The Situation of Journalists in Nepal

Binod Dhungel

Nepali Press: An Overview

Nepali press has been severely affected by the violence resulting from the eight and half year-old armed conflict in the country. As a Country whose history of press is not so old -barely 60 years, and professional history is even far much younger (13 years, beginning with the restoration of democracy in 1990), working in a conflict situation is a greater challenge for a journalist in Nepal.

The press has played a constructive role in its effort to resolve the conflict through peaceful means. At times, it has even played a mediator's role. However, the parties in conflict have not shown enough trust on the idea of free press, nor have they encouraged the press to be more effective. Instead, both the camps are inclined to weaken the independent press.

Over the past few years, the government and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) held few rounds of peace talks, all of which ended in deadlock. After the talks broke out, the Maoists went into hiding and the state started treating the press as if it were a 'link agent' to the rebels.

Some 30 journalists who maintained ideological proximity with the Maoists also went into hiding. And several weekly newspapers closed down. State security machineries have been treating the mainstream press and journalists with distrust. Scores of journalists have been arrested, press materials seized and journalists forced to disclose the sources of news.

Constitutionally, freedom of expression and the freedom of press are well in place. The press and publication Act is also intact. Theoretically, the State has not suspended these rights. However, in practice, journalists continue to be prosecuted and victimized.

The irresponsible attitude of the government has given the security bodies an upper hand. The rule of law appears missing. Court rulings get violated and the tendency of arresting (journalists as well as ordinary people) and causing their disappearances is widespread.

Security forces and the Maoists both are following similar styles of action. Both are bent on spreading terror on the free press, denying access to the sources of news, circulating confusing information, prioritizing one-way information and misusing the media under their control, for their own vested interests.

Even now, the anti-terrorism act (TADA) (now ordinance TADO, in the absence of parliament) has been badly abused. The press has been victimized by using the authority to arrest people and detain them for 90 days for investigation, merely upon doubts. Such a trend intensifies the violations of press freedom, especially when journalists are denied legal treatment and kept unknown or under disappearance.

Even now, reporters are unable to go to remote areas to collect news. Newspapers don't reach their destinations, as they are confiscated. Fact-finding on the journalists who are killed is not encouraged. A law on the right to information is missing. The culture of giving information is missing. As a result, good governance is missing. The press is not strong enough to unearth corruption, as investigative and in-depth reporting face tough risk.

After the armed conflict gripped the nation, 15 journalists have already been killed-- nine by the State, five by the rebels and one by the unidentified group- and more than 500 have been arrested. Five are still disappearing and 26 have been displaced from their workstations.

After the break of ceasefire in August 2003, six journalists have been killed –two exclusively for their work as a journalist and the rest for other reasons. Of those six, three were killed by the government troops and the rest by the rebels. Journalist Gopal Giri suffered execution at the hands of the Maoists, not for his work as a journalist but for accepting a nominated mayoral position in Birgunj.

Of the other two, one of the Maoist rebel, Nagendra Pokhrel, formerly associated with Janadesh weekly and also a reporter for their online edition www.krishnasenonline.com was also killed. The FNJ (Federation of Nepalese Journalist) also tracked his journalistic background and found some evidences of him being a journalist. However the FNJ could not ascertain the journalistic status of another scribe, Padmaraj Devkota, who was also killed in remote Kalikot district. It is said that Mr. Devkota was associated with, The Karnali Sandesh, which was closed down two years back. But the Government forces claimed that he was associated with the rebel force and died during an encounter. However, contrary to that, the Maoists claimed he was just a journalist. In the latest information sent by a group of Pro-Maoist journalist to the FNJ, it states that eight more journalists have been killed by the security forces but the FNJ at the moment is trying to collect the fact that those killed really had a journalistic background.

Till date three journalists are still disappearing, as the government has let out no information. Nor do the victim's family or friends have any clue about their whereabouts. Accordingly, two journalists are still in in the Maoists' captive since longtime.

As was the case during the State of Emergency (9 months from October 2001), most journalists arbitrarily nabbed by the security forces have been the victims of torture, harassment and other forms of inhuman treatment. Blindfolding, whipping and depriving from basic amenities of life are common. Without beginning any judicial process against them, they are taken from one place to another. Knowing their situation has been difficult as the security bodies flatly rule out having detained or confined them.

