'Will I ever get justice?' Nepal accused of failing trafficking survivors

 'Will I ever get justice?' Nepal accused of failing trafficking survivors

The Guardian, May 26, 2017

Rights groups claim no one has received compensation since law entitling survivors of human trafficking was introduced a decade ago

Rights groups in Nepal say they do not know of a single survivor of human trafficking who has received compensation under a law introduced a decade ago.

An act that came into force in 2007 guarantees compensation for trafficking victims, but only after the perpetrator has been convicted, a caveat that has left survivors facing years of traumatic court proceedings and threats from their traffickers.

A new report in which 125 trafficking cases were reviewed found that, while courts awarded compensation in more than half the cases, no one has so far received it.

Sabin Shrestha, executive director of the Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD), which produced the study, said: “The biggest tragedy for us is that the conviction rate is good. The perpetrators are being punished … but not a single survivor has benefited.”

Four other experts, with decades of experience in the field, also said they were unaware of any case where a survivor had received compensation.

The government initially rebutted the claims. Radhika Aryal, a senior civil servant at the women, children and social welfare ministry, said: “The government agencies provide compensation to the survivor, according to the court’s verdict. We have been doing so in many cases … without delay.”

Aryal later admitted, however, that she knew of only two cases of trafficking victims receiving compensation.

More typical are the stories of women like Shanti, who was trafficked to India at the age of 13. Shanti (not her real name) waited nine years for her case to go through the courts, but is yet to receive any payment.

“I have faced threats from the traffickers … I couldn’t spend a single day in peace as I always felt insecure before the verdict,” she said. “I couldn’t develop as a person, as I had to keep visiting my past through the courts.”

The law states that compensation should be paid out of the fine levied on the perpetrators, leaving survivors in limbo until the legal process is complete. If the trafficker cannot pay, the government must do so. Proving that the perpetrator does not have the funds is itself a lengthy and difficult process, however.

“Though the court verdict says I should be getting compensation, as far as I understand … I will have to prove that the culprit is not rich enough to pay compensation; only then will the government give me the amount,” said Shanti.

Even if Shanti eventually secures the payment, it is unlikely to reflect the ordeal she has been through. Research by the FWLD found that, in almost two-thirds of cases, courts ordered compensation of just 50,000 Nepalese rupees (£380).

The funds awarded are typically only 50% of the trafficker’s fine, with the remainder going to the government.

“How can the government keep half of any compensation given to survivors?” said Benu Gurung, executive director of the Alliance Against Trafficking in Women and Children in Nepal. “We demand all of the fine is given to the victim.”

Gurung added that some people find it is easier, and more lucrative, to accept hush money from the traffickers than go through the courts.

“From a survivor’s perspective, rather than face threats from traffickers, or risk being exposed as a victim of trafficking, it is better to accept a payoff, especially when you have no confidence that you will ever receive compensation,” said Gurung.

Rights groups are calling for immediate interim financial support for survivors, higher rates of reparations and greater efforts to make survivors aware of their right to recompense.

“We survivors demand the government compensate us first and later get the money from the culprit,” said Shanti. “How long will it take? Will I ever get justice?”

 

Covid-19 surges in Nepal

 In Nepal, where hospital beds are few, thousands of Covid-19 patients just stay home — until they can’t.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/10/11/world/covid-coronavirus#in-nepal-where-hospital-beds-are-few-thousands-of-covid-19-patients-just-stay-home-until-they-cant

Nepal, a country of 30 million people sandwiched between India and China, is enmeshed in a public health crisis.

Coronavirus infections have surpassed 100,000, about a third of which are currently active. That is a modest caseload compared with neighboring India, which is second the world in total infections, but more than the 94,000 cases reported in Nepal’s other neighbor of more than a billion people, China, where the virus first emerged late last year.

Cases in Nepal are increasing sharply, with a record 5,008 new infections recorded on Saturday. The Health Ministry counts fewer than 400 patients in intensive care, but even that has left I.C.U.s overflowing. Frontline doctors have also been infected, raising fears that health institutions’ staffing will be hollowed out.

To avoid system collapse, the government has asked Covid-19 patients to stay in home isolation — with the possibility of imprisonment if they venture outside — and to go to hospitals only if their condition turns critical. Almost 16,000 infected patients are in home isolation, according to the Health Ministry, and more than 11,000 others are in institutional isolation or hospitals.

But by the time infected people become seriously ill, it may be too late. Dr. Rabindra Pandey, a public health expert, said that some patients had died in ambulances while searching for I.C.U. beds, others in home isolation, and still others while waiting for I.C.U. beds in isolation wards. More than 600 people have died in Nepal since the pandemic began, a relatively low death rate but one that is likely to rise since the explosion in cases was so recent.

“We are already in critical condition in terms of controlling coronavirus,” Dr. Pandey said. “But darker days are yet to come.”

