Nepal

Kathmandu, July 23

The National Human Rights Commission has made a number of recommendations to the federal, provincial and local governments to put an end to incidents of caste-based discrimination and untouchability.

The rights body reminded the authorities concerned and people that the practice was punishable by law and needed to be accepted as a national problem.

A monitoring report ‘Status of Rights against Cased-based Discrimination and Untouchability& released by the NHRC last week stated that caste-based discrimination and untouchability deprived the citizens of basic human rights and caused adverse impact on their life, liberty, equality and dignity.

&The problem has yet to be put to an end. It is not only a problem of the Dalit community, but of all human communities. Democracy, human rights and the rule of law will be meaningful and the vision of peace, development and prosperity can be realised only if this practice is completely eliminated from society,& the report said.

The NHRC urged all three tiers of government to effectively implement the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights articulated in the constitution as fundamental rights of citizens for protection and promotion of human rights of the Dalit community. &The NHRC requests the governments of all three levels to incorporate ways to end caste-based discrimination and untouchability in their policies, plans, programmes and budget,& it stated.

The rights body also urged the governments to implement the recommendations forwarded to the federal government by the NHRC through periodic reviews on the basis of international commitments made by Nepal.

It stressed the need to provide training to law enforcement agencies and conduct awareness-raising campaigns to end all the ill-practices in the country.

&All three levels of government have to work in an effective manner against social malpractices by forming anti-caste-based discrimination and anti-untouchability promotion mechanism and bring to book the guilty on time,& the report said.

The rights body urged the federal government to empower and equip the NHRC, National Dalit Commission, National Women Commission and National Inclusion Commission working to abolish caste-based discrimination and untouchability. The NHRC has also requested all the political parties to help create an environment for effective implementation of the provisions stipulated in the constitution and prevailing laws to ensure that no citizen is deprived of his/her political, economic, social and cultural rights just because of his/her caste.

&The political parties are advised to incorporate social offences of caste-based discrimination and untouchability into their documents and mobilise their cadres to make people aware against such practices. They should also ensure the access of the Dalit community to their parties as per the principles of proportional inclusion and cooperate with the authorities concerned to punish the guilty,& the report said.

The NHRC has also urged civil society and non-governmental organisations to conduct awareness-raising programmes and pressure all three levels of government for protection and promotion of human rights.

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Kathmandu, July 23

Minister of Home Affairs Ram Bahadur Thapa today said the rape and murder of Nirmala Panta was not the first incident of its kind in the country.

Responding to the queries raised by mediapersons during a press meet organised at his office in Singha Durbar to make public the one-year report card of the Ministry of Home Affairs, he said, &What happened to Nirmala is nothing new. Such incidents occurred in the past, are taking place at present and may continue in future too, and cannot be prevented completely.& Nirmala, a 13-year-old girl, was raped and murdered in Kanchanpur on July 26.

Nearly one year after the heinous crime that drew national and international attention, the government has yet to bring to book the perpetrator(s).

On why the government failed to identify and arrest the guilty, Minister Thapa claimed that mixing politics with the issue had added to the complexities of criminal investigation. &Some tried to link the Nirmala rape and murder to the MoHA for shielding the perpetrator(s), which is very sad. Investigation is still on and the government is committed to punishing the guilty, no matter how long it takes,& Thapa said.

He also urged all to cooperate with the government to lead the investigation to a pragmatic end.

&Nepal Police has been successful in solving more than 95 per cent of criminal cases and is being criticised merely for its failure to arrest perpetrator(s) in five per cent of the reported crimes,& he said. He added that the government would bring to book the guilty of all outstanding cases.

Home Secretary Prem Kumar Rai said blunders and negligence on the part of Kanchanpur police at the outset of criminal investigation had made it difficult to identify and arrest the culprit(s).

Nepali Congress has taken serious exception to the home ministerremarks on the Nirmala murder and rape.

Taking to THT, NC Spokesperson Bishwa Prakash Sharma termed it an ‘irresponsible statement&.

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Kathmandu, July 22

Acknowledging its contribution to quality eye health care services, the World Health Organisation has today given Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology recognition as its collaborating centre for ophthalmology.

The announcement was made during a programme organised here to celebrate the silver jubilee year of the institution.

Jos Vandelaer, WHO representative to Nepal, handed over the recognition certificate to Reeta Gurung, chief executive officer of the institution, during the event. TIO is the first WHO collaborating centre in Nepal in the field of ophthalmology.

WHO collaborating centres are institutions such as research institutes, parts of universities or academies, which are designated by the director-general to carry out activities in support of the Organisationprogrammes.

Currently, there are over 800 WHO collaborating centres in over 80 member states working with WHO in areas such as nursing, occupational health, communicable diseases, nutrition, mental health, chronic diseases and health technologies, according to WHO.

WHO has provided this status to the institution for its significant contribution to eye care service delivery, education and training in the field of ophthalmology, and ophthalmic research.

Speaking at the programme, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said, &The institution has done extraordinary work in the area of eye health care and has contributed to the countryprosperity.& He also assured all the required support from the governmentside for the growth of the institution.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Population Upendra Yadav said a separate eye unit will be established in the health ministry.

Established to support prevention and control of blindness in Nepal and beyond, TIO has, till date, examined and treated more than six million eye patients, while more than 400,000 cataract and other major eye surgeries have been performed. The institution has a state-of-the-art intra-ocular lens manufacturing unit which produces high quality intra-ocular lenses which are used in cataract surgeries. These lenses are exported to more than 70 countries in the world.

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KATHMANDU: Minister of Home Affairs Ram Bahadur Thapa on Tuesday said the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal was a major threat to peace and security in the country and would be brought to the political mainstream soon.

&Though the government is largely successful in maintaining law and order in the country, complete peace will not be possible unless the Chand-led group is brought to the political mainstream like the CK Raut group,& he said. Thapa added that the government had repeatedly urged CPN to come to the negotiating table. &Informal talks with CPN are under way,& he said.

Thapa reiterated that it was the duty of the government to neutralise activities of the banned CPN. According to the MoHA, more than 500 leaders and cadres of the outfit have been taken into police custody.

• Home minister makes light of Nirmalarape

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