current-news/paris-principles-at-25-strong-national-human-rights-institutions-needed-more-than-ever
during the Maoist armed conflict in Nepal, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and torture(UN NEWS, 2021). The experts conveyed their concerns to the Government of Nepal, the statement said.
Non-compliance with national law
The experts also stressed that the appointments did not comply with national law, as enshrined in Nepal’s Constitution, and that the authorities showed unwarranted haste by bypassing crucial processes such as parliamentary hearings. According to their statement, Nepal’s president amended the Constitutional Council - which contains appointment recommendations for constitutional bodies, including the NHRC - through a December 15 ordinance, clearing the way for meetings to be held without a quorum and for decisions to be made by a simple majority. Under Nepali law, appointments to constitutional bodies must also be confirmed through a parliamentary hearing process, which could not take place because the president dissolved the House of Representatives. On February 3, the president appointed five new members to the NHRC, despite pending lawsuits at the Supreme Court, challenging the constitutionality of the appointment. In late February, the court reversed the president’s dissolution of the House of Representatives, but hearings on petitions against the executive order and appointments to constitutional bodies are still pending (UN NEWS, 2021).
Conclusion
UN experts and human rights NGOs have questioned the independence and impartiality of several Nepalese institutions in May. Namely, in the spotlight was the failure of police officers to investigate forced disappearances, their excessive use of force during peaceful protests, and the non-transparent appointment and bias in the work of the National Human Rights Commission. In addition, the infringement of children’s rights, such as the limited access to education and involvement of child labour, worsened during the pandemic and need to be addressed urgently. Finally, the plan to help women to enter the workforce and become financially independent constitute a positive development, even if it is yet to be seen how successful in practice this would turn out.
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