|
Natural
Calamities and Children
Every year hundreds of children are caught
in natural calamities. Natural calamities, like floods, landslides, and incessant
rain starting with the monsoon season, result in injuries, death, and displacement
of thousands of people every year. According
to the Ministry of Home Affairs and National Red Cross Society, the flooding
and landslides that started this monsoon has claimed lives of 84 people, displaced
more than 9,700 families, and affected as much as 48,000 families 9270,000 people
in almost half of the country, 32 out of 75 districts. According to the data
records of CWIN National Resource and Information Centre, the post monsoon floods
and landslides have caused 30 child deaths (12 girls, 12 boys & 6 unidentified).
In addition, from January to July 2007, some 70 children
(35 boys, 31 girls 4 unidentified) are reported to have died due to such natural
calamities in different parts of the country. Natural calamities do not come
unaided, but brings along many diseases including waterborne and communicable
diseases. Disaster Management in Nepal is very challenging
because of its geographical difficulty and lack of good resourceful system.
Humanitarian support and prevention of deterioration of situation of flood victims
this year has been further hampered by the frequently organised strikes in the
Terai region. Delayed responses in rescue efforts and humanitarian assistance
have resulted in further deterioration of overall situation of children caught
in natural calamities. There are problems persisting due to lack of medicines
and proper medical facilities. There are commendable
joint efforts from different government, INGO/NGOs and UN agencies to provide
needed humanitarian assistance to people in need. We hope children are given
priority in distribution of any humanitarian assistance to prevent any further
risk to their lives.
 The
picture is of a couple belonging to Malli (Dome) community. The
bride is nine years old and bridegroom is twelve years old. They
are said to get married quite later according to their tradition.
The community has a tradition to engage children soon after their
birth. If children do not get married sooner, it becomes an embarrassment
for the family. Though the community is aware about the consequences
of child marriage, they still practice it because of their custom.
|
::
| CHILDREN
ARE ZONE OF PEACE |
|
| | YCL
thrashes a boy A sixteen year old Rohan Das Yadav from
Raxaul was seriously beaten by YCL cadres. He was accused of stealing money
amounting Rs. One Lakh owned by the Headmaster of Rastriya Primary School at
Rupakot, Tanahun. According to him, YCL members beat him and gave electric shock.
He was admitted to hospital after he vomited blood in the police station. Source:
Rajdhani, 18 July 2007 Hermaphrodite
kid gets birth certificate Bara District Development
Committee issued a birth certificate to the child who has both male and female
genitals. It mentioned 'both' and 'third gender' in the gender column for a
five month old child of Madan Prashad Kurmi.
According to Sunil Babu Pant, director of Blue Diamond
Society, Bara DDC issued the certificate to the child on June 27th 2007 following
a written directive to this effect from the Ministry of Local Development. He
added that this is certainly a matter of happiness and is a progressive step.
The child was denied of birth certificate earlier due to occurrence of both
the genitals. The parents who suffered due to social ostracism have moved to
Kathmandu and knocked the door of the ministry.
In the letter sent on June 24th, the ministry asked Bara DDC to reserve the
right of the child's parents to correct the gender and name of the child in
the birth certificate if its gender is finally determined through modern medical
science.
Source: The Kathmandu Post, 01 July 2007 Child
denied of education in lack of birth certificate Five-year-old
Sundar Rai form Bala VDC, Sankhuwasabha District is denied of education since
he has no birth certificate. His parents died when he was two years old and
the villagers took care of him till the age four. Now he is staying at an orphanage
at the district headquarter Khandbari under Matts Nepal.
Suman Adhikari from the orphanage had taken the child
to Surya Boarding School but the Principal refused to admit the child without
birth certificate. Chief District Officer (CDO) of the same district also ignored
the issue saying distribution of birth certificate is not his concern.
