Reference: The Second Periodic Report (Art.1-15) of Nepal to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN Doc. E/C.12/NPL/2) Parallel Information The Right to Adequate Food in Nepal (Article 11, ICESCR) Submitted at the occasion of the 38th session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (30 April - May 2007) by FIAN International, an NGO in consultative status with ECOSOC, working for the right to feed oneself and Rights & Democracy, a Canadian institution in consultative status with ECOSOC working to promote the International Bill of Human Rights. - 1 - Table of Contents I. Preliminary remarks p.3 II. The situation of the Right to Food in Nepal p.4 III. Legal Framework of the Right to Food in Nepal p.16 IV. Illustrative cases of violations of the Right to Food p.22 V. Concluding remarks p.27 VI. Recommendations to the CESCR p.28 Annex I - Description of the International Fact-Finding Mission p.29 Annex II - List of Acronyms p.37 - 2 - I. Preliminary remarks The present document is presented to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as parallel information to the second periodic report of Nepal to the CESCR. The submitting organizations would like to acknowledge the opportunity given by the CESCR procedures and share with the Committee the first findings of two research projects which have been carried out by Rights & Democracy and FIAN International. 1. The Fact-Finding Mission to Nepal (coordinated by Rights & Democracy) The first measure is the Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) which took place from 8 to 20 April 2007 and was organized by the Canadian institution Rights & Democracy in collaboration with the Right to Food Research Unit at the University of Geneva, FIAN International and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). 1 Unfortunately, the recent timing of the FFM does not allow us to submit a full and final report to the Committee. However, the preliminary findings of the mission are useful in understanding some of the main issues related to the Right to Food in Nepal. Indeed, the purpose of the FFM was to assess persistent hunger in Nepal, to identify its causes and to propose solutions based on state obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the human right to food. The mission delegation visited affected communities in the districts of Siraha, Makawanpur, Nawalparasi, Chitwan, Banke, Jumla, Dadeldhura and Accham. Delegation members also conducted interviews with government representatives, as well as with parliamentarians, UN and donor agencies, and civil society organisations. A public seminar was held in Kathmandu at the conclusion of the mission in order to popularize the human rights framework for development, to build understanding of the nature of state obligations with respect to the human right to food and to share preliminary results of the mission experience with stakeholders from government, donor agencies and civil society. The FFM delegation was composed of representatives from both international and national organizations. Following national organization were represented: Action-Aid Nepal; All Nepal Peasants Association (ANPA); Community Self-Reliance Center (CSRC); Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC); Lutheran World Federation Nepal (LWF); Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN); Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN). In addition, following international organizations were represented: Action-Aid Malawi; FIAN International; International Indian Treaty Council; Rights & Democracy. The Right to Food Unit - Food and Agriculture Organization as well as the Office of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food accompanied the FFM as international observers. The background information prepared for the FFM is shared in parts II and III of this report. A complete report of the mission findings is forthcoming. 2. The Right to Food project in Nepal (coordinated by FIAN International) The FIAN Right to Food project is funded by EED (Church Development Service), Germany, and carried out in collaboration with ODC, Nepal and Sahakarmi Samaj, Nepal. It started with a pilot phase in January 2007, and is envisaged to be carried on for a period of four 1 Please refer to Annex 1 to know more about the FFM. - 3 - years. The objective of this project is to identify key issues and actors relevant for promoting the right to food in Nepal and initiate the process of mainstreaming the right to food in Nepal. Some of the key components of the project are: • Intensive networking of capacitated organisations is expected to increase the awareness about the human right to food among victim groups and civil society in general and the starting of joint implementation of activities towards the realisation of the right to food in Nepal • Case based work in combination with appropriate intervention in close collaboration with the victim groups will lead to increased awareness among key actors on the rights based approach in combating hunger. Victims will experience greater solidarity and legal support in their struggle towards the realisation of their right to food and will be empowered. • Expert meetings, mass media campaign and training programmes will lead to increased awareness and the establishment of human capacities to spread the rights based approach in Nepal. Increased awareness about the human right to food with special reference to the “FAO Voluntary Guidelines for the Human Right to Food” and sharing experiences with other countries regarding its implementation will lead to a debate among members of government agencies about initiating similar processes in Nepal. • International awareness about right to food violations in Nepal is increased within the UN human rights system. • The establishment of an internet platform will contribute to the promotion of the right to food by serving as a watchdog in case of violations and will increase the pressure to include the right to food in the new constitution of Nepal as well as towards fulfilment of state obligations. • Increased awareness about the right to food will lead to reflection among NGOs about their present poverty alleviation strategies and create an avenue for new discussions with funding agencies about appropriate strategies of fighting against poverty. One of the first initiatives in this project was to document various cases of violations of the human right to food in different parts of Nepal. Some of these documented cases are included in this report in chapter IV. II. The Situation of the Right to Food in Nepal 2 1. Nepal Nepal is a small landlocked country sandwiched between Tibet (China) to the north and India on the other three sides. It lies in the southern slopes of the Himalayas and its topography is uneven. Beginning from the very top of the Himalayas in the north, it extends to the plains of the Indo-Gangetic valley. It is rectangular in shape with about 800 km length and mean breadth of about 190 km. It has a population of approximately 27 million (World Bank estimates for mid-2005). For administrative and developmental purposes, the country is divided into five regions: Eastern, Central, Western, Mid-Western and Far-Western. After the 2 The information provided in Section II (the Situation of the Right to Food in Nepal) and Section III (the Legal Framework) of this submission has been prepared by Rights & Democracy as background for the fact-finding mission and will become part of the mission’s forthcoming report. - 4 - capital Kathmandu, Nepal has six provincial cities: Biratnagar, Patan, Pokhara, Birgunj, Dharan, Nepalgunj. There are 75 districts and more than 4 200 Village Development Committees at the grass roots level. Source : Nepal 101, www.roomtoread.org. Nepal’s road network and density is the lowest in the region. Only 30 % of the rural population has access to all-weather roads and more than 60 % of the network is concentrated in the lowland areas of the country. The poor condition of the road network hampers the delivery of social services in the remote hill and mountainous districts, increases the cost of transportation and affects the country’s economic development. Fifteen district headquarters are not connected by road. Only 15 percent of homes have electricity. It is estimated that the rate of rural households with electricity is as low as 3%. Villagers rely on kerosene, fuel wood and batteries which can be expensive, time-consuming to obtain and damaging to the environment. Telephone infrastructure is poor and concentrated in and around Kathmandu. Nepal has a teledensity of just over one line per 100 inhabitants. 3 Twelve of the 75 districts have no direct service, and less than half of the Village Development Committees have telephone access. 2. The current political situation 2006 began with widespread protests in the build up to the first anniversary of the Royal Coup by King Gyanendra in which he seized absolute control of power. These protests were 3 CIA World Factbook 2003, U.S. Department of State and World Bank 2003. - 5 - met with curfews, mass arrests, threats to human rights defenders and violent repression. This took place against a background of continuing armed clashes between State security forces and Maoist insurgents. Maoist insurgency began in 1996, as a reaction to heavy corruption, bad governance and failure of the State to reduce economic and socio-cultural inequalities. After months of protests and demonstrations, on April 24, the King stepped down and reinstated the House of Representatives (HoR) that had been dissolved in October 2002. The April uprisings have been called “Janaandolan Bhag 2” or People’s Movement Part 2 as they are seen as a continuation of the popular movement of 1989 following which then King Birendra declared a multi-party system in Nepal. The decision taken by the seven-party alliance (SPA) 4 and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) to work together to enable the election of a Constituent Assembly was decisive in bringing down the King.