Editor's Note: During my internship, I helped work on this oped authored by Lily Thapa, Founder of Women for Human Rights, that was just published in The Kathmandu Post--Nepal's largest English daily newspaper.
The evolving political process that is currently underway in
Nepal
provides an ideal opportunity for the government to support the rights of the
country’s growing number of single women and to recognize their essential role
in the nation’s new political era and peacebuilding process.
Today, our country stands at a crossroads. The evolving political scene, transitional justice process,
and drafting of a new constitution provide an opportunity for the government to
uphold the rights of single women and ensure that their needs are addressed. Subsequently,
single women can play a unique role in our nation’s peacebuilding process and act
as agents of change to help lead the long-term development process in Nepal .
Lily Thapa consulting with single women in Kavre district (Women for Human Rights, Single Women Group) |
Over the last decade, there has been an unprecedented rise
in the number of single women in Nepal—especially widows—totaling just under
half a million, according to the 2011 census. This growing trend is mainly due
to deaths and disappearances related to the ten-year conflict, the spread of
AIDS, conditions of extreme poverty, early marriage, and
the persistence of harmful traditional practices in some districts.
More than ever before, single women are carrying the burden
of supporting their households, while still facing significant legal,
political, cultural, and economic obstacles. Nepal ’s traditional patriarchal
social structure has created an environment of discrimination against women,
and particularly single women, which has permeated society at both the national
and local level. This can be seen in the form of gender-discriminatory
provisions in legislation and the lack of women and single women in high-level
government positions, as well as in customary practices against widows such as
blaming a woman for her husband’s death, denying her the right to inherit her
husband’s property, and not allowing her to wear bangles or colorful clothing.
Many of Nepal ’s
single women have become widows while they were still in their early twenties
and thirties, destined by society to spend the rest of their lives in poverty
and vulnerable to abuse. Single women often suffer economically and rarely
receive education or vocational training to help secure their financial situation.
Only 11 percent of single women in Nepal
are literate, compared with the national average of women in Nepal at 57 percent. The future and
education of single women’s children also remains a concern. With little financial
support, often the children of single women—especially their daughters—cannot
afford an education and become susceptible to early marriage, abuse, or human
trafficking.
A major issue that plagues single women and girls who have
been affected by conflict is the need for transitional justice. During the
ten-year insurgency, women bore the brunt of the violence. They were often
targeted as victims of widespread sexual violence and thousands of women young
and old lost husbands or fathers. Now, six years later, many of these women
have still not received proper reparations nor an opportunity to seek justice.
Over the past few years, the government of Nepal has taken
some initial steps to recognize the rights of single women—such as the 2011
annulment of five discriminatory laws in the 11th Amendment of the
interim Constitution—but the realization of these rights is not always
implemented at the local level. Also in 2011, the government of Nepal
launched a National Action Plan for the implementation of U.N. Security Council
Resolutions 1325 and 1820, which emphasize the essential role that women play
in the conflict resolution and peacebuilding processes, as well as the need for
protection and justice for victims of sexual violence. To uphold its
commitments to the National Action Plan and to the women of Nepal , the government must
prioritize funding for programs and reparations in support of single women and
ensure that these rights are protected.
Moving forward, the government should take a holistic
approach by providing support for various services that can address the
economic, social, and political challenges that single women face. The
government can help support local Civil Society Organizations, such as Women for Human Rights, Single Women Group,
or WHR, on providing counseling, legal assistance, social security, livelihood
skills training, and a safe space for immediate services, which can
collectively enable single women to reintegrate back into society. International
agencies and donors should also demonstrate their commitment to the development
of single women’s rights in Nepal
by keeping it as a priority funding area.
During this transitional period following the Nepal
peace agreement, the government must guarantee access to justice for
conflict-affected women and girls as well as a role in an inclusive national
transitional justice process that incorporates their input and gender
sensitivities. The recently proposed blanket amnesty for perpetrators of crimes
committed during the ten-year conflict must be amended to allow prosecution for
serious human rights crimes including murder, abduction, sexual violence, and
disappearances. Most importantly, conflict-affected women and girls want and
deserve to know the truth about the crimes that took place, and the government
should provide appropriate reparations.
In addition to financial support, conflict-affected women
and girls also require programming to help them address their immediate needs
and overcome the trauma that they have faced. The government should focus on
providing more reconciliation programs that could assist these women in
transforming their sorrows into strength. Many single women who have previously
received holistic services from WHR have become empowered and now serve as
peacebuilders within their own communities.