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Nepal must urgently remove the restrictive statute of limitations on cases of rape and other sexual violence through amendment as it continues to be a barrier for survivors in access to justice, said Amnesty International today.

It has also expressed solidarity with the ongoing protests that are demanding swift justice for victims of sexual violence and reform of rape laws in Nepal.

Activists in Nepal have taken to the streets after a survivor on 18 May through social media made public the allegations of rape that was committed eight years ago, when she was 16 years old. Under the 2017 penal code of Nepal, complaints of rape must be filed within one year from the date of the commission of crime.

This is grossly restrictive as it prevents many victims from accessing legal remedy effectively, in particular, victims of child rape. As a result of the pressure from the protests and in light of one-year limitation, the police arrested the alleged perpetrator on 21 May under Human Trafficking and Transportation (Control) Act, 2007, the AI said in a press release today.

"Time and again we have seen courageous survivors are denied justice because of the outdated and harmful one-year limit for filing rape complaints. The current provision is grossly restrictive, unfair and unmindful of the state the survivor might be in. In its current form, such provisions allow many perpetrators of rape to get away with their crimes," said Yamini Mishra, South Asia Regional Director at Amnesty International.

The grossly restrictive and inadequate length of limitation fails to take into account the stigma that women and girls face when reporting cases of sexual and gender-based violence and prevents them from accessing legal remedy, therefore, fosters impunity for such crimes.

"The provision in its current form should be repealed immediately to guarantee sufficient time to ensure effective access to remedy that is in line with international obligations. The Nepal government should consider amending the provision to allow the statute of limitation for a period of time that is sufficient and commensurate with the gravity of the offence in question. This needs to be done in consultation with civil society and survivors so as to take into account the stigma that women and girls face when reporting cases of sexual and gender-based violence," said Yamini Mishra.

The Department of Passport under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to provide services even on public holiday, Sunday.

The Department made this decision on Wednesday in line with the government’s policies and programmes of providing electronic passport in an easy manner.

It is providing the passport to the service-recipients in an easy and smooth manner by operating service even on a public holiday in view of the increasing numbers of service seekers coming to the Department.

The Department said today that it will be open from 10 am to 4 pm on Sunday every week from this May 29 until alternative arrangement is made.

It will be providing the passport-related services during that time to the service seekers who have applied for passport and booked the date and time of the day concerned.

Nepali migrant workers won’t be able to board their flights to destination countries from the newly built Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa—at least not in the immediate future.                   The government, however, is making preparations to issue labor permits to workers from the city itself. This service is currently available only from the Foreign Employment Office in Tahachal, Kathmandu.  As a result, people applying for overseas jobs from across the country are compelled to visit Kathmandu.

Thousands of workers are expected to benefit from the recent decision of the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security to open a branch of Foreign Employment Office in Bhairahawa. It is said the decision is also aimed at supporting the new Bhairahawa airport, as it is expected to get passengers in the form of aspiring migrant workers traveling to get their labor permits. 

Labor Minister Kirshna Kumar Shrestha has claimed that all services relating to foreign employment will be made available from Bhairahawa by mid-June.  

“Besides opening a branch of Foreign Employment Office, the government will also set up a job orientation center and medical check-up facility for workers,” he said at a function organized by the Bhairahawa Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently. 

As the Foreign Employment Office and its services are all centralized, most overseas employment agencies—commonly referred as manpower companies—are also located in Kathmandu, causing inconvenience to their clients, the majority of whom are from outside the Capital city. 

Labor migration researchers and workers have long been asking the authorities to decentralize the services of Foreign Employment Office to facilitate the job application process for workers. 

Decentralization of services is also expected to reduce the crowd at the Kathmandu-based Foreign Employment Office. 

“We have proposed an organization and management survey for opening a foreign employment branch office in Bhairahawa. In the meantime, we plan to offer the services related to foreign jobs by deploying some workers there,” says Danduraj Ghimire, spokesperson for the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security. 

Ramesh Aryal, chief of Foreign Employment Office in Tahachal, Kathmandu, says since the branch office cannot be opened without conducting the organization and management survey, they plan to provide services to the migrant workers by setting up a liaison office. 

He is positive that migrant workers will soon be able to fly to destination countries from the Bhairahawa airport itself. 

“If all foreign employment-related facilities, medical check-up, and job orientation are made available in Bhairahawa, workers can board their flights to destination countries from the Gautam Buddha International Airport,” he says. “This will be possible also because the government has introduced online services regarding foreign employment for those who are applying for jobs on their own.”

Four persons died and 39 others were injured when a bus they were traveling in met with an accident at Sisne in Aathbis Municipality-2 of Dailekh on Wednesday.

The deceased have been identified as Prem Sunar (32) and Kashiram Pandey (36) of Dullu Municipality-9, Dailekh, Gyan Bahadur Bam (35) and Dhankala Shahi (55) of Pantala Rural Municipality-3, Kalikot.

DSP Bhuwaneshwor Sah of the District Police Office, Dailekh said that the ill-fated bus (Ma 1 Kha 660) was heading towards Surkhet from Kalikot when the incident occurred last night.

The injured are undergoing treatment at the Karnali Pradesh Hospital in Surkhet.

There were 62 persons on board the bus when  the tragedy occurred.

Police said that the bus fell some 40 meters down the road into the Karnali River.

Further investigation into the incident is underway.