Open letter to rebel leader from HRW, AI, ICJ
20 May 2005
Pushpa Kamal Dahal (also known as Prachanda)
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
Nepal
Dear Pushpa Kamal Dahal,
The undersigned organizations are writing to you in light of a number of statements you have made over the last few weeks regarding the observance of international human rights and humanitarian law by members of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). While we welcome this declared readiness to comply with your legal obligations under internationally recognized rules of war, an ongoing wave of human rights abuses by Maoist forces over the last few months casts serious doubts on the credibility of your repeated public commitments to that effect.
We note that in a press release of 5 April 2005 the CPN (Maoist) publicly called for an international human rights monitoring presence in Nepal , arguing that such a mission presence would bring to light the violations by the Royal Nepal Army (RNA). At that time, the CPN (Maoist) also pledged to cooperate fully with any such mission, if established, and to be answerable for any human rights abuses by CPN (Maoist). On 12 April, you personally reiterated the pledge to fully support and cooperate with any human rights monitors. However, in an interview with Time magazine published on 18 April, you suggested that your party's ideology justified its abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law standards and that these abuses were somehow different - and less blameworthy - than similar abuses by the RNA. Although you also refer to efforts by the CPN (Maoist) to "correct mistakes," we are concerned by your lack of commitment to holding human rights abusers properly to account.
Examples of the lack of commitment to human rights by the CPN (Maoist) are plentiful. Maoist forces have staged several attacks recently on civilians and civilian objects, including political activists and schools. On 15 April, Maoists reportedly surrounded Bargadwa village, Somani VDC, Ward 7 in Nawalparasi district and rounded up all villagers. They then reportedly separated all the boys and men aged between 14 and 40 and summarily executed ten men and one boy. On 29 April, Maoist cadres reportedly abducted and killed Dan Bahadur Shreebastav, chairman of the Kapilvastu District Monitoring Committee, and on 9 May shot dead Bhagwan Das Shrestha, chairman of the Chitwan District Monitoring Committee. None of these victims were legitimate military targets.
Last month, Maoist forces also carried out a spate of attacks on schools in the context of a two-week campaign for the closure of all private schools initiated on 14 April 2005 . Among the schools targeted were a school in Nepalgunj, Banke district, on 17 April and another in Kalyanpur, Chitwan district on 21 April. Three children were reportedly injured when the Maoists threw a bomb at students at a school in Khara, Rukum district, on 17 April. Hundreds of schools across the country remain closed due to threats by Maoists. Furthermore, Maoist forces have regularly abducted large numbers of students from schools for political indoctrination and propaganda campaigns. In a recent example, reports from Salyan district indicate that as many as 200 students from remote villages were abducted around 17 May. None of these targets can be described as military - they were all civilians and civilian objects the targeting of which is prohibited under international humanitarian law.
We are also concerned that Maoist forces have abducted, tortured and killed civilians, whom they accused of "spying" and other crimes, and security force personnel whom they had captured. Among recent cases is Lila Singh, a 23-year-old karate practitioner from Mahendranagar, Kanchanpur district who was abducted from her home on 29 April allegedly on suspicion of spying. To date, her relatives have not heard anything about her fate or whereabouts. On 16 May 2005 , Shanker Sarki, a soldier, who had returned home from Congo where he had served in the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces, was abducted from his home in Dhangadi, Kailali district by 12 armed Maoist cadres in civilian dress and killed. Torture and extrajudicial executions are similarly prohibited, under international law, in all circumstances.
As you know, further to an agreement reached between the Government of Nepal and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on 11 April 2005 , OHCHR is establishing an office in Nepal to monitor and investigate abuses of human rights by both parties to the conflict. We see this as an important opportunity to improve the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in the country.
We urge you to take all measures necessary to comply with your obligations under international humanitarian law and to undertake to respect applicable international standards regarding protection of human rights. Specifically, we call on to publicly to prohibit CPN (Maoist) forces from engaging in targeting civilians and civilian objects and carrying out indiscriminate attacks, arbitrary killings, torture and other ill-treatment, taking hostages and recruiting child soldiers. We also call on you to remove from their post any CPN (Maoist) cadres who are responsible for human rights abuses. As an important step in this undertaking, we call on you publicly to pledge full cooperation with the OHCHR mission, to pledge to uphold the rights set out in the Human Rights Accord drafted by the National Human Rights Commission in 2004 and to instruct all (CPN) Maoist forces to do the same.
