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Volume 4 No 8 August, 2007
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Editorial
CWIN in
Action
Children
in the News
Photos
of the month
Bitter Facts
Book in Spotlight
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Constituent Assembly and Children
People's Democracy "Loktantra"
was established in Nepal in April 2006 after a historic nineteen-day movement.
It marked the end of autocracy and the re-establishment of an interim parliament.
An interim constitution was approved which passed various bills. Such political
and social change has had a direct effect on civil society, and especially on
children who have been most vulnerable both in the conflict, and in its aftermath.
Despite the promise of constituent assembly elections, people are unsure whether
they will actually take place. However, Nepalese people are feeling much more
hopeful of sustainable peace after the end of 12-year-old armed conflict through
peace process. The demands of the Madeshi's and other
ethnic and indigenous groups and the failure of the government to recognize
the importance of these demands has led to violence in various regions of Nepal
and had a direct effect on the lives of children. The movement in the Terai
alone has taken the life of five children and left hundreds more wounded. Schools
are unable to run their regular classes and the S.L.C exam has been postponed.
In addition, strikes and consequent food shortages have had an adverse effect
on people with minimum income and on daily wage labour. Therefore, children
in different parts of the country still do not fully enjoy their basic rights
and are denied safety, development and participation. Children
below 18 years of age, who make up about 48% of the total population, seek to
participate in the constituent assembly. However, Nepali law doesn't allow them
to do so. Children have thus issued declarations urging all concerned stakeholders,
including the political parties to listen to children's issues, respect their
rights and reflect them in manifestos of political parties. Children cannot
wait for tomorrow and therefore the elections should take place on the declared
date of November 22, 2007. Furthermore, a New Nepal should seek to guarantee
the rights of children, respect child participation and work for children and
with children.
District
Level Child Consultation Meeting
 On
August 14th and 15th 2007, a District level consultation meeting
of children was organized by CWIN-Nepal. It was held at Nuwakot
District Head-quarter, Bidur. The meeting was chaired by the Chief
District Officer, Mr. Bhanubhakta Pokharel; the Programme Officer,
Mr. Madav Lohani of CWIN-Nepal; the President of District Level
Child Club Network-Nuwakot, Mr. Utsav Tiwari; Coordinator of District
Child Club, Mr. Sambhu Tiwari; the Vice-President of District
Child Welfare Board-Nuwakot, Mr. Shyamsundar Shrestha; Ms. Muna
Ghimire & Ms. Indra Bahadur Pandey from Women Development
Organization- Nuwakot. The meeting expressed concern about the
dissolution of the District Child Welfare Board. They also highlighted
the possibility of the exploitation of child rights during the
elections for the constituent assembly. Therefore, the need to
safeguard child rights was emphasized.
Knowledge about child
rights and the constituent assembly was also disseminated to 70 Children from
30 different Child Clubs, which were affiliated to District Child Welfare Board-Nuwakot.
The District Child Club Network was also re-establishment during the meeting.
Mr. Bhanubhakta Pokhrel announced that, the main
motive behind, the re-establishment of the District Child Welfare Board was
to promote the active participation of children.
A consultation
meeting with Child labor in Public Transportation Sector
On 21st August
2007, CWIN Nepal organized a meeting with child labourers working in the transport
sector in Kathmandu. A total of 20 children working in microbuses, trucks, buses,
and workshops participated in the consultation meeting. During the meeting,
one of the children said he ran away from home, due to fear of being recruited
by the Maoists and became a conductor of a microbus. Poverty is another key
reason behind parents sending their children to work in the transport sector.
As labourers in the transport sector, children
are facing various health problems like acute respiratory diseases, mental stress,
and physical injuries. In addition, they are also vulnerable to accidents. It
is clear that the privately run public transportation sector does not fully
respect the provisions of the 1992 Children's Act to stop child labour and instead
continues to hire children as labourers. The government also fails to stop child
labor in the transportation sector and penalize the lack of responsibility shown
by the public transport association. The implementation of rules and laws, as
defined by the 1992 Children's Act, is the responsibility of the government
and must be acted upon and enforced in order to decrease child labour in the
transport sector.
