COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN REVIEWS THE REPORT OF NEPAL
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women today considered the sixth periodic report of Nepal on measures taken to implement the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Tham Maya Thapa, Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizens of Nepal, said in the introduction of the report, that in the 28 years since the ratification of the Convention, important achievements to institutionalize women’s rights had been made. The multiparty system had been restored in the 1990s, the laws and policies that were the result of the centuries-old feudalistic mentality and patriarchal value system and which continued to perpetuate violence and discrimination against women were being amended, and the new Constitution ensured the building of an equitable society and the ending of all forms of discrimination based on class, ethnicity, religion, language, gender, and other specificities. Nepal had achieved political stability and was moving ahead with the long-term objective of ‘Prosperous Nepal: Happy Nepali’ which prioritized policies, plans and programmes targeting women. Women’s representation through election had reached more than forty per cent, setting a milestone in the history of women’s political representation and participation.
Deepak Dhital, Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations Office at Geneva, stressed the historical transformation process following the signing of the peace accord in 2006 and the promulgation of the Constitution in 2015, and said that Nepal had put in place a number of legislative measures to ensure and uphold the rights of women and to protect them from violence and discrimination, which were major obstacles on the path of ensuring equality and advancement of women. There was a policy of zero tolerance for domestic and sexual violence, while with the enactment of the sexual harassment at workplace act in 2014 and the Civil Code and the Criminal Code in 2017, women and girls were protected against violence and discrimination at home, at work, and in the society. The newly enforced Child Rights Act of 2018 prohibited all forms of harmful practices that affected children, while the Penal Code prohibited and criminalized the sex-selective abortions.
In the ensuing discussion, the Committee Experts recognized Nepal’s remarkable progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, especially in addressing extreme poverty, reducing maternal mortality rates, and promoting compulsory and free education. Many discriminatory laws were still in place and a comprehensive legislation on gender equality and non-discrimination was lacking, they said, stressing the critical importance of a legislation to explicitly prohibit multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, which affected in particular Dalit women, women with disabilities, displaced women, women from religious and sexual minorities, and indigenous women. Women in Nepal suffered a broad array of violence, Experts noted with concern, mentioning specifically sexual violence including during the armed conflict and against girls in schools, while child marriage, polygamy, and menstrual isolation were still practiced. The recent adoption of the Safe Motherhood Act was commendable, but concerns remained about the continuing criminalization of abortion which pushed many women and girls to clandestine procedures. Experts further inquired about the progress made in access to justice and providing redress to women victims of the armed conflict, including through transitional justice mechanisms, and the efforts to extend legal aid to victims of gender-based and domestic violence. Other issues raised included threats and intimidations faced by women human rights defenders, the interference in the work of civil society organizations, measures to ensure safe migration, and access to health services for disadvantaged women.
In his concluding remarks, Mr. Dhital thanked the Committee for a deep interest in the implementation of the Convention in Nepal, and said that its observations on a broad number of issues would contribute to the effective promotion and protection of women’s rights in the country.
On her part, Ms. Thapa thanked the Experts for having minutely analysed the efforts of Nepal to end all forms of discrimination against women, and reiterated the commitment to continue to enact the necessary laws to implement the Committee’s recommendations.
Dalia Leinarte, Committee Chairperson, in her concluding remarks, thanked the delegation for the constructive dialogue with the Committee, and encouraged Nepal to accept the amendment to article 20 of the Convention on the Committee’s meeting time.
The delegation of Nepal consisted of representatives of the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, and the Permanent Mission of Nepal to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
The Committee will next meet in public at 10 p.m. tomorrow, 24 October, to consider the seventh periodic report of the Republic of the Congo (CEDAW/C/COG/7).
Report
The sixth periodic report of Nepal can be read here: CEDAW/C/NPL/6.