With reference to your interview of 18 April, we remind you that the civil war in Nepal falls under the purview of international humanitarian law. Among the fundamental protections during internal armed conflicts are those contained in Common Article Three in the four Geneva Conventions of 1949, regarding the treatment of persons taking no active part in the hostilities. This article prohibits, among other things, summary executions, torture and other ill-treatment, the taking of hostages, and punishment without fair trial. Credible information indicates that CPN (Maoist) forces routinely violate Common Article Three by engaging in brutal and abusive activities against civilians and others not taking active part in hostilities.
We point out that Common Article Three binds both states parties and insurgent groups. Adherence is not based on reciprocity and one party to the conflict cannot excuse its own violations of Common Article Three on the basis that the other party to the conflict is also violating it. The arguments set out in the interview published on 18 April that RNA abuses "outnumber" abuses by your forces or that your ideology justifies your actions in no way exempt you and your forces from your obligations under international law.
We call on the CPN (Maoist) to begin immediately to establish mechanisms for cooperation with the UN human rights monitoring mission, including mechanisms to allow transparent and independent investigations by the UN teams in areas under (CPN) Maoist control. We urge you to ensure that this message reaches every cadre in the ranks of the CPN (Maoist) forces. It is only through a transparent and engaged effort by both sides to this conflict that Nepali civilians, who have borne the brunt of this brutality, will have a chance for peace and justice.
The nine-year-old civil war in Nepal has already claimed over 12,000 lives and injured thousands more. It has resulted in massive displacement of people and gross human rights abuses. Both sides to the conflict have systematically flaunted their responsibilities to protect civilians and captured combatants. Yet each side is responsible for the conduct of its own forces and cannot justify abuses by pointing to the poor conduct of the other side.
We call on you to demonstrate that the forces under your command will respect their international obligations and cooperate in full with UN monitors trying to protect the rights of the people of Nepal .
We look forward to your immediate response.
Yours sincerely,
Brad Adams
Asia Director
Human Rights Watch
Purna Sen
Director, Asia & Pacific Program
Amnesty International
Nicholas Howen
Secretary-General
International Commission of Jurists
Women of South Asia in statistics
Tara Dahal
High Illiteracy rate
Education is the most important factor to standardize one’s own life. It provides reason to question structural injustices of society and seek autonomy for decision and action. Education provides them the means to fight against the irrationalized tradition, oppression and suppression and help to establish a rational society. Without education the real change can not be achieved. Because of the illiteracy majority of women lag far behind their male counterpart and cannot compete in equal terms. Bulk of them remains unsuccessful to nurture and protect their children in a better way and to follow the instruction to operate machinery, equipment and other tools to compete in the knowledge society. People who are literate have a better chance of finding a good job, lead a healthier life and sustain well-being for themselves and their children. South Asian region has unfair ratio in literacy rate of men and women. The South Asian women comprise 21% of the world’s total female population. Literacy rate of female is 37.2% and the male is 64.1%. 44 percent of the world’s illiterate women are concentrated only in South Asia. Girls are withdrawn from schools and colleges in early age due to preference for male child in societal status. This shows that this region lag far behind in educational front. This hinders woman to be independent and feel herself a special person who can bear all the responsibility being free person. The effect of our activities is only half without the participation of women.
Predominance of Agriculture in occupation
Agriculture is the main domain of women’s activities. Women’s position in society is measured by the background of her parents and on the basis of their access to the means of production. Until recently, women did not have access to property right. Women are not equally preference for public sphere and paid and their work is not counted in national statistics. 70% women live in rural areas. Men’s migration towards urban areas in search of job leaves women on the land to produce food grains and look after children. Women look after and fed by subsistence agriculture which does not give them to power to multiply other economic activities. Women do most of the household works, such as preparing land for sowing seeds, transplanting, weeding, harvesting, and so on. She is, however, not allowed to decide what to do with the crops and where to use it. The income is used by the male. Women’s contribution is more than the men but the consumption and decisions regarding sale are determined by men. Women’s social contribution is not fully recognized and incorporated in public accounting system. There is discrimination in property ownership, employment, inheritance, wage, division of labor and authority. Weather related uncertainty in farming is another big problem in South Asian region. Monsoon climate is very unpredictable which determines cropping patterns in the region. Inequitable distribution of land owning system is directly related to lower economic growth and productivity.