Street
Children: Present Situation and Future Programs for their Protection
in the Kathmandu Valley
An interaction program
among concerned organizations and agencies was successfully organized by CWIN
Nepal on 8th August 2007. Its purpose was to find solutions to the problems
faced by street children, as well as organizations working in this sector for
a long time. The program was titled 'Street Children: Present Situation and
Future Programs for their Protection in Kathmandu Valley'. There were 29 participants
representing various organizations and agencies including the Ministry of Women,
Children and Social Welfare (MOWCSW) and donor agencies such as Plan Nepal and
UNICEF. The program started formally with a welcome speech by the chair of the
program Mr. Madhav Pradhan. This was followed by Ms. Kalpana Shrestha, Section
Officer from MOWCSW, Ms. Tanja from UNICEF Nepal, and representatives of organizations
working for children expressing their views based on their experiences in the
program. The representatives stressed the need
of effective programs and strong networking among like-minded organizations
for the protection, socialization and empowerment of street children. Participants
also made valuable comments regarding the problems they faced while running
programs for street children. In the programme Center
Child Welfare Board (CCWB) proposed the concept of introducing ID cards for
street children. CWIN believes that ID cards may institutionalize street children
and therefore feels a greater focus should be placed on their empowerment to
provide opportunities for social reintegration.
Two Day
National Workshop on 'C-NET Nepal and Child Protection Policy'
in Kathmandu
 A
two-day national workshop on 'C-NET Nepal and Child Protection
Policy' was jointly organized by CWIN Nepal and C-NET (Childcare
Homes Network Nepal) in Kathmandu on 30th-31st August 2007. C-NET
is network of organisation running childcare home in Nepal, which
more then 60 organisations have joined. The workshop focused on
the Child Protection Policy (CPP) of C-NET Nepal and had representatives
from 40 childcare homes in Kathmandu. The Central Children Welfare
Board, the Social Welfare commission, the District Child Welfare
Board, the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MOWCSW)
and Plan Nepal all participated.
The Chairman of C-NET, Mr. Madhav Pradhan highlighted
the significance of the CPP and said it would play an important role in protecting
the rights of children living in childcare homes.
Children
Forced Into Labor
Despite the efforts of
many Governmental and Non-Governmental agencies to prevent child labor and improve
the conditions of the children in the country, the number of child laborers
in Myagdi is increasing. The majority of more
than five hundred child laborers in Benibazar, the headquarters of Myagdi district,
cite weak financial conditions, death of parents and lack of proper care from
parents as the reasons for having to work. "If my
father had had enough money, maybe he would have educated me and made me a successful
person. But there is barely enough to eat, so I have taken up the job of a porter,"
said fourteen year old Santa Bahadur Nepali as he wiped the sweat off his forehead
while crossing the Kali Gandaki River with an extremely heavy load on his back. Similarly,
eleven year old Rupa Thapa, who cleans utensils at a hotel, said that she was
forced to work after her mother eloped with another man leaving her with nothing.
Many children have had to leave their studies and take up odd jobs to support
themselves. According to one organization working in
the field of child labor, there are 819 child workers (502 girls, 317 boys)
in Myagdi district. In Thuthunge VDC alone, there are 213 children forced into
labor. Experts opine that if Governmental and Non-Governmental
agencies working to prevent child labor were to enforce the policies to eradicate
child labor stringently, the number of child workers would be drastically reduced. Source:
RSS, 11th August 2007
5
of 1,355 Missing Children Found Dead
Five out of 1,355 children reported to be missing during
the last six months were found dead, a report said. According to a report by
the National Center for Children at Risk (NCCR), three boys and two girls were
found dead out of the total reported to be missing. The
report said 863 children had been found while 492 were still missing. Several
of the children reported to be missing were found to have fled from their homes
due to fear, abuse by their families, and lack of proper care and protection.
Children also go missing due to poverty or abduction. In some cases they leave
in search of employment, or are lured by others, the report says. Source:
The Kathmandu Post, 25 July 2007
Girl Child Accuses
Father of Rape A 12-year-old girl of Bhaktapur
Municipality, who has not reached puberty, accused her father, aged 36 of repeatedly
raping her in the absence of her mother. "He used to threaten to beat me
up like he did to my mother" she said.. The YCL office in Bhaktapur handed
over the accused to the Community Police Service at Ghattaghar. Police would
seek to give maximum punishment if the accused was proved guilty. However, he
denied raping her. Source: Himalayan Times, 22
July 2007
Child
Development Center to Open
The Department of Education (DoE) is ready
to set up 3500 additional Early Childhood Development (ECD) centers across the
country. At present, the DoE is running 13 023 ECD centers in various parts
of the country. At a programme organized by the
Center for Policy Research and Consultancy, it was decided that the remuneration
for teaching facilitators would be increased from this year. Instead of Rs 1000
per month, the facilitators in the mountain regions would now get Rs 1500 per
month and those in the hills and terai would receive Rs 1300 per month. The
DoE also decided to provide a fund of RS 10 000 to establish 1225 ECD centers
in remote areas. The deputy director of DoE, Devika
Pradhananga said the DoE plans to introduce ECD as an optional subject in the
syllabi of Grade IX and X to prepare trained facilitators. She also said that
children below five years of age are allowed to get admission at ECD centers.