Source: Naya Patrika, 03 July 2007 Itahari
Declaration for child labour elimination The District
Child Welfare Committee Sunsari has expressed commitment to introduce concrete
program soon as to resolve the problems of children compelled to survive a life
labour. The commitment has been expressed in eight point declaration by the
committee.
The commitment stated to operate skill-based and vocational
programme for children and to introduce programme related to education and rehabilitation.
The declaration set the provision that no responsible officials of Sunsari district
would keep children as a domestic worker in own house following the release
of declaration.
At a programme to release the declaration, Child Welfare
Committee Chairman Chief District Officer (CDO) Prem Narayan Sharma expressed
commitment to work to bail out of the problems of child labourers and street
children with the separate package of programmed. District Justice Lila Prashad
Gautam stressed on the need of running child court effectively and rehabilitation
center. District Child Welfare Committee Officer Yogendra Giri presented working
paper at the programme presided over by CDO Sharma. Source:
The Rising Nepal, 18 July 2007 Insurance
for children at child care homes All the children at
child care homes must get medical insurance, according to the draft guidelines
of operation of child care homes. The operating guidelines for child care homes
2060 is under amendment which will be finalised soon. According to Gyan Bahadur
Lama from Kathmandu District Child Welfare Board, the guideline will focus mainly
on the family reunion and health of a child. The current guideline has the provision
to have normal health check up. The amended guideline will incorporate issues
regarding health, nutrition and hygiene, child protection, report, physical
infrastructure, psycho-social counseling, education, entertainment, sports etc.
The amended guideline will also incorporate immunisation
which is missing in the current one. The amended guideline will make sure that
deaths of children in child care homes have to be communicated to their families,
relatives or the concerned people. It will also make sure that the personal
history of a child will be kept safe and confidential for at least ten years
and the amount needed for a child for at least three years has to be amounted
in a bank. Source: Annapurna Post, 31 July 2007
HIV kids
in need of care
A concept paper on "Problems of HIV infected and affected children"
was presented in a discussion program conducted by Conscious Media Forum. who
said over 400 children in Accham are HIV infected. Similarly 300 women widowed
due to HIV and AIDS who are in contact with Gonggotri, a local organisation
there. In one of the wards of Jogbudha VDC in Dadeldhura, there are over three
dozen dalit children in severe condition. The situation is not different in
Kailai, while women's groups in Makwanpur have for long been advocating school
enrolment for HIV infected children.
The presenter quoted that a study carried out by Save
the Children during July- October 2004 stated 17,583 children migrated to India
during that period. Speaking at the program, Dr. Padam Bahadur Chand, director
of National Center for AIDS and STD Control (NCASC) said the infection which
was preliminary common to sex workers turned out to be a greater problem when
it spread to migrant workers. "When it is a great problem among migrant
workers, it gives rise to HIV infected children".
Source: The Kathmandu Post, 09 July 2007 Study
on child workers At least 18,000 children, including
a girl child, are working in the mechanical sector, according to a national
survey conducted on child workers.
The survey conducted by CONCERN Nepal during 05-06 included
1003 child labour respondents working in this sector across 25 districts. It
revealed that those workers refuse to quit their jobs before arrangement of
any other alternative.
Children working in this sector are required to work
with risky equipment and cope with uneasy working environments, the survey said.
"Neither the past governments not the NGOs have
paid attention to the child worker's condition", said Bijaya Sainju, executive
director of CONCERN. Majority of them are either internal migrants or migrants
from India.
Source: The Himalayan Times, 02 July 2007 Teacher
impregnates minor, disowns child Worst forms of exploitation
of children at workplaces are still rampant in the country. Anita Chaudhary,
15, a kamlahari child (bonded labour) of Sonpur VDC-6 who was working at the
house of Madan Sharma, teacher in a local school, gave birth to a baby boy three
days ago, allegedly due to the result of an illicit relationship with Sharma.
