Nepal

Kathmandu, August 14

The ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has once again postponed meeting of its secretariat, also known as the partyhigh command, citing lack of preparations.

The meeting scheduled for this afternoon could not convene after a consultation between NCP Co-chairpersons KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, this morning, could not reach a conclusion on delegating responsibilities for central committee members and naming heads of departments, including the contentious School Department.

Of the 33 departments, former CPN-UML has got 18 departments and former CPN-Maoist Centre has bagged 14. Who leads the contentious School Department is still undecided as both sides have been staking their claim on the key department of the party. Ishwor Pokharel from the former UML and Narayan Kaji Shrestha from the former CPN-MC have claimed the position of chief of School Department.

Merger between the erstwhile CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre will be complete only when the unified NCP completes these tasks. Right after arriving in Kathmandu from his Singapore visit on Monday, MP Oli held meetings with top NCP leaders, including Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal on the matter, but the talks failed to make headway as top leaders wanted their close ones to be appointed department heads. NCP General Secretary Bishnu Paudel told THT that the co-chairs decided to defer the meeting until tomorrow following their consultations this morning as preparatory works were incomplete.

After the last secretariat meeting held on July 29 failed to name department heads, top leaders had stressed the need for more groundwork and the two co-chairs had asked Paudel to interact with the Standing Committee members on who should lead the departments. Paudel has already completed consultations with party leaders, and was supposed to present his report in todaysecretariat meeting.

NCP Secretariat Member Jhala Nath Khanal attributed lack of preparatory meetings between leaders for the postponement of todaysecretariat meeting. &Tomorrowmeeting might come up with some results,& Khanal told THT. Party insiders say things were also yet to be sorted out within the former UML as Oli and Nepal compete for the appointment of department heads close to them. Beduram Bhusal and Ghanashyam Bhusal, who are close to Nepal, have also staked claim on the School Department.

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Kathmandu, August 14

Human trafficking is not only a heinous crime, but also a vicious form of exploitation facing Nepali youths and children. Governmenteffort and investment have fallen short in combating the crime.

A report on ‘Trafficking in Persons-2019& recently released by the National Human Rights Commission said crime of human trafficking has yet to get due attention of the government. Government has assigned the responsibility of curbing human trafficking mainly to the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens. The Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security and Ministry of Foreign Affairs are also responsible in the fight against the crime. &The budget appropriated to the MoWCSC for anti-human trafficking programmes and activities in the last fiscal was below Rs 10 million. It is estimated that around 35,000 persons, including 15,000 women and 5,00 girls were victims of human trafficking in 2018-19. If the appropriated amount is divided by Rs 35,000, budget per trafficking victim will be less than Rs 286. This petty investment meant for ending human trafficking is ridiculous in itself,& the report stated.

The report said that around 1.5 million population was at risk of trafficking in 2018-19 and nearly 35,000 of them ended up in various forms of trafficking. &If the budget of Rs 10 million is distributed among the vulnerable people, they will get around seven rupees each. The investment made by the government is too little to address the problems of trafficking,& it said. Previously Nepali women and girls trafficked by organised crime syndicates used to end up in Indian cities, New Delhi and Mumbai. Now trafficking of Nepali girls and women is not limited to neighbouring countries. Web of trafficking for worst forms of slavery and sexual exploitation has gradually spread across African and Latin American countries. Human traffickers have been capitalising on lack of employment opportunity in the country, low education level and poverty to lure women, girls and men into foreign countries with the promise of lucrative jobs and better future. The victims feel cheated only when they are left to fend for themselves in a foreign country.

The report also paints a bleak picture on implementation status of recommendations made by the NHRC to the government in regard to control of human trafficking, rescue and assistance of victims and their access to justice. &Most of the recommendations are limited to paper as the concerned authorities pay no or less attention to them. Even the rights body is not informed about the progress on implementation of the recommendations,& it read

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Kathmandu, August 14

Woman rights activists, government officials and stakeholders have stressed the need for a consolidated progress report to be presented in multiple UN forums being held in 2020.

They demanded the consolidated report as Nepal is not able to showcase its remarkable achievements made on gender equality and women empowerment in international forums.

The year 2020 will be an important opportunity for Nepal to present its achievements as it is the year for major UN reviews like Beijing+25, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG+5) and UNSCR 1325+20. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) had adopted resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security on October 2000. The resolution reaffirms and emphasises contributions women make towards conflict prevention, peacekeeping and conflict resolution.

Celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) as well as ICPD+25 (International Conference on Population and Development) will also take place in the same year.

&Though Nepal is making remarkable achievements on women empowerment and gender equality it is not able to present these achievements in international forums. Such events are platform to showcase the achievements made by Nepal.

Therefore a consolidated document should be prepared on time to present Nepalachievements in equality and empowerment of women in such international forums,& said Bandana Rana UN CEDAW, vice-chair at a programme titled, ‘Gender Equality and WomenEmpowerment 2020, What it Means for Nepal,& organised in the Capital today.

The event was organised to discuss about coordinated and collective action in drafting official reports including issues related to gender equality and womenempowerment to be presented in UN forums.

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KATHMANDU: Winner of Madan Puraskar of Nepal, litterateur Madan Madan Mani Dixit has passed away today. He was 96.

Photo: Naresh Shrestha/ THT

Dixit, who was suffering from pneumonia was admitted to Sumeru Hospital last week and had just been discharged on Wednesday.

It has been reported that he became unconscious while moving to the restroom at home this morning. Subsequently, he was rushed to Putalisadak-based Himala Hospital where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.

Litterateur Dixit‘Madhavi&, ‘Meri Nilima&, ‘Rigveda& and other creations were cherished for their contribution to Nepali Literature.

Dixit was also known for his contribution to Nepali journalism.

Last rites of Dixit will be performed in Pashupatinath Aryaghat today.

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