Most of these women have no citizenship and marriage registration certificate, while their children also do not have birth certificates, according to the survey carried out by Action Aid in 2011 in 10 VDCs located in the buffer zone.[break]
A study of sexually abused women in the buffer zone area of Chitwan National Park has disclosed that women of indigenous community are the hardest hit with the majority having no citizenship, marriage registration certificates. The study shows that 67 percent of the victims are from the indigenous community, while 22 percent are Brahmins and Chhetris and the remaining 14 percent from the Dalit community.
The study shows that 89 percent of women do not have citizenship and 92 had not registered their marriage. Only 22 percent children born in these VDCs have birth certificates.
Nepali army was deployed in and around the national park for the protection of endangered species and natural heritage in 1975.
According to the study, 111 of the women interviewed said they came into close contact with army personnel as they had to frequent the buffer zone to collect firewood and cut grass. Eighty three percent of these women stated that their movement around the buffer zone led to sexual contact with army personnel. Of them 40 percent said that their relationship lasted for six months to 1 year. Interestingly, the relationship continued for above five years in the case of 14 percent of women.
However, 83 percent of sexually abused women are no more in contact with their partners. Moreover, 69 percent of them did not make any effort to contact their partners.
Similarly, these women gave birth to 158 children as a result of their sexual relationship with the army personnel. Only 13 percent of these children had registered their birth while eight percent even had their father´s surnames in their cards.
Monha Sherpa of Action Aid reported that the findings of the study have already been circulated to several bodies, including the defense ministry, urging them to take necessary action in this regard.
Talking to Republica, Spokesperson for Nepal Army Suresh Sharma said that the army is seriously concerned over the issue. “We are aware of the issue and such reports hurt our dignity. Besides taking concrete actions, we also keep briefing our boys to be very careful about their activities as what they do directly affects the army´s image,” said Sharma. “I have worked in several other such areas such as in Sukhla Fanta and Koshi Tappu, but the cases of sexual abuses by the security forces are not heard there. Noticing this in Chitwan is unpleasant and we are committed to doing the needful,” he said.
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