Presentation of the Report
THAM MAYA THAPA, Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizens of Nepal, started by reiterating Nepal’s commitment to the to the effective implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and other treaties Nepal was party to, and said that in the 28 years since the ratification of the Convention, important achievements to institutionalize women’s rights had been made. The multiparty system had been restored in the 1990s, the Minister said, noting that a long struggle in Parliament had resulted in the amendment of the laws and policies that were the result of the centuries-old feudalistic mentality and patriarchal value system, which continued to perpetuate violence and discrimination against women. Following the success of the 2006 popular movement for the establishment of a federal democratic republic, the Nepali people had fulfilled the seven decades long desire to draft a constitution on their own.
The new Constitution, continued the Minister, ensured the building of an equitable society based on the principles of equality, shared prosperity, social justice, proportional and participatory inclusion, and the ending of all forms of discrimination based on class, ethnicity, religion, language, gender and other specificities. It prohibited discrimination against women on any ground; guaranteed equal lineage rights, the right to safe motherhood, and reproductive health services for women; criminalized any physical, mental, sexual, psychological, and other form of violence or exploitation of women; and provided for special opportunities for women in education, health, employment, and social security. The Constitution had transformed Nepal from a unitary form of governance to a federal set up with three tiers of Government, while forty thousand representatives had been elected after the conclusion of federal, provincial and local level elections. Women’s representation through election had reached more than forty per cent, setting a milestone in the history of women’s political representation and participation in Nepal.
The administrative restructuring had reached its final phase, Ms. Thapa said. To deal with the overall issues related to women, the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens at the federal level, the Ministry of Social Development at the province level, and the Social Development Section at the local level had been set up. The National Women’s Commission had been upgraded to a constitutional body and provided with the required resources and responsibilities. In the judiciary, three tiers of courts in the form of Supreme Court, High Court and District Court had been provisioned, further facilitating access to justice for women at the local level. As for the country’s legal framework, the Minister said that on 16 September 2018, the Federal Parliament had enacted more than 105 laws, including 16 to implement fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution, while the amendment of the laws to bring them in line with the federal system as per the Constitution would be completed by mid-March 2019. Nepal’s oldest codified law, the General Code, had been replaced in 2017 by the Civil Code, Criminal Code, Civil Procedures Act, and the Criminal Procedures Act, which criminalized all forms of discrimination, violence, social malpractices, or any harmful acts against women, and provided for punishment of the perpetrators and compensation for victims.
Nepal, continued the Minister, had achieved political stability and the Government was moving ahead with the long-term objective of ‘Prosperous Nepal: Happy Nepali’ which prioritized policies, plans and programmes targeting women. The Head of State and four ministers of the Council of Ministers were women, there was a continuous improvement of the socio-economic situation of women, gender parity in primary education had been achieved, women’s health was improving, and infant mortality rate had dropped. Reaffirming Nepal’s determination to end all forms of violence against women and girls, the Minister said that in August 2018, the House of Representatives had passed a four-point resolution motion to end violence against women and girls, while initiatives were being taken to draft laws with strong punishment for perpetrators of rapes against girls under the age of ten and women over the age of seventy.
DEEPAK DHITAL, Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations Office at Geneva, in his introductory statement, said that Nepal had put in place a number of legislative measures to ensure and uphold the rights of women and to protect them from violence and discrimination, which were major obstacles on the path of ensuring equality and advancement of women. There was a policy of zero tolerance for domestic and sexual violence, while the enactment of the sexual harassment at workplace act in 2014 and the Civil Code and the Criminal Code in 2017, women and girls were protected against violence and discrimination at home, at work, and in the society, said the Ambassador.
Since 2006, Nepal had amended 88 laws to free them from discriminatory provisions, while the historical transformation process following the signing of the peace accord in 2006 and the promulgation of the Constitution in 2015, had brought with it a number of significant achievements in the area of women’s rights. The constitutional provision of proportional inclusion had led to an increased political representation of women, Dalits, indigenous and ethnic groups, and minorities. The National Human Rights Action Plan 2004-2019 aimed, inter alia, to cover intersectional marginalization through the three important approaches of access, inclusion, and equity, while the National Human Rights Commission of Nepal was an accredited A status independent constitutional body. The newly enforced Child Rights Act of 2018 prohibited all forms of harmful practices that affected children, while the Penal Code prohibited and criminalized the sex-selective abortions.
