The 2015 Earthquake in Nepal Disaster Management and Human Trafficking
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The 2015 Earthquake in Nepal Disaster Management and Human Trafficking Áslaug Ellen Yngvadóttir Lokaverkefni til BA-gráðu í stjórnmálafræði Félagsvísindasvið Júní 2016 The 2015 Earthquake in Nepal Disaster Management and Human Trafficking Áslaug Ellen Yngvadóttir Lokaverkefni til BA-gráðu í stjórnmálafræði Leiðbeinandi: Ásthildur Elva Bernharðsdóttir Stjórnmálafræðideild Félagsvísindasvið Háskóla Íslands Júní 2016 4 Ritgerð þessi er lokaverkefni til BA-gráðu í stjórnmálafræði og er óheimilt að afrita ritgerðina á nokkurn hátt nema með leyfi rétthafa. © Áslaug Ellen Yngvadóttir, 2016 261191-2969 Reykjavík, Ísland 2016 5 Útdráttur Ritgerðin tekur fyrir jarðskjálftann í Nepal árið 2015. Jarðskjálftinn hafði í för með sér fjölda dauðsfalla auk mikillar eyðileggingar. Áhersla verður lögð á að greina þau áhrif sem slíkt áfall hefur á stöðu kvenna, með sérstaka áherslu á mansalshættu. Auk þess verður skoðað hvaða aðgerðir ríkið og aðrar stofnanir geta nýtt sér þegar áfall dynur á til þess að sporna gegn og bregðast við mansali. Áfallið verður greint út frá áfallakenningum og kynjakenningum með áherslu á þrjú þemu, leiðtogahæfni, undirbúning og kyn. Mansal hefur verið stórfellt vandamál í Nepal, þar sem mörg þúsund kvenna hverfa árlega. Stór hluti á bakvið mansal er fátækt og lægri félagsleg staða kvenna. Í Nepal ríkir feðraveldið: konur takast á við meiri hættu í kjölfar áfalla vegna færri atvinnutækifæra, minni virðingu í samfélaginu, og takmarkaðri aðgang að fjárhagslegum aðföngum. Áföll, líkt og jarðskjálftinn, ber að í kerfum sem mótuð eru eftir kyni, og því er neyðaraðstoðin mótuð á sama hátt. Flestir sem ákvarðanir tóku í skjálftanum voru karlmenn og þeir sinntu neyðaraðstoð fyrir hönd ríkisins. Því var ekki tekið nógu mikið mið að þörfum kvenna, og mansalshætta jókst töluvert vegna eyðilagðra heimila, skóla, og aukinnar fátæktar. Nepalska ríkið gerði ekki nógu mikið til þess að koma í veg fyrir mansal. 6 Abstract The thesis is about the 2015 earthquake in Nepal. The earthquake brought about great destruction and the loss of many lives. The influence of the earthquake on the status of women will be analysed, with an emphasis on their incresed vulnerability to human trafficking. A look will be taken at what actions the government and other organisations can take in order to prevent or combat trafficking. The events of the crisis will be put into a time line, and analysed with three themes in mind, leadership, preparedness and gender. In Nepal human trafficking is a widespread problem, where thousands of women disappear every year. The main reason for trafficking in women is poverty and the low social status of women. Nepal is a patriarchal country: women face a higher risk in the aftermath of a crisis due to less economic oportunities and less respect in society. Crisis come to pass in highly gendered systems, so the emergency response is in turn shaped in the same manner. Most of those responsible for decision-making in the earthquake were men, and men lead the response efforts. Thus, the needs of women wore not considered in the same way as men, making womens’ vulnerability to trafficking increased. The Nepalese government did not do enough to prevent trafficking of women and children. 7 Preface This 12 ECTS credit BA thesis is my final project for my 180 ECTS Bachelors degree within the Political Science Division of the University of Iceland. I would like to thank my mentor Ásthildur Elva Bernharðsdóttir for helping me put the crisis into perspective and for her insightful and helpful support and comments along the way. I would also sincerely like to thank my mother, the linguistic genius, Guðrún Tulinius for her patience in reading it over. I would also sincerely like to thank my friends, Hilda Björk, Særós and Sunna Sasha, for actually coming with me all the way to Nepal, and for giving me great company and laughs. Especially Sunna, a fellow political science student, now graduated, for helping me get my head together, and figure out what I wanted to say in the thesis. I also want to thank Jana and Halla for their great company and moral boost in the process. Especially, I would like to give my love to Nepal, and to my friends there. Not only is it home to the Himalaya, but to countless wonderful people. 8 1 Table of Contents 1 Table of Contents ......................................................................................................... 9 2 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 10 2.1.1 Resources ................................................................................................................................... 13 2.1. Theoretical framework ................................................................................................... 14 2.1.2 CRISMART ................................................................................................................................. 14 2.1.3 Lynn Weber’s systems of embedded arrangements ............................................... 16 2.1.4 Patriarchy .................................................................................................................................. 17 2.2 Country Profile & Historical Context .......................................................................... 18 2.3 The Status of Women in Nepal ....................................................................................... 19 2.3.1 Caste system ............................................................................................................................. 20 2.4 Human Trafficking in Nepal .......................................................................................... 21 2.4.1 Legal Structures ...................................................................................................................... 22 2.4.2 Main Actors ............................................................................................................................... 24 2.5 Human rights as a focal point at all phases ................................................................. 25 3 The 2015 Gorkha Earthquake .............................................................................. 25 3.1 Chronology of the Crisis .................................................................................................. 25 3.2 Course of Events ................................................................................................................ 26 3.3 Aftermath ............................................................................................................................ 34 3.4 Dissection of the Course of Events ................................................................................ 35 3.5 Analysis ............................................................................................................................... 36 3.5.1 Leadership ................................................................................................................................. 36 3.5.2 Preparedness ............................................................................................................................ 38 3.5.3 Disaster RisK Management in Nepal .............................................................................. 38 3.5.4 Learning ...................................................................................................................................... 41 3.5.5 Need for stronger and more representational leadership ................................... 42 3.5.6 Preparedness & Awareness of Human TrafficKing .................................................. 44 3.5.7 Nepal Police: Lessons learned or false promises? .................................................... 45 3.5.8 Gender Issues ........................................................................................................................... 47 3.5.9 The Empowerment of Women .......................................................................................... 50 4 Summary & Key Findings ........................................................................................ 51 5 Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 55 9 2 Introduction ,,Disasters reveal community, regional and global power structures as well as power relations within intimate relationships.‘’1 On the 25th of April 2015 at 11:56 local time a 7,8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal. The earthquake is often referred to as the “Gorkha Earthquake” and had an epicentre in the Lamjung district north west of the capital city of Kathmandu. The Home Ministry of Nepal reported a total of 8,693 deaths and 22,221 people injured after the earthquake and the subsequent aftershocks. Over 505,000 homes were fully destroyed and another 275,000 partially destroyed.2 Approximately 55% of the casualties in the earthquake were women largely due to gender roles that in Nepal disproportionately assign indoor chores to women.3 The earthquake was most certainly a crisis for the Nepalese society. In the thesis the term ‘’crisis’’ will be used frequently. Crisis refers to an undesirable and unexpected situation, the three main components being threat, uncertainty and urgency. Crisis happen when core values or life-sustaining systems of communities come under threat.4 Amnesty International states that when crisis strikes, human rights must be taken into account of all relief and reconstruction