Advocacy Update Issue 1 2013

7/27/2019 Advocacy Update Issue 1 2013

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Welcome to the New Issue of

Advocacy Update

ADVOCACY UPDATE

Jan-April 2013

WOREC NepalBalkumari, Lalitpur

WOREC Newsleter

January-April 2013 | Issue 1

We would like to welcome you to newissue of Advocacy Update which highlights

the events that took place from January to

April 2013. The issue presents the advocacy

strategies taken by WOREC NEPAL at

national and international level. It highlights

the activities on National Consultation on

Violence against Women, Human Rights

assessment instrument on DomesticViolence (DOVA), discussion on need of

Fast Track Court in Nepal and celebration of

international womens day.


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January-April | 2013

WOREC recently organised the National

Conference on Violence against Women

(NCVAW) entitled "Holistic Approaches to Realizing

Womens Rights Ensuring Justice, Ensuring Rights:

from Victimhood to Agency" in collaboration with

the Prime Ministers Oce, National Womens

Commission, NAWHRD, Nari Sip Srijana

Kendra and Gramin Mahila Sewa Kendra, with

a commitment to place the rights of survivors

in the center. The discussions at the conference

raised the need to review existing government

policies and framework against VAW. It was

unanimously decided that present frameworks

are discriminatory in their conceptualisation

of women as victims incapable of agency.

Additionally, it was revealed that there was a

need to strengthen measures for the security of

WHRDs who serve as champions for bringing

the issues of VAW to the surface, especially in

situations where state machinery is inadequate.

Government bodies have a lot to learn from

Hetauda, Makwanpur | January 6-7, 2013

Holistic Approaches to RealizingWomens Rights Ensuring Justice,

Ensuring Rights: from Victimhood

to Agency

National Conference onViolence against Women (NCVAW)

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civil society groups and WHRDs about

the realities of VAW in Nepal. This

information exchange program wastherefore crucial for positive partnerships

and in the formation of government

strategies to challenge VAW.

The national conference had the

following objectives:

To generate knowledge on the

current situation and the complexitiesof VAW;

To share and document womens

process from victims to agents of

change;

Overview on the issues of Violence

against Women byDr. Renu Rajbhandari,

Chairperson, National Alliance of Women

Human Right Defenders (NAWHRD)

In current scenario government is not

sensitive enough on womens issues, existing

laws are not amended, new laws are not

formulated, media are not being sensitive and

activists are tired of raising voices but still the

eorts are not enough. The cases of violence

against women are not registered i.e. their

F.I.R is not easily registered. It is necessary

to think whether our strategy is not working

or we are not analyzing the loopholes in the

process to get justice. So we need to strategize

To review policies, and the

institutional eorts of countries that

have aempted to provide redress towomen survivors;

To provide a forum for civil society

organizations, womens rights

activists, and policy makers to

collectively analyse gaps in service

provision and support services for

survivors while identifying future

strategies; To develop closer links between

theory and practice, and to allow space

for dialogue between practitioners

and knowledge producers.

from Victimhood to Agency. We have to look

if the women are re-victimized in the court

or in any legal procedures. We are here not

to blame each-other but to sit together to sort

out our problems and nd the way out with

eective solutions.

Dr. Renu Rajbhandari,Chairperson NAWHRD

ADVOCACY U P D A T E

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Dr. Mina Acharya, Senior Researcher,

Economist, and Gender Expert

She elaborated that these days women are more

aware about their rights and they are asking

for their education and liberty which can

be the reason of increasing violence against

women. There is a huge possibility of resisting

force from those people who are in favor of and

beneting from existing social structure. The

mechanisms for implementation of existing

laws are lacking. The peoples mindset should

be changed. So, from this platform all should

come with way out to end violence against

women.

Mohana Ansari, Member of National

Women Commission

There is a need of economic empowerment forwomen. Women of all 75 districts were on the

streets asking justice. This is possible due to

the eort highlighting the situation of women

by the media through community media and

communication. The perpetrators are not

punished by the concerned authority and are

encouraged to commit such violence time and

again in society. The smugglers are proudlyexposed to public but the perpetrators of

violence against women are not revealed such

way because they are directly or indirectly

aliated to political parties. The issues raised

are nowhere though entering into politicalmainstream after decade long conict. So,

the state is obliged to hear the victims voice

and shouldnt talk only about punishment

but also should provide compensation to the

victims.

