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NEPAL: A school teacher is dismissed for defending the rights of her Dalit students

September 23, 2009

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-124-2009



23 September 2009
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NEPAL: A school teacher is dismissed for defending the rights of her Dalit students

ISSUES: Caste system; discrimination; child rights
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a teacher was harassed and fired from her job at a segregated secondary school after she spoke out about discrimination against her Dalit students. She was then prevented from taking up a job by colleagues at another secondary school, and now receives regular death threats. There is no law against caste-based discrimination in Nepal and as the constituent assembly drafts a new democratic constitution it must take the chance to criminalise discrimination of any kind, and bring the country in line with international human rights norms.

CASE DETAILS:

Dalits make up about 90% of the student body at the at the Shree Saraswati Lower Secondary School but common practice dictates that they use separate equipment and facilities, including taps for drinking water. Teachers allegedly avoid touching the papers of Dalit students and low grades tend to be assigned without much regard for the content of the work. Dalit students there have also been banned from the cooking classes, which are needed for the home science course.

Ms. Pushpa Karki is not from the Dalit community herself, but she objected to these practices. According to the Jagaran Media Centre her protests were rejected by the school's mostly non-Dalit management as 'popularity seeking' among an 'undeserving' class. She was also told that like her Dalit students, she would be prohibited from touching the statue of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge due to her close association with them. The school is named after the goddess.

Offended and finding no course of action possible with the school management, Pushpa told the local media about the discrimination at the school in August. Summoned to a school meeting, she was then allegedly threatened and physically pushed around in the meeting hall. She was accused of having sought cheap publicity at the expense of the school, of becoming a spokesperson for an undeserving class, and was threatened with dire consequences unless she change her tone. It should be noted that Ganesh Parki, chairman of the school's management is a Dalit, however this has not helped Pushpa's case.

The teacher was transferred to Narayan Secondary School in the same district, but says that she was dismissed soon after, having been prevented from signing the attendance register. She filed a complaint with the National Information Commission (a national body that overlooks the rights and responsibilities of public institutions and servants concerning the right to information). The Commission issued a temporary stay of Pushpa's dismissal at the school, directing staff to allow her to mark her attendance and to pay her salary, and seeking written explanations from them for their actions. However Pushpa has started to receive life threatening calls and is planning to file a complaint at the local police station.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

There are no laws in Nepal to protect religious minorities from discrimination, or to support people like Pushpa in her fight for equality. The country is a party to various international human rights treaties that reject the inherent discrimination of the caste hierarchy; it has responsibilities under international law to protect the rights of all Nepalis, regardless of their social origin, property, birth or any other kind of status. The Asian Human Rights Commission urges the government of Nepal to take the opportunity, as it creates its new, democratic constitution, to rectify this grave omission and to pass a domestic law that criminalises discrimination of any kind, in particular that based on caste.

Furthermore, minors have the right to be protected from such discriminatory practices according to the Convention for the Rights of the Child, and to this end entrenched discrimination in Nepali schools must be thoroughly investigated and addressed without delay.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the authorities below seeking the reinstatement and legal support of Pushpa Karki, and the investigation of the school managements responsible for promoting caste-based discrimination. Please also request that a comprehensive law criminalising discrimination be inserted into the new constitution.

The AHRC is also sending a letter to the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance calling for an intervention in this case.

To support this urgent appeal please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear _________,


NEPAL: Please take steps to end caste-based discrimination in Shree Saraswati Lower Secondary School

Names of the victims:
1. Ms. Pushpa Karki, teacher; Shree Saraswati Lower Secondary School.
2. Dalit students at Shree Saraswati Lower Secondary School, Kailali district, Nepal.
Names of alleged perpetrators:
1. Mr. Padam Raj Joshi, principal; Shree Saraswati Lower Secondary School, Kailali district
2. Members of the school management committee; Shree Saraswati Lower Secondary School, Kailali district
Date of incident: August 2008, and ongoing discrimination for several years
Place of incident: Shree Saraswati Lower Secondary School, Kailali district

I am writing to seek intervention into the caste-based discrimination at Shree Saraswati Lower Secondary School, Kailali district, currently being waged against the Dalit students, and the harassment of a teacher who has defended their rights.

I am informed that the discrimination is actively encouraged by staff members, and includes, among other practices: separate drinking water taps for Dalit students; non-Dalit teachers refusing to evaluate the answer papers written by Dalit students; Dalit students being prevented from taking cooking lessons in the home science course; and Dalit students prevented from touching the statue of goddess Saraswati, the patron goddess of the school.

I am aware that Ms. Pushpa Karki objected to these practices, in a school in which Dalit students constitute 90 percent of the total student body. In response she was physically and verbally abused by colleagues, transferred from the school and later dismissed from her second school after further harassment. She is currently receiving death threats.

I am concerned to find that this inhuman and degrading discriminatory practice so entrenched in the Nepali education system – with many of its victims young students – and that there are currently no domestic laws at all to protect against caste-based discrimination.

I therefore urge you to take immediate actions to intervene in this case and to ensure that:

1. An immediate enquiry into the case is conducted;
2. If the enquiry reveals caste-based discrimination practiced against the Dalit students, the management of the school, the Principal in particular, must be asked to publically apologise to the students, and further, be disciplined for practising caste based discrimination;
3. Adequate compensation is awarded to Pushpa for the mental and physical trauma she has undergone in order to bring this discrimination to light.

4. The state acts according to its responsibilities under international human rights law, and to the United Nations conventions and treaties which it has signed, all of which reject the inherent discrimination of the caste hierarchy; and as such, passes a domestic law in the new constitution that criminalises discrimination of any kind, in particular that based on caste.

Furthermore, according to the Convention for the Rights of the Child, it should be noted that minors have the right to be protected from such discriminatory practices, and to this end entrenched discrimination in Nepali schools must be thoroughly investigated and addressed without delay.


Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Om Bikram Rana
Inspector General of Police
Police Head Quarters, Naxal
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 4415593
Tel: +977 1 4412432 (Secretary to IGP)
E-mail: ranaob@nepalpolice.gov.np or info@nepalpolice.gov.np

2. Mr. Raghav Lal Vaidya
Attorney General
Office of Attorney General
Ramshahpath
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 4262582
E-mail: attorney@mos.com.np

3. Ms. Pampa Bhusal
Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare
Singha Durbar
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 4241516

4. Ms. Nainkala Thapa
Chairperson
National Women's Commission
Bhadrakali Plaza
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 4256783

5. Mr. Dev Gurung
Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs
Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs
Singha Durbar, Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 4220684
Tel: +977 1 4223727, 4224633 or 4220672

6. Mr. Kedar Nath Upadhaya
Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission
Pulchowck, Lalitpur
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 55 47973
E-mail: complaints@nhrcnepal.org or nhrc@nhrcnepal.org

7. Mr. Binod Singh
Senior Superintendent of Police
Police HR Cell
Nepal Police, Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 4415593
E-mail: hrcell@nepalpolice.gov.np

8. Mr. Richard Bennet
OHCHR Representative
OHCHR, United Nations, PO Box 107
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 4670712 or 4670713

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-124-2009
Countries :
Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.