Multiple Causation of Violence
Violence is an action or words which are intended to hurt people. It is extreme and illegitimate force. Power inequality between women and men constitutes gross violation of constitutional and human right of women. Domestic and non-domestic violence have been deep rooted in South Asia and poor and marginalized women are especially the victim of this sort of action. Girls have excess mortality rate. About 4% girls under 5 years of age are missing in South Asian region. The exact data are not available as most of the cases do not come out in media and pubic discourse. Illiteracy, poverty, religious orthodoxy and tradition socialization process coerce women to bear the layer upon layer of violence from cradle to grave. Pakistani and Indian women bear high degree of violence compared to the women of the other South Asian countries. From Nepal about 5000-7000 girls are taken to India for sex trade each year. It is estimated that 70% women in brothels become mother. A large number of women are suffering from HIV-AIDS and thrown out from brothels. About 10,000 to 20,000 women are working as prostitutes only in India. The same trend can be seen in other South Asian countries and across border of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. About 30,000 Sri Lankan women and children are coerced to work as the prostitute for foreign tourist.
Maoist insurgency of Nepal and counter insurgency operations by the state has induced intolerable violence in society affecting the life of women. Women are suffering both from military and Maoist atrocities and suffer unwanted pregnancy, death, trauma and displacement. In Nepal 50% of violence are domestic. Some are religious violence. Badi (dancing girls), Kumari (living godds), Deuki (girl child offered to temples) system also force women in violence and prostitution. About 17,000 Badi women and 19,000 Deuki women are involving in sex related work. Dowry system is a vehement problem in India and Nepal. Bride burning and killing is normal in South Asian Region. In Pakistan two women are assaulted each hour. 10 women out of every 10,000 are raped in Bangladesh. Women who are divorced are not seen with good eyes by the society and face a lot of social and psychological problems. Women’s have to maintain feminist and stoic silence. There is no proper security system for divorced women and children.
Structural Discrimination
Discrimination means to treat a person or particular group of people differently or in the worse way because of their religion, color, class, caste, sex, wage, etc. Many aspects of social values and practice help to generate and perpetuate discrimination. Discriminatory practices associated with gender, ethnicity and race, religion, social status, etc result in social, political and economic exclusion of women from political participation, social movements, and domination of patriarchal power. This creates barrier to upward mobility of women constricting women’s ability to participate in developmental opportunities and to seek benefit from and contribute to the development process. This also limits women’s affirmation of their social, economic and political rights. Discrimination against women is widely prevalent in this region. This discrimination sometimes causes women to untimely death. The layer of discrimination against women is vehement than that of men. Female feticide and infanticide are high in India and Nepal due to preference for son. The system of patriarchy is partly attributed to this. Sex ratio in South Asia is uneven. 940 female for every 1000 males. The discrimination against women exists in socialization process, education, property right, mobility, opportunities, and autonomy and so on.
Issue linkage of Women with Children and Health
Health is the condition of the body and mind sound health explains a condition in which it is free from illness. It is the state of being well and smart. Women in South Asia are suffering from various health problems. Low nutrition is the core factor of bad health. Anemia, protein deficiency, lack of adequate energy and malnutrition are prevalent across the region. There are more then 76 million of children suffering alone in South Asian region. The condition of children is associated with the economic and social condition of family. Due to the poverty most of the children are coerced to exchange their future with being bonded labor. More then 261,300, 000 child labors exist only in South Asia. They are involved in low paid job like in carpet industries, garment industries, domestic servants, porters, garbage collectors, boot polisher dish washer in small restaurant and so on. This raises the high probability of disease. Likewise, the problem of girl child’s condition is worse than that of boys. There is high chance of sexual abuse as soon as she is out of home.