Raju Man Singh Malla, Secretary of

Prime Ministers OfceHe said that it is somehow true that the

concerned authorities are not being sensitive

enough on the issues of violence against

women. The policy on Zero Tolerance on

Violence against Women is still under

process. The policies on violence against

women and women empowerment are still

under implementation although they are less

eective.

The conference intended to provide

a learning platform for activists,researchers, and practitioners to review

the struggle for freedom from VAW. Itintends to bring academia and activists

closer to enrich the analysis and actions

to strengthen the struggle against VAWin present globalized, militarized would

with increasing fundamentalism.

Dr. Mina Acharya, Senior Researcher,Economist, and Gender Expert

Mohana AnsariMember of National Women Commission

Raju Man Singh MallaSecretary of Prime Ministers Oce


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Conclusion

All the patriarchal structure instate should be eliminated for

transforming the transitional

society into a just society.

There should be provisions of

psychosocial counselors and

care takers in every safe shelter

for the survivors of violence.

The government should create

a favorable environment

for family reintegration or

empowerment of survivors of

violence to sustain their livelihood.

The investigation department must be

strengthened through establishment

of strong structure and conceptualizedoctors with Medico-legal issues.

Safe Shelters must be directed

with human right approach

and victimhood approach.

The issues of women should be

addressed by the government

through human right basedapproach

rather than welfare approach.

The recommendations made

through Makawanpur Declaration,

2013 on Violence against Women

will be put forward for the

further advocacy at policy level.

Need, Possibility andChallenges of

Fast Track Court1 in Nepal

An interaction program on the need,possibility and challenges of FastTrack Court was jointly organized bythe National Women's Commission,

National Alliance of Women HumanRights Defenders and WOREC Nepalon 1st March 2013 at the NationalWomen's Commission, Bhadrakali Plaza,Kathmandu, Nepal. The interactionprogram had the following objectives:

To discuss about the need, possibilityand challenges to establish a FastTrack Court in Nepal.

To collect suggestions and feedbacksfrom the stakeholders on the operationof the Fast Track Court.

1 Fast Track Court is special type of court set upfor speedy trial in special cases where hearing isdone either daily or without much delay.

International Womens Day


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Representatives from the Ministry ofWomen, Children and Social Welfare,National Women's Commission, Ministryof Law and Justice, Political Parties, CivilSociety Organizations, Lawyers and Lineagencies participated in the program anddiscussed about the immediate need ofFast Track Court in Nepal. Followingwere the major recommendations of theprogram:

Recently publicized cases of VAWneed speedy justice.

Fast Track Court is an urgent

need for the survivors of violenceagainst women.

Modality for the operation of fasttrack court should be designed.

Comprehensive research should

be carried out before establishinga Fast Track Court with

developing short term and longterm strategies.

In the absence of a Fast TrackCourt, juvenile court could bean alternative to look after casesrelated to VAW for the time being.

Nepal Bar Association should actas a focal point in establishing

Fast Track Court. Roles andresponsibilities to the concernedstakeholders and organizationsshould be divided accordingly.

Nepal Bar Association shouldform a commiee to pressurizethe Government of Nepal inestablishing Fast Track Court assoon as possible.

At least one Fast Track Courtshould be established as a "model"so that it could be replicated in

other parts of the country.


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Rape law: its consequences and challenges

their perspective.

A total of 64 people participated in

the interaction program. Participants

included representatives from the

Nepal Bar Association, Civil Society

Organizations, Lawyers, Line agencies

and Media. Discussion focused on the

immediate need of new amendments

to Rape Law. Following were the major

recommendations made by the program:

Fast Track Court is an urgent need for

the victims of rape. For the time being

one bench should be allocated to look

after cases related to Violence against

Women.

Lobbying and advocacy should be

carried out to make GON responsible

to amend a new rape law emphasizing

A series of rape incidents and other formsof violence against women are increasing

and are reported almost every day in

leading newspapers of the country. Rape

is a crime against humanity; and it must

be punished. The Interim Constitution of

Nepal has guaranteed the right of equality

to women, however discrimination and

violence against women is manifested in anumber of ways. There exist loopholes in

the Nepalese criminal justice system that

allows criminals to escape punishment.

Though legislation against rape exists

in Nepal, the law does not suciently

address crime against humanity. There is

a need of new amendments to Rape Law

which has to be addressed immediately.

