Respect child rights

The other day, two prominent human rights groups urged governments the world over to introduce preventive measures against the rampant abuse of children. This is a matter that has to be taken seriously in our country also. Unfortunately, the magnitude of the problem of child abuse in Nepal notwithstanding, the government has tended to deliberately ignore what is happening in this front. This explains why  there are hardly any effective steps being taken for the welfare of children in the country. Many children in Nepal have to bear verbal or sexual abuse. This apart, the rampant poverty has also led to discrimination, mental torture and social exploitation. Worse still, those responsible for such crimes are rarely punished due to lack of effective laws.

A report of World Organization against Torture and Save the Children states that, 60 percent of the 100 street children in India were detained, verbally abused and beaten up by police. In Pakistan, half the detained children are tortured and sometimes even beaten to death. Similarly, one-third of the suspected Russian juvenile offenders are subjected to violence in detention. Even though there are no statistics and systematic documents that support the extent of this inhuman treatment of children in Nepal, it is a fact that abuse of children, detention and torture on suspicion of petty crimes have been increasing in recent years.   

The constitution of 1990 clearly underlines that "to protect the rights of children is to provide justice or to safeguard the values of our judicial system". Theoretically, these are the legal procedures that have been in place since the restoration of democracy. However, such legal procedures are hardly put into practice and justice is hardly done when any incident involving a minor comes up. State officials, armed opposition groups and even civilians have detained, mentally tortured and sexually abused children. This apart, children have been exploited for economic benefits, political reasons and even forced to fight against the establishment as in the case of increasing number of child soldiers used by the Maoists. A recent incident at the house of a retired chief justice in which a girl domestic was raped and killed speaks volumes about the way the rights of children are being violated.

Every kind of violence against children must be abolished even if they have committed crimes in society. It is the government's responsibility to work towards this end. The laws pertaining to children must be implemented and where there are no laws, new laws must be enacted. Legal measures can go a long way to prevent exploitation and abuse of children, but even more important in the present time, is to provide education, shelter and food for children. These are their basic rights and the government cannot shirk the responsibility of ensuring these for them.

UN millennium summit : A futile euphoria

By Dr Shreedhar Gautam

The Millennial Summit of the United Nations concluded on September 8, with  150 odd world leaders adopting a wide-ranging declaration to deal with peace and security, eradicate poverty, fight disease and protect the earth. Leaders reaffirmed their faith in the UN and its Charter as indispensable foundations of a more peaceful, prosperous and just world. Participants showed their concern at the unevenly shared benefits of globalization. The declaration also mentioned the need for measures at the global level that corresponds with the needs of developing countries.

Leaders have also identified certain fundamental values essential to international relations in the 21st century - freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature and concept of shared responsibility. Of the objectives listed in the resolution, poverty eradication, human rights, democracy and good governance are given special significance. Other features of the summit include the emphasis on meeting the "special needs of Africa", striving for the elimination of weapons of mass destruction, determination to halt and reverse the scourge of AIDS, promoting gender equality, empowering women and combating hunger and disease.

After having gone through the pledges made by world leaders, one may naturally conclude that the summit will definitely boost the world body which was established with a view to avert the recurrence of world war and solve other problem in different parts of the world. But we should not overlook the fact that these leaders assembled in New York mainly because Mr Kofi Annan wanted a gathering of this kind. The declaration contains many lofty ideas, but it has little by way of substance. After careful reading of the resolution, one cannot escape the conclusion that it has missed a historic opportunity to draw the world leaders' attention to the vast erosion in the UN's role and functions in the last 20 years and to make suggestions to reverse the process to help it meet the challenges of the new millennium. The declaration makes no analysis of how the UN has been systematically bypassed on issues of real concern to the international community. The resolution not only ignores some of the gravest problems of the world, but also gives an indication of the drastically reduced role of the UN.

The summit conclusion makes no reference to the marginalization of the UN's peace making and peacekeeping role and to the transfer of its functions in the economic field to the IMF, the WB and the WTO. Though the declaration takes pride in the changed context of globalized world, it wilfully hides the fact that the UN is reduced to a pale shadow of what it was meant to be according to the Charter. The pride of living in a globalized world will be a hollow claim, if the UN is not restored to its Charter functions. The resolution shows no seriousness on the part of the leaders to establish a world order based on rules and regulations and rights and obligations rather than on discretion, concession and unilateralism. Though the visionaries who built the international system after the second world war wanted to establish a world order based on equality, the process has been completely halted after the 1980s with America's arrogant foreign policies under the leadership of Ronald Reagan.

