 |
||
|
||
HUMAN COST OF CONFLICT |
|
||
|
||
HUMAN COST OF CONFLICT |
Widows’ Socially neglected,
economically deprived and psychologically traumatized, the condition of more than 6000
young widows, who have lost their husbands in the last eight years of conflict, is
heart-rending. Overburdened and helpless, these young widows are faced with extreme
circumstances. The widows of army personnel, police and government employees whose
husbands are killed during conflict, are awarded some economic compensation but the widows
of common citizens and even Maoists do not get anything. Depressed and frustrated, the
widows of the war groping in search of psychological and financial solace By KESHAB POUDEL Debaki Karki, 25, was widowed following the
death of her husband, a police constable, in an encounter with the Maoists two years ago.
A mother of three children, Karki, who is now living in Sarlahi district, 250 miles east
of capital, wants to become self-reliant. Depressed and frustrated, Karki’s life
was transformed - into a new phase from isolation to exposure - when she was selected for
the self-employment training program. Organized by the Central Police Family Women
Association, the self-employment training aims to make widows of police personnel become
self-reliant. “For the past two years, I was in
psychological trauma. When I met other widows like myself, I realized that I was not the
only one to have lost husband,” said Karki. “I am struggling for survival.”
Karki is one among the first batch of
35 widows of dead police personnel to receive the self-reliant training. The Royal
Nepalese Army Officers’ Wives’ Association (RNAOWA) has already conducted three
rounds of training for 103 widows in the last 15 months. Similar training is also being
provided to the widows of Armed Police Force. At the initiative of Kamala Thapa,
president of RNAOWA and the spouse of the current army chief, the training for the widows
of army personnel –who died in the armed conflict - began about one and a half year
ago with the aim to make widows financially self-reliant. Financial Compensation Along with receiving lump-sum compensation
of about Rs. 750,000 (US$10,000), the widows of police, army and armed police forces are
also given monthly pension for seven years. Widows of civilians, however, whose
husbands too have died in the conflict - have harsh stories to tell, as they do not get
anything from the government. Despite facing similar psychological trauma and pathetic
economic conditions, their situation is painful. The government provides just a nominal
amount of about US$ 200 to US$1,500 to the family of commoners who die in the conflict. As
the process is lengthy and complicated, it will take a month and even years to get even
this amount of money. Even the widows of security personnel have
to go through difficult process. Once widows of army and police personnel apply to secure
the compensation, the dispute will begin in their family about who will have the control
over the money. Feud begins in the family of security
personnel and government employees on the matter of compensation given to them. Parents of
dead person – often old and unable to work- consider they have the legitimate right
over the compensation. According to the law, the young widows are given the legal right
over compensation. With 40 percent of the total population
living below the absolute poverty line, the lump sum money given as compensation is hefty
for the family. Since Nepal’s rural society is based
on the extended family structure, the compensation meant for young widows often ends up in
the hands of her family members. Often, once the amount of compensation reaches the hand
of family members, the widow is harassed and compelled to leave the house.
In some cases, the young widows take
away the compensation and remarry causing disharmony in the family - particularly
affecting old parents of the victim. According to Nepal’s Civil Code Act, a
widow can make a demand for her property rights any time, at will. Even widows, who do not
have children, can retain her share of property even if she gets re-married. In dozens of cases, the widows have filed
complaints (at the court) against family members demanding to recover the compensation and
lump sum money provided by the state. Laxmi Bhujel, 24, a widow of police
constable is lucky enough to keep her compensation money in a bank account jointly
operated with her son. Bhujel – who is currently taking skill training run by Nepal
Police Family Association, fought with her own mother and father over the money. “I
am not facing any problems from my mother in law and father in law but my mother, father
and brother have tried hard to snatch the money,” said Bhujel, a resident of Pyuthan,
400 miles west of capital. National Women Commission (NWC) has
already received a number of complaints from widows of security personnel in the last
eight years. According to the government policy, a police and security personnel who are
killed in the combat receive about US$ 10,000. “We have received more than dozens of
complaints from women seeking our support to secure the compensation,” said
spokesperson of the Commission. Bhujel is not a single woman to face such
situation, there are many widows who were robbed by their families and thrown out of the
house. Illiterate and helpless, such widows are compelled to part with their money to
perform the religious rituals. “I have seen many widows who spent
almost all their money to perform the death rituals assuming that dead person can go to
heaven. I term this system as a social and cultural robbery,” said Subodh Pyakurel,
president of INSEC. Some organizations like NWC have also
pressed the government to take necessary steps to provide relief to the widows living in
the conflict areas including providing seed money between US$ 60 to US$ 150 to each women
without any interest so that they can start their own small business.
