Submit your Article

The 70th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is being held in New York City from March 9 to 19. Nepal was represented at the session by Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizens Shradha Shrestha, who led the country’s participation in various high-level meetings and discussions.

Minister Shrestha attended the session along with a Nepali delegation that included Secretary Radhika Aryal and Joint-secretary Abha Shrestha from the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens.

On the first day of the session, March 9, Minister Shrestha participated in two high-level events. At a program on strengthening legal systems to end child marriage, organized by Just Rights for Children and the Office of the First Lady of Sierra Leone, she presented Nepal’s views and ongoing efforts to eliminate child marriage.

Speaking at the event, Minister Shrestha said child marriage is a serious violation of children’s fundamental rights and stressed the need for stronger legal frameworks and multisectoral interventions. She also reiterated Nepal’s commitment to eliminating child marriage by 2030 and called for global attention toward declaring an international day dedicated to ending child marriage.

The minister also addressed a high-level evening reception organized to mark the 45th anniversary of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), with participation from UN Women, the UN Foundation and member states.

On March 10, Minister Shrestha took part in four important events. During a parallel event organized by Beyond Beijing Committee Nepal, Asia Pacific Women’s Watch, dZi Foundation and Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW), discussions focused on strengthening legal pathways for sexual and reproductive health rights and justice. The minister shared Nepal’s perspectives and interacted with organizations working in this field.

She also participated in a high-level side event organized under the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage, where she highlighted Nepal’s efforts to end child marriage. These include strengthening legal and policy frameworks, expanding access to justice, improving birth and marriage registration systems, promoting girls’ education and raising community awareness.

Minister Shrestha further participated in the ministerial roundtable and general discussion sessions under the CSW priority theme of ensuring and strengthening access to justice for women and girls through inclusive and equitable legal systems and by addressing discriminatory laws, policies and structural barriers. During the discussions, she presented Nepal’s national statement highlighting progress, challenges and ongoing efforts related to gender equality, justice and women’s empowerment.

On March 11, Minister Shrestha represented Nepal in three high-level side events. At a closed ministerial roundtable hosted by the government of Sierra Leone on advancing the nexus between sexual and reproductive health rights and gender equality, she shared Nepal’s efforts and experiences in promoting sexual and reproductive health rights and gender equality.

She also stressed the importance of strengthening multilateral cooperation and integrating gender equality and sexual and reproductive health rights into broader agendas such as climate action, peacebuilding and development.

In another discussion titled “The Race for Financing: What is and isn’t working for Adolescent Girls,” the minister highlighted Nepal’s efforts to invest in adolescent girls while acknowledging existing challenges. She noted plans to strengthen data systems, expand digital monitoring and enhance partnerships with the private sector, and called on the international community and development partners to increase long-term, multi-year investments in Nepal.

Minister Shrestha also spoke at a high-level side event related to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, where she highlighted Nepal’s constitutional provisions ensuring equality and inclusive representation, including reservation policies in the civil service and the growing participation of women in diplomacy and peace processes. She also shared Nepal’s efforts to implement recommendations from the CEDAW Committee through a national roadmap aimed at eliminating discriminatory laws and structural barriers.

On March 12, the minister also participated in a high-level meeting under the ministerial segment focusing on violence against women and girls, where she shared Nepal’s efforts and progress in addressing gender-based violence.

During her visit, Minister Shrestha also met members of the Nepali diaspora in New York and held discussions on Nepal’s current political situation, social development, future prospects and the role of the Nepali community abroad in national development.

Shreya Shrestha from ApEx had a conversation with Narayan Man Bijukchhe, president of NMKP, about the party’s performance in Bhaktapur-1. Excerpts:

For so many years, NMKP has been winning in Bhaktapur-1, why do you think the RSP won this time?

NMKP is a national and international party in principle and ideology. That is why NMKP has entered the elections not only in Bhaktapur-1 but also throughout the country. This time too, we fielded candidates from east to west and north to south across the country. During that time, new and old friends from Bhaktapur went to the districts. And this move indirectly benefited the RSP in Bhaktapur-1.

Do you think the people of the current generation are a bit disconnected from NMKP?

According to the Election Commission’s code of conduct, we did not put the young new generation forward in the elections. But other parties used new propaganda tools to influence the new generation and put mental pressure on the parents, which the Election Commission could not assess. It was reported that parents were being threatened and told, “If you do not vote on the symbol we have given, we will not send money home, we will not return home or we will not live in the country,” and there was a lot of crying in the houses. Such activities were definitely a form of threats and mental torture, which the Election Commission could not have anticipated in advance.

What do you think the new party will do now? Do you have faith in them?

Even if they are dedicated to serving the country and the people, no matter how much they succeed in the election, if they do not commit to working according to the parliamentary system, there will be many things to complain about. In the dissolved parliament, old and new MPs committed many immoral acts and corruption scandals. In the past, people have likened MPs to monkeys and miscreants. This is the country, this is the society, if the new MPs do not learn parliamentary behavior, there will be fights and corruption scandals like before.

There is also a claim that older parties were very confident in this election. Your thoughts? 

This is not true, but this time we are feeling satisfied that our cadres have honestly taken the trouble to cooperate and study the reasons behind our setback in various districts. It is said that a soldier who loses a war knows how to fight better. Our new generation also got the opportunity to understand Nepal not only spiritually but also physically.

Has the party learned anything from this defeat or gained experience?

Certainly, NCP workers understood the shortcomings of the government and the Election Commission and directly experienced that the current government is still under the influence of the US and India and that the Indian propaganda machine has interfered in Nepal's democratic activities. The entry of foreign journalists and photographers into the counting centers and the presence of US troops in some districts can give an indication of the direction of Nepal’s foreign policy.

Will the RSP be able to fulfil the agenda it has set for five years?

Their activities will determine whether they manage to fulfil the agendas within the given timeframe.  

Do you think people ignored whatever work your party did in the past?

Our country has been practicing democracy for just a few years, while Western countries have been practicing it for 400-500 years. Also, our country was a semi-colony of Britain for about 200 years and for about 70 years it was struggling under the shadow of Indian monopoly capital. In such an environment, the parties are not accustomed to standing on their own two feet and focusing on self-reliance. Every subject is a learning process and we believe that the Nepali people will learn relevant lessons soon.

The Supreme Court (SC) is hearing the writ petitions filed against President of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), Rabi Lamichhane, on money laundering and organized crime charges on Monday, as the case could not be completed on Sunday. 

A division bench of Justices Saranga Subedi and Sunil Kumar Pokharel would continue hearing on the petitions. 

Prior to this, a division bench of Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Shreekant Poudel had ordered that the petitions be presented for the hearing on Sunday.

Attorney General Sabita Bhandari had on January 14 decided to withdraw the case at a time when the case was under consideration in the SC. 

The writ petitions were filed against the decision of the Office of the Attorney General to withdraw the case related to the organized crime and money laundering charges.

Senior Advocate Dinesh Tripathi, advocates Yubaraj Paudel and Avash Regmi had filed separate writ petitions at the SC against the decision of the Attorney General.

The Nepali Congress (NC) has finalized the names from among the list of proportional representation candidates for the House of Representatives members. Among them, 15 candidates are women.

The meeting of the NC Central Working Committee convened today recommended the names of six candidates each from the indigenous communities and Khas Arya categories. 

Likewise, one each candidate has been selected from the Tharu, Dalit, Madheshi, Muslim and backward region categories. 

The meeting also decided to send three more names under the designated cluster to the Election Commission, said party Spokesperson Devraj Chalise. 

The candidates were chosen from the party's previously submitted closed list for the PR system. 

"We have finalized the names of the candidates based on the 20 seats secured by our party for the PR. We have altogether 62 seats in both the National Assembly and House of Representatives combined, out of which, 21 seats are reserved for women. So far, we have submitted a list that includes 15 women," explained Spokesperson Chalise.

If there is any issue in the cluster categories, the party will make necessary changes in line with the Election Commission's instruction, he reminded.

The meeting was chaired by party President Gagan Kumar Thapa and attended by Vice-Presidents Bishwa Prakash Sharma and Pushpa Bhuasal, General-Secretaries Pradeep Poudel and Gururaj Ghimire among others.