The Secretary General's  suggestion that the UN instead of acting on its own in all cases, should be a catalyst for action for those who have the resources but betray the spirit of the Charter which enjoins the UN to act on its own in furtherance of its objectives. But the summit failed to define the thrust areas in which the UN must act on its own and call upon the member states to provide the resources for activities. Similarly, the summit failed to make an assessment of the adverse consequence of globalization such as accentuation of inequalities, growing marginalization of the poorest and disadvantaged. It also overlooked the harmful aspects of the emerging international financial architecture which stresses the status quo by giving greater discretion to major economic powers and the enhanced role for  IMF for the surveillance of developing countries.

Another disturbing feature was the focus on the self help measures to be adopted by developing countries without working out the resources to be mobilized for meeting the suggested goals. Likewise, the desperate appeals made to extra budgetary sources for financing UN sponsored projects is also an indication of the UN's vulnerability.

Bill Clinton underscored the need for principled compromise and the need to give up old grudges in order to get on with life. Giving his prescription, Clinton said, "We must look for more solutions in which all sides can claim a measure of victory and move away from choices in which someone is required to accept complete defeat". However, his remarks should not be taken as a mark of absolute fairness and justice ingrained in his heart, because the same Clinton in the very same speech asked world leaders to enforce the Security Council's resolutions against Iraq. It is a matter of great shame for the world community that the entire population of Iraq has been humiliated in the name of UN resolutions, which were masteredminded by the US in a mood of Pax-Americana. World leaders have realized that sanctions against Iraq have hurt the hapless people more than their leader, but they have failed to bring any positive change in the American leadership. 

Security Council's resolutions are just pretexts to hide the hidden agenda of American imperialism. British and American war planes are bombing Iraqi cities in the name of patrolling the so called no fly zone on a regular basis without any specific authorization from the world body. There can be no more gross violation of the UN Charter than turning the UN into a playground for American leaders to fulfil their hegemonistic design. Kofi Annan could not make any direct reference to the plight of Iraqis because of implied American threat and pressure. Like his predecessor, B B Ghali, he is helpless and  knows about the UN plans and goals not from the UN bulletin, but from the communique of US state department. Equally ironic   is that the US  which called for reforms of UN's system of rather poor financial resources has failed to pay the US's own financial contributions to the UN. On the whole, Clinton's speech characterized not a pious platitude but a deep diplomatic nuance guided by narrow American  interest.

Having said all this, we must also take notice of some of the positive outcomes of the UN summit.  These include, the Secretary General's recommendation to the industrialized countries "to consider granting duty free and quota free access for essentially all exports from least developed countries". However, such measures and concessions are not going to make the world body really relevant until its basic structure is not changed. It is not the view of cynics, but a reality that the UN has been misused and subverted tremendously.

Now with the help of Britain,    America is destroying the very fabric of the UN. Its helplessness in averting American led NATO's aggression on Yugoslavia is a case in point. It is for this reason that America has started to use the term "international community" instead of UN, knowing fully well that the latter term has lost its earlier prestige and carries no respect. In such a context, the Millennial Summit concluded without making any adverse comment on  US policies. It was simply a meaningless exercise.  Some may take consolation from the fact that so many leaders attended the summit, which could give a new life to the world body. But this is poor consolation because the very spirit of the UN has already been killed, and irreparably damaged. Immense courage and vision is needed on the part of world leaders to revive it and make it an effective organization. The first step in this regard is to restructure the Security Council with a view to empower developing countries, which, in the course of time, could reduce  American influence in the domestic matters of member countries.

It is a great setback to the UN's role that today countries look to the US rather than to the UN for solving bilateral and multilateral problems and disputes. America has utilized this void in the UN in its favour, virtually acting as the only arbitrator of global affair. So, instead of gleefully hailing the just concluded UN's summit, all rational people all over the world should think over the immediate measures to give it back  real life. If, the UN's structure is not changed drastically and American hegemony is not checkmated in the coming years, the world will be less safe and more vulnerable. In other words, we will have to live at the mercy of America and many countries will have to suffer the fate of Iraq, Yugoslavia, Cuba and North Korea, victimized simply for defying  American arrogance.

