Nepal

Kathmandu, August 29

The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration today issued a circular to all local levels, directing them to implement the recommendations of the National Human Rights Commission regarding control and prevention of human trafficking.

The rights body, through the 2019 report on ‘Trafficking in Persons&, had made a number of recommendations to the federal government, provincial governments and local levels to reinforce the fight against the heinous crime of human trafficking. The report had also showed poor implementation status of recommendations made by the NHRC in relation to control of human trafficking, rescue and assistance of victims and their access to justice.

&All local levels are requested to implement the recommendations made by the NHRC through its 2019 report prepared and released on the basis of study and monitoring,& the circular read. Last week, the NHRC had also written to the MoFAGA to make local levels implement the two-point recommendation.

As per the recommendations, it requires each local level to carry out monitoring of population vulnerable to trafficking on a regular basis. Similarly, they will have to set up and operate a victim support mechanism and a separate fund. In addition, the local levels have been told to formulate and implement social security schemes to ensure that they are not lured by traffickers.

The NHRC, which established the Office of the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons in 2002, has been regularly publishing the national report on Trafficking in Persons since 2005. The NHRC report shows the trafficking situation of Nepal and subtly analyses the efforts of the government and non-governmental organisations besides identifying the gaps and challenges and suggesting the way forward. The 2019 report has described the situation, risks, tendencies and dimensions of trafficking through human rights perspective. It also analyses both strengths and weakness of the concerned authorities in combating trafficking.

It is estimated that around 35,000 persons, including 15,000 women and 5,00 girls were victims of human trafficking in 2018-19. The government has yet to effectively address the exploitation and violence associated with human trafficking. The crime continues to thrive due to lack of coordination among non-governmental organisations fighting against trafficking and governmentinability to crack down on trafficking rackets that operate under the guise of foreign employment and studies abroad.

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KATHMANDU: Police arrested one of the two persons accused of gang-raping a 17-year-old girl in a guest house in Kalanki, Kathmandu Metropolitan City-14, on Wednesday afternoon.

The arrested has been identified as Rabin Shrestha (23) of Gajuri Rural Municipality-1 in Dhading district, currently residing in KMC-14.

Acting on the complaint filed by the victim, a team of security personnel deployed from Metropolitan Police Circle, Kalimati arrested Shrestha.

According to police, Shrestha and another person — identified as Madan Thapa Magar of Jwalamukhi Rural Municipality in Dhading — raped the teenage girl, in Pashupati Guest House, Kalanki.

Meanwhile, an investigation into the case is underway and search is on for Magar who is still at large, police informed.

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Kathmandu, August 29

Speakers at a programme today suggested that adolescent boys and girls should be provided with sexuality education at school and also at home.

Speaking at the ‘Comprehensive Sexuality Education Mela& organised at Paknajol, Vice-president of National Youth Council under the Ministry of Youth and Sports Madhab Prasad Dhungel said many adolescents rely on internet to find information about their sexual and reproductive health. But most of them end up having inaccurate information about their sexuality.

&The authorities concerned, including teachers and parents, should teach adolescents about sexuality so that it will help boost students& confidence, and make them feel empowered,& said Dhungel, also the chief guest at the event. The programme was organised to promote comprehensive sexuality education through a series of activities that included a flash mob, inter-generational dialogue, counselling, information corners, games and a futsal tournament by Y-PEER Nepal and Sunaulo Parivar with tsupport from DFAT and UNFPA.

Students from eight community schools — Padma Kanya Vidyashram Secondary School, Shree Bal Byabasayee Kendra Secondary School, Ratna Rajya Higher Secondary School, Samata Siksha Niketan, Chamunda Higher Secondary School, Krishna Secondary School, Gamvir Samudra Setu Secondary School and Mahendra Bhrikuti Secondary School — attended the event.

Teachers, parents and adults have a great role to play teaching young people the basic facts of their body and social relationships, said the National Youth Council chief, adding that the government was doing all it could do to promote participation of young people in decision-making processes.

Also speaking at the programme, UNFPA Representative for Nepal Lubna Baqi said that many young people in Nepal still lacked access to youth-friendly health services putting adolescent girls at risk of unplanned pregnancies and complications during childbirth.

&An increasing number of early marriages are self-initiated by young people themselves often as a result of lack of information and guidance on how to responsibly handle intimate relations with a partner,& she said.

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Kathmandu, August 29

Three months after it was registered in the federal Parliament, the government today tabled the controversial Medial Council Bill in the National Assembly, the Upper House.

The government came in for heavy criticism after it registered the bill in the Parliament on May 10, on the ground that the provisions in the bill would curtail the rights of the free press and press freedom.

It took the government more than three months of consultation with related bodies such as the Federation of Nepali Journalist and opposition parties including the Nepali Congress, before it could take the bill forward.

Tabling the bill, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Gokul Baskota said that the government had consulted all the stakeholders, while preparing the bill.

&There are many internal and external challenges, we have to overcome in order to ensure press freedom. We can easily tackle the external challenges, but internal challenges are difficult to deal with,& Minister Baskota said. He also said that the press abide by the constitution and respect peopleverdict and democracy. Baskota informed that the bill was tabled only after consultation with FNJ and other political parties. &Every provision in the bill is not wrong, if there any weakness, we can rectify after consultation,& he added.

Nepali Congress Lawmaker Radheshyam Adhikari said that the bill should be amended after discussion. The billpreamble talks about independent, decent and responsible journalism, but it is no where mentioned that media should be independent and autonomous body. The bill has the provision for formation of Nepal Media Council, which will monitor media in the country, and it will work directly under the government. Adhikari said the council should be an autonomous body.

&The MC should be accountable to the Parliament and the Parliamentary Committee should appoint the council members,& he added. The bill has proposed to impose a fine up to Rs 1 million on media outlets, editors, publishers and journalists if they are found guilty of damaging someonereputation. The bill also stipulates that if any media publish content in contravention of the code of conduct and if an investigation launched after the affected partycomplaint finds that such news content damaged the reputation of the complainant, then the council can impose a fine between Rs 25,000 and Rs 1 million on media outlets, publishers, editors, journalists and reporters.

Moreover, the bill stipulates that the council can order the erring parties to pay compensation if the content in media outlets damages the reputation of the affected party.

The bill proposes punishment for violating the code of conduct which includes suspending press pass of media persons and downgrading the classification of media outlets. Adhikari said the MC should not have the power to impose fine or take action against media.

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