PM CALLTO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

PM CALL TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Kathmandu, 8 March: Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai has said that the root cause of economic, social and political discrimination against women is the patriarchal mindset and practice, and economic backwardness, while adding that the compulsion for women to continue live with such discrimination was not good from the point of view of building a modern society.
In a message today [Thursday] on the occasion of the 102nd International Women’s Day, Dr Bhattarai said the present government has been running programs through policy, legal and institutional measures in order to wipe out discrimination against women.
Referring to the National Action Plan 2010 against gender-based violence, he said the Government has also set up a complaint management and monitoring unit at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, which serves as a Central Secretariat to direct, facilitate, coordinate and monitor the hearing and management of the complaints against gender-based violence.
In the message, the Prime Minister has also appealed to all sisters and brothers to express their solidarity in the campaign to end violence against women through various programs organized on this important day.
The 102nd International Women’s Day is being observed across the globe today with the main slogan of "Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures
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UN SHELVES CRUCAL NEPAL REPORT FOLLOWING BHATTARAI
GOVT. PRESSURE
Kathmandu, 8 March: A crucial “conflict mapping report” on Nepal’s 10-year civil conflict that archives over 20,000 documents related to war-era human rights violations remains shelved for over a year, Kamal Raj sigdel reports in The Kathmandu Post..
While the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva claims the report will be released “soon,” rights watchdogs are wary, given the deteriorating prospects of transitional justice in Nepal.
The OHCHR does not expressly say when the report will be actually released.
Prepared by a team of international experts, the 300-page report profiles over 2,000 serious “human rights and international humanitarian law violations” by the Maoists and security forces during the 1996-2006 insurgency.
Though it was complete in 2010, the report remains under consideration at the OHCHR headquarters in Geneva. Originally, as agreed, the report was to be handed over to the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction within a year of completion.
The report and archives were also supposed to be presented to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission of Inquiry into Enforced Disappearances, after their establishment, “to assist them in their pursuit of truth, in ending impunity and in establishing appropriate reparations for victims of the conflict”.
UN sources told the Post that the Geneva office has “no intention to delay the report”, but the process of editing, approval and revision were taking much longer than anticipated.
Sources in Kathmandu, however, said the report has been delayed as the Government of Nepal has been piling pressure on the OHCHR against its release. The government aversion to the report has intensified following an agreement (which the Post reported) among top brass of the two major parties, Nepali Congress and UCPN (Maoist), in December last year to adopt a provision of blanket amnesty in the TRC and the Disappearance Commission bills.
Though the UN report does not trace out any incident of genocide, it profiles unlawful killing, torture, abduction, disappearances and rape.
The mapping was carried out as part of a year-long project under Peace Through Justice (PTJ) funded by the
UN Peace Building Fund, Norway, the UK, Denmark, Canada, Switzerland and others. The PTJ received Rs 160
million from the multi-donor fund in 2009.
In a meeting with Nepali rights activists in Geneva on Tuesday, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kyung-wha Kang said that her office was “looking into it and editing the final version” and also looking for the “right time”. “She said the UN rights body is also considering publishing an edited executive summary of the 300-page report,” Advocate Hari Phuyal told the Post from Geneva.
Only on Monday, leading rights watchdogs, including the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, urged the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to release the important report before the OHCHR-Nepal leaves in June this year.
“We raised the issue [the report] with the Deputy High Commissioner. She said that they are in the process to make it public, but did not give any reason for the delay,” Advocate Govinda Bandi told the Post from Geneva. UN documents claim the report would, for the first time, systematically categorise the existing, documented allegations of the most serious human rights and international humanitarian law violations committed during the conflict.
Why the delay
The report was originally supposed to be released by the OHCHR-Nepal, the organisation that undertook the job. It was probably the most awaited report ever prepared by the rights office since its mission began in Nepal in 2005.
However, things suddenly changed when the time for its release had come. OHCHR-Nepal was forced to pack up after the Baburam Bhattarai-led government refused to extend its term beyond December 8 last year.
After its “mandate to remain active” expired on December, the OHCHR was legally barred from releasing the report.
Though, earlier, the rights body had hoped that the government would allow the final report to be released, it lost them after the government questioned UN officials for releasing a report on Dalits even after the expiry of its mandate. OHCHR-Nepal had released a report on caste-based discrimination and untouchability titled “Opening the Door to Equality: Access to Justice for Dalits in Nepal” amid a public function on December 16.
The PMO had then warned the UN rights body against repeating such “mistakes” in the future, which finally made the local office forward the report to Geneva. In Geneva, however, Nepal is not necessarily a priority, given several other pressing human rights issues across the globe.
“The report has not received high priority in Geneva, which has to look after all the countries. The delay is understandable,” said a UN official, who requested anonymity.
Why is the report crucial?
The conflict mapping project was started to provide a credible basis for the soon-to-be-formed transitional justice mechanisms.
The mapping would have provided a solid database of thousands of abuses which would have been a great resource for the two transitional justice mechanisms—TRC and Disappearance Commis-sion.
A rights advocate said the delay raises an important question of accountability of the UN rights body and the UN system as a whole. A great deal of money and time has been invested in the project. “The report concerns the people of Nepal who want to know the truth and the information therein is likely to have a huge bearing on the transitional justice issues during the unfinished transition.”
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GOVT. WILL DECIDE FEDERAL FORM IF CA FAILS