Sumitra B.K, 17, a young widow whose
husband was killed by security personnel, does not have anything. Harassed by police and
security personnel, Sumitra fled to capital Kathmandu from her hometown in mid-western
region Surkhet. Thanks to the support given by Women for
Human Rights, Single Women Group, an NGO working to protect the interest of widows, B.K.
is receiving short-term vocational training. “Most of the single women are
traumatized by the dual affects of losing a husband and feeling insecure due to the
security personnel and Maoists’ torture,” said Lily Thapa, chairperson of the
group. “As soon as women become single, it is not only the loss of the loved one
which troubles her, but multi-dimensional issues like economic, social and physical
effects torment her.” Difficult Course of Life Living in trauma, social discrimination and
economically deprived conditions, the widows have to live in isolation. “As a member of our family, we are
trying our best to provide necessary support to the widows of police personnel. One of the
aims of current program is to give psychological counseling as well as self-reliance
training to the widows,” said Jyoti Singh, general secretary of Central Police Family
Women Association. “ Problem with us is that we don’t have adequate fund.” As most of the victims are the low level
employees like constables and jawans, the economic burden of the household management
shifts on widows soon after the death of her husband. Due to practice of marrying at early age,
the most of the widows already have a couple of children who are at the age of school
going. The mother who is young has little choice as her decision can change the fate of
small innocent child. Despite receiving financial compensation,
most of the widows of security personnel- who are mostly below 25 years - are cut off from
mainstream society. From adjustment in the family to society, their new cycle of life
begins with pain and hardship. According to Nepalese social and cultural
practice, a widow has to learn a way of life, which is completely different than that of
others. From wearing particular type of cloths to participating in cultural rituals, the
widows have to follow a separate course. mainstream culture as well as remain a
person with distinct identity,” said Dr. Rishikeshab Raj Regmi, a cultural
anthropologist. A widow has to sacrifice the biological and
personal desires to live in a society where she is put in negligence, isolation and
discrimination. In most societies of this region, widows are regarded as women of
misfortune. “The tragedy of widows is one of the
major problems seen in the conflict prone zone. With the death of husband, a young widow
– who has to pass through a traumatic period losing her beloved - has to take care of
her small children, old father-in-law and mother-in-law,” said Pyakurel, president of
INSEC. “From completing household chores to suffering constant threat of
state/rebels, it is very difficult to describe the painful stories of widows. On the part
of distribution of welfare for widows, the state does discriminate between the widows of
security personnel and other commoners.” Family Harassment Harassed by their family members including
father-in-law, mother-in-law at husband’s family and ignored by her own family,
widows are taken as a burden. Becoming a widow in Nepal brings with it a
distinct disadvantage since they have to face social exclusion and marginalization within
their community. From dress code to other matters, they have to live in complete
isolation. “A definite social change, social
reforms, and collective actions are needed to set up immediately while keeping the present
crisis in mind. Existing schemes of the government towards single women need to be
redesigned to include empowerment mechanisms whereby single women have better controls
over resources,” said Thapa. WHR’s Role The study conducted by Women for Human
Rights (WHR), a single women group dedicated to address the social, economic and legal
issues of widows, disclosed that out of 200,000 widows in the Himalayan Kingdom, more than
7,000 are affected by conflict. Those widows who have lost their husbands in the
insurgency are below 30 years and majority of them are younger than 20 years old - with no
children. In the armed conflict, the widows of
security personnel, government employees and teachers are entitled to secure certain
amount as lump sum compensation but widows of Maoists and other common people do not get
anything from the government. Some NGOs have been launching programs
targeting the widows living in conflict zone but it covers only a few areas. WHR has been
launching various programs in 26 districts out of 75. The organization is launching
programs in Bardia, Surkhet and Dang districts - which have the largest number of widows. According to the group, out of 157
registered widows, 34 are the victims of conflict in Bardia district and 35 widows are
related to conflict out of 85 registered in Dang. Out of 400 registered widows, 135 were
related to conflict in Surkhet district. With the average poverty level of 40
percent in Nepal, National Planning Commission (NPC) – an apex policy-making body
– reveals that the poverty is concentrated in far-western and mid-western region. “Among 2000 registered widows in 27
districts, more than 700 widows are those who have lost heir husband in conflict and are
in the mid-west and far-west,” said Lily Thapa, chairperson of WHR. “Majority of
the young single women are financially dependent on families of husband. More than 500
single women have already joined our skill development trainings including bicycle repair
shops, mobile iron, grocery shops, seeds farms, tailoring and tea shops and
livestock.” Along with technical trainings, the WHR
also conducts psychological counseling as well as provide micro-level entrepreneurships.