"Sharma established sexual relationship in October
last year when I had gone to work at his house," Chaudhary revealed in
front of media, lawyers and government officials. On that very day he told me
to fetch drinking water to his bedroom and abused me, then after my menstruation
stopped, she narrated.
Already a mother at this tender age, she now lives with
her freed kamaiya parents after the alleged perpetrator denied having any such
relationship with her.
Source: The Kathmandu Post, 05 July 2007
A child weighs two kilograms
Malnutrition has caused a two year old child weigh only two kilograms. Abhishek
Pariyar, son of a couple from Tityang-6 Baglung is not able to eat and sit independently.
He is admitted to Baglung District hospital for treatment.
According to the family members, they are ignorant of
malnutrition. Since the child started loosing weight, they thought it might
be due to discontinuation of breastfeeding. His mother gave birth to another
child before he turned two years. Nauli Pariyar, grandmother of the child says
that the family is poor and there is not sufficient food, let go the nutritious
food.
As the child is getting treated, he can sit and started
eating himself and he is gaining weight as well. The doctors say that he has
to be hospitalised for few more days to recover.
Source: Rajdhani, 06 July 2007 Students
migrate to earn for studies Students utilise their summer
holidays by migrating to the district headquarters. Children from remote Baglung
and Pyuthan migrate to Tamghas in search of work.
Due to the financial constraints in the family, they
come to the headquarters and arrange money for their studies. They work as labourers
and cleaners in local hotels there. It takes around two days for them to reach
the HQ where they spend the summer holiday for two months. They extend their
stay for few more months up to dashain and plan to earn money enough for buying
stationeries and school uniforms. According to Dilendra Gharti and Bhakta Lal
Pun, they are paid seven hundred rupees a month as their salaries. However,
the salary varies from Rs. 500- Rs. 1000.
According to the hotel owner Yubaraj Bhandari, there
are around 200 child labourers there but most of them come for short period.
They have the planning to earn not only for their studies but for their siblings
as well, says Dhanishwor Gautam, who even bought stationeries and uniforms for
those children.
Source: Kantipur, 02 July 2007.
CWIN
Bi-annual Review Meeting Held
CWIN Nepal conducted a bi-annual review meeting on 26th
and 27th of July 2007. During the two days' meeting, bi-annual reviews of each
department along with the plans for the coming months of the year 2007 were
discussed. The meeting also worked towards reviewing CWIN's policies on child
protection, Information, Communications and Media, Gender and Social Inclusion
and Human Resource Development and Employment. ADD
Program Highlights CWIN Nepal has initiated the advocacy
program against use of drugs, alcohol and tobacco which is rampantly affecting
children. Either by using themselves or seeing elders using these things, children
are being affected. Hence, targeting students, teachers, adolescents, migrant
workers, government and non-government office staff along with others, CWIN
organised various programs through its ADD (Alcohol, Drugs and Development)
program. A two day workshop on use of alcohol and tobacco and its effect on
children was organised at Rukum; street drama performed at Pokhara which focused
on glue sniffing among street children; a one day workshop on alcohol and tobacco
and its negative impact on children at Pokhara were performed.
The major objectives for all the programs were to aware
people about the negative effects of drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Children are
getting into drug abuse very easily, hence advocating these issues along with
the role of civil society in minimizing these situations was another issue to
be focused. School and a teacher
penalised Aman Mahaseth, a student of class nine
at DAV Sushil Kedia Bishwo Bharati School was physically tortured because he
attended school even after his name was removed from the register. Lalitpur
District Court on 11th July 2007 decided to penalise Rs. 5000.00 to the teacher
and Rs. 20,000.00 to the school and the amount will be compensated to the student.