Kathmandu, 8 March: Minister for Federal Affairs, Parliamentary Affairs and Culture Gopal Kirati claimed on Thursday that federal set up would be executed through a cabinet decision if the new constitution could not be promulgated by May 27, The Rising Nepal reports from Damak.
Talking to reporters at Damak of Jhapa district, Minister Kirati expressed his hope that the constitution would be promulgated by May 27.
However, in case the nation fails to get a new constitution by this deadline, the government will go ahead by implementing the federal system through a cabinet decision, he said.
Minister Kirati said that he had discussed this matter with the Prime Minister. The attention of the government has been amply drawn into the issue as it has been raised by a minister, he added.
A constitution that fails to ensure federal set up and state restructuring is useless, Kirati said.
Kirati dismissed the report of the State Restructuring Commission (SRC) as incomplete and said that the cabinet will approve a federal model that is acceptable to all. The SRC was formed under the pressure of the opposition parties and report submitted by it can serve only as suggestions.
The Constituent Assembly will take ultimate decision regarding federalism and state restructuring, Kirati said.
Kirati, who is also a politburo member of the Maoist party, said that the party is in favour of an acceptable federal states rather than states based on ethnicity.
No single ethnic group holds majority in Nepal. Therefore, it is not possible to sideline any group. Maoist party is for the dignified place of even Khas people, Minister Kirati said. He admitted

that it was wrong to indicate Khas as ‘other castes’ in the draft of the constitution. "This notion should be changed," he said.
Nepal as a federal nation will succeed if it gives recognition to Khas people. Kirati’s remarks regarding the status of Khas comes at a time when opposition parties CPN-UML and Nepali Congress have been criticizing the ethnic-based states proposed by the Maoist party.
The Maoist party needs to correct its earlier stance on federal states based on ethnic identities. The historical contributions and sacrifices of the Khas people cannot be undermined and it would be appropriate to declare Bheri and Karnali regions as a Khasan state, Minister Kirati said.
He, however, made it clear that a federal model that tries to revive monarchy in the country will never be acceptable.
Drawing a federal structure is a challenge, Kirati said and added that those political parties that have not taken the issues of federalism and state restructuring seriously will see their downfall.
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NC READY TO OFFER COLONEL RANK TO MAOISTS N NEPAL ARMY
Kathmandu, 8 March: Nepali Congress (NC) president Sushil Koirala Wednesday said that the army integration process was stalled because the Prime Minister did not call the meeting of the Army Integration Special Committee, The Rising Nepal reports from Biratnagar..
Speaking at a press meet organized by Press Union, Morang, here, Koirala said that the peace process could not move ahead without the AISC meeting and because of rumours about bringing in new proposals.
"The prime minister should table his proposals, if there are any, in the meeting of the special committee," he said adding that only the committee would decide on such proposals and determine the future course of action.
Stating that NC would be flexible to give the post of up to Lieutenant Colonel to the Maoist combatants, he rejected the Maoists’ demand for three representatives from the combatants in the secretariat.
"The army integration should be carried out on the basis of the 7-point agreement, giving the posts of generals and colonels is not constitutionally right," he said adding that the Prime Minister should hold discussions on these issues.
"We do not understand why the Prime Minister does not want to discuss these issues," he said.
Koirala claimed that the peace process could not make the desired progress as NC did not lead the government.
President Koirala said the governments led by the UCPN-Maoist and CPN-UML had only delayed the peace process.
"If we led the government, we would regularly call the AISC meeting and conclude the peace process," he claimed.
He said that NC would seek an alternative to the current government if it failed to complete the peace process by mid-March.
Answering the queries of journalists, Koirala said that NC would not accept the Maoists’ proposal for executive president as it could breed dictatorship in the country.
He said that there was no internal dispute inside his party about who would lead the government. He reiterated that the leader of parliamentary party would assume the post of the prime minister.
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