One of the complications is to rescue young widows from psychological trauma. After death
of women, the women not only lose her beloved but also economic supporters. “Women and children are the worst hit
people in conflict. Most of the women who come to our office are kicked out from families
and our sample study has revealed that conflict has increased the number of single women
at a young age and many fatherless children below 10 years old,” said Thapa. Sunita B.K.,16, and Jummi Chaudhari, 17,
(name changed on request) are two widows from Ghorahi sub-municipality in mid-west Nepal,
who lost their husband in the conflict. B.K, who belongs to untouchable caste, lost her
husband in a police encounter just a few months after their marriage whereas
Chaudhari’s husband was a police who was killed by the Maoists. With the support from
WHR, these two young widows are now studying at local school. According to INSEC Human Rights Year book
2004, Maoists killed 624 male in 2003 including 212 police and 109 military personnel. The
government forces killed 925 Maoist males in encounter. Sharmila Dahal, 21, (name changed) a widow
from Jhapa, 500 miles east of capital, whose husband - a police constable - was killed in
combat a year ago – was forced to leave her house by her in-laws. Desperate and
helpless, she is now living with her two-year-old son working at a child-care center in
capital. In the last eight years, about 2000 security personal have already been killed. “We receive a number of complaints
from widows living in conflict areas including that of psychological, physical and sexual
harassment,” said Babita Basnet, general secretary of Nepal Sancharika Samuha, a
women communicators’ group. PAF’s Efforts With the involvement of Poverty Alleviation
Fund (PAF) in the conflict prone zone, the widows who were not earlier included in any
government program will have a chance for receiving economic benefits. With the announcement of new income
generating programs directed at the widows living in the mid western region by the Poverty
Alleviation Fund (PAF) - an umbrella organization to integrate all the programs related to
poverty alleviation - the government seems to have realized the plights of widows living
in conflict prone zone. According to the PAF, the program initially
will cover few Maoist-affected districts in mid-western region. The program will be
extended throughout Nepal later. At a time when a large number of widows
– who have lost their husbands in conflict - have been facing severe economic and
psychological trauma, the new program of the PAF has come as good news. “One of the objectives of our program
is to cover widows of all sides killed in insurgency. Our program is for all Nepalese and
not for particular group,” said Dr. Mohan Man Sainju, chairman of the Poverty
Alleviation Fund. “ In the first phase, our program will cover only a few districts
in the Maoist-affected areas and we will extend our programs later on. Various donors have
already expressed commitment to provide it with monetary assistance.” The problems of rural widows are that they
are young and illiterate. “Our aim is to make them self-reliant,” said Dr.
Sainju. “We have received a proposal to run such program from a group of widows of
Dang district.” “The Training Is Also A Part Of
Counseling” — Anshu Thapa ANSHU THAPA, President of
Central Police Family Association, spoke to SPOTLIGHT on various issues regarding the
training programs launched to support the widows of police personnel.
What is the aim of the
ongoing training program? Our aim is to provide the short-term
training for the widows of our police personnel who are in a desperate need for some sort
of training. We are providing training to 35 widows in this first batch. We are currently
providing them with tailoring and candle making skills. What is the average age of the
widows? They are mostly young and below 25 years.
Along with giving them training, we also support their small children to send them to
schools. How are you running the program? We are running on our own through our own
limited resources. If we had adequate resources, we could have provided training to more
widows. As you know, our training will benefit those widows whose husbands were low rank
personnel. Due to lack of resources, we are just able to provide training to 35 out of
1,000 widows. What are your challenges now? The challenge is the sustainability of the
programs. We generate the fund through the donation from the officials of the association
as well as by performing some fund-raising programs. Do you have any plan to extend it? We are planning to extend the program so
that more widows of low-level police personnel could benefit. Since we have regional
offices in all five development regions, we are planning to extend them to other parts so
that more widows can reap the benefits. What is the significance of your training? The training is also a part of counseling.
After living two months together, the widows share their difficulties. It helps to end
their isolation. The short training given by us will make the widows self-reliant. Thanks
to the support given by some boarding schools, we are also providing scholarship to those
children who have lost their parents in combat. Technical Training for the Widows of RNA
Personnel In a traditional society like that of
Nepal, the life of widows is painful and full of hardships. From social exclusion to
isolation, they have to bear all kinds of difficulties. With the death of their husband,
the illiterate and young widows have little choice in their life. Apart from government
compensation, the Royal Nepalese Army Officers’ Wives’ Association has been
giving special training to the widows of RNA personnel whose husbands are killed in
conflict. Thanks to the personal initiative of Kamala
Thapa, president of RNAOWA, the first vocational training for the widows of the army
personnel a year and a half ago. With the aim to make the widows
self-reliant, the association has already provided three-month-long skill-oriented
training to 103 widows. During the first batch of the training, 22
widows received skills about tailoring. Twenty-nine widows were chosen for the second
batch and 27 for third batch. There are 25 widows in the ongoing fourth batch of training.
For the trainees, the association provides
free boarding and food, training materials, and daily expenditure. After the training, the
association hands over a sewing machine and Rs. 5000 as initial capital. The widows are
also given literacy course and are taken on visit to different places. The children of
widows are also given hostel and other health facilities. |
Send your feedback to the
editor: spot@mail.com.np |
