Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination and Violence against Girl Child inNepal
Bhawana UPADHYAY (Nepal)
The girl children in Nepal have been subjected to worst forms of discrimination andviolence for a variety of so-called reasons. These include both physical and mental
aggressions made by their own family members as well as other people. Most ofthese incidents happen behind closed doors and the true circumstance of victims do
not surface unless they are hospitalized. The victims are too scared to disclose theoffence committed against them mainly due to threatening by offenders to inflict
additional torture. Consequently, the issues are not out in the media—to theadvantage of the aggressors, who continue enjoying their normally fabricated status
quo in the society. Due to such problems, the actual data pertaining to human rightviolation is neither available with the public sector authorities nor civil society
agencies. The first step in eliminating discrimination and/or violence against girlchildren shall be the identification of the depth and magnitude of the problem.
This effort seems more challenging specifically in Nepal, whose way of life ispredominated by patriarchal values.
Boys are always preferred over girls bymajority of parents as far as gender of their forthcoming babies is concerned. Thispreference also emanates from the bias proliferated the patriarchal norms. Namely,
these associate girl children with issues such as requirement of payments in theform of dowry at the time of marriage and unjustified incurrence of educational
expenses, etc. Adding to the disadvantageous position of girl child due to these inbuilt cultural facts, the decade long peoples’ war sponsored by the Communist Partyof Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) contributed to further marginalizing them and enhancing
their vulnerability. The United Nations had, during the course of the conflict,repeatedly raised serious concern over increasing number of encroachment in school
premises throughout the country, forceful recruitment of school children in theMaoist militia, disappearances of children, etc.
The conflict has had a devastating effect on all sections of society—more so on thelives of children, especially girl children, primarily owing to their all time fall-backposition. Tens of thousands of children were abducted from schools by the CPN-M
fighters to attend their so-called political education sessions. Many of the abducted
ones got forcefully recruited in the CPN-M army to be ultimately positioned in thefirst line and/or as a shield during the crossfire(s). In order to escape the abduction,
many children were rather kept home—as evidenced by less than 100 days of school
attendance records.
The other dreadful side of biased treatment of Nepalese girls is their trafficking,which is also growing at an alarming rate. It is estimated that more than 15,000
Nepalese girls between the age of nine and 16 are forcefully trafficked to be soldmainly to brothels in India and elsewhere to enter into prostitution for the rest of
their ‘productive’ lives.
As in the cases of domestic violence and discrimination committed against them, thegirls have very little chance of seeking judicial remedies and seeing the culprit

placed behind bars. The Nepalese Constitution prohibits discrimination by the Stateon the basis of religion, race, age, sex, caste, tribe or ideology. This egalitarian
language of the Constitution is not reflected in majority of Nepalese laws, nor in thedaily lives of most people. Male domination in entire state of affairs, together withthese laws, renders women and children dependent on their fathers, husbands,brothers and sons.
The Nepalese legal system apparently fails to protect children who are the victims ofdomestic violence and discrimination. The government does not prosecute this sortof assault unless the violence rises to the level of attempted murder or murder—
which again is very hard for the already marginalized children to legally establish
with documented proof. Although prosecution may be pursued without the aid of theState, socio-economic and cultural barriers preclude marginalized groups fromprosecuting almost in every case.
With due facilitative efforts from all sectors, including the civil society and pressuregroups who have major role to play, Nepal needs proactive strategy andimplementation plans to demonstrate her true concern towards the elimination ofdiscrimination and violence against the girl child.