WUNRN
Open Society Foundations
NEPAL
– HOW LEGAL IDENTITY LEADS TO A BETTER LIFE – CASTE DISCRIMINATION – NEPAL
WOMEN & GIRLS - VIDEO
By - January 22, 2015
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NEPAL - Karnali District & Jumla - Poorest of the Poor - Women & Girls – Discrimination & Abuse
Photo of Extremely Poor Jumla Women in Nepal - Action Works Nepal - AWON
Karnali District in Nepal is one of the place of the world which
has the shortest life expectancy; 37 years in Mugu and in Karnali 46 year at
birth. The female literacy of Karnali is only 10% where as national figure 34 %
. The school drop out and repetition rate of the school going children are also
very high (due to
poor quality of education, insufficient facilities and other several
contributing factors. In top of these data and information,
Karnali is rich in deeply rooted bad superstitions, believes towards their
lives. For instance, women and girls are using cowshed during their
menstruation and child birth which is very dangerous practice for productive
and healthy life of them as well as entire society. Likewise, there is rampant
of various forms of gender and sexual based violence.
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Subject: Nepal - Dalit Women Suffer Caste, Poverty & Gender
Discrimination
WUNRN
NEPAL - DALIT WOMEN SUFFER CASTE, POVERTY & GENDER DISCRIMINATION
- Maya Sarki, a resident of Belbari in
eastern Nepal, was returning home one summer evening last year when she was
attacked. She was forced down on the ground and her attacker attempted to rape
her.
She screamed. Locals came to her
rescue and the attempt was thwarted. Sarki recognised the voice of her attacker
as that of a neighbour and filed a police complaint.
The next day Sarki was met by a mob, led
by her alleged attacker, at the village market. She was called derogatory
names, her clothes were torn, and soot was smeared on her face. She was
garlanded with shoes, beaten, and paraded around town. After the incident,
Sarki fled the village.
In Dailekh in western Nepal, Sushila
Nepali, 28, was raped by a local schoolteacher for years. She was forced to
abort twice, but got pregnant again and gave birth to two children. Disowned by
her family, Nepali has been living on the streets and begging for shelter and
food.
“Dalit women are at the bottom of the
caste and gender hierarchy in Nepal."
Sarki and Nepali are from different
parts of the Himalayan nation, but what is common between them is their caste
group – both belong to the socially marginalised Dalit community. Sarki’s
attacker and Nepali’s rapist were both high caste Hindus.
There are an estimated 22 Dalit
communities in Nepal. Researchers and Dalit organisations say they make up 20
percent of the country’s 27 million population. Dalits are considered to be at
the bottom of Nepal’s 100 caste and ethnic groups.
They bear a much bigger burden of
poverty, with 42 percent Dalits under the poverty line as opposed to 23 percent
non-Dalits.
After a long political impasse, Nepal
went back to polls in November. After two long months of negotiations, new
assembly members are now finally sitting down and writing a new constitution.
But experts say even in the new assembly, the Dalit community is the most
under-represented, with only seven percent, or 38, of the 575 Constituent
Assembly members being Dalit.
Rajesh Chandra Marasini, programme
manager at the Jagaran Media Centre, an alliance of Dalit journalists formed to
fight caste-based discrimination, worries that Dalit related issues would, once
again, not get priority in the new constitution.
“I am concerned that the new Dalit
assembly members would take the party line and become a mere physical
presence,” he told IPS. “I fear that Dalit advocacy would become an
afterthought.”
Nepal’s Civil Code 1854 had legalised
the caste system and declared the Dalit community as ‘untouchable’. In a Hindu
hierarchical structure, such a label dictates where Dalits can live, where they
can study and where they can socialise.
In 1963, caste-based discrimination was
abolished in Nepal and the National Dalit Commission was formed. In 2011, the
Caste Based Discrimination and Untouchability Act was passed.
Yet, Dalits continue to be marginalised.
“Violence against the Dalit community is
ignored or often goes unreported and unnoticed in Nepal,” said Padam Sundas,
chair of Samata Foundation Nepal, a research and advocacy organisation that
works for the rights of the marginalised community in Nepal.
Dalits are still barred from community
activities such as worshipping in same temples as higher caste Nepalis. The
higher castes don’t eat the food touched by members of the Dalit community or
even use the same community tap that Dalits use for water. And women are the
worst affected.
“Dalit women are at the bottom of the
caste and gender hierarchy in Nepal,” said Bhakta Bishwokarma, president of the
Nepal National Dalit Social Welfare Organisation (NNDSWO), which works to
eliminate caste-based discrimination in Nepal.
“Dalit women’s suffering is triple-fold
– society discriminates against them because they are women, then they are
discriminated against because they belong to the Dalit community, and within
their own community they suffer all over again for being women,” Bishwokarma
told IPS.
Women’s rights activists say Dalit women
are the most vulnerable.
“If you study the cases of women who are
accused of being ‘witches’, they are usually Dalit women. They are the ones to
be trafficked easily, they are the ones who work in terrible conditions,” said
Durga Sob of the Feminist Dalit Organisation (FEDO) that works closely with the
government on Dalit gender issues.
Activists say when Dalit victims of
violence want to file a police complaint, they are discouraged.
“They are told that getting the law
enforcement authorities involved would disturb social harmony, and victims are
encouraged to informally reconcile,” said Bishwokarma. “No one is held
accountable for any discriminatory acts against Dalits.”
News of the attack on Sarki received
wide media coverage, and the attack and was severely condemned. A few days
after the story broke activists gathered in front of the offices of Nepal’s
policymakers and organised a protest. It saw a handful of women’s rights
activists and allies standing with banners, demanding that the government act.
Researchers say there are major reasons
why Dalit issues don’t get noticed.
“We have all kinds of acts and laws in
place, but they are never implemented and even when we have tried to implement
them, victims don’t get justice,” said Sob of FEDO.
She recommends that the legislation be
made simple and local law enforcement authorities be trained, so they
understand the rights of Dalit people.
Some activists say the Dalit movement
has lost its momentum.
“We cannot think of Dalit activism with
a ‘donor supported project implementation’ approach,” said Pariyar of ADWAN.
“When the project money runs out, we move on but that doesn’t necessarily mean
we have achieved what we set out to do.”
In Sarki’s case, for instance, there
were issues of her rehabilitation, psychological trauma counselling, the safety
of her family and her safe return home.
“Rights activists need to think
long-term, a protest only nudges policymakers, real work happens with the
victims in the field,” said Pariyar.
She calls for a stronger leadership in
Dalit advocacy.
“The Dalit lawmakers may be under
pressure from their parties, but we need watchdogs outside the assembly so that
we can keep pushing them to make the right decision,” said Pariyar.
“If we don’t push now, when a new
constitution for the nation is being written, we will never do it,” she said.