Questions by the Committee Experts
At the beginning of the interactive dialogue, a Committee Expert recognized the remarkable progress Nepal had made since the previous dialogue, including in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, especially in addressing extreme poverty and reducing maternal mortality rates. While the Constitution provided for the prohibited grounds of discrimination, including sex discrimination, it did not contain the definition of discrimination in accordance with article 1 of the Convention, the Expert remarked, noting that a comprehensive legislation on gender equality and non-discrimination had not been as yet enacted.
It was important for the national laws to explicitly address multiple forms of discrimination faced by Dalit women, women with disabilities, displaced women, women from religious and sexual minorities, and indigenous women, the Expert stressed, asking how and when the State party would proceed to enact a comprehensive legal definition of gender in either the Constitution or in domestic laws? Many discriminatory laws were still in place – what were the obstacles to accelerating the legal reform and were there concrete plans to achieve the abolition of existing discriminatory laws?
Turning to the access to justice for women affected by the armed conflict, the Experts recalled that as a result of the decade-long conflict, Nepal had enacted the Truth and Reconciliation Act in 2015 to establish two transitional justice mechanisms with two-year mandates, and asked about specific measures taken to accelerate the reparation to women victims of armed conflict and bring the perpetrators to justice. On legal aid, the delegation was asked to explain what it was doing to expand its coverage and so increase women’s access to justice, and whether it was considering designating specific legal aid for women victims of sex-based violence and domestic violence.
The Experts inquired about the plans to implement the second phase of the National Action Plan on the United Nations Security Council resolutions 1325 and 1820 on women, peace and security, and the progress in developing policies that respected the work of women human rights defenders who routinely faced threats and intimidation.
A concern was raised about the restrictions on the freedom of expression and interference of the authorities in the work of civil society organizations, and the delegation was asked about the status of the draft national integrity and ethics policy and the Public Broadcasting Law. The Constitution did not explicitly recognize the rights of indigenous peoples. How were those rights protected?
Replies by the Delegation
In response to the Experts’ questions on the discrimination, the delegation said that that the Constitution contained a very clear definition of discrimination and violence against women, in line with the Convention, and that a number of laws had been recently passed to address violence and harassment of women. As for the definition of sexual discrimination, the new Civil Code and the Penal Code contained a more elaborate definition of what led to sexual discrimination, as well as the Domestic Violence Act, and the law on reproductive health which defined discrimination in a very comprehensive way. Sectoral laws separately defined sex-based discrimination.
With regard to the elimination of discriminatory laws, Nepal had amended 88 laws since 2006; the process was ongoing in cooperation with the civil society, with texts being progressively improved. Amendments to the Citizenship Act were being currently considered as well. There were two timelines for amending national laws: a three-year deadline for amending discriminatory laws, and a one-year deadline for the harmonization of the remaining laws that were not consistent with the Constitution. The deadline for the repeal of discriminatory laws was 2019, as laid down by the Constitution.
A number of mechanisms were in place to assist vulnerable women, such as the Gender-Based Violence Elimination Fund, the Rehabilitation Fund for Victims of Trafficking, and the Single Women Fund, and there was a programme in place to promote gender equality in migration within the framework of regional processes.
On access to justice, the delegation cited many provisions to make that access easier for marginalized groups, such as legal aid, and said that Nepal was about to adopt a new comprehensive legal aid policy, which would amend the Legal Aid Act. There was no language barrier in accessing justice since the Nepalese was spoken and understood by all citizens. Accordingly, there was no need for interpretation services.
In response to questions raised on the transitional justice mechanisms, the delegation explained that those needed to reflect the national reality and the country’s obligation under international law. Rape and sexual violence had taken place during the armed conflict, and would not be subject to amnesty, but would be treated as gross violations of human rights. There would be no blanket amnesty for the perpetrators, and no statute of limitation for the violence committed against women during the conflict, stressed the delegate.
Moving on to the draft national integrity and ethics policy, the delegation explained that it did not aim to restrict, but it was an honest effort to define a harmonious framework for collaborative work and achieve regulatory harmonization and mutual respect. Without good governance, the authorities could not deliver, and everyone had to contribute to that process. Local judicial committees were democratically elected and were meant to work for the people, and it was true that there was a need to build their capacity.
