Nepal

Kathmandu, July 31

The National Human Rights Commission has urged Agriculture, Cooperative and Natural Resources Committee of the Federal Parliament to incorporate human rights issues in the Environment Protection Bill. The bill is under consideration in the parliamentary panel.

A press release issued by the rights body today said it provided suggestions to the parliamentary committee in accordance with Article 249 of the constitution after holding clause-wise discussion with the stakeholders and environmental experts.

The NHRC suggested that the parliamentary committee should define ‘polluter& in the bill. &Though the constitution and the bill stipulate the provision of providing compensation to pollution victim from the concerned polluter, it is necessary to mention legal definition of polluter,& the rights body said. If a person or organisation suffered any loss or damage due to emission of polluting gases, discharge of hazardous waste or accidental pollution by anyone contrary to the bill, such a victim could submit an application to the concerned authority requesting an order of compensation for the damage caused to him/her or it, stated the bill.

The NHRC has recommended some additions in Section 7 of the bill to ensure that implementation of any development project will not infringe on the rights of indigenous people residing around a project site. The parliamentary committee has been urged to stipulate a provision which empowers all three levels of the government to halt any project implemented without getting environmental study report approved or halt a project being implemented in contrary to the approved report.

Section 16 of the proposed bill stated that waste of any specific kind that did not cause significant adverse impacts on human health and environment could be imported. The NHRC suggested the parliamentary committee to impose complete ban on import of hazardous waste.

The rights body also suggested the parliamentary committee to prescribe qualification of environmental inspector. &It will be appropriate to nominate a person who has earned at least bachelordegree in environmental science or environment management or environmental engineering as an environmental inspector,& the NHRC said. The parliamentary committee has been told to ensure the participation of local community in the management of protected area declared by the government.

Section 32 of the bill provided for provision of an 11-member National Council for Environment Protection and Climate Change Management chaired by the prime minister to carry out functions relating to environment protection and climate change at the national level. &The structure of the national council mentioned in the bill is not consistent with the principle of proportional and inclusive representation. Therefore, it should be made inclusive by increasing the number of members,& the rights body suggested.

The rights body said the parliamentary committee should add a provision to the bill that allowed a person to file a complaint at the NHRC in regards to human rights violation by projects operated by all three levels of the government. In yet another suggestion, it said that the bill should have a provision of recovering compensation for a pollution victim within three months.

&Any official who fails to recover compensation for the victim from the guilty within three months should be made liable to departmental action,& it stated.

The post NHRC for rights friendly environment protection bill appeared first on The Himalayan Times.

Kathmandu, July 31

Proceedings of the House of Representatives continue to remain stalled for more than three weeks now, with ruling party reluctant to heed the oppositiondemand of forming a parliamentary panel to investigative two alleged cases of extra-judicial killings in Sarlahi district.

Sarlahi district in-charge of the Netra Bikram Chand led-group Kumar Paudel was killed in an alleged encounter with police on June 20, and Saroj Narayan Singh of Ishwarpur Municipality was killed during police firing in a protest on the East-West Highway on June 30.

As soon as the House proceedings began today, lawmakers from the main opposition Nepali Congress and Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal rose from their chairs to stall its proceedings, but Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara ignored their protest and continued with House proceedings, following which the opposition lawmakers swarmed the HoR well.

Mahara repeatedly tried to pacify the opposition lawmakers, but they continued with sloganeering disrupting the House proceedings. The lawmakers also demanded that the Girish Chandra Lal Commission report on killings during the Madhes movement of 2015-16 be made public.

Mahara then postponed the meeting till 2:00pm tomorrow. He has called an all-party meeting tomorrow morning.

RJP-N Lawmaker Laxman Lal Karna said they would continue to obstruct the House until the government formed the probe panel and made public the Lal Commission report. &I am wondering why the government is scared of a parliamentary panel that will also have representative from the ruling party,& he told THT. NC Chief Whip Bal Krishna Khand said Speaker Mahara should facilitate formation of the probe commission acting as a mediator. &Unfortunately, the speaker has been promoting the ruling party by ignoring the opposition,& said. The ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) is of the view that there is no need to form a Parliamentary panel to probe into the killings.

A 14-point agreement had already been reached in the case of Singhdeath and the Parliamentary State Affairs and Good Governance Committee was studying Paudelkilling, according to NCP Chief Whip Dev Gurung. &So formation of a panel to probe Singhdeath has been ruled out. As far as Paudeldeath is concerned, a thematic parliamentary panel is already studying it. So forming one more House panel is not coherent with the parliamentary practice,& Gurung told THT, adding that House obstruction for an extended period would prove detrimental to the parliamentary system.

Karna, however, said there was a difference between thematic committee and parliamentary probe committee. &The State Affairs Committee is not probing the incidents. It only discussed the issue,& he said. Observers said obstruction of House for a long time was not desirable, and both the ruling and opposition parties should work towards ending the stalemate. Former Speaker Daman Nath Dhungana said the government should assure the opposition in resolving the issues during Business Advisory Committee meeting, while the opposition should not disrupt House indefinitely.

&Tensions surface in the parliament, but such tensions should be eased using parliamentary instrument, that is Business Advisory Committee where the speaker should take the lead,& he said. &But the speaker, the government and the ruling party seem to be avoiding a dialogue with the opposition,& he added. Both the ruling and opposition parties should have uniform opinion when it came to the issue of human rights violation, according to Dhungana.

The post Opposition continues to stall HoR proceedings appeared first on The Himalayan Times.

