While the Covid-19 pandemic continues to aggravate the already vulnerable situation of the survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, the Nepal government still fails to ensure justice for decade-long conflict-related sexual violence survivors, survivors and right activists said at the virtual interaction program to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict on 20th June 2021.
The interaction program ‘Women Survivors of Conflict in context of Covid 19 Pandemic,’ was convened by WOREC and Sahaj Network, National Network of Conflict survivors to address the challenges that survivors of sexual violence are facing and to advocate for appropriate response programs for their reparation and reintegration.
Nepal’s decade-long armed conflict saw astounding atrocity crimes of sexual violence committed against women and girls by both the security forces and the Maoist combatants. Various reports also highlight the way both parties systematically used rape and sexual violence as a tool to control, victimize, and humiliate their perceived enemies. Thus, sexual violence against women and girls during the conflict was widespread, and the documented cases show that the girls under 18 were particularly vulnerable.
Although many women and girls faced sexual violence during the conflict, most cases are underreported due to the fear of social stigma, rejection from the families and communities, insecurity, and lack of gender-sensitive services. According to Bishnu Pokharel, Commission Member of Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), out of 64,000 complaints screened by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), only 314 are related to sexual assaults.
On the other hand, those, who have filed a report on sexual violence, are still waiting for justice, reparation, and reintegration into the community.
“Survivors of conflict-related sexual violence are not only battling with their emotional trauma but are also facing financial burden and social stigma since the government has yet to address their issues. And now, the Covid-19 pandemic has further intensified existing structural, institutional, and social-cultural barriers for survivors to get access to justice, and the government has overlooked their issues,” said Soniya Chaudhary, the chairperson of Sahaj Network.
Chaudhary further pointed out that chronic underreporting of crimes has only been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic since the movement restrictions imposed by the government to curb the virus have limited the ability of survivors to report incidents.
Chaudhary also highlighted that since the government has neither allocated a separate budget nor formulated any policy for the reintegration of the conflict survivors, they haven’t got any relief distributions to ease their financial burden amidst the pandemic. “As many conflict survivors lost their jobs amidst the prohibitory ordered issued by the government, they are financially struggling. However, they haven’t got any relief distribution from the government yet,” said Chaudhary.
Addressing the issue, Anita Gyawali, Department Head at the Ministry of Social Development, Karnali Province, stated that the local government at Karnali Province has always been concerned about the challenges faced by conflict survivors and have been working closely with the central government to support reintegration and livelihood programs for the survivors.
“Karnali province will be introducing three schemes program for the conflict survivors to help the survivors live a dignified life. The program includes providing free education for the child of conflict-affected families until they graduate, providing vocational training for the sustainable livelihood, and providing a monthly allowance for disabled survivors,” said Gyawali.
Devi Oli, Chairperson of Social Development Committee of Karnali Provincial Assembly, also pointed out that although Karnali province had earlier come up with the reintegration program targeting the conflict survivors, due to the lack of separate policies addressing the needs of conflict survivors and flawed registration system, many conflicts related sexual violence survivors couldn’t get access to the program.
Both Oli and Dhan Raj Shahi, National Human Rights Officer at National Human Rights Council, stressed the need for proper regulation and mechanism to collect data of the conflict-related sexual violence survivors for their access to the schemes provided by the government.
In the program, although Bishnu Pokharel, Commission Member of Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), acknowledged that there are some gaps in the efforts made by TRC for the justice and reparation of survivors of conflict, she assured that the TRC is working closely with the provincial government and is preparing the plans and policies in this regard.
"There are 314 cases of sexual assaults out of over 64 thousand cases. As per the data, Achham district has the highest number of cases related to conflict and sexual violence. The cases of sexual violence have been on priority for TRC and the commission has prepared an Investigation Guideline that mandates gender-friendly provisions such as the compulsion of having a female staff when survivors come to file complaints and ensuring the privacy of the survivors while working with cases related to sexual violence during conflict," said Pokharel.
Pokhrel also requested all the stakeholders including civil society organizations and survivors’ networks to collaborate and coordinate with TRC so that they can jointly solve the issues of conflict survivors.“TRC will take all the concerns expressed in today’s program into consideration and will work together with stakeholders to address the needs of the survivors,” said Pokharel.
The program also featured a video that presents the real-life stories of survivors during the armed conflict. The reports were produced based on the conversation with the conflict survivors.