In this regard, an interaction program

on "Rape law: its consequences and

challenges" was organized by WOREC

Nepal on 13 March 2013 with the

following objectives;

Objectives of the program

To discuss about the need for serious

review and amendment of legal

provision for the protection of therape victims of Nepal.

To collect suggestions and feedbacks

from the stakeholders to address the

right to remedy of rape victim from


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on victim and witness protection

laws.

Apart from punishing criminals

against humanity, a system should

be developed for the prevention

of the crime.

Comprehensive research should

be carried out for the amendment

of new rape law.

There should be the special

women's desks at police stations

and resourceful and skilled

women police cells in all districts

to support the survivors of sexual

violence. Also, there is a need for

women judge to hear such trials.

The provision of law should be

strong to put the burden on the

perpetrators while collecting

evidences that they were not

involved in such act rather than

pressurizing the victim.

Sensitization of legal and

health professional should be

emphasized as they are the rst

contact persons for the victims

whenever the incident takes place.


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WOREC Nepal has been celebrating

International Womens Day with

various programs. It was celebrated with

dierent programs in Siraha district

too. In collaboration with Government

and Non Government organizations, a

mass rally was organized where about

300 people showed their solidarity byaending the rally. The program was

started from Women and Children

Oce premise and ended in District

Development Commie oce.

On the same day, an interactionprogram entitled Situation of VAW

and the victims access to Justice was

organized with concern stakeholders.In the program, Lekh Bahadur Katuwalfrom WOREC Nepal presented a paper

on Violence against Women entitled

Situation of Womens access to safetyand justice. The paper concluded that

sustainable peace is possible only withthe equal participation of women in

the peace process. The paper further

focuses on the increasing numberof VAW cases like rape, acid burns,

murder in the district due to theprolonged transitional period in the

country. Likewise women right activistShyam Shah presented an anaylitical

paper on Rape Cases in Siraha sincepast ve years. Advocate Om Kumari

Shah presented a paper on new Law

and policy for womens participationand protection. Besides AdvocateGopichandra Bhaarai also presented

a paper on National and international

laws on Women.

The participants of program viewedthat ending the VAW is possible onlywith an eective implementation of law

and equal support from male members.

In Udayapur district WOREC Nepal,Katari and Triveni VDC, Chetansil

Community Organization, Paraligal,Nari Kalyan Bachat tatha Rin Shahakari

Sanstha collectively organized a rally,

cultural program and street drama onthe issues of womens right.

Celebration of International Womens Day (8 March)


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On the same day in Gaighat,Udayapur Declaration was prepared inrecognition of womens work, ensuring

their economic right and to end view.

Four major political parties namelyNepali Congress, CPN Maoist, CPN

Local Leaders for Change honoured

In Siraha, Women right activists and working women from the community werehonoured for their eorts in a program entitled the Situation of VAW and the victims

access to Justice. The honored activists were Sunita Rasaili, Pramila Mukhia, GitaShah, Sunita Das, Shanti Paswan, Sunita Yadav, Puna Shah, Phool Kumari Shrestha,Bina Devi Yadav, America Sada, Bimala Devi Mahato, Pawan Devi Mahara, LaxmiKumari Yadav, Jagiya Mallik and Bimala Kuset.

Women Human Right Defenders and activists(from Udayapur district) Sharmila Majhi,Divamaya Shrestha, Thagmaya Shrestha, KamalKumari Bhujel, Sarita Pariya, Deti Kumar, KumariKhadka, Januka Dhami and Sita Shah were

honored in a program.

Women Right Activists and the local leaders who had been ghting continuously

against violence against women and to ensure womens right, health and educationrights were honoured in dirent programs in Siraha and Udayapur.

Organizing commiee for the

celebration of International WomensDay in Udayapur honored Seti Maya

Ale, Karna Maya Magar, Dev Kumari

Phuyal, Aruna Chaudhary and otherthree women were honoured in theprogram.

(UML), Nepal Ekata Kendra showed

their solidarity signing the declarationin a program organized in Udayapur.

WOREC also participated in a joint

rally in Kathmandu, Udayapur, Dang,Kailali and Biratnagar.


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Programs organized in Udayapur, Kathmandu and Siraha respectively from left to right


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research, which will ultimately giverecommendation to the government.

Organizations involved in the project/

research are Women Forum for Women

in Nepal (WOFOWON, women engaged

in entertainment sector), LOOM Nepal

(Young women led women's organization),

Mahila Ekta Samaj (Women organizationfrom squaers of Kathmandu and led by

women from the squaer themselves),

Nepal Disabled Women Association

(NDWA, organization working for

disabled women's right), Sahayatri Samaj

Nepal (Organization working for rural

women's right) and Mukti Nepal (A

community-based women organization

from southern part of Nepal i.e. Terai).

