Strategies for the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

NEPAL

1. STATE OF CHILDREN IN NEPAL:

Out of 100 children in Nepal

• 49 are girls and 51 boys
• 93 live in the villages and 7 live in cities
• 80 are immunized, 56 are malnourished
• 40 belong to extremely poor families
• 68 are admitted to school but only 27 complete the primary level
• 61 boys and 39 girls are enrolled in primary leve

In Nepal

• 52% of the total population are children below 18 years
• There is one child specialist to 100,000 children
• 2.6 million children are engaged in different kinds of work force
• 5000 children are working and living in the street
• At least 40,000 children are bonded labor
• 34% of marriage involves children below 15 years
• About 100 children in conflict with the laws are in adult jail

2. STATUS OF THE CRC IN NEPAL

• CRC was signed by Nepal on Nov. 20 1989
• CRC was ratified by Nepal on Oct. 14 1990
• National target goals were set  for the period of 1990s
• "Children's Act, 1992", a national comprehensive act on the rights of children was adopted as per the requirement of the CRC
• Failed to submit the initial report in due time and was submitted only in 1995
• The concluding observation made by the CRC committee on the report of Nepal is yet to be taken up into the action
• Different kinds of legal infrastructure were formed in national and local levels, however their effectiveness in the implementation is very poor.
• CRC training was provided to a small number of police personnel, law enforcing agencies, teachers and other people who are closely working with children. However, a large number of population is still not aware about the rights of the child.
• The second report on the implementation of the CRC is under preparation. Likewise, the end decade report of the implementation of the national goals for children is also under preparation.
• Steps have been incorporate to include the CRC into the school curriculum.
• Optional protocols to CRC in involvement of children in arms conflict and optional protocol to CRC on trafficking, selling and pornography of  children were signed by the Government of Nepal during the UN Millenium Conference.
• Ministry of Children has been established and combined with the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare.

3 CHALLENGES FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CRC

• Conventional attitude and behavior with children
• Lack of  awareness about CRC in society
• Institutional challenges (lack of mechanism for planning, training, co-ordination, information, monitoring and follow-up)
• Lack of resources to undertake the programs for the implementation of CRC
• Lack of participatory culture in social development
• Lack of national directives in the development of the country
• Poor enforcement of laws and policies and lack of proper follow-up and monitoring mechanism
• Lack of political will in practice
• Too much ad-hoc-ism in action.

4. PRIORITIZED PROGRAMS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CRC

• Data collection on children
• Strengthening of institutional mechanism  in all levels (national, regional and local level) for the implementation of national plans of action for children based on CRC
• Formation of the Parliamentarian Committee on Children (informal) for legal and policy formulation and review of its implementation.
• Formation of the national  child ombudsman (commissioner for children).               
• Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor including bonded child labor.
• Incorporation of CRC in the School curriculum, TOT for teachers and social workers who are working closely with children.
• Formulation of national directives on children and work accordingly in the development of the country
• Compulsory primary education and promotion of girl participation in the school education.

 5.  LESSON LEARNED AND THE WAY AHEAD

5.1 Describe how your country can benefit from the implementation of UN CRC in other countries    ?

• - We belong to a global village. We can't remain unaffected by the change in one country to another country due to the global communication, today.  So far about the implementation of CRC in other countries is concerned, it is always beneficial to our country. CRC is such an international treaty that provides equal opportunities to the children of all the countries.  No international relation will be sustained and strengthened in the state of violation of the rights of the child. Therefore, every country has to be benefited from the implementation of CRC in other countries. Followings may be the benefits that our country may enjoy from the implementation of CRC in other countries:
• - Experiences  (both success and failure) of the implementation of the CRC in other countries can be a lesson for us.
• - Exchange and exposure with the country having implementation of CRC might provide us opportunity for knowledge and information for                 the implementation of CRC in our country.
• - Any successful modality which is in conformity with the CRC, e.g. Ombudsman for Children in Sweden, Norway and community justice system from West Africa etc. can be shared and adopted in our country on the basis of our socio-economic and cultural reality.
• - Bilateral and multi-lateral relations can be developed between and among NGOs and Governments to learn from each other for the effective implementation of CRC.
• - International co-operation for development can be influenced by the combined efforts of different countries that are serious towards the implementation of the CRC in national, regional and international levels.

