ASIA/NEPAL-Liberty, equality and justice: still many obstacles regarding the protection of women's rights

Kathmandu (Agenzia Fides) – According to a statement of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), a non-governmental organization, and the Women's Rehabilitation Center (WOREC) Nepal, have signed a joint written statement in favour of women's rights in the Asian country with the aim of supporting the defenders in their valuable work for research, gathering information and reporting on human rights violations. The Organization of Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) advocate for specific women`s humans rights issues such as discrimination on the basis of caste, class, creed, race, ethnicity, gender identity, marital status, political belief and geographical origin, lack of resources , land right and working against bonded labor. Struggle for freedom, equality, and justice are among the key points on the agenda of the women's movement in Nepal. WHRDs are committed to defending the rights of women, indigenous minorities, the handicapped and the Dalits. Between 2005 and 2006, the WOREC Nepal, with the support of WHRDs`, began documenting cases of violation of women`s human rights in the context of armed conflict in 62 districts. During the documentation process it became clear to WHRDs that they have been the target of specific threats, harassment in their work, torture, beatings, arbitrary arrest and detention, death threats, harassment and defamation, as well as restrictions on their freedom of movement, expression and association. WOREC Nepal, which deals with the basic rights of women, has documented a total of 105 cases of violations done to the WHRDs, some of which go back as far as 2004 but the majority of the cases have occurred in the last 3 years. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 05/04/2011)