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NEPAL: A Dalit woman's house in Baglung district burnt down and fears police inaction

November 28, 2003

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

28 November 2003
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UA-74-2003: NEPAL: A Dalit woman's house in Baglung district burnt down and fears police inaction

NEPAL: Caste discrimination; Fear of the police inaction
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Dear friends

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that one Dalit woman's house in Baglung district was burnt down by her upper caste neighbor on 13 November 2003, after she refused to move away from the area. The police have taken no serious action to investigate the case until now.

In Nepal, Dalits, so called untouchables from lower caste, have faced extreme discrimination and violence against them for generations. Even though the caste system was officially abolished in 1963 and the 1990 Nepalese Constitution rejects caste-ism and untouchability, and makes their practice an offence punishable by law, only rarely is this law enforced. Your urgent action is required to pressure local authorities to take effective action immediately.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:

On the night of 13 November 2003, family members of Komalnath Kandel, an upper caste, burnt down the house of their Dalit neighbors Manmaya BK, located in Dhamja VDC-7 of Baglung district, Nepal after Manmaya BK refused to move away despite Komalnath Kandel's repeated warnings. At the time of the incident, Manmaya was at a distant bazaar in order to call her husband employed abroad and was not at home. She has left her children in her parent¡¦s house.

Family of Manmaya BK, a Dalit, has been staying in the area for years with her house close to that of Komalnath Kandel. Recently, Manmaya sold some of her land to her brother Ram Bahadur BK who was to construct a house on it. Fearing that a Dalit settlement would come up around his residence, Kandel had been threatening Manmaya to move away from the area. However, Manmaya refused to do it and paid no heed to the threats. According to her, the fire caused a loss of over Nepali Rs. 300,000 (about US$ 4055).

After the incident, Manmaya has lodged a complaint with the Baglung District Police Office (DPO) demanding compensation to the loss by fire. Balaram Bista, the Sub-Inspector of Police at the Baglung DPO promised to complete the investigation on the incident by this week. However, there has not been any serious action taken by the police on this case until now. According to the reliable source, a police officer said that it would take at least one month to investigate the case because the area, where incident happened, is remote and unstable because of Maoist activities. The victim and human rights activists worry that the police will hush up the case.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

UNTOUCHABILITY rooted in the caste-based discrimination, which has taken place in South Asia for generations, stipulates unequal social status based on birth. Like other South Asian countries, Nepalese society has been divided into two parts--touchables and untouchables, so-called lower caste and so-called upper castes.

The system of 'hidden apartheid' based on caste practices of distinction, exclusion and restrictions has denied the rights of Dalits' economic, social, political, cultural and religious rights. The Dalits have been exposed to all forms of violence in the society. For example, they are segregated from other case community of housing, denied to access public drinking water, not allowed to go to restaurants and places of worship, and restricted on marriage with other caste.

If Dalits attempt to take any action or even show any single sign to assert their rights, they have to face extreme violence such as burning or destruction of their homes and properties, social boycott, rape or gang rape of Dalit women, and murder by dominant caste people or even by the police. The perpetrators have committed such brutal crimes against Dalits with impunity and connivance by the society and the State. Dalits issues are totally untold as well as unheard of at all.

In fact, the caste system was officially abolished in 1963 in Nepal. The Nepalese government endorsed and ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination on 30 January 1971. In addition, the 1990 Nepalese Constitution rejects caste-ism and untouchability, and makes their practice an offence punishable by law. However, the Nepalese government has failed to implement these laws to protect the rights of Dalits. On the contrary, the state and law enforcement officers like police have frequently broken the law themselves.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter, fax or email to the local authorities and express your concern of this serious case.

Send a letter to:

1. Hon. Surya Bahadur Thapa
Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
Singha Durbar, Kathmandu,
NEPAL
Tel: +977 1 228555 or 227955
Fax: +977 1 4 227 765 / +977 1 227286
Email: hmg@es.wlink.com.np

2. Mr. Padam Singh Bishwokarma
Chair Person
National Dalit Commission
Thapathali, Kathmandu
NEPAL
Phone: 977-1-4245 325, 4245 919
Fax: 977-1-4229236
Email: ndc@mos.com.np

3. Mr. Nain Bahadur Khatri
Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission
Pulchowck, Lalitpur
NEPAL
Tel: +977 1 5 547 974 or 525 659 or 547 975
Fax: +977 1 5 547 973
Email: nhrc@ntc.net.np

4. Mr. Shyam Bhakta Thapa
Inspector General of Police
Police Headquarters, GPO Box 407,
Naxal, Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 441 55 93 or 1 4415594

5. H.E. Gyan Chandra Acharya
Ambassador to the United Nations
Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Nepal,
81 rue de la Servette, 1201 Geneva
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +4122 7332722
E-mail: mission.nepal@ties.itu.int

6. Mr. Doudou Diene
Special Rapporteur on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance
Room 4-041
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Palais Wilson,
Rue des Paquis 52, Geneva
SWITZERLAND
Tel: 41 22 9179271
Fax: 41 22 9179050

Sample letter:

Dear

Re: A Dalit woman's house in Baglung district burnt down and fears police inaction

I am writing to bring to your urgent attention the violence against a Dalit woman named Manmaya BK.

According to the information I have received, the house of Manmaya, a Dalit, was burnt down by the family members of Komalnath Kandel, an upper caste neighbor in Dhamja VDC-7 of Baglung district on 13 November 2003. The incident happened after she ignored the threats by Komalnath Kandel and refused to move away from the area. However, the police has not taken any serious action to investigate this case yet. I am afraid that the police will hush up the case and perpetrators never be brought to justice. Moreover, the victim and her family fear threats from the perpetrators after she lodged a complaint to the police.

The Article 1, Clause 4 of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which Nepal endorsed and ratified on 30 January 1971, states;

"Special measures taken for the sole purpose of securing adequate advancement of certain racial or ethnic groups or individuals requiring such protection as may be necessary in order to ensure such groups or individuals equal enjoyment or exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms shall not be deemed racial discrimination, provided, however, that such measures do not as a consequence lead to the maintenance of separate rights of different racial groups, and that they shall not be continued after the objectives for which they were taken have been achieved."

However, Dalits have been facing extreme discrimination and violence against them with connivance by the society every day and the Nepalese government has failed to protect the rights of Dalits.

Therefore, I urge you to order immediate investigation of this case. The perpetrators should be brought to justice as soon as possible according to the 1990 Nepalese Constitution, which rejects caste-ism and untouchability, and makes its practice an offence punishable by law. I also urge you to ensure full security to the victim and her family while the investigation is going on. The victim should also be compensated. I further urge the Nepalese government to take strong measure to implement the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination into domestic law. The Nepalese government should create all possible and speedy mechanisms to abolish case discrimination in Nepal.

Sincerely yours



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Thank you.

Kim Soo A
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-74-2003
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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.