Prominent Reproductive Rights Advocate Named to Nepal’s Constituent Assembly
May 2008
The Center for Reproductive Rights congratulates Sapana Malla, a leading Nepali women's rights advocate, for being named to the Constituent Assembly of Nepal, the body charged with drafting the country's new constitution. In January 2007, Nepal adopted an interim constitution, to remain in place while steps were taken to create a Constituent Assembly that would draft a new constitution. Advocacy by the Center and the Forum for Women, Law, and Development--a Nepali NGO of which Ms. Malla is founder--led to the recognition of reproductive rights as fundamental rights in Nepal's interim constitution. This marks the first time that a government in the region has explicitly recognized women's reproductive rights as human rights in a national constitution.
The naming of Sapana Malla to the Constituent Assembly is a good indication that the women of Nepal will indeed have a strong advocate on the Assembly. The Center has worked closely with FWLD for the past eight years. In 2000, it collaborated with FWLD to document human rights violations experienced by women imprisoned for abortion. The findings of this report contributed to the decriminalization of abortion in Nepal 2002 and the release of women.
UN Body Urges Action on Maternal Mortality in Nepal
June 2007
The U.N. body monitoring compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) has urged the Nepalese government to take action to address its high rates of maternal mortality. In Nepal, a woman dies every 90 minutes in childbirth, making the country one of the most dangerous places in the world to give birth. To reduce the alarming maternal mortality rate, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) advised the government to prioritize reproductive health care and contraceptives, especially in rural areas. The Committee also urged the government to adopt measures to enable women to give birth in the care of a trained health professional, a notable recommendation in a country where 80 percent of deliveries take place in the home and are most often attended by family members or neighbors.
The Center brought these violations of women's reproductive rights to the attention of Committee members through a shadow letter submitted prior to CESCR's review of the Nepalese government's periodic report. Our letter emphasized the catastrophic nature of maternal mortality; the impact of Nepal’s decade-long conflict on maternal health; the limited availability of effective and safe contraceptive methods; and the inequitable access to health services experienced by rural and poor women. The letter also drew the Committee's attention to the devastating impact of unsafe abortion, a leading cause of death and morbidity among pregnant women in Nepal. Abortion was legalized in 2002, yet women are still dying from unsafe abortion for many reasons, including the government's failure to crack down on illegal providers. We are disappointed that the Committee did not recognize the government's failure to ensure access to safe abortion services as a violation of the state’s obligation to protect the right to health under the ICESCR.
The Center applauds the Committee's attention to matters of grave importance to women’s health and lives. We will continue to push the Nepalese government to implement policies to improve the reproductive health of women and girls and better ensure their rights.
CENTER FILES CASE AGAINST GOVERNMENT OF NEPAL
February 2007
On February 22, the Center for Reproductive Rights and our partner, The Forum for Women, Law, and Development in Katmandhu, filed a case in Nepal's Supreme Court to force Nepal's government to protect women’s lives. Five years ago Nepal legalized abortion. Yet, five years later, the right to abortion remains a right on paper only. According to the World Disasters Report, neo-natal and maternal mortality claim twenty-five times more lives each year than the lives claimed yearly in Nepal's decade-long conflict. Complications from unsafe abortion are estimated to account for 20 percent of maternal deaths in health facilities alone—not counting the women who never make it to a hospital. An abortion in a government hospital can cost more than the average monthly salary, and 80 percent of rural women are not even aware that abortion is legal. Women are still dying from unsafe abortion. Rural and poor women are the ones who suffer most.
Melissa Upreti, Legal Adviser for Asia at the Center for Reproductive Rights and a Nepali citizen, joined the fight for abortion rights in Nepal over a decade ago, and is a petitioner on the case. "By failing to ensure that this essential health service is affordable and available, the government is discriminating against women, because only women need abortion. We are asking the government to prove its commitment to women by making safe abortion available and affordable to all women," Upreti said.
NEPAL DRAFT CONSTITUTION RECOGNIZING REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS IS ADOPTED
December 2006
On December 16, 2006, Nepal’s interim constitution was agreed upon by national political leaders. The interim constitution recognizes the right to reproductive health and other rights relating to reproduction as fundamental rights. This recognition constitutes a major political victory for women. It also marks the first time that a government in the region has explicitly recognized women's reproductive rights as fundamental rights in a national constitution. The Center is pleased that the constitution has been adopted. "If the government’s own official estimates are correct, more women have died due to pregnancy in the last decade than men and women due to the armed conflict. Most of these deaths could have been prevented," said Melissa Upreti, Legal Adviser for Asia at the Center. "The recognition of women’s reproductive rights as fundamental rights is a bold and timely step in the right direction."