Regarding indigenous peoples, Nepal was a multicultural country of communities that knew how to live in harmony, and a party to the International Labour Organization’s Convention N°169, or the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention.
A new National Action Plan for the implementation of the United Nations Security Council resolutions 1325 and 1820 on women, peace and security would soon be adopted, with the aim to build peace and resilience in the society through the engagement of women.
The Public Broadcasting Law was an old act that required some amendments to bring into line with the Constitution. Nevertheless, it balanced between the right to information and the legitimate right of the State to impose some restrictions on its exercise. The Government was concerned about the capacity and training of local judicial committees, and to that end it planned to provide them with relevant skills building.
Questions by the Committee Experts
Turning to the national gender machinery, the Committee Experts asked about the current status of the National Women’s Commission and a timeline for its establishment, as well as about measures taken to ensure coherence and consistency of the ministries in charge of women’s rights. Was there a timeline for the adoption of a policy framework for women’s advancement, they asked, and inquired about the major effects of the gender responsive budgeting. What information dissemination mechanisms were available to women at all levels, including those living in remote areas and women with disabilities?
In the context of a risk of shrinking civil society space, how would Nepal continue to support the National Human Rights Commission while maintaining its independence? The delegation was also asked to explain the Commission’s involvement in the law reform and in the transitional justice process.
The Experts remarked that temporary special measures did not seem to reach their full potential, noting that the scope of the special opportunity provision had been reduced by the condition that the beneficiaries should be “lagging behind socially and culturally”. How was this norm being applied in practice and would the conditionality be removed in order to enable all women to access the special opportunity provision?
Would Nepal extend its understanding of affirmative action to include special budget allocations, specific scholarship programmes, targeted increase of reproductive health services, to ensure a rapidly improved access to education, health, employment, housing, clean water and sanitation, and social security to women and girls?
Replies by the Delegation
Responding, the delegation explained that a call had been issued to fill in the positions in the National Women’s Commission, which would handle all issues related to violence and discrimination against women, and social and economic empowerment of women. There were also other commissions which worked on the promotion and protection of women’s rights.
The Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens coordinated policies on women at the federal level, while the Ministry for Social Development took lead at the local level, and they conducted regular meetings in order to ensure coherence. The federal ministry had the right to formulate federal laws, which had to be implemented by the local authorities.
As for the adoption of strategies to counter gender-based discrimination, the timeline was the end of the current fiscal year, a delegate said, adding that the Government was working to expand gender responsive budgeting. The Ministry of Finance had a gender responsive budgeting coordinating committee which monitored public expenditure of different ministries from the perspective of gender, while the provincial governments had their own provincial consolidated funds.
Nepal was trying to make temporary special measures as inclusive as possible, and different sectoral laws defined different measures for women. Nine groups of vulnerable women had been identified, including women with disabilities, indigenous women, and single helpless women. They were offered assistance, in health, education and employment. The monitoring of the implementation of temporary special measures was, among others, being done by civil society and people’s representatives in the federal Parliament. There were some concerns that those more capable took advantage of the temporary special measures.
Questions by the Committee Experts
Continuing the interactive dialogue, the Committee Experts remarked that in Nepal, girls were still valued less than boys, and that child marriage and polygamy were still practised. Women experienced a broad array of violence, and almost 70 per cent indicated that they had experienced sexual violence at some point in their lives, while the sexual violence against women perpetrated during the armed conflict had not been sufficiently punished.
The Committee was concerned that the current laws did not criminalize war crimes or crimes against humanity, and that there was a restrictive vision of the legal framework governing such forms of violence, including in the definition of rape in the Criminal Code which too was restrictive especially on the issue of consent. The Experts also called attention to violence against indigenous women and highlighted the serious security and health risks posed by the harmful practice of menstrual isolation.
The delegation was asked to inform on the local initiatives in local languages to empower women, and to explain measures adopted to sanction the perpetrators of the sexual violence in armed conflict. Had steps been taken to prevent human rights abuses against intersex persons and to prevent any forms of genital mutilation and chemical treatment?
