KATHMANDU, Oct 23: Although Nepal has put in place various stringent legal measures regarding women rights in comparison to other several countries, the cases of violence against women (VAW) were rising lately due to lax implementation of the provisions enshrined in the constitution as fundamental rights, according to a shadow report.
Sabin Shrestha, Chairperson of the Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD), shared so today presenting the shadow report representing the Non-Government Organizations (NGO) in Nepal at the meeting of Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) being held in Geneva, Switzerland.
Shrestha further said that although the newly introduced Civil and Criminal Codes in Nepal had clearly mentioned about the women rights, prejudices and disparity still prevailed in the part of implementation of the government policies, programmes and reservations among others.
Nepali women have come a long way
He mentioned, "Although the constitution of Nepal has prohibited the gender-based discrimination, it has not defined the gender-based discrimination. Women from Dalit, women with disability, marginalized community, LGBTIQ communities were overlooked in Nepal."
Stating that although Nepal has equal provision to grant citizenship identity card in the name of the mother, prejudice still prevailed in practice, Shrestha, on the behalf the NGOs, emphasized amendment in the prejudice-laden laws.
It was shared that the right to information was in the access of general public in Nepal, the provision was being abused leading to rise of cases of VAW.
Furthermore, it has been asserted that the government's effort and initiatives were not sufficient to achieve gender equality, the private sector should be allocated budget to coordinate efforts towards this end.
Underscoring the need for stringent implementation of child marriage, it was stated that the government was unable to brining to book to those involved in arranging child marriage.
It was also shared that the teenagers in the country were not adequately getting basic knowledge about reproductive health and sex education.
The shadow report also underscored effective implementation of safe abortion services under the basic healthcare package.
Moreover, the need to organize awareness and confidence building training and seminars on safe abortion was pointed out in the assembly.
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