KATHMANDU: A black plastic bag, inside it a packet well-wrapped in an old newspaper; every girl buying sanitary products in the country is familiar with such a package and the &shame& attached to it. Every female& from a school going teenager to a working adult& has mastered the art of discreetly transporting their sanitary pads to the bathroom from their bags.

In Nepal, a dominantly Hindu country, menstruation is highly associated with the notion of impurity and over 89% menstruating females are victims to some form of restriction or exclusion. These restrictions range from not being allowed to enter places of worship and the kitchen, or sleep on a bed to, in extreme cases, being banished to cowsheds from their own homes (i.e. Chhaupadi) out of fear of contamination. In some cases, the exiled girls fall victims to sexual assault and even death.

File & Chaupadi shed in Bahrabis of Bajura. Photo: Prakash Singh

Although Chhaupadi was criminalised in 2017, society has internalised the concept of menstruating women as impure and the derivatives of the practice are still prevalent around the country. Women on their periods are often referred to as nachuney, which literally translates to untouchable.

Such language and ill-practices camouflaged in the name of traditions have resulted in a deeply rooted cultural taboo that surrounds the topic of menstruation.

The stigmatisation of menstruation and the lack of discourse around the topic not only ostracise young girls and women for carrying out a natural phenomenon but also creates obstacles in their day-to-day lives.

Sanitary products are not easily accessible, especially in the rural areas, and women and their families do not have proper information about menstrual health. A 2017 Scoping Review about Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management in Nepal conducted by Maverick Collective found out that 83% of women still use cloth rags while only 15% use proper sanitary napkins and/or tampons. However, girls and women are ashamed and embarrassed to openly talk about their struggles due to the stigma surrounding the issue. In multiple cases, this results in absenteeism from schools as well.

In such a society, two ambitious women, Shubhangi Rana and Jesselina Rana, are leading a social enterprise that aims to break down taboos surrounding menstrual health. Founded in 2018, Pad2Go started off as an enterprise to introduce vending machines for sanitary napkins for the first time in the country. With time, however, it is taking a more holistic step forward in the sector of menstrual health.

&Pad2Go aims to be a holistic movement in the menstrual health field and focuses on access to sanitary products, sanitary facilities alongside efforts at normalising the topic of menstruation,& stated co-founder Jesselina Rana. &We aim to create an environment where women and girls are not stopped from accessing education and public facilities as a result of their menstrual cycle.&

According to an article published in The Himalayan Times, Bajura district of the far-western region of the country has only around 250 girls enrolled in schools and even then adolescent girls miss around 4-5 days of school every month due to menstruation. The lack of proper sanitary products and the inability to afford them results in girls being confined to their homes.

In a study about menstruating girls in Kathmandu Valley, Ashok Pandey, assistant research officer at Nepal Health Research Council discusses how the lack of gendered bathrooms and the fear of being embarrassed while menstruating still prevents hundreds of girls from attending school not just in rural areas but even in the capital city.

Understanding the grave situation of educational institutions for young girls, Pad2Go has already installed 60 vending machines across four provinces (1,3,4,5) in just 9 months. Through collaborative efforts with Whisper Nepal and Safety Nepal the machines, which do not require electricity or batteries to operate, are able to provide sanitary pads at a lower price than the market making it more accessible to females across the country.

Jesselina Rana teaches a young female student to operate a vending machine. Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Pad2Go

Female students excitedly learn how to use a sanitary pad vending machine. Photo Courtesy: Pad2Go

Additionally, Pad2Go is collecting profits from their vending machines as well as other profitable proceeds to construct gender and disability-friendly toilets in the schools of Bajura.

&We have gotten feedback saying that girls, especially in rural areas, like to attend school during their periods just so they can use the machine. New innovations and facilities attract people, and combining new technologies to counteract old taboos prove to work really well!& said co-founder Shubhangi Rana.

Along with the lack of sanitary products, menstruating girls are also made to fear to contaminate religious and even communal resources with their &impure& touches. The stigmatisation is so deeply embedded in our culture that young girls view themselves as bad omen while menstruating and believe that they should not leave their homes and contaminate their community.

In order to debunk these beliefs and traditions, Pad2Go conducts interactive workshops in schools and colleges across the country. In an attempt to normalise menstruation, these workshops& that include people of all genders& have become a platform to discuss not just the biological aspects of menstruation but also the taboos that surround it and how it impacts the lives of millions of girls in Nepal.

Co-founders Jesselina Rana (left) and Shubhangi Rana (right) conducting a workshop about menstrual health management. Photo Courtesy: Pad2Go

&They [workshops] help to create conversations around the topic and students are able to share their own experiences and understanding of the taboos and their impacts on their lives,& shared Rana.

With the support of multiple schools and offices that have reacted very positively to the initiative and have understood the need for these vending machines have immensely helped this much-needed social enterprise.

However, in a patriarchal society like ours, the journey has not always been smooth for the two passionate women.

&One of the biggest challenges as young women establishing a business was definitely to make ourselves be taken seriously in the initial phase,& explained Rana. &But we view these challenges as opportunities for ourselves to grow and also to help other young women entrepreneurs to not give in easily.&

Setting an example for not just girls and women but everyone in the country, the two women have laid a solid foundation in the menstrual health sector by providing greater access to sanitary products and by fighting taboos surrounding the topic.

Pad2Go lends itself to start larger conversations about other pressing issues and ill-practices that are enrooted in Nepali society in the name of culture.

The post Pad2Go: Advocating for menstrual health and breaking taboos appeared first on The Himalayan Times.