Trafficking in women and girls remained an extremely serious problem in Nepal, with rural women and girls being particularly at risk, while early identification of victims and victim referral remained ad hoc and ineffective. The rate of prosecution of trafficking cases did not reflect the magnitude of the problem, due to corruption, official complicity and impunity, and there were concerns about police extortion and violence against women in prostitution.
The Experts asked about the timeline for amending the definition of trafficking and acceding to the Palermo Protocol, the impact of awareness raising campaigns, steps taken to adopt standard operating procedures for early victim identification, and the role of civil society organizations in combating trafficking in persons. Had any Government officials been prosecuted for trafficking in persons and what was the position on decriminalization of women in prostitution. What was the status of the draft policy on safe migration?
Replies by the Delegation
Nepal had taken a number of measures to make migration safe and orderly, including within the Asian regional context, a delegate said, adding that the Government was trying to regularize labour migration by signing bilateral agreements with destination countries. The legal provision on the age of women who could travel abroad for work aimed to protect young women, and the law prohibited lactating mothers from undertaking employment abroad in order to protect children. Otherwise, the national law provided equal employment opportunities for women and men. Nepal’s consular services had been strengthened in order to monitor employment offers abroad and to avoid fraudulent employment, and there was a temporary ban on sending domestic workers abroad, women or men, which had been instituted as a protection measure for young women and children.
There was a fast-track court proceeding procedure for human trafficking cases, continued the delegation, adding that a rehabilitation fund was available to victims of trafficking and sexual violence and that ten rehabilitation centres existed in the country. Survivors and victims of trafficking received free legal aid, and psychosocial counselling. The police had recently established a bureau to focus on investigation of human trafficking cases.
Perpetrators of trafficking and sexual violence were subjected to very strict sentences. Education and awareness about trafficking and its negative impact on victims needed to be increased mostly in rural areas, a delegate concurred, explaining that such initiatives were diffused through radio, television and print media and there were district-level and local-level committees which were organizing human trafficking awareness raising activities. The process for the ratification of the Palermo Protocol had been initiated, while the Foreign Employment Act and the Anti-Trafficking Act were being amended. The Ministry of Labour was working on warning citizens about fraudulent employment opportunities.
Numerous steps had been taken to address the issue of child marriage, including to raise the age of marriage to 20 for boys and girls, also as a way to support children to complete education.
The statute of limitation on sexual violence perpetrated against women during the armed conflict would be removed, the delegation reiterated, and said that Nepal remained open to amending its restrictive definition of rape. Menstrual isolation was criminalized by the Penal Code and civil society organizations were conducting awareness raising campaigns about that harmful practice.
Consensual sex was not an offence, but there were reports of the police taking measures against consensual sex conducted in public. There needed to be a clearer distinction between prostitution and consensual sex.
The Penal Code stipulated measures against any Government official committing a crime. Isolated cases should not be generalized as widespread impunity on part of Government officials. The Ministry of Federal Affairs and the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens had conducted sensitization campaigns for all local-level officials as a prevention measure against gender-based violence.
Questions by the Committee Experts
Political representation of women in the national executive seemed to have decreased in the recent period, an Expert remarked in the next cluster of questions, asking whether the current composition of the Council of Ministers was in line with the Constitution’s article 76.
Many Dalit women could not represent their interests due to the lack of training and competence, or due to discrimination and stereotypes regarding their place. Some women clearly needed capacity building, but there was an impression that the thinking came from the point of view of deficit rather than potential of Dalit women. There seemed to be a lack of opportunity for Dalit women and children due to deeply entrenched stereotypes.
Was there any change in the figures on the representation of women in the police, army and armed police?
The Committee underlined the importance of women’s participation in the judiciary, highlighted the need for proportional inclusion of Dalit women, and stressed that local authorities needed to stop acting on the basis of gender and racial stereotypes.