Presently 413 000 children throughout the country have
been enrolled in ECD centers, while 113,900 still do not have have access to
ECD classes. According to Devika Pradhananga an ECD class can accommodate 25
children yet the average number of children per class is 78.
"An additional 46 000 ECD centers would be needed to accommodate all the
children between three and five," she said. There are 156 200 children
of this age group. About 41.4 percent of the total numbers of children below
five years have enrolled in ECD centers. She said the DoE has set a target to
increase enrolment to 60 percent by 2012 and 80 percent by 2015. Source:
The Rising Nepal, 14 August 2007
Where
are Children's Rights?
These photos are published in a Newspaper called
'Naya Patrika', and show the failure of the state and the community in protecting
children.
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This
boy, aged 13, is being punished by local people in the district headquarter
of Taplejung for stealing. He was made to walk around the bazaar with a sign
on his chest which says, 'I am a thief, everyone look...!'. Later on, he was
handed over to the Maoists. A state police officer is in the background. Source:
Naya Patrika, 11th August 2007 | This
girl is staying with her mother who is in Dhankuta jail in eastern Nepal due
to trafficking accusations. Source: Naya Patrika, 13th
August 2007 |
Facts
on Child Labour in the Transportation Sector
- The
public transport sector has 5019 different vehicles in Kathmandu (buses, tempos
& microbuses) out of which around 46-69% employ children, as a 'conductor'.
- Presently, there are 2193 child labours
working in the transportation sector (microbuses; 824, tempos; 780, and buses,
including mini-buses; 589).
- 28% of the total numbers of child labourers
in the transportation sector are under the age of 14.
- Among the microbuses and tempos, which
employ children, about 34-55% of the children are under 14 years of age.
- Out of the total number of child labourers
in the transportation sector:
- 27% are illiterate.
- 4% are orphans while 20% of them have lost their mother
or father
- 80% of them have migrated to Kathmandu from other
districts.
- 25.3% have come to work in the transport sector itself
while 28.9 % have ended up working in this sector through hotels, 14.5% through
coolies, 13.3% through domestic workers and rest from other various other sectors.
- 48.5 % of the children had started working in this
sector before 14 yrs of age.
- 50% of the children had entered the sector due to
false hopes, or they were forced to.
- 33% are forced to do extra work for the driver or
their boss.
- 66% support their family with the limited wages they
earn.
- 50 % are in the habit of consuming tobacco products
and 25% in consuming alcoholic beverages.
- 44% of the children working in this sector are prone
to injury. While, 21% are prone to headaches, 16% to cuts, 11% to cramps or
fractures and 11% to a cough.
- Only, 17% are capable of arranging food for themselves.
- On
average, the children working in transportation sector are forced to work for
12 hrs per day, while 46.1% of them are forced to work for 13 to 16 hrs per
day.
- 74% of the child labours in the transportation
sector are bound to face misbehavior. " These children are also always
in danger of falling off a vehicle. They are bound to lift heavy luggage and
work in a polluted environment for an extended period of time.
- Around 53.3% child labours spend the night in the
vehicle, itself while 22.8% live in homes, 19.8% in rented homes, 3% in hotels
and 1.2% on the road or in temples.
- On average, children who work in the transportation
sector are paid Rs 18 per day and those who work on a monthly basis are paid
Rs 130.
January, 2006 CWIN-Nepal
*Source: Child labour
in the Transportation Sector in Nepal
 Nepal
in Conflict- Theoretical Underpinnings, Conflict Resolution, and
Conflict Transformation & Peace Building
'Nepal in Conflict- Theoretical
Underpinnings, Conflict Resolution, and Conflict Transformation & Peace
Building' is a book published by Sociological/Anthropological Society of Nepal
(SASON) Kathmandu Nepal in association with UNDP/SPDI, DANIDA/DASU, Save the
Children Norway and RRN. This book is an outcome of the second seminar on 'The
Role of Social Sciences in Conflict Management and Peace Building in Nepal',
December 6-8, 2004. The book provides an overview
of Nepal during the conflict. It intends to assist those seeking to understand
the conflict and addresses conflict transformation and peace building, both
in Nepal and internationally. Because Nepal is in a phase of transition, the
issues addressed in the book are particularly relevant. | 