Self-censorship is still practiced and media is vulnerable to ignore the duty of impartiality and neutrality.

International support to help Nepali press to cope with the crisis is also noteworthy. In October 2002, short-term safety training was arranged for 20 Nepali journalists in Kathmandu with the support of IFJ. The program was indeed a landmark in an effort to address the risk to reporters in the light of the conflict. Nepali journalists, who work under harsh conditions such as poor pay scale, and lack of insurance and skill development opportunities, have been forced to face a greater risk due to the prevailing conflict.

Press freedom ought to be protected for developing tolerance and restoring peace and democracy in the country. The press alone cannot protect freedom. For it, support from all quarters is necessary. But today, attempts are being made from both the sides to weaken the press.

Even the journalists with state-owned media have started complaining about the "militarization" of the news. It is difficult for reporters to go to the field to collect news. Local people are afraid of sharing their views and comments freely with the press. In an attempt to hide the truth, the government often brands most of the news collected in the field as 'baseless'.

In the districts outside the Capital, it's just like playing with a fire if you dispatch news on tile excesses of security forces. As for the excesses committed by the Maoists, the victims themselves dare not open out their mouths. Hence the difficulties to the press to dig into the matter!

Despite constraints of time and skill, fear about one's security harasses a journalist. Tactilely, journalists also face the necessity of some orientation class or training on safety aspects while collecting news in conflict areas. They also need the skills on First Aid, and to learn to use the appropriate language so as to turn away the possibility of intensifying the conflict. Knowledge on basic human rights concepts and on various dimensions of national security is also essential for journalists. (Next week-For Beginning of Crisis)

(The author is the central committee member of the FNJ)

LESSONS OF BESLAN
The Tragedy and its After-effects

H.E. Valery V. Nazarov, Ambassador of the Russian Federation, Nepal

At the end of August - beginning of September Russia was unprecedentedly attacked by forces of terrorism. Five terrorist attacks were carried out during eight days. The most terrible one was the capture of a school in the North Ossetian town of Beslan where over 1,200 people were taken hostage resulting in the killing of at least 339 people, half of them children. The earlier assaults included suicide explosions on board of two civilian airplanes and a suicide bomb blast near a Moscow metro station.

As President Vladimir Putin pointed out in his address to the nation after the Beslan tragedy, Russia has lived through many tragic events and terrible ordeals over the course of its history. Today we live in a time that follows the collapse of a vast and great state, the USSR and many of the changes that took place in our lives found us unprepared. Why is this so?

We in Russia are living through a time when internal conflicts and interethnic divisions have now flared up. We stopped paying the required attention to defence and security issues and we allowed corruption to undermine our judicial and law enforcement system. Furthermore, our country, formerly protected by the most powerful defense system along the length of its external frontiers overnight found itself defenseless both from the east and the west.

In general, we need to admit that we did not fully realize the complexity and the dangers of the processes at work in our own country and in the world. In any case, we proved unable to react adequately. We showed ourselves to be weak. And the weak get beaten.

What we are dealing with as a result is neither isolated acts intended to frighten us, nor single terrorist attacks. What we are facing is direct intervention, direct aggression of international terrorism against Russia. This is a total, cruel and full-scale war that is repeatedly taking lives of our fellow citizens.

Under such conditions it is most important to mobilize the entire nation in the face of this common danger. Events in other countries have shown that the most effective resistance terrorists meet in places where they not only encounter the state's power but also find themselves facing well-organized and united civil society.

The most important thing we need now is strengthening of Russia's unity. Quite a number of concrete measures aimed at achieving this goal are being implemented.

By so doing we proceed from the presumption that war on terrorism is a task of the national scale. It is a task that requires the mobilization of all resources. And it is clear that a unity of actions of the entire executive power vertical must be ensured here unconditionally.

In particular, in order to ensure the unity of state power and the consistent development of federalism, the Federation and its subjects must jointly take part in forming executive bodies of power in the territories of Russia. And in this respect we

believe that the higher regional officials of the Russian Federation subjects must be elected by legislative assemblies of the territories at the Head of State proposal.