CWIN Helpline along with other organisations
INSEC, CVICT, CWISH, Kathmandu School of Law and Parents' Association jointly
made effort to register the case on 8 October 2006 after the case was known
to CWIN Helpline on 3 September 2006. The incident took place on 31 August 2006.
|
::
| STATE
OF RIGHTS OF THE CHILD |
|
| | The
State of the Rights of the Child in Nepal
Bi-Annual National Report
January - June, 2007
CWIN has been publishing
a periodic report on the State of Rights of Children in Nepal since the Government
of Nepal ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Children in 1990. The periodic
report is presented in line with the four main components of the CRC, i.e. Survival,
Development, Protection and Participation of children. The data and information
included in the report is based on data from research works, studies and surveys,
newspaper reports and information recorded in the CWIN Helpline, carried out
to date. Survival According
to the census data, children under 16 years of age hold 41 percent of the total
population out of which forty nine percent are boys and fifty one percent are
girls.
For better and healthier lives of children, proper treatment
should be started from before birth. A pregnant woman has to be taken good care
of irrespective of the biological differences of a child. According to the CRC,
a child has the right to safe delivery during birth and after: the right to
healthy food, good care, immunisation, primary health care, good environment,
clean water, etc. as basic supplements to his/her life.
During the period of January to June 2007, there were
total 496 cases of violence against children, among whom 24 of them were physically
tortured and 30 were mentally tortured. 157 children were rescued where 55 of
them were child labours, 2 of them were orphans, 41 of them were from child
care homes without basic health services, 30 were being tortured in various
forms and two were missing children. 3 cases of domestic violence were recorded
while 12 children had to suffer due to caste discrimination. 20 cases of murder
were recorded while 5 others survived though they attempted murder. There are
10 cases of infant killing wile 91 of the children were sexually abused. Among
those sexually abused children, 25 cases were reported to CWIN Helpline. 18
children were economically deprived while one child was found in trouble. There
were 125 cases of corporal punishment during this period.
During this period, 51 children became the victims of
conflict where 13 of them died and 27 were seriously injured. 11 children were
abducted where 2 were abducted by JTMM and 9 abducted by Maoist. The total 10
cases of child suicide were also reported during this period where one of them
attempted suicide. It is reported to have 71 children who were orphaned during
this period.
Accidents are unpredictable though preventable, yet road accidents in Nepal
- being one of the main causes of deaths worldwide - are estimated to have killed
at least five hundred children alone in a year. During this period, 267 children
were victims of various kinds of accidents, of which 159 lost their lives and
108 were seriously injured. Those children who luckily survived are more likely
to have a disability, because of insufficient medical support.
Natural calamities are some of the reasons for deaths
occurring in Nepal. During this period, 74 children were affected by natural
calamities of which 42 of them died and 32 were injured.
Protection CRC has defined
the rights of the child as including protection by parents and in cases of children
without families, or of refugee and/or handicapped children, the responsibility
of the state's obligations towards them.
During this period, 96 cases of trafficking were recorded
where 20 of them were reported to CWIN Helpline. Among the trafficked cases,
20 of them were under sixteen years of age and fifteen of them were succeeded
to return from being trafficked. The trafficked cases include 8 children who
were returned from Indian Circus. 34 cases of child delinquency were reported
where they were arrested in different robbery/ theft and pick-pocketing cases.
There are even cases where children have to suffer due to their parents/ guardians
being imprisoned. During this period, there are 20 cases of children in adult
prison where 16 of these cases were reported to CWIN helpline. These children
do not receive any extra assistance from jail authority and are in need of concrete
support like education and shelter.
It is estimated that there are 5500 children in the
streets of Nepal. There are various driving forces for children landing in streets.
The decade long armed conflict in Nepal is one of those. Most of the children
who are displaced from their hometowns have ended up as street children in different
cities within Nepal. Along with the raise in numbers of street children due
to displacement, the number of child labour are also raising alarmingly. Studies
conducted by various institutions also have shown that these children are among
the most vulnerable to exploitation. During this period, there are 83 cases
of child labour exploitation.