Nepal’s mortality ratio is 540 per 100, '00 lives birth which is the highest in this reason. 90% of birth takes place in home by the untrained people. Nepal stood in first position of smoking women which create cancer and bad effect on children. Parental investment to girl child is denied. Poor women have greater risk of illness as they have less access to health care. Health is strongly connected with the availability to the food and men are first given priority to it as it is believed that men’s work is regarded as the hard work. Communicable disease is connected among women. The timing of illness also stretches in women then men. The health of young women is not taken as serious and they tend to have more children as they wish. This renders high infant and maternal mortality. Old women have to die lack of medicine.
Women and Governance
Governance is correct disposition of public and private affairs. Governance involves the public (state), private (market) and voluntary (civil society) institutions, their relationship, their principles (equity, accountability, transparency, and legitimacy, and their processes such as co-ordination, communication, steering, goal-orientation and collective action to achieve synergy.
Women comprise half of the region’s population. Due to restrictions on mobility and freedom , lack of security, poor source of awareness , tight grip of ancient and traditional values and norms, they are not proportionately represented in politics as compared to men. Violent propagandas and rumors spread by men against women intimidate women from entering into the men’s world of politics. They also fear the attachment of stigma attached against them. Due to the fear of mental and physical violence , use of black money and muscles, their own lack of resources, etc hamper women’s participation in public affairs. Many women these days work in public sphere. Yet, women rarely achieve elective office or have equal access to a political career. Majority of women still play minor role in political and economic fields.
They do not have adequate access to fundamental rights and the institutional resources of the state. Majority of women are living under poverty line. They are constrained to represent in national bodies which make major decisions affecting their life, identity, liberty and property. The constitution has ensured equal right to every citizen and announced that no discrimination will occur on the ground of color, caste, sex and so on. Still, these promises remain non- implemented. There is uneven participation of women in governance as women are governed more by the unwritten transcript of society than written constitution. Despite constitutional rights and entitlements women continue to be one of the most oppressed sections of society. Government sponsored development activities seem to benefit majority of urban middle class women. The majority of women of rural areas lag behind in their access to property , education, health care and political freedom.
Fourteen out of ninety-nine elected people’s representative to the National Assembly are women and one of sixth Royal Advisory Councilors are also female. Law has changed but the people’s attitudes are same towards women. Women are made core issues of discourse almost in every sector but practically the reality is far more complex than theoretically articulated laws. The table below shows the various positions of women in governmental power. Bangladeshi women receive right to vote in 1972 and Indian, Pakistani, Nepali and Sri Lankan women received right to vote on 1950, 1947, 1951 and 1931 respectively. In Sri Lanka, women enjoy more political freedoms compared to other countries but there has no seat reservation for women. Sri Lankan women contested the election in 1931, Pakistani women in 1947, Indian women in 1950, Nepali women in 1951 and Bangladeshi women in 1972 receptively.
Conclusion
South Asian region is a region of paradox: on the one hand its civilization is very rich on the other hand it is still most back ward as compared to other regions of the world. The level of illiteracy here is high, poverty deep causing malnourishment of children, lack of gender-sensitiveness, highly militarized society and awful human deprivation. The general condition of women in South Asia is not very encouraging despite very progressive laws and constitution and the practice of democratic rights. The basic reason is that this region is characterized by Gunnar Myrdal as “soft-state” where the laws of the land are not properly implemented; tradition and unwritten transcript of society make its political culture patriarchal, hierarchical and patrimonial. Ensuring the political right by different mechanism like reservation, quota system and empowerment of women to strengthen their right are partially implemented.
The question of equal opportunity requires engendering of budgetary outlays, governance reforms, and massive doze of social investments in re-education, social mobilization and opportunity creation. Women’s liberation, entitlements with equal property rights and equal outcome are crucial aspects of their empowerment which are underlined in CEDAW, Beijing Plan of Action, SAARC declarations and constitutional commitments. South Asian women constituted as civil society are responding to opportunities offered to them by international social movements and proliferating networks and trying to break their historically prescribed, culturally imposed and equally defied position to achieve democratic order.