Replies by the Delegation
Addressing the Experts’ remark about the lack of desired progress in the political representation of women, the delegation emphasized the important progress made in the women’s participation over the last 20 years through the gradual introduction of quotas, and stressed that the change could not take place in a revolutionary manner. The 41 per cent overall representation of women among the elected officials was remarkable. The percentage of women holding public offices stood at 26 per cent, whereas several years ago it stood at about 11 per cent. The efforts to build the capacity of female candidates focused on women at the grassroots level - a process that was slow in nature but essential given the skills required of senior decision-makers, the delegation explained.
As for the underrepresentation of Dalit women, the delegation explained that there was a strong legislation in place to criminalize caste stereotypes, adding that the Government’s role was to create a framework and enabling environment for a better representation of women. The legal provisions stipulated for the representation of at least one member of the Dalit community at the local level, said a delegate, stressing that inclusion was central to the federal system of government, an aim of which was to bring the Government closer to people and to respond to their needs. Many women were already aspiring to gain good positions, and there were services which targeted women lawyers, especially Dalit, in order to increase their representation in the judiciary.
Questions by the Committee Experts
Next, the Committee Experts addressed the questions of citizenship and nationality and noted that a child born to a Nepalese mother and to a non-Nepalese father could obtain citizenship only through the naturalization process, which was discriminatory to women. In 2018, some 5.4 million individuals were without documentation, which led to the risk of statelessness, and there was inconsistent implementation of courts’ decision regarding nationality. What was the status of the amendments to the Citizenship Law, and were civil society and the national human rights institution involved? Would Nepal accede to the international conventions on statelessness?
Replies by the Delegation
Responding, the delegate outlined the challenges arising from the increasing movement of the people, and said that women had the right to keep their maiden name after marriage and that they had the same identity documents as men. Following a court decision, children born out of wedlock could acquire the mother’s nationality.
The cited figure of 5.4 million people without documentation might comprise all kinds of people living in Nepal, including refugees and those who did not want to acquire Nepalese citizenship, the delegation said, therefore there could be no blanket decision to grant them citizenship. Until recently, Nepal had lacked an effective registration system, which meant that the issue might be related to difficulties in registering births; those problems were about to be solved thanks to the introduction of a centralized birth register. Naturalized persons faced very few restrictions on holding certain high-raking positions in the Government, and otherwise, enjoyed the same rights as other Nepalese citizens.
Questions by the Committee Experts
The Experts recognized Nepal’s progress in promoting compulsory and free education, but noted certain areas of concerns, such as the female literacy rate which stood at 65.7 per cent, geographical disparities in school completion rates, high school dropout rates for girls, and reports of rape and sexual harassment of girls by teachers. What were the plans to deal with those issues?
Turning to employment, the Experts inquired about measures to eliminate horizontal and vertical segregation in the labour market and creation of employment opportunities for women in both the public and private sector, including for Dalit women. They asked about steps taken to give effect to the las prohibiting sexual harassment at work and whether the federal ministries had adopted codes of conduct to prohibit such conduct among their employees. Would Nepal ratify the International Labour Organization’s Convention No. 189 on domestic workers and the Convention on the Rights of Migrants and Their Families?
The recent adoption of the Safe Motherhood Act was commendable, said the Experts, but concerns remained about the continuing criminalization of abortion, the high rate of infant morbidity, the unnecessary high number of caesarean sections, and the barriers to access to health services for disadvantaged women.
Replies by the Delegation
The provision of health services was a priority in Nepal, said a delegate, acknowledging the gaps which were due to insufficient resources. The lack of qualified medical personnel was a specific challenge in rural areas. There was a concern that decriminalization of abortion might lead to abuses, not only by women but by their partners as well, while sex-selective abortions might lead to demographic imbalance in the country. The consent of the women was essential to the procedure, and the rules for abortion in case of incest or rape were more permissive.
The principle of equality between women and men applied in the labour market, but the problem was a huge deficit of decent jobs, which was why many young people sought to go abroad in search of employment opportunities. Most of them were low-skilled workers, often very vulnerable to exploitation. The Government tried to protect their rights by signing bilateral agreements with destination countries.
The principle of equal pay for the work of equal value was guaranteed, with the Labour Act clearly stipulating the daily and monthly wages to which workers were entitled to. It was difficult to monitor the application of this principle in rural areas, characterised by informal arrangements.