All together there were 14 participants in

Workshop on DOVA

WOREC Nepal organized the rsttraining of DOVA in Nepal from 29th

of April to the 3rd of May to create an

appropriate mechanism to ensure the

Human Rights of women suering from

domestic violence and for the protection

and prevention of domestic violence in

the country. Loeky Droesen the writer of

DOVA was the main facilitator.

Participants represented a wide variety

of the Nepali population including

marginalized groups such as women

working in the entertainment industry,

women living with disabilities and

rural women. They revealed that

DOVA research would support their

work in one and other way and would

help to strengthen evidence-based


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the training.

DOVA is the unique instrumentdeveloped to Aim for human

rights. The network member

organizations for DOVA are from

Europe, Africa, Latin America

and Asia. WOREC is one of

the partners from Asia; and

contributed to the development

of this instrument. DOVA wasdeveloped to respond to the need

of Human Right organizations

working on domestic violence for

evidence based advocacy and to

support the government to full

the due diligence. The DOVA

research instrument was launched

rst time in Nepal.

DOVA was launched formally

with Chief Guest His Excellency

Glen White, Ambassador of

Australian Embassy and Ms

Marianne White on 3rd May 2013

at Kathmandu along with the

representatives from National

Women Commission (NWC),

NHRC (National Human Rights

Commission), Department of

Police, media personnel and other

civil society organizations.


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His Excellency Glen White, Ambassador ofAustralian Embassy and Ms Marianne Whitelaunching the DOVA


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WOREC Nepal participated in the 57th

session of the Commission on the Status

of Women (CSW) at United Nations

Headquarters in New York from 4 to 15

March 2013.

Dr. Renu Rajbhandari, Founder

Chairperson of WOREC Nepal andChairperson of National Alliance of

Women Human Rights Defenders

(NAWHRDs) shared the need of DOVA

the Human Rights Assessment Instrument

on Domestic Violence. WOREC is a co-

developer of DOVA that will support

the government to develop appropriate

mechanisms to ensure the human rights

of women. This unique instrument will

also guide the civil society to carry out

action and rights-based policy research

on domestic violence.

On 7th of March about 60 people

participated in the workshop: Making

our Domestic Violence laws work

in practice. A quick survey of the

participants showed all the continents

of the globe were represented, with the

exception of the Pacic, and more than

half the participants worked in practice

providing services to victims/survivors

of Domestic Violence. Most of the

participants also did lobby and advocacy

at the national level and a slightlylower number at the international level.

In most of the countries, often as a result

of a strong lobby by womens rights

groups, governments have adopted

Domestic Violence legislation and often

developed action plans as well. But

as many participants in the workshop

conrmed, the implementation of these

laws and policies is weak in practice.

The hosts of the workshop- Rights for

Change, the Netherlands; WOREC, Nepal

and Masimanyane, South Africa shared

experiences as co-developers of The

Human Rights assessment instrument

on Domestic Violence, DOVA.

CSW workshop: Holding your governmentaccountable for stopping Domestic Violence


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22nd

General Assembly of WOREC electednew Executive Commiee on 10th of

Feb, 2013. The composition of EC is as

follows: Ms. Saraj Gurung- Chairperson,

Ms. Bindu Gautam- Vice Chairperson,

Ms. Bina Pokharel- Secretary, Ms. Shova

Yadav- Treasurer and Ms. Anusuiya

Saha, Ms. Mandira Danuwar, Shiva Maya

Tumbahamphe, Bindra Maharjan, andJyotsna Maskay as members.

The new members were nominated

as representatives of women's

movement including their diverse

experiences, varied skills and expertise

on thematic issues and management, and

commitment towards human rights and

social justice.

Legal procedure trainingLegal procedure and advocacy training was organizedby WOREC in Kailali in order to increase the knowledgeof community women. The objective of the programwas to provide the knowledge regarding procedurallaws and policy and to carry out the advocacy on VAW.There was active participation of 26 women in theprogram from dierent VDCs of Kailali. The programwas coordinated by District Coordinator of WOREC

Nepal, Sangita Adhikari with other stas SankutalaChaudhary and advocate Devilal Chaudhary.Participants of the program viewed they have faced many problems due to lack ofknowledge of current existing laws of Nepal. Moreover,they opined that knowledgerelated to laws and policies should be widespread in the community too. The trainingcovered information related to Gender Based Violence, law and its importance, theprocess of registration of the case and its documentation process and further methods ofadvocacy on VAW. The program had been conducted by Binu Rana of WOREC Nepal.