Women’s issues are always in the forefront of national and regional discourse since several decades but there has been not remarkable progress as policy questions lack adequate political will for implementation. Social inertia is another factor. Resistance to gender equality is still another. This means growing policy consciousness of women too is unrelated to the means of collective action. A well organized monitoring for the implementation of gender equality provisions should be created which should begin from ground level. Adequate system of monitoring, evaluation and reporting should be carried out systematically regarding the progress made and cost of non-implementation be increased. Guaranteeing of women’s security is another strong factor to uplift them where a common approach should be developed by the South Asia states, markets, civil societies and international community.
The Paradox of Decentralization
Dev Raj Dahal, FES, Nepal
One contemporary paradox of Nepali politics is that the dis-empowerment of the state--erosion of its stability, sovereignty, autonomy and embeddedness-did not correspondingly contribute to the empowerment of either civil society or market institutions or contribute to the overall development goal set in the Directive Principles and Policies of the State. The other critical paradox is that without a strong central government, devolution of power is not possible. But, a strong government with weak democratic credentials will, of necessity, centralize power and authority. Nepal's case is additionally problematic as it is heavily dependent on external resources for its development and is facing enormous pressure exerted by globalization from above for faster decisions, by localization from below for the closeness of governance, and by horizontal market forces for the accessibility of resource, environment, technology and innovation. Erosion of central control is, by no means, decentralization.
Unmediated by Constitutional norms and an absence of a buffer to protect the poor and powerless, the adoption of markets as a vehicle for economic growth in Nepal has produced growing inequality, social polarization and political instability. Without the strong cultural component of a modern state, such as robust formal institutions, rule of law and public rationale of government action, the politics of decentralization seem only to tinker with the symptoms of Nepal's development problems. Development in Nepal has been held up by centralist governments and, therefore, requires a focus on rebuilding the nation in a new way, a way that is expected to promote an efficient state with a widespread and enduring social project on local development. A democratic state is expected to handle public resources with respect and a sense of responsibility and produce a greater amount of human welfare.
Decentralization of power tempers authoritarian rule and makes the wielders of power more accountable for their actions. Devolving ownership, responsibility and decision-making authority to the grassroots level helps ensure the participation of the less empowered and fortunate section of population in the planning, execution, and monitoring of social and economic development. Decentralization can also improve the efficiency and responsiveness of development actors by bringing decision-making and implementation closer to the people. The idea of giving responsibility to the local, however, should not take away from the salience of the role of state. It should lead to a reapportioning of role and responsibility of central level authority to align with a broader national and democratic mandate, which is to promote governance goals-security, rule of law, voice and participation, and public welfare. By implication, central government has a greater responsibility to the people than local bodies-elected, officially induced or voluntary constituted to elicit people's participation. This greater responsibility must be matched by certain strengths, that which can ensure the Constitutional vision of the "sovereignty of people," making a poor person is no less sovereign than the most powerful.
To make the sovereignty of Nepali people operational, the commitments set in the Directive Principles and Policies of the State must steer the rest of Constitutional provisions to govern the public and private life of citizens organized under the state, the market and civil society. One way to make people's sovereignty operational is scaling up of local representation, especially drawing in women and marginal sections of society. The adoption of positive discrimination or affirmative action favoring women allowed the election of about 40,000 women representatives at the local level, indicating a lessening of the monopoly of patriarchal politics. The second way is by improving the participation of people in consumer associations and voluntary organizations. The formation of national-level DDC, VDC and municipality federations has fostered a virtuous circle for both social capital formation and engagement of its members in collective action. Still another is strengthening the bargaining power of local people through solidarity and civic engagements. The multiple and somewhat successful protests by the Federation of Community Forestry Users Groups in Nepal (FECOFUN) in Kathmandu in recent times indicates the power of associations to defend zealously their members' interests and overcome centrally constructed constraints. A high level of civic engagements in the governance process in their wards, villages, cities, Ilakas, electoral constituencies and districts not only empowers them but also generates a high level of social capital and, consequently, greater interest in voluntary cooperation for the promotion of public goods.