The constitutional recognition of women’s rights to reproductive health, freedom from violence and discrimination, equal property, and proportionate representation at all levels of government marks significant progress. The interim constitution will provide the starting point for a new constitution, which is expected to be completed by 2009. The Center and its partners will work to ensure that the current provisions are included in the new draft constitution and lobby for the recognition of pregnancy, marital status, gender, and age as prohibited grounds of discrimination. "This commitment must now be translated into reality through concrete policy measures," Upreti said. "The support of government officials, civil society and donors will be critical."
Upreti had submitted recommendations to the Interim Constitution Drafting Committee (ICDC) advocating for inclusion of reproductive rights in the text. Advocate Chhatra Gurung, a member of the ICDC and the Legal Aid and Consultancy Center, a long-time NGO partner, played an instrumental role in advancing the recommendations. Another long-time partner of the Center, the Forum for Women, Law and Development in Katmandu, gave strong support to the recognition of women’s health rights in the drafting process.
BIG STEP FORWARD FOR NEPALESE WOMEN
December 2006
December 18, 2006, on the 27th anniversary of CEDAW, the Government of Nepal ratified CEDAW 's Optional Protocol. Now Nepali women have the power to bring claims of gender discrimination directly to the UN committee that monitors compliance with CEDAW. Women in Nepal experience many reproductive health problems due to discrimination, and the Center for Reproductive Rights would like to congratulate the Nepali government for empowering women to use the leading international women's rights mechanism to obtain justice when domestic remedies fail.
Discrimination impacts many aspects of women’s reproductive lives in Nepal. The country has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with 740 women dying per 100,000 live births. Most women still do not use modern contraceptives. Child marriage is common, and HIV/AIDS is spreading fast.
The Nepali government's willingness to hold itself accountable to women and to international bodies such as CEDAW is admirable, and provides hope for the women of Nepal. Our partner, the Forum for Women Law and Development (FWLD), has played a major role in Nepal’s ratification of the CEDAW Option Protocol by lobbying the government extensively. The Center is working closely with FWLD to develop strategic litigation on reproductive rights in Nepal.
CENTER SUPPORTS CASE ON BEHALF OF NEPALESE GIRLS
October 2006
The Center was recently invited to submit a memorandum in support of a case in Nepal that centers on a harmful traditional practice. The Nepalese practice of kumari pratha involves appointing a girl as young as two years old to assume the role of a "living goddess" until she attains puberty.
Separated from their parents, Kumaris adhere to strict religious rules and rituals that impose severe restrictions on their mobility, diet, access to health care and education. The practice also interferes with their rights to marry and establish families, as spouses of Kumaris are believed to suffer misfortune or die young. Our brief, which was submitted to Nepal’s Supreme Court in October, argues that the practice represents an institutionalized form of discrimination against girls.
Many reproductive rights violations are rooted in harmful cultural practices and religious beliefs. The Center's memo to the Court demonstrates that under international human rights law, enjoyment of the right to cultural and religious freedom cannot be protected by governments at the expense of other basic human rights. On October 31, Nepal’s Supreme Court heard the case and ordered the government to form a committee to investigate the harmful impact of the practice and offer recommendations for reform.
TRAINING LAWYERS IN INDIA AND NEPAL
September 2006
In August, the Center, in collaboration with our local partners, the Human Rights Law Network and the Forum for Women, Law and Development, conducted multi-day capacity building trainings for lawyers in India and Nepal. The trainings, the first of their kind in the region, provided information about international and comparative legal norms and jurisprudence. They are part of the Center’s long term strategy to build the capacities of regional legal organizations to do strategic reproductive rights litigation and engage with international mechanisms and national human rights bodies. Approximately forty lawyers traveled from various parts of India and Nepal to participate. By sharing information about successful legal approaches in different parts of the world, the Center works with local experts to develop creative legal strategies to address rights abuses. Based on positive feedback from participants, the Center will develop a more in-depth series of trainings in the region and support litigation initiatives.
Fourteen Nepalese Women Freed for Abortion-related Offenses; Others Continue to Languish in Prison
Read Our Full Report: Abortion in Nepal > >
November 2004
Nepalese and international reproductive rights advocates, including the Center for Reproductive Rights, are applauding King Gyanendra’s pardon of 12 women imprisoned for abortion-related offenses. In addition, the government agreed to commute the sentences of two other women. Although the king has issued similar pardons, this is the largest number of women ever granted amnesty for abortion. The pardon was issued on November 8, 2004 to mark the country’s fifteenth Constitution Day. It comes more than two years after Nepal legalized abortion, which had been prohibited under all circumstances including rape and incest.