WOREC elects new Executive Commiee


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Transformation oftraditional villageinto eco-villageTransformation of traditional villagesinto eco-villages is introduced in theworking districts of WOREC Nepal incooperation with AEI, Luxembourg(Udayapur, Siraha, Dang and Salyan)

and ICCO, the Netherland (Udayapurand Siraha). Dr. Binayak P. Rajbhandarihas been providing conceptual aswell as technical guidance to theseprograms. WOREC focuses on moreon bio-intensive farming system inagriculture for enhancing the foodsecurity and sustainable livelihood ofthe resource poor farmers through themaximum utilization of the natural

resources. Besides bio-intensivefarming system WOREC has beenworking on environmental protectionthrough the minimization of chemicalfertilizers and pesticides, increasesin agricultural production andproductivity, end violence againstwomen, end discrimination againstchildren, build social harmony in homesand communities, economic security

for households and communities andpolitical commitment to gender equalityand social justice. For this WOREChas been conducting the followingactivities in Dang, Siraha and Udayapurdistrict: orientations, importance andconservation of local seeds, importanceof kitchen gardens, bio-intensivefarming system, making compost,making bio-pesticides, importance

and need of eco village, land rightand food security, animal health and

shed management, role of bif to adaptclimate change, bio-intensive farmingsystem, social mapping, baselinesurvey, social audit, coordinationmeeting with stakeholders, meetingwith farmers, support for drinkingwater, farmer eld school, buildingimproved shed , formation of youthgroup, swine support, seed supportand mobile veterinary services. A total

of 4846 local people have beniedfrom the programme.

Likewise, WOREC Nepal organized 5days nancial management trainingto all the four partner organizationsof Salyan district. The participantsof the training were basically theAccountants, Program Coordinatorsand board members which was

organised in community training andresource centre of Tarigaun-3, Paddha,Dang. Altogether 13 stas from fourdierent organizations participated inthe training. The main objectives of thetraining were (i) to enhance knowledgeof the partner organizations for nancialmanagement, (ii) develop the capacityof the partner organizations to keep the


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J A il | 2013

nancial records systematically, (iii)know about the nance keeping systemof partner organizations and enhancetheir capacity to keep nancial recordas per AEIs format. The methodologiesfollowed for the training are: groupdiscussions/work, lecture andexperience sharing.

The training was good and providedmany new ideas to the partnerorganizations on nancial management.The nancial recording system wasfound to be quite weak of the partnerorganizations. Therefore there is a needof organizing the refresher training toall the partner organisations.

Bio-intensive farming system

and sustainable livelihoodsWOREC Nepal with the nancial

assistance from AEI, Luxembourgand with the coordination from Tdh,Germany has been implementingthe project entitled SustainableTransformation of AgriculturalSystems for Enhancing LivelihoodSecurity of Subsistence Farmers inSalyan District since January, 2013through partner organisations in veVDCs of Salyan district. In view of thefact that this is a new agriculture projectin Salyan, WOREC organised ve daytraining to the partner organisationson Bio-intensive farming systemand sustainable livelihoods. Thetraining was conducted in WORECsCommunity Training and Resource

Prepared by: Ramesh Bhandari

Published by:

WOREC Nepal, P.O.Box:13233, Kathmandu, Nepal,Tel: 977-1-5006373, Fax: 977-1-5006271

Centre at Paddha, Tarigaun-4, Dang.The training mainly focused oncomparative analysis of bio-intensivefarming system and chemical farmingsystem, promotion, protectionand management of soil fertility,importance of cropping paernand conservation of bio-diversity,integrated pest management, mixedfarming system and agriculturecooperatives and market management.

Altogether 19 people participatedin the training including the boardmembers of each organisation, JTAsand social mobilisers. The discussionswith the participants at the end of thetraining showed that the participantswere very enthusiastic on bio-intensivefarming system. They expressedcommitments to work on enhancing

the food security and sustainablelivelihood of the farmers in targetedVDCs and ecovillages through theapproach of bio-intensive farmingsystem.

Editor: Dr. Binayak P. Rajbhandari


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Advocacy Update Issue 1 2013