Free-dom

By Binita Joshi

It's dawn. A girl who is barely eight, wakes up. The rest of the family members are still in their tight slumber. Last night, her elder brother was studying when she went to sleep. So he has a pencil and an unfolded book near his pillow. She looks at the book and tries to recall the words her brother was mugging up. She picks up the pencil from her brother's hand for a while, tries to scratch something and smiles as it turns out to be like a rat. It would have been a depiction of an abstract art had she belonged to this part of the world.

Usually, she collects fodder and wood, cleans her house, walks a few miles to fetch some pails of water. She's home after the morning chores but no one seems to be awake. She expects to retire but cannot resist the rebuke she will face afterwards, so she sets out for the kitchen and prepares a meal for all. 

She aspires to study like her brother and go to school with books in a bag but she knows she can't. Her mother always tells her that a good girl is she who works and helps her mother. In this way, she is going to prove herself a good wife. Sons remain at home, they carry the age-old traditions and trends. Thus they have to study and become competent. For girls, the task is to produce children, raise them and assist their husband in every possible way. 

This may not be so much prevalent in the capital city. Had it been here, we would have shouted slogans for equal human rights, exploitation of girl child. However, this girl at the age of eight has to fulfil her duty. She is born for this. She does not understand if her parents are exploiting her since she finds them equally loving and caring. She obeys them and remains within her parents' reach. At least her brothers are away from the family but she has been cocooned inside. Now, she really does not know if she ever intends to come out of it.

This is a  man-made-world. Once my big brother was just seated next to me and he did not wait to hit me. He said, "what's happening these days? Why women have started taking everything in such a negative way?   Does cooking at home mean exploitation." He added, "this should be a pleasure, doing something for someone you love and care for".  "What is there so painful about this cook and clean affair?" "For ages, men and women worked together without much complaint.  There were times when a family consisted of more than 20/30 members. With one man's salary, the woman kept the rest well nourished, happy and content but now with a bit of education, women are always on the run".

"Whenever there is an issue of men and women -- equality always comes in from the window. Men never asked women to work outside. Basically, men had always wanted their women to stay back home and take proper care of the family and children and remain happy with what the men brought for them. Education can be used to educate one's own children".  "Nothing will change now. Urban people have been brought up that way. Every issue of sticks and matches will end with feministic approach or with the question of equal human dignity."

This is true. As women become more aware on these matters, they look for more. Like this girl -- as she knows nothing, will never ask for anything but we know so we cannot keep quiet after knowing. Tomorrow, the future generation will know more than we do and they could ask for even more. Like the children of the West. If parents rebuke or slap their children (how tiny they might be), they are dragged into the court. At least we have not crossed our boundaries. For us, rebuking and slapping are means of preventing children from  getting berserk and guiding them.   

With so much change every now and then, it will not be inappropriate to say that one day the urban children will get the insight of the west-world trend and sue parents who rebuke them. Anyway, every human being is an individual first, no matter how young and tender they might be. But will this girl ever be able to think that a world as such exists within her world or would that be just asking for too much?

Engineering Council Act : Some observations

By Hiranya K Bhattarai & Ganesh P Niraula

With the objective of defining the distinct identity of the engineering community of Nepal, in general, and enhancing the role of engineers, safeguarding the engineering profession and protecting the rights of engineers, in particular, Nepal Engineers' Association (NEA) was established way back in 2025 BS. Being of voluntary nature, it did not have the mandate to regulate the standard of engineering education and engineering practice. NEA could also not make it mandatory for engineers to be its members. The Nepal Medical Council (NMC) had long been regulating the medical profession even before the establishment of NEA. The first NMC Act was enacted in the year 2020 BS and so far three amendments have been made to the initial Act, the latest amendment took place in the year 2055. Through over three decades of existence of the Act, Nepal Medical Council Act has improved a lot and so the Council empowered by the Act has been very powerful and effective. It was in this context that NEA advocated strongly for the establishment of a similar Council in the engineering field. Nepal Engineering Council (NEA) Act, 2055 was primarily the result of this concept being realized. The first engineering council has already been formed as per the Act of 2055 and NEC Regulations, 2057. Placed on the right track, the law should enable NEC to not only regulate the engineering profession but also promote the overall image of engineering in the country. Whether the provisions of the newly promulgated Act are sufficient to guarantee this role is a subject of analysis of this article.

