Context

In Nepal and globally, marginalized groups continue to face systemic discrimination based on gender, sexuality, sexual orientation, caste, class, occupation, geography, disability, and religion. As a result, women, girls, adolescents, LGBTIQ+ persons, and other excluded communities are denied their fundamental human rights. In this context, WOREC, with a strong feminist perspective, works to challenge unequal power relations and dismantle all forms of discrimination and violence by transforming social, cultural, and economic structures at the policy level.

The Government of Nepal has ratified key international human rights conventions such as CEDAW, ICCPR, CRC, and UDHR, and has committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 under the principle of “Leave no one behind.” However, significant gaps remain between policy commitments and implementation. The enabling environment necessary to realize women’s identity, bodily autonomy, dignified labor, safe workplaces, recognition and respect of labor, and the fulfillment of basic needs has not yet been secured.

WOREC therefore continues to critically examine unequal power dynamics and advocate from community to national and international platforms for the protection and promotion of human rights of women, gender and sexual minorities, and all marginalized groups. We assert that rights must not only be guaranteed in legal and constitutional frameworks but must also be realized in everyday lived experiences.

Sub-Themes Under Human Rights and Social Justice

1. VAW: Its cause and consequences

Nepal’s Constitution has pledged to end gender-based discrimination and to build a society based on the principles of inclusion and participation, ensuring economic equality, prosperity, and social justice. However, deeply rooted patriarchal mindsets, structural inequalities, and discriminatory social norms continue to suppress women’s identity, labor, and bodily autonomy—with control imposed by families, society, and the state under various perspectives. As a result, women and adolescent girls continue to face multiple forms of violence.

Since its establishment, WOREC has prioritized networking-based community organizing to build the resistance and resilience capacity of women and girls. The organization has mobilized and strengthened more than 800 community-based groups and institutions, facilitating them to raise their voices against inequality and violence.

To address the root causes of violence against women, which stem from systemic inequality, WOREC has strategically focused on the following critical issues.

2. Right to Work and Social Security

Article 34 of the Constitution of Nepal (2015) recognizes the right to work as a fundamental right, under which every worker is entitled to fair labor practices, benefits, and access to social security. However, in Nepal, a large proportion of the labor force is engaged in the informal sector. The highest concentration is in construction (97%), followed by trade (74%) and manufacturing (84%).

Although the Government of Nepal has recently introduced some legal provisions related to social security for workers in the formal sector, these measures are still inadequate for the vast number of workers employed in the informal sector. In particular, women’s labor is not recognized as part of the formal economy, nor are women acknowledged as workers. As a result, the lack of worker identity excludes them entirely from social security schemes.

Similarly, protectionist policies imposed on women migrant workers have subjected them to greater insecurity and exploitation. Therefore, it is essential to recognize and dignify all forms of labor. It is equally important to establish that the right to work is a human right. To achieve this, strong policy advocacy is necessary, along with a fundamental shift in the perspectives and attitudes of the state, society, and families. Through such policy advocacy, issues of decent work and identity of workers in the informal sector are being advanced legally, with continuous efforts to integrate the right to work and social security as cross-cutting areas in strategic plans, and to carry forward campaigns and advocacy initiatives accordingly.

3. Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights and Bodily Autonomy

“Sexual and reproductive health rights are human rights. These rights include full autonomy over one’s own body, the right to privacy with human dignity, the right to decide the number and spacing of children, the right to be free from all forms of violence and coercion that affect women’s sexual and reproductive cycles, and the right to self-determination. Article 35 of the Constitution of Nepal guarantees that every citizen shall have the right to receive basic health services free of cost from the state, and that no one shall be deprived of emergency health services. However, an environment where women can use these rights without fear has still not been fully established. Due to discriminatory attitudes in society regarding women, their bodies, and their sexuality, women are forced to face various forms of violence. They are compelled to hide sexual and reproductive health issues because there are structural barriers that deny them knowledge about their own bodies and impose control over them. Therefore, WOREC has been continuously working and campaigning to create an environment where issues of sexual and reproductive health rights can be openly discussed at the community level, and to establish conditions in which women can have control over their own bodies.”

4. Transitional Justice and Peace

Transitional justice refers to the processes and mechanisms used by societies to address past human rights violations and atrocities committed during conflict or repression. In Nepal, transitional justice is an essential issue because, during the decade-long armed conflict, widespread human rights violations and abuses were committed by both the state security forces and the Maoist insurgents.  The 12-year armed conflict rooted with structural discrimination, exploitation, and a unitary system of governance ended with the Comprehensive Peace Accord, lj:t[t zfGtL ;Demf}tf which was signed 17 years ago with the commitment of “sustainable peacebuilding.” Yet, conflict-affected communities remain deprived of transitional justice. Particularly, serious issues such as sexual violence, torture, and other grave human rights violations committed against women during the armed conflict have not been adequately addressed to this day.

Therefore, WOREC has been documenting incidents related to the impact of conflict on women, girls, and adolescents—especially sexual violence during the conflict and its long-lasting effects on women’s lives, while also advocating for sustainable peace. Moreover, WOREC has been consistently lobbying at local, provincial, federal, national, and international levels to ensure immediate provisions for the dignity, justice, and reparation of conflict-survivor women, and to broaden the interpretation of transitional justice beyond a narrow legal framework so that women can experience self-justice, family justice, and social justice.

5. Quality Care

Gender-based violence (GBV) is one of the key human rights issues. The Government of Nepal and various non-governmental organizations have established multiple mechanisms to provide quality services to GBV survