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The Kathmandu-based Indian Embassy in coordination with Maiti Nepal celebrated International Women’s Day in the premises of Maiti Nepal on Wednesday.

With the slogan “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress” and “Inspire Inclusion”, the program was organized to honor and appreciate the contribution of the women, reads a statement issued by the Indian Embassy.

Asta Laxmi Shakya, the first Chief Minister of Nepal, was present in the program as a chief guest.

Along with Anuradha Koirala, the founder of Maiti Nepal, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Indian Embassy Prasanna Srivastava also took part in the event.

Leaders of various political parties, representatives of social organizations and students of Maiti Nepal among others were present on the occasion.

Speaking in the program, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Indian Embassy Srivastava lauded the tireless efforts made by Maiti Nepal for the welfare of the women.

Mentioning that the Indian government in 2017 honored Koirala with the prestigious ‘Padma Shri’ award, he said that the Indian government has also appreciated the efforts made by her in this sector, according to the statement.

Highlighting the importance of special relations between India and Nepal, Chief Guest Asta Laxmi Shakya stressed on the need for collective efforts for the empowerment of women.

Addressing the program, Anuradha Koraiala informed about the initiatives being taken by Maiti Nepal. She also thanked the Indian Embassy for the continuous support.

In the program, Shakya and Srivastava honored Menuka Paudel and Ratna Kumari Sunuwar for their inspirational achievements.

Paudel of Kathmandu had become successful in collecting appreciation in Nepal and India through Indian Idol, singing reality show, 2023.

Similarly, Sunuwar, who came to limelight after passing grade 12 at the age of 80, proved that there is no age limit in studies.

On the occasion, the Indian Embassy presented books as gifts to the students of Maiti Nepal.

The Nepali government’s proposed bill on transitional justice contains important provisions, including for reparations, relating to the country’s civil war but still needs significant amendments, Human Rights Watch and Advocacy Forum-Nepal said in a report published today. Public debate and human rights activism have helped improve the bill, but the current version risks shielding those responsible for some serious crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, and denying some victims access to reparations.

The 50-page report, “Breaking Barriers to Justice: Nepal’s Long Struggle for Accountability, Truth and Reparations,” describes the decades-long struggle for justice by survivors and victims. Human Rights Watch and Advocacy Forum analyzed the proposed law and reviewed some emblematic cases that faced obstruction by the authorities. They also described obstacles to justice faced by survivors of sexual violence and relatives of victims who filed complaints in 62 cases of conflict-era extrajudicial killings with the assistance of Advocacy Forum. The bill requires amendments to meet victims’ needs as well as legal standards set by the Supreme Court and clearly established in international law.

“To deliver a durable and rights-respecting process without further delay, Nepal’s leaders should agree to amendments called for by victims and recommended by legal experts, then ask parliament to pass the bill into law,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “This is a moment of opportunity to deliver the truth, justice, and reparations long sought by victims and help protect the rights of all Nepalis in the future.” It has been almost 18 years since the decade-long civil war in Nepal between Maoist insurgents and government forces ended with the 2006 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Conducting a transitional justice process remains the major outstanding commitment of the peace agreement. The war killed up to 17,000 people and left up to 3,288 others “disappeared.”

On his visit to Nepal in October 2023, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres noted that Nepal is closer than ever before to beginning a meaningful transitional justice process. In November, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who was the leader of the Maoist insurgency, said: “The victims want the speedy advancement of this process. The government too shares the same aspiration.” However, there is a risk that the process will unravel again if the proposals to amend the transitional justice law currently before parliament fall short or if momentum is lost, the groups said.

Accountability for serious crimes under international law is essential to uphold victims’ rights and ensure sustainable peace. The UN special rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence has identified five pillars of transitional justice: Truth, justice, reparations, memorialization, and guarantees of non-recurrence. The current bill provides for reparations and interim relief for some victims, including victims of torture and rape, who were left out of earlier relief packages. It guarantees the right of the families of victims of enforced disappearance to their relatives’ property. It also mandates the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to study the root causes and impact of the conflict and recommends institutional reforms.

Under the proposal, the TRC and Commission for Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) would be the sole bodies investigating alleged crimes committed during the conflict. Cases classified as “serious violations of human rights” could be referred to and prosecuted in a special court. The bill’s definition of “serious violations” includes rape, enforced disappearance, “cruel or inhuman torture,” and a definition of unlawful killing that remains to be finalized. However, the bill excludes numerous serious crimes under international law, including some acts of torture and other unlawful killings, creating a significant accountability gap, the groups said.

In a separate category, the bill defines “violations of human rights” other than those considered “serious” as “any acts against the domestic law, international human rights law or humanitarian law,” which cannot be referred to the special court. Because this category of crimes is excluded from prosecution, this language risks providing de facto amnesty to those responsible for some serious human rights violations and grave crimes under international law. Amnesty for serious crimes is contrary to Nepali and international law and standards and violates victims’ rights.

Importantly, the bill requires that both categories of violations (serious and not) are committed “in a targeted or planned manner against an unarmed individual or community.” This means that alleged perpetrators of crimes committed against combatants, or in a non-targeted or unplanned manner, are excluded from any possibility of criminal accountability. It also implies that the victims of these crimes are not eligible for consideration for other measures outlined in the bill, such as reparations.

The bill does not ensure the independent appointment of judges to the special court, nor does it provide for the financial independence of the transitional justice bodies. Many survivors of sexual violence, who have faced trauma and severe social stigma, were unable to register their cases when conflict-era human rights violations were being recorded by the government between 2016 and 2018. The currently proposed window of three months to register sexual violence cases is inadequate, the groups said.

Nepal previously adopted a transitional justice law in 2014, but it was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2015 because it provided amnesty for perpetrators of serious crimes. The TRC and CIEPD were established by the 2014 law and have registered over 60,000 cases, but have failed to resolve a single one. There has been little or no progress in the 62 complaints of conflict-era extrajudicial killings that have been registered with the police with the support of Advocacy Forum, which are tracked in this report and a series of five previous reports since 2008. Victims of rights violations committed during the conflict have gone to the transitional justice commissions, to Nepali courts, to the United Nations, and to foreign jurisdictions seeking justice to no avail.

In numerous statements made during and after Secretary-General Guterres’s recent visit to Nepal, victims’ groups called for a process that includes all the different elements of transitional justice, including criminal accountability and reparations. It is widely recognized that a lack of accountability for conflict-era violations has led to a crisis of impunity in Nepal, the groups said. The police and security forces are rarely, if ever, investigated for deaths in custody allegedly resulting from torture or for killing protesters by using excessive force. Nor are politicians and officials held accountable for widespread corruption that undermines public services and violates economic and social rights.

Nepal’s international partners should follow the UN’s lead by only offering support for a process that meets Nepali and international legal standards, Human Rights Watch and Advocacy Forum said. 

They should also ensure that any donor support is delivered in a way that ensures best practices, including transparency and independence from the government, such as a funding structure under UN auspices. “If the transitional justice bill is passed without appropriate amendments, it risks hindering the search for justice,” said Bikash Basnet, director of Advocacy Forum. “If it is appropriately amended, it can be the basis for a meaningful, nationally-owned process that upholds the rights of victims and benefits all Nepalis by strengthening institutions and the rule of law.”

The 22nd International Festival of Owls was held in Houston, Minnesota, in the United States from March 1-3.

The festival was originally started in 2003 to commemorate the first hatching by a Great Horned Owl named Alice, which was rescued with a broken wing and was unable to survive in the wild.

“Alice fell from her nest when she was just three months old. She is still under our care,” Karla Bloem, the director of the International Owl Center, said.

Rescued owls from seven different species, including Great Horned Owls, Snowy Owls, and Barn Owls, who are unable to survive in the wild, were put on display at the festival to raise awareness about the need for owl conservation.

Researchers, scientists, conservation activists, among others, from different countries made presentations on different aspects of owls during the festival. To better launch awareness about owl conservation, the organizers also organized a competition among kids to produce owl sounds and several other events.

Dr Martin Salek, a little owl researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Biology under the Czech Academy of Sciences, spoke on the importance of owls and their conservation. Likewise, Dr Roar Solheim, a researcher from Norway, made a presentation on the importance and identity of owls.

An art exhibition on owls showcasing creations of over 4,000 artists from 33 different countries was one of the major attractions of the festival. Several posters and banners related to owl conservation were exhibited inside and outside the event venue.

According to the organizers, the festival saw the participation of over 3,000 people ranging from students to researchers and the elderly.

Douglas Thompson (79), one of the participants of the festival, said the festival was helping in the promotion of ecotourism and the conservation of different birds and wildlife species.

Nepal has also been holding conservation festivals to raise awareness for the conservation of owls. A two-day Npeal Owl Festival was organized at Lek Phant in Jaljala Rural Municipality of Parbat district last month. A documentary on owl conservation was exhibited during the festival. The festival is being organized by an organization named Friends of Nature.

Photo and video exhibition

An exhibition of a photo story related to the rescue of three different species of owls by journalist and conservation activist Krishna Mani Baral was also organized during the International Owl Festival.

Likewise, a documentary showcasing Nepal’s ecological diversity, ecotourism, owl conservation, and activities of the Nepal Owl Festival was also shown during the event.

Speaking on the occasion, Baral said festivals like these are becoming effective in raising awareness about owl conservation. “Nepal may be a small country in terms of geography. However, the country is home to great bio and geographical diversity with topography stretching from the lowlands of Tarai to as high as Sagarmatha—the tallest peak on earth.”

A total of 892 species of birds have been recorded in Nepal so far. Likewise, 23 species of owls have been recorded in Nepal, compared to 19 in the US.

South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR), a regional network of human rights defenders, has called on the Government of Bhutan to release the political prisoners it has detained for decades. SAHR made the call on the occasion of the 16th World Social Forum (WSF) held in Nepal, where a session was organized on ‘Bhutan’s Prisoners of Conscience’.

The session drew attention to the expulsion of Bhutanese citizens of Nepali origin, also known as Lhotshampas, which started in the late 1980s into the early 1990s. While the situation of the Lhotshampa refugees was relatively well known, the reality of political prisoners, many of whom have spent more than 30 years in Chamjang Jail, has only recently been reported. Further, there are also significant numbers of disappeared citizens of Bhutan about whom not much is known.

While at present Bhutan puts up a front of a country high on the Gross National Happiness index, it hides the sufferings of the Lhotshampas who were strategically expelled, made stateless, and also detained as prisoners categorized as ‘non-nationals’ or ‘anti-nationals’. These Prisoners of Conscience are held in prison for their expressions of political beliefs or identity assertion, while others have been framed. Different international human rights organizations have recognised 50-100 people still held as political prisoners in Bhutan, without trials or cases being brought, with 37 kept in Chamgang Jail.

Bhutan as a country moved towards democracy from absolute monarchy in 2008 with the promulgation of the Constitution. However, in many respects the country has remained autocratic, and successive kings have held ultimate power even as the state security establishment cracked down on Lhotshampa activists who demanded democracy and an end to discriminatory policies, including that of Driglam Namza, which called for cultural purity tied to the ‘Drukpa’ community.

Some of the incarcerated Lhotshampa were arrested in the early 1990s and have been detained for nearly 43 years. Different human rights organizations at various times have made efforts for the release of the political prisoners, without success. The ultimate power for release of the political prisoners lies at present with King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and SAHR believes that he should personally be held accountable for the continued incarcerations.

SAHR believes that Bhutan’s progression towards a democratic state, where the citizenry is truly ‘happy’ and content, requires the release of the prisoners of conscience. SAHR further calls on the international community, including Nepal as the host country of refugees and India as a country that has not done its bit on the refugee issue being the land neighbor of bhutan and with deep links to the bhutanese state, to work to persuade Bhutan to take back the refugees who have refused to take the option of third-country settlement. These Lhotshampa refugees languish in the camps of Southeast Nepal, maintaining a principled stand on their ‘right of return’.

SAHR is also concerned that the remaining several thousand refugees in southeast Nepal are now without support of international organizations such as UNHCR and WFP. Similarly, the Government of Nepal has disbanded the refugee camps, and it has also become difficult for the refugees to move about and lead normal lives. SAHR demands that the Government of Nepal as well as international organizations re-engage with Bhutanese refugees and provide support and security to the refugees still in Nepal.

SAHR notes that the lives of the refugees have been made more complicated by the scam involving top-level Nepali politicians and officials involved in providing Nepali citizens with fake certificates as bhutanese refugees to make fraudulent income with the promise to get them settled in third countries. The exposure of this scam has, through no fault of their own, made the refugees in Nepal more vulnerable to neglect and delays on the hands of the host country’s officialdom.