We have to admit that in our fight against manifestations of terror we in Russia virtually have not achieved visible results so far. Above all, we have not achieved visible results in eliminating the sources of terror. Root causes of terrorism are still in mass unemployment remaining especially in the North Caucasian region, ineffective social policies, low education level of young generation or even lack of opportunities to receive education. This all provides rich soil for extremist propaganda, growing number of terrorist bases and recruitment of new militants.

In order to overcome these problems it has been decided among other measures to reestablish in the Russian Federal Government a Ministry responsible for regional and ethnic policy issues.

Another important aspect of the problem is a need for strengthening the system of national security organization which would be capable of not only stopping terrorist acts and dealing with their consequences, but also of working on preventing terrorist raids, acts of sabotage and man-made catastrophes organized by terrorists. The system capable of pre-empting criminals and destroying them in their own lair, so to speak, and if required - getting them from abroad.

As Russia's Foreign Minister Serguey Lavrov stated yesterday in his speech at the UNGA 59th Session, under present conditions when international terrorism has declared war to all our civilization the determination of nations to exercise their right to self-defense in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter is becoming increasingly significant.

Both internally and internationally, we must uncover terrorists, their groups and organizations, cut off financial channels and create a political and financial vacuum around their emissaries and lobbyists.

We also believe that extremist organizations hiding behind religious, nationalist or other slogans and essentially breeding terror must be prohibited, their leaders and activists prosecuted in accordance with the law.

We firmly believe that to put an end to terrorism is only possible by combining the efforts of all states. The moment of truth has come. Double standards are impermissible. To divide terrorists into "bad" and "good" is sacrilege. Neither the perpetrators of terrorist acts nor their inspirers or sponsors, direct or indirect, must escape punishment.

As it was recently stressed jointly by President Vladimir Putin and the Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Gerhard Schroder in Moscow, I quote `Terrorism is a threat to international peace and security, and is an infringement of democracy and freedom, openness and tolerance. Today international terrorism, along with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, regional conflicts and organized crime is the most dangerous challenge to the security of both our countries' (unquote). They emphasized the need to do everything possible to fight all forms of terrorism in accordance with the UN Charter and the obligations stated in Security Council resolution 1373 (2001), stressed the central and coordinating role of the UN in the universal war on terrorism, and stated that in taking any measures to fight terrorism, they will observe international legal norms concerning human rights and refugees' rights, and also the norms of international humanitarian law.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the ongoing 59th General Assembly of the United Nations demonstrates broad international support and sympathy for Russia's combat against terrorism.

We welcome, in particular, the US President George Bush's message in his address to the General Assembly, I quote, "This month in Beslan we saw once again how the terrorists measure their success in the death of the innocent and in the pain of grieving families. Terrorists and their allies believe that suicide and torture and murder are fully justified to serve any goal they declare. And they act on their beliefs... Members of the UN, the Russian children did nothing to deserve such awful suffering and fright and death" (unquote). Similar sentiments were voiced at the Session yesterday by India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The ongoing Assembly will proceed with the implementation of Russia's initiative to build under the auspices of the UN a global system designed to address threats to security in the twenty first century. In this context consolidation of the global antiterrorist coalition under the UN auspices and with the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) of the Security Council as a major stakeholder, is still important. We expect that the discussion of this issue by the General Assembly will contribute to more efficient implementation by the States of the commitments under resolution 1373 of the Security Council, as well as to more active cooperation between international and regional organizations, and buildup of consultative and technical assistance provided under the aegis of the CTC to the countries in need.

It is equally important to continue efforts for harmonization of the Convention for the suppression of acts of nuclear terrorism (based on the Russian draft) and the Comprehensive convention on international terrorism (the Indian draft).

Before I conclude I must say that we in Russia were deeply touched by condolences, expressions of sympathy and solidarity extended to the President and Prime Minister of Russia by His Majesty Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, the King of Nepal, and Right Honourable Sher Bahadur Deuba, Nepal's Prime Minister, on the tragic events in Beslan. In his message His Majesty particularly stressed, I quote, " While condemning terrorism in all its forms, Nepal strongly feels that it cannot be justified as a means to achieving any end. We stand by Russia in her fight against terrorism and believe that all countries must unite in combating and eliminating this heinous menace" (unquote).