The Plan documents and LSGA appear favorably disposed toward creating enabling rules for executing decentralization responsibilities, including tax collection, dispute settlement among social actors and the management of common property resources. Having legal standing, the LSGA also allows local government institutions to enter into productive relationships with line agencies as well as with NGOs, civil society, private sector and solidarity organizations like those of women, Dalits, human rights, environmental and indigenous groups aspiring to sharing resources, remove barriers to power devolution, and induce social change. Rapid growth of NGOs, civil society and issue-based people's institutions has provided new tools and resources for forging connections. It has also offered a scope for speedy dissemination of information and innovation as well as crafting of generalized reciprocity, which are essential for reducing transaction costs. Now the state is not the sole controller of people's actions and a means for social renewal in Nepal. Still, a sound framework is needed to remove structural and cultural barriers so that the state, market and civil society can be mutually embedded in the life of local society and foster the organization and integration system of local governance.
A deeply rooted patrimonial political culture and patronage-based development practice in Nepal often made the protection of public interest a highly contested terrain. A patrimonial culture places the government as a giver and the people as a receiver of development benefits, not the claimants of Constitutional rights and duties. It does not treat people as co-producers of development but only consumers. When the national resources and budget known as "common pool resources," laws and regulation become a property of the government, their distribution becomes a highly private and partisan matter. The tendency of ministers to transfer resources in their home constituencies rather than where it is most needed not only makes decentralization dysfunctional but also intensifies the irrationality of power. This culture has fostered an upward accountability rather than downward, distorted the effects of public policy on development and turned the people and their institutions virtually powerless in terms of applying an instrument of collective action. A power-based political culture that subverts the purpose of governance "to protect weak against strong" creates a "closed caste" for elite status quo and prevents the continuous and steady changes of society towards progress and modernity.
How can the poor and powerless people exercise their sovereignty when they are grievously exposed to the mercies of relatively centralized political parties and their leaders? When the donors' regime and governmental system are based on the logic of centralism how can decentralized bodies elicit the participation of poorer sections of society by stimulating them to exercise influence in decision-making and maintaining democratic control? Half a million Nepali Rupees annual grant-in-aid to each VDC and the authority to generate financial resources through taxes, fees, charges and loans that make up the financial resource of local governance cannot ensure their autonomy especially when resource endowment of local government is regionally uneven and development planning is largely determined by the budget at hand. The efficacy of recently constituted Poverty Alleviation Fund at the national level and Local Trust Funds at the district level has yet to be seen. One positive shift in public spending from the center to lower units has, however, increased horizontal incentives for people's participation and competition. This is also attracting the poor to organize politically for collective action.
After three decades of flirtation with statism during Panchayat system, the post-movement regimes dismantled political control on the economy, privatized many industries and liberalized trade and commerce. Economic decentralization and denationalization were expected to foster improved accountability, curb corruption and restrain centrifugal tendencies by accommodating local interests and concerns. Centrally planned development was considered an antidote for building a better society. A decentralized development that presupposes the local, practical knowledge possessed by the people-on-the-spot was considered important for making plans and programs contextual. A plan imposed by either the center or outside expert without consultation with the stakeholders was considered antithetical to local needs, initiatives and creativity. A concept of local ownership was equally paraded assuming that the benefits of that project should be distributed among the various economic groups and the accountability arising from the benefits is enforced.
Ironically, however, the successive failure of each national plan to meet its intended goal of lifting the income of the lowest economic groups indicates that the economic growth strategy-sectoral progress, privatization and structural adjustment-tended to legitimize a greater inequality, regressive taxes and subsidy to higher income groups and undermined the prospect for decentralization. It increased the costs for the majority of poor to participate in the economic growth. As a result, the need for alternative thinking emerged strongly-the need for local self-governance. The vision that decentralization serves as an instrument to reconstruct social justice and consolidate economic development has been notably reflected in three programs-Special Area Development Program covering 22 backward districts, Disadvantaged Groups Development Policy especially to provide benefits to the untouchable sections of society called Dalits and Indigenous People Development Policy formulated in the late 1990s to address human deprivation. Targeted programs like these are especially important for advancing the interests of more vulnerable sections of society and bringing them into the very center of the policy making process. The central challenge for Nepalese policy makers is to confront social power posed by societal complexity and asymmetries and their attendant effects on the composition of political power.
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