On Sunday, health experts warned that if the virus continued to spread in the countryside it would be impossible for the health care system to handle the influx of cases. Most facilities are in Kathmandu, the capital, which is the center of the country’s outbreak.

The situation has raised alarm about two major approaching festivals. During Dashain, a 15-day Hindu and Buddhist festival that takes place later this month, Nepalis living abroad and the country’s urbanites normally travel to villages in the mountains and plains to see relatives. Similar celebrations take place during Tihar, a five-day Hindu festival that is akin to the Diwali festival of lights in India and that falls next month.

The Health Ministry has urged Nepalis not to go out for Dashain shopping and to keep their distance from older people, even if it means canceling holiday plans.

In other global developments:

·         Hanan Ashrawi, a high-ranking Palestine Liberation Organization official and negotiator, tested positive for Covid-19, her office announced on Sunday. Ms. Ashrawi, 74, tested positive days after Saeb Erekat, another veteran Palestinian negotiator, was confirmed to have contracted the virus.

·         India edged close to overtaking the United States in total virus cases, passing the seven-million mark. And Brazil became the second country, also after the U.S., to record more than 150,000 deaths.

·         South Korea said on Sunday that it was easing social-distancing restrictions, lifting a ban on gatherings of more than 50 people indoors and more than 100 outdoors. Under the new guidelines, which take effect on Monday, high-risk facilities like nightclubs, bars, karaoke parlors and buffet restaurants can open for business and spectators will be allowed into sports stadiums. South Korea tightened restrictions in August amid a second wave of infections but appears to have brought the outbreak under control, with daily new cases mostly down to double digits in the past two weeks.

·         A curfew in Berlin closed bars and restaurants at 11 p.m. on Saturday, curbing the German capital’s renowned nightlife. Berlin was following in the footsteps of Frankfurt, where a curfew had already been imposed, but starting an hour earlier.

·         Lebanon will close bars and nightclubs indefinitely to help contain the virus, Reuters reported. The virus has killed more than 450 people in a country reeling from financial crisis and an explosion in Beirut two months ago.

— Bhadra Sharma and Sameer Yasir

Dr Govinda KC breaks his fast

 Dr Govinda KC breaks his fast after Saturday midnight deal with government

The Kathamdnu Post, Oct. 11, 2020

The doctor had started his 19th fast-unto-death from Jumla on September 14 putting forth six demands.

Dr Govinda KC ended his longest ever fast-unto-death on Sunday after an eight-point deal with the government on Saturday midnight. KC started his 19th hunger strike on September 14. Sunday was the 28th day.

He took a sip of juice from one of the patients at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital Maharajgunj to break his hunger strike on Sunday.

The agitating 63-year-old orthopaedic surgeon agreed to a deal at midnight on Saturday after the government agreed to address most of his demands related to medical education.

His 19th hunger strike that started in Jumla on September 14 became the longest one ever since his first protest in July 2012. The record earlier of 27 days was of his 15th hunger strike in July 2018.

The government has agreed to start MBBS and other courses at Karnali Academy of Health Sciences, Jumla, from the next academic session and commence medical education from Geta Medical College in Kailali in Sudurpaschim Province and Rapti Academy of Health Sciences in Dang from Lumbini Province by February 2024.

As per the deal, the government will expedite the construction of the infrastructure to set up a government medical college in Bardibas, Mahottari in Province 2 with a target to start MBBS course by February 2024.

Similarly, the government has also agreed to start the construction of government medical colleges in Doti or Dadeldhura, Udaypur and Illam or Panchthar within this year and expedite construction of Ram Raja Prasad Singh Academy of Health Sciences in Saptari from Province 2.

The other points of agreement include expansion of polymerase chain reaction tests and increasing the capacity of the government hospitals for the treatment of Covid-19 and other diseases. The government has also agreed to allocate adequate budget for Bayalpata Hospital in Achham to help it provide free treatment.

Preparing a draft bill on higher education and an umbrella bill on medical education academies within three weeks with a provision of appointing office bearers at universities and the health academies in a fair manner are other agreements.

The government has agreed to appoint such office bearers on the basis of seniority and performance until a law is in place. An amendment to the National Medical Education Act is also a part of the agreement.

“The agencies under the Nepal government and other concerned agencies will implement the respective points of the agreement,” reads one of the points in the agreement.

The deal doesn’t clearly talk about KC’s yet another demand that corruption cases and properties of former and incumbent commissioners of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse Authority be investigated.

A point in the agreement says respective agencies “will provide support” with regards to issues other than what have been mentioned in the agreement.

https://tkpo.st/3djN8jm

The ruling party has failed in ruling

The ruling party has failed in ruling

It seems that constant infighting among ruling party leaders is severely disrupting governance.

