Women’s Rights Issues in
Bhutan
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Wedged between India and China, Bhutan is a
Himalayan nation ruled by an absolute monarch with a diverse racial,
cultural, and religion population. Like many of its neighbours, women in
Bhutan face a number of human rights abuses ranging from economic
inequality to gender-based violence. One sixth of the total population of
Bhutan (circa 106.000) are reduced to live as refugees, out of which
almost 60% are the women and children languishing in the refugee camps in
Nepal, ever since they were evicted by the royal government of Bhutan in
early 1990, allegedly labeled as economic migrants. As the weaker section
of the society, their condition in the refugee camps is most vulnerable
and appalling. Due to the lack of higher education opportunities and
adequate awareness on the value of human rights, neither they are
efficient nor do they have an appropriate avenue to air their grievances.
The fifteen years of uncertainty and stateliness have adversely affected
the lives of women and children in the refugee camps. Therefore, there is
a need to provide educational, vocational and empowerment trainings to the
refugee women and children so as to advocate their cause more effectively
and accurately. There is also an important need to create awareness on
women rights, child rights, skill building, health sectors and women
trafficking which is a most serious problem in south Asia.
The
human rights situation of the Bhutanese women both inside the country as
well as in the refugee camps located in Nepal is one of the glowing
examples, where women have become the major victims of state atrocity.
Unless the global commitments for justice, equality and freedom to all
section of the human society are ensure both in letter and spirit, no
human being can live in peace, prosperity and happiness as is inspired in
the UN Millennium Goals.
Bhutan is a signatory of both UN
Convention on Woman and Child rights. The government has the obligation to
the UN Conventions and treaties but it never bother to focus on the women
and children related issues. Though the country is swiftly preparing for
holding parliamentary election in 2008 towards ushering parliamentary
democracy under constitutional monarchy, there are no avenues created as
yet for an inclusive and vibrant democracy. Everything is functioning
under direct command of the king and any initiative for democracy is
merely an attempt for hoodwinking the international community. Women and
children are the main victims of the royal assaults in Bhutan, due to
which a large number of them are reduced to live a life of refugees and
stateless today in India and Nepal. |
The main women’s rights issues in
Bhutan |
- Trafficking of women
- Polygamy
- Domestic Violence
- Illiteracy
- Exploitation in work areas and at home
- Gender-based discrimination
- Economic dependency / limited access to workforce
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Actions that can be taken to improve the
situation: |
- Activate and pressurize the concerned government by
bringing the violation of women rights cases into their immediate
attention.
- Increase awareness about the international legal
obligations of the Bhutanese government as a signatory of CEDAW
(Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women), which it ratified in 1979.
- Develop programs to rehabilitate women who are
rescued from traffickers, brothels and domestic violence.
- Provide assistance to broken families, such as
widows and other females with stigmatized status within their family.
- Create awareness amongst the women about the value
of education and their rights in the society.
- Organize vocational training centres to impart job
oriented trainings and help them to establish self help centres through
which they can use their skills and produce and sells goods
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GHRD Bhutan Activities |
GHRD Bhutan team has decided to observe the
International Women's Day on March 8th by launching the five days training
for the trainers under the women empowerment program sponsored by the GHRD
Head Office. |
The objectives of this project are:
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- Raise awareness on HIV / AIDS and other infectious
diseases like tuberculosis and MDR cases.
- To create awareness and educate woman on the
domestic laws, participation in the policy making and nation building
activities equally and competitively so as to maintain the gender
balance in the state of national affairs. Provide training and education
on rights and international laws on woman and child, such as on the UN
principles, international Covenants and Conventions.
- Providing educational assistance to the refugee
children to do their higher education in the fields of their
professional and higher studies.
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