5.2. The Three most important issues to be achieved concerning the implementation of the CRC in your country:

Followings are the three major issues that our country would like to achieve the most in relation to the implementation of  the CRC:

- CRC to be known by all:     For every country today, CRC is a national goal. This can not be achieved without knowledge and information about the CRC in mass level. Dissemination of information in people in large is a very challenging task in our country. Hence, we would like to put a top priority to make people aware about the rights of children in connection to CRC. National advocacy and campaign program will be launched with the help of NGOs, trade unions, mass media and other civil society organizations.

- Establishment and strengthening of Institutional Mechanism:   No one can achieve the goals of CRC if the institutional mechanism for the implementation of the rights of the child is not effective. Hence we would like to give a top priority for the strengthening and restructuring of the institutional mechanism responsible  to the implementation of the CRC in the country. In this connection, following steps will be carried out:

• - A National Child Rights Council (Ombudsman for Children) will be established  
• - A Parliamentarian Committee for the Rights of the Child (Informal) will be set-  up in all-party basis.
• - Central Child Welfare Board (CCWB), District Child Welfare Board (DCWB), Children's Cell, Juvenile Justice system, and Universal Compulsory Education system will be reviewed and re-structured and those institutional mechanism will activate as the tool to achieve the goals for the CRC.

- Promotion of the Children's Right to Participation: Effective implementation of the CRC will mainly depend on the democratic participation  in  society, particularly, children themselves.  One of the main principles of CRC is the " children's right to participation" .  Many people think that the earth where we belong to is a property of our ancestors, however, its a gift  for our children. In real sense, children are the future, their participation in the social development is a process for making the future reliable and bright. In Nepal, we have been already practicing the children's involvement in the social development, particularly in relation to the implementation of CRC. We would like to strengthen and expand this process, so that,  children of today can become a real hope for tomorrow. We firmly believe that the realization of CRC is possible by the promotion of the children's right to participation. Ultimately, this will help build-up a true democratic society in future.

5.3 Describe how you and your organ can contribute to these achievements ?

In our delegation, we are altogether four persons from Government and NGOs.  Politician, policy maker and practitioners are included in this delegation team. As the government organization, we will initiate to formulate new policies and laws and develop and strengthen mechanism needed to facilitate the Government for the establishment of the new mechanism like ombudsman for children, parliamentarian committee for children and review and formulation of new laws. We will also review the existing laws and draft new laws in the areas of the rights of the child as per need.

As NGOs, we will advocate and organize activities for the promotion and protection of the rights of the child in the country. In order to make the CRC known by every one, we will also undertake advocacy and awareness program both in local level and national level. We will be also able to contribute to build up a co-ordination mechanism between Government and NGOs, so that partnership between the Government and NGOs for the promotion and protection of the rights of the child will be strengthened and sustainable. Besides,  we will continue to campaign and organize training by extending our expertise to the Government, and communities. In the areas of the promotion of the children's right to participation, we have been closely working with children  through the children's club and child rights forums, the organizations of children's themselves, for quite sometimes. We also would like to promote this conception and improve our partnership with children by closely working with them. We will extend our co-operation to Government to establish the parliamentarian committee for children and ombudsman for children. We also would like to extend our partnership with the Government to strengthen institutional mechanism necessary for the effective implementation of the CRC in Nepal.

Submitted by,

• Gauri Pradhan, President, CWIN
• Hari Bhakta Adhikari, Member of House of Representative
• Raghubir Rana, Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare
• Mira Rana Singh, Director, Educate the Children

October 19, 2000

Stockholm, SWEDEN