Deepak Thapa

Updated at : March 5, 2020 07:32

It is a question that can and should legitimately be asked by all of us: Why does the entire country have to be on tenterhooks because of an internal party squabble that has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on any of the issues the country is grappling with. Yes, I am referring to the seemingly never-ending quest of Bamdev Gautam’s to return to power any which way he can, and the equally never-ending opposition to such a possibility by powerful sections of the ruling party.

If anyone wants to understand the chronology of this particular saga of Bamdev’s, the comment in setopati.com, ‘Bamdev Felled by the Two Chairpersons’ Assurances and Betrayals’, can prove a pretty comprehensive source. Gautam may be the main protagonist in that account but it is one that also lays bare the treacherous world of Nepali politics. There is no one in the story who stands out for anything resembling probity, driven as they all are by pure and simple self-interest. It is well known that Gautam, the recently inducted vice-chair of the ruling party, is haunted by the knowledge that he alone among his peers from the erstwhile Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) has not made it to the prime ministerial chair. Given that the remaining cast of characters in this drama are these same prime ministers, past and present, it provides for somewhat depressing reading as well. And depressing it was to read every morning, until this issue blew over, that the top honchos of the ruling party had been focused on outdoing one another in a game of political one-upmanship that would have no effect on us common folks.

Bamdev Gautam is not someone unknown to us, and nothing in his track record suggests his presumed prime ministership would be any better or worse than what we have experienced so far. During his first term as home minister and deputy prime minister in the mid-1990s, he tried his best to enact an anti-terrorism law aimed at controlling a still-budding Maoist insurgency, but that would also have seen our most prized fundamental rights at the mercy of the state. In fact, this same approach, which can be likened to someone with a hammer seeing nails everywhere, was also evident during one of his later tenures as home minister, when he made sure that all Kathmandu restaurants and nightclubs closed early—ostensibly in a bid to curb night-time crime. (Since this crackdown on nightlife coincided with the height of popularity in Nepal of the Indian yoga guru, Ramdev, a wit had then observed that life in Kathmandu had become onerous with Bamdev sending you to bed early and Ramdev waking you equally early.)

Claims have been made by his supporters about why it is essential for someone like him to be sent to Parliament. I have now come to agree with this line of thinking not because, as outlined above, Gautam is no miracle-maker, but because having him in Parliament would stave off unnecessary disruptions like the one the entire country had to experience together. Just as in hindsight, it was probably our bad luck that the other equally ambitious politician, the current Prime Minister, KP Sharma Oli, was forced to stay on the sidelines during the first Constituent Assembly (CA). The persona of the dog in the manger he adopted, Oli did everything he could to delegitimise the first CA and the progressive agenda of the time through actions such as encouraging the politicisation of the army, raising the ethnonationalist rhetoric to a fervour, and coddling India. He succeeded so well that there has been no public discussion about his India connections of the time and he has instead cultivated credentials that can only be called anti-India.

Despite the massive mandate to lead the country he has not been able to rise to the occasion, revelling instead in the petty politicking that brought him to prominence in the first place. To take one very unfortunate example, it is a wonder that for someone who has all the time in the world to conduct lengthy parleys to secure his own political future, he has just not found the time to fill positions in the different commissions the constitution has mandated to realise a more just and equitable Nepal. The ‘Other Commissions’ mentioned in the constitution are seven in number: National Women’s Commission, National Dalit Commission, National Inclusion Commission, Adivasi Janajati Commission, Madhesi Commission, Tharu Commission and Muslim Commission. Since the Oli government was formed more than two years ago, not a single commissioner has been appointed to either the National Women’s Commission or the National Dalit Commission (see screengrabs alongside for what their websites look like) while the other five were granted a Chairperson each but with no one else appointed to support them with their work (and the chair of the Inclusion Commission has since resigned).

Even if it is known that the latter five commissions were included in the constitution as a sop to these marginalised groups in the rush to pass the constitution through the second Constituent Assembly CA, one would have expected some kind of formality at least in terms of filling all the positions demanded. That these five commissions are an anathema to many in the ruling elite is no secret and the prime minister is no exception. But one does wonder why the women’s and Dalit commissions are having to bear the brunt of this antagonism even though they have been around since 2001. The prime minister could actually have filled all these positions had he sat down with cabinet colleagues instead of engaging in any one of those lengthy and meaningless diatribes he launched into without warning. Actually, that might have been possible even between the two birthday parties he found time to celebrate in Kathmandu and in his birthplace in Terhathum.

What jars is that Oli claims that he has no time to lose. That is partly because he says he is sick. Hopefully, the success of his second kidney transplant will enable the prime minister to see life in a different light and adopt a more generous attitude towards everyone—even Bamdev Gautam. For the country can scarcely afford distractions that have no rhyme or reason.

Deepak Thapa has been a fortnightly columnist with The Kathmandu Post since 2009, writing on a range of topical social and political issues.

https://tkpo.st/2TlwveN