Observations: NMC has been a kind of source of inspiration for the creation of NEC, so it will be appropriate to note a few salient features of the NMC Act, 2020. There are, among others, provision of over 50 percent of the  Council members to come from direct election, only two out of 21 members of the Council are sent by Nepal Medical Association (NMA), provision of consultation by HMG with NMC in case of incorporation of any important changes in the Act, a provision for the NMC to conduct a test of a medical practitioner for the purpose of registering him with the NMC and the provision of appointment   of a Registrar by HMG for the purpose of working as Secretary to the NMC. Clause 4, Sub Clause 1 of the NEC Act stipulates that the Council will be an autonomous and organized institution but on perusal of Clause 5 of the   Act regarding the composition of the Council, it can be seen that except the Chairman of NEA and the 5 engineers elected by NEA, all other members of the  Council are directly or indirectly nominated by HMG. Thus, the provisions of the two Clauses are seen to clearly contradict each other and the spirit of creating an autonomous Council is lost. Moreover, the rationale behind the provision of sending 5 members (about 28 percent of Council Members) by a voluntary organization like NEA, to the NEC by election is beyond comprehension. It would be more logical to increase the number of elected members to make it at least at par with the number of nominated members and to have the election conducted by NEC itself.

The right of HMG to dissolve NEC as per Clause 31 looks valid considering the sovereign right of the government in all spheres of national activities. However, it would be more democratic for the government to give a chance to the Council to give its clarification regarding the government's accusation. Moreover, the government's right to carry out the task of the Council by itself or through an ad hoc committee after such dissolution and before the institution of a new Council Body as provided for in the Act cannot be called proper, especially in the present context of Nepal where ever pervading politics may cause the diffusion of spirit of the Council through the formation of a party-driven ad hoc committee. A better provision would be to have any tasks carried out during the interim period as conditional requiring the approval of the new council body within three months.

The Ministry of Works and Transport as the coordinating Ministry for NEC is completely irrelevant in the context of existence of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MST), on the one hand, and the vast progress of the engineering field, on the other. It is high time we freed ourselves from the obsession of old thinking that engineering is all about works and transport alone. Electrical engineering, electronics and communication engineering and computer engineering are some important fields to reckon with and the number of engineers in these disciplines constitutes a very big chunk of the total engineering community of

Nepal. There is no denying that these disciplines will get more engineers in the future. In the context of all these arguments, the MST appears the most logical candidate for the caretaker Ministry for coordinating NEC.

The old thinking that engineering is confined within the limits of a few disciplines that were prevalent a quarter of a century ago can also be seen in the design of annex of the NEC Act. The annex enlisting the different disciplines of engineering profession misses out Computer Engineering, a burgeoning engineering field. While there is detailed breakdown of the Civil   Engineering  field, others are not detailed to that extent. So, that it can give due weight to all engineering disciplines, the NEC should form a working group involving engineers from as many disciplines as possible and work out the draft of a suitable annex to replace the present one.

As per the provisions of the  Act, the Registrar of NEA does not need any eligible qualifications of an engineer. It looks ridiculous to have a provision of appointing the Member Secretary of an engineering council from outside the engineering field. This anomaly could be avoided by either having a provision for appointing a registrar from among the registered members in the council through election or confining the status of the registrar to that of a secretary of NEC as in the case of NMC.

Conclusion: Although the scope of NEC may look narrow in the provisions of the Act, it has wide and far-reaching implications on the promotion of the engineering profession in the country. So, even a small lapse in the provision of the act and any misuse of such lapse can have tremendous detrimental effects on the engineering community and profession. Moreover, since almost no professional institution has been seen to be able to maintain its true professional spirit in the context of Nepal, there is always an impending danger for any institution losing its identity due to unwanted involvement of politics. This may apply equally to the council in question.

Since the NMC Act has withstood the test of time and since NMC has originally been the source of inspiration for the institutionalization of NEC, it will be only for the betterment of engineers to incorporate in NEC Act as many suitable provisions from NMC Act. It is to be hoped that the newly formed Engineering Council Body pays due attention to improving the provisions of the NEC Act and until such provisions can take effect, watch out for any misuse of possible lapses in the provision of the Act which can vandalize the very basic foundation and rationale of the institution of NEC.