Intended love and unintended labor

By Bindu Chaudhary

American culture has a large influence on the rest of the world. American music is adored, and American movies are definitely a craze around the globe, including Nepal and India. Hollywood does a lot to introduce America and American culture to the rest of the world, as does Bollywood (home of the world’s largest film industry), and Kollywood. But quite obvious, film industry does not offer a full glimpse of a culture and lifestyle in totality and in reality, and that is why perhaps there is no substitute to experiencing and exploring a place yourself; I did my best not to come to America with a colored glass.

I used to spend quite some time in the cosmetics section of shopping malls in America, with a baby-spirit wanting to carry all of them back home, and apply all of them one on top of the other - because women around me with a couple of kids looked so young and tender, and I didn’t even have a kid yet! Not until I found that these young mothers were ‘technically’ and actually young, much younger than I was, did I realize that the proof of the pudding was in the eating! Good for my husband that I knew the reality sooner than his pay cheque arrived!

As a Social Worker in Nepal, I remember organizing a couple of awareness raising campaigns against teenage and child marriage and early pregnancy –targeting rural and the uneducated mass. I literally had to shake my head off and pinch myself when I encountered with the American media and television discussing about the rising incidents of teenage pregnancies, multiple partners and what they called the "sex addiction"- very much among the educated, the elites and the urban populace.

It was a shock for me to know that the teenage child birth rate in the U.S. is the highest in the Developed World (according to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America fact sheet), which is twice as high as England’s, three times as high as Australia’s, four times as high as Germany’s, six times as high as France’s, eight times as high as the Netherlands’, and 15 times as high as Japan’s. Also, about forty percent American teens become pregnant before the age of 20.

I do not deny the fact that there are teenage pregnancy in Nepal and India- according to the Ministry of Health, the proportion of teenage women 15-19 becoming mothers, or pregnant with their first child was twenty-one percent in 2001 in Nepal and in rural India, the incidence of teenage pregnancies is similar. However, the reasons for teenage pregnancy are different in U.S. and in South Asia, major of which pertain to early marriage, a vice that still exists in most South Asian countries.

According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) State of the World Population 2003, sixty percent girls in Nepal and fifty percent girls in India get married before they turn 18, in spite of legislation against early marriage. Early marriage is not by choice, but due to different socio-economic factors. I do not mean to justify child marriage anyway- I said it is the vice of our society. The poorest women start their childbearing earliest, and that in many developing countries, poor women start bearing children between the ages of 15 and 19, and the higher level of pregnancy could be adhered to factors such as early marriage, less ability to negotiate delays in sex and reproduction, and less access to family planning.

Tackling the figures of unwed teenage pregnancy separately, it still remains alarming in U.S., unlike in Nepal and India where unwed pregnancy is simply unacceptable. It is unbelievable, but true- 76 percent of U.S. teens giving birth in 1996 were unmarried. Don’t be surprised also to know that about 40 percent of teen pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion, according to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America Fact Sheet 1999.

Alan Guttmacher Institute Fact Sheet 2003 gives a figure of 49 percent of pregnancies among American women being unintended; half of which are terminated by abortion. Bet, you would be bogged off to know the reasons they give for abortion. On average, women give at least three reasons for choosing abortion: 3/4 or 75 percent say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or other responsibilities; about 2/3 or 66 percent say they cannot afford a child; and 1/2 or 50 percent say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner. Less than 2 percent have abortions because they became pregnant as a result of rape or incest.

It may be surprising for many that it was not until September 2002 that abortion was legalized in Nepal, and India legalized abortion as back as 1971, before USA in 1973. There is, however, a vast difference in the abortion rate in India and USA. Considering abortion rate as the number of abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44, the abortion rate for India was 2.7 in 1995/96, as against 22.9 in USA in 1996 (United Nations 1999).Could it be because America’s is the unrestricted abortion, which permits abortion "on request", besides for the other reasons also common for India like for the purpose of saving life, to preserve the physical and mental health, rape and incest, fetal impairment and for economic and social reasons? I don’t’ know, but one thing that surely is that America gets overboard in using or abusing their "freedom"; the handwriting is on the wall!

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