There were various scholarship programmes for Dalit children, minority children, and children with disabilities, and the proportion of the budget devoted to education increased in absolute figures each year. The bulk of that budget was transferred to the local-level authorities.
Questions by the Committee Experts
Congratulating Nepal on its efforts to reduce poverty, the Experts voiced concern that 25 per cent of the overall population remained below the poverty line. What was being done to expand the programmes under the Poverty Alleviation Fund to reach vulnerable women, such as indigenous, Dalit and rural women; to facilitate access to and ownership of land for disadvantaged women; and to recognize, reduce and redistribute unpaid care and home-based labour of women through investments in infrastructure and social services, such as child care, elder care, health, education, and transportation?
The delegation was asked about action taken to strengthen and encourage sustainable economic empowerment of women, including their access to credit, control and ownership of assets and training in microenterprise development and management; to ensure food security and facilitate access to housing for marginalized women and girls; and to extend social security to women in the informal economy and home-based labour and to establish a social protection floor.
Experts raised concern about the so-called “untouchability”, which was a serious form of discrimination against Dalit women; the exposure to violence of indigenous women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons; and the situation of displaced women and girls in shelters. They all felt like second-class citizens. What would be done in practice to systematically address intersectionality in gender policies?
Replies by the Delegation
The delegation noted that the Constitution and legal framework was very conducive to the needs of all parts of society, including Dalit and indigenous women. As a land-locked and least developed country, Nepal faced the problem of limited economic activities. The Government focused on the sectors that offered most potential, such as hydro-energy projects. There was a programme which aimed to create five million jobs within five years, including targeted programmes for the Dalit community. There were some success stories of Dalit and indigenous women and girls. But, more needed to be done. Due to the devastating earthquake in 2015, the number of people below the poverty line had bounced back to 25 per cent.
To address food insecurity and hunger, Parliament had recently adopted the Act on the Right to Food and Food Sovereignty, giving priority to women, while food and nutrition plan was being implementing, targeting in particular pregnant and lactating women. Indicators and plans for the local implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals had been established and a fund for poor, marginalized and rural women had been set up.
As for housing, the delegation explained that local authorities were obliged to collect data on families’ housing and land, and that all those who had been evicted due to development projects had been compensated.
Questions by the Committee Experts
An Expert pointed out to the ambiguities in the Penal Code and the Civil Code in terms of child marriage. What was the exact legal situation and when would the provision on penalization of children for those marriages be removed?
There was a lack of mandatory registration of marriages, which jeopardized the rights of many women. Women were often not even aware of their vulnerabilities in such cases. Would the State party consider adopting measures to address the unequal sharing of marital property upon dissolution of marriage? The Experts also raised the issue of women’s unequal inheritance rights, and they noted that it was the responsibility of the State party to eradicate internal discriminatory practices.
Replies by the Delegation
Responding, the delegation said that women and men held equal rights in terms of inheritance and family property in legal terms, but there were certain prevailing cultural norms which took a lot of time to change.
Concluding Remarks
DEEPAK DHITAL, Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations Office at Geneva, thanked the Committee for an interactive dialogue and for the deep interest in the implementation of the Convention in Nepal. The delegation appreciated the Committee’s observations on a broad number of issues, which would contribute to the effective promotion and protection of women’s rights in the country. There was still a long journey to be taken to fully implement the provisions of the Convention, and Nepal was committed to doing more in the future.
THAM MAYA THAPA, Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizens, thanked the Committee Experts for having minutely analysed Nepal’s efforts to end all forms of discrimination against women, and reassured the Committee that the country would continue to enact the necessary laws to implement the Committee’s recommendations. Implementing some of the recommendations might take time due to the country’s limited resources and unique cultural norms and values.
DALIA LEINARTE, Committee Chairperson, thanked the delegation for the constructive dialogue with the Committee, and encouraged the State party to accept the amendment to article 20 of the Convention on the meeting time of the Committee. The Chair commended the State party for its efforts so far and reminded that the Committee would select several issues for immediate follow-up.
For use of the information media; not an official record
CEDAW/18/027E