Nepal
The data presented is a selection of current statistical information available from existing sources. The Hub will both generate new data and publish reports and analysis based on the Women’s Rights After War’s work in Nepal.
| Law | Mechanism | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Constituent Assembly Members Election Act – Chapter 2 7(3) (2007) | Legislative | Candidate lists by political party must contain at least 50% female candidates (total) and half women for each of the total percentage of marginalized groups: 13% Dalit, 37.8% Oppressed Caste/Indigenous Groups, 4% Backward Region, 31.2% Madhesi. |
| Article 84 (8) | Constitutional Reform | Reserved seats – at least a third of total members of Parliament elected from each party must be women. |
| Article 222(3) | Constitutional Reform | Village Assembly shall have the representation of at least two women from every ward of the village council. |
| Local Level Election Act (2017) | Legislative | One ward member must be a woman and one ward member must be a Dalit woman. |
| Law | Mechanism | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Article 20 (3) (2006) | Constitutional Reform | No woman shall be subjected to physical, mental, or any other kind of violence, and such act shall be punishable by law. |
| Gender Equality Act (2006) | Legislative | The Act establishes sexual violence as a crime punishable by varying years of imprisonment, depending on the age of the victim. |
| Article 219 of the National Penal Code (2018) | Legislative | Maximum jail time for anyone convicted of rape has been increased from 15 to 20 years. |
| Article 168 of the National Penal Code (2018) | Legislative | Banned practice of banishing women during menstrual cycle – Rs. 3000 fine or 3 months in jail. |
| Law | Mechanism | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Gender Equality Act (2006) | Legislative | The Gender Equality Act 2006 repealed and amended 56 discriminatory provisions and removed gender inequalities perpetuated by several previous acts and also incorporated provisions to ensure women’s rights. The Act amended and provided for women to own property on their own. Similarly, it also amended the provision for summons issued by the court to be received by a male family member as far as possible and the provision for divorce in the case of not having children within 10 years of marriage. |
| Article 38(6) (2015) | Constitutional reform | Both spouses shall have equal rights in property and family affairs. |
| 11th Amendment to the Civil Code Act (2018) | Legislative | Divorced women have the right to use the property they receive for former husbands even if they remarry. |
| 11th Amendment to the Civil Code Act, Part 3 Article 81 (2018) | Legislative | Gives women the right to use their father’s surname, the surname of her mother or husband or both. |
| Law | Mechanism | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The Citizenship Act (2006) | Legislative | Land ownership certificate and citizenship in Nepal are interconnected. In the past, it was not possible to obtain a citizenship without a land certificate. The Citizenship Act (2006) has included provisions to grant citizenship in the absence of land ownership certificates. However, for obtaining a land certificate, one has to submit his/her citizenship as a supporting document to the district land offices. |
| Gender Equality Act (2006) | Legislative | Establishes conditions for employment, wages/salaries, and childcare in the workplace for women. |
| Article 38(5) on positive discrimination (2015) | Constitutional Reform | Women shall have the right to special opportunities in the spheres of education, health, employment, and social security on the basis of positive discrimination. |
| Financial Act 2072 BS (2015/16) | Legislative | A single woman – more specifically – a woman with a deceased husband receives 35 per cent tax exemption in land registration. Depending on the geographical region, women in Nepal receive 25 per cent to 50 per cent tax exemption in land registration. However, if a woman receiving this provision decides to sell her property within three years, she needs to pay back the full amount (including the tax that was exempted) to the Government of Nepal. Landless, freed Haliya and freed Kamaiya need not to pay any tax, service fee, prevention or restriction (Rokka – the action of restricting from sell or transfer of property) fee while buying the land with a bank loan. |
| Law | Mechanism | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) (Ratified in 1981) | Legislative – National Plan of Action (NPA) for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (1997) | An international treaty to promote and monitor women’s rights and their equality to men. |
| Women, Peace, and Security Agenda: United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 | Legislative – National Action Plan UNSC 1325 and 1820 for 2011 to 2016 | United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 reaffirms the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, peace negotiations, peace-building, peacekeeping, humanitarian response and in post-conflict reconstruction and stresses the importance of their equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security. |
| SAARC Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution – Ratified by GoN (2002) | Legislative | Brought forward the extradition jurisdiction. And charted out a comprehensive definition of the trafficking. |
| Strategy Against Child Marriage, 2072 (2016) | Legislative | Establishes a nation-wide plan to end child marriage, a practice still prevalent in certain rural sections in Nepal. |
| Type of mechanism | Mechanism | Policies/Laws |
|---|---|---|
| Institutional Reform | Legislative | Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2006 and the new Nepali constitution in 2015 governments with 22 powers and areas of responsibility over which they have broad authority. Many of these powers can be exercised to establish policies and programs at the local level for fulfilling victims’ rights to truth, justice, reparation, and acknowledgment for the human rights abuses victims suffered during the war. |
| Criminal Justice Reform | Legislative | The Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction implemented an Interim Relief Program (IRP) that provided some benefits for certain victims of human rights violations, but there was still no acknowledgment of government responsibility. The IRP also excluded certain categories of victims, such as those who endured sexual violence. Criminal courts in Nepal have heard very few cases related to conflict violations. |
| Truth-Memory-Reconciliation | Legislative | Commission on Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) established in 2015. . CIEDP started a four-month complaint registration period in 2016. At the end of this period, it had registered around 3,000 complaints related to enforced disappearances. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) started taking complaints in April 2016, and by July 21 2016 had received 53,000 complaints. The TRC focuses on kidnapping or taking hostages; beating that causes physical disability; physical or mental torture; rape and sexual harassment; and damage against property including looting and arson. |
| Reparations | Legislative | Interim Relief Programme established in 2008 to provide monetary compensation to families of dead victims or families of the disappeared in the conflict. It also provides for scholarships to children of victims, reimbursement of medical expenses, skill development training, and loss of property. |