The total number of missing children is recorded to
be 755 where 674 of those cases were reported to CWIN Helpline. Among the missing
children, 162 were found through CWIN Helpline.
Child marriage is illegal but the practice is still
seen in some communities. This quarter 25 cases of child marriage were recorded.
Development Birth registration
is one of the basic rights of a child. Nonetheless, birth registration in Nepal
has not reached a satisfactory condition as almost half the population's children
are still unregistered. There are various reasons behind not being registered.
This could include a lack of awareness regarding the importance of registration
and geographical complications to get to the offices etc. However, the Government
of Nepal along with Plan Nepal and UNICEF has started a campaign to make people
aware of the importance of birth registration.
The child mortality rate in the country has reduced
by almost half in the past fifteen years. Increasing immunisation coverage and
vitamin A supplement among young children are keys to this success. Ironically,
due to geographical complications of the country, basic health care services
are not accessible to hilly and mountainous areas. Another problem, which arises,
is that professional medical practitioners are not in adequate numbers in more
remote areas of the country. There are even cases where deaths occur due to
the negligence of medical professionals. During this period, 4 children died
due to doctor's carelessness and 2 children died because of parents' ignorance.
Child health is a serious challenge to child rights and child development in
the context of Nepal. In some cases deaths occur from curable diseases because
of ignorance and negligence. During this period, 69 children died of communicable
diseases like measles, diarrhea, pneumonia and Kal-azar where other 69 children
suffered from unknown diseases of which 2 of them died. 472 children suffered
from food poison among which 15 of them died and 401 were unconscious. 5 child
deaths occur due to rabies and 6 cases of polio were discovered in children
below seven years of age.
The 1st International Conference on Inter-country adoption took place on March
2007 in Kathmandu. This conference would lead to the ratification of The Hague
Convention on Inter-country adoption and adoption of national laws and mechanisms
to regulate in-country and inter-country adoption. In this quarter, different
governmental and non-governmental organisations published 282 adoption notices.
Adoption is currently a fiery issue as media researchers have published cases
of illegal adoption and the trade of children in the name of adoption. However,
the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare has declared to halt the
procedure of inter-country adoption till the council of ministers decides on
the issue.
Trade and trafficking of children is another burning
issue in Nepal. Studies reveal that 5-7 thousand children under age 16 years
are trafficked to India alone annually.
Every child has a right to quality education but the
government estimates that 13 percent of children in Nepal are not attending
school. According to the estimate by I/NGOs, one third of the population of
children of school going age are still out of school. Among the children, underprivileged
groups such as dalit, janajati children and girls are lagging behind in education.
Dropping out and pushing away from schools leads most of the children to leave
their education. Discrimination between sexes is illegal but the practice of
differentiating between them is still seen everywhere. Hence, the drop/push
out rates among girls is higher than that of boys.
Participation Articles
12-15 of CRC state the principle of respect for the child's views and right
to participate. This principle defines children not as the passive recipients,
but as actors contributing actively to the decisions that affect their lives.
There are numbers of child clubs, child right forums and children's group involved
to promote active child participation which definitely is a positive way forward.
Children
affected by armed conflict in Mid-western and Far-western Developmental Regions
 A
brief report on children affected by armed conflict in Mid Western
and Far Western Developmental Regions (Madhyapaschim tatha Sudurpaschimka
Sasartra Dwanda Prabhabit Balbalika, 2006) is published by CWIN
in association with Save the Children Norway (SC-N) and European
Commission for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO). This report provides data
regarding death, accidents, detention, and abduction of children
during the decade long armed conflict in Mid Western and Far Western
districts of Nepal. The report also comprises data analysis of
the incidents occurred in 2005 and 2006. The specified regions
were among the most affected during the armed conflict and the
hardest hit were children among others. Data provided in this
report is based on newspaper survey, reports and articles published
and provided by different organisations along with field visits
and reports prepared by CWIN. Case studies of the incidents are
also included.
| 