Long after the ban was lifted, many Nepalese law enforcement officials and citizens remained unaware that abortion had been legalized and continued imprisoning or reporting women for undergoing the procedure. To date, some 14 women remain in prison for abortion-related offenses. Although rights-based advocacy has become sidelined by a government that is preoccupied with crushing the Maoist insurgency, the Center and its local partner, the Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD), will continue to advocate for the release of these women.
Many of the newly pardoned women, among 208 prisoners released by the king, had been jailed on charges of infanticide. A closer examination of their case histories, however, reveals that most of these women suffered from miscarriages, stillbirths, or induced abortions. In addition, the due process rights of these women were openly violated as they were denied the right to legal counsel, the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, and the right to a fair trial.
Nepal's parliament legalized abortion by passing the Eleventh Amendment Bill in March 2002. The king signed the bill on September 27, 2002, immediately making abortion legal under certain circumstances, including upon request during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy; without spousal consent; when a woman’s life or health is in danger; and in cases of rape, incest, and fetal impairment.
The legalization of abortion can be attributed to the rigorous efforts of Nepalese women's advocacy groups. The Center and FWLD worked closely with local groups and published Abortion in Nepal: Women Imprisoned to advocate for the liberalization of the country's abortion law. The research for the report, conducted in 2001, was used by a coalition of women's advocates to convince the parliament to change the law.
On December 25, 2003, Nepal's Ministry of Health adopted a crucial procedural order that authorizes the provision of safe abortion services in government health facilities. But it wasn’t until March 16, 2004 that the first government abortion clinic opened its doors to the public. Due to the overwhelming demand for safe abortion services and counseling, the government plans to create abortion facilities in six general hospitals across the nation. It has also trained more than two hundred doctors and nurses across the country to perform the procedure. However, the Bush administration’s anti-abortion funding policy, referred to as the "global gag rule" by advocates, presents an obstacle to the further expansion of the country's reproductive health services.
An estimated four thousand Nepalese women–two every hour–continue to die from unsafe abortions each year. These largely poor women face unwanted pregnancies that are often due to a lack of access to family planning services, early marriage, and sexual violence.
Read about the general state of women’s reproductive health in Nepal and South Asia.
PUBLICATIONS
Reports
Abortion in Nepal: Women Imprisoned
This report, produced by the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Forum for Women, Law and Development, documents human rights abuses arising from Nepal's abortion law. The report examines violations of women's rights relating to the abortion ban, as well as violations that occur in the enforcement of the law. Based on interviews with 19 women in prison on abortion-related charges, government officials, health care providers and others, the report documents the violation of internationally and nationally recognized human rights and advocates for the release of women imprisoned under the abortion ban.
Women of the World: South Asia
Learn more by reading the Nepal chapter (PDF) of Women of the World: East and Southeast Asia > >
Our Women of the World reports document laws and policies which impact women's reproductive and sexual health and shape their reproductive choices. Reproductive rights are internationally recognized as critical to both advancing women's human rights and promoting development. In recent years, governments worldwide have acknowledged and pledged to advance reproductive rights to an unprecedented degree. Formal laws and policies are crucial indicators of government commitment to promoting reproductive rights.
The Women of the World reports are the product of collaboration between the Center for Reproductive Rights and NGOs around the world. Each volume presents regional and national information about the following:
- Laws and policies regarding health, population, contraception, abortion, sterilization, safe pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and other sexually-transmitted infections;
- Women's legal status within marriage, including divorce, custody and property; labor rights; access to credit and education; and the right to physical integrity;
- Reproductive health and rights of adolescents, including the legal status of adolescent marriage, sex education, and sexual offenses against minors;
- Customary and religious laws and practices that influence the status of women and girls.
The reports show that although governments have adopted laws and policies to promote women's reproductive health and rights, such instruments have not always had the desired effect. In fact, oftentimes, the problem lies with the law or policy itself. The reproductive rights of women in the region continue to be violated with impunity due to the lack of enforcement of potentially beneficial laws and the lack of accountability for governmental failure to remove barriers to health care and to end gender-based discrimination.
Briefing Papers
Reporting to Treaty Monitoring Bodies
Organizations like the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners play an essential role in providing credible and reliable independent information to international human rights treaty monitoring bodies regarding the legal status and real-life situation of women and the efforts being made by governments to comply with human rights treaties. Shadow reports work to supplement, or "shadow," governments' reports on human rights issues by calling attention to their strides, as well as their setbacks.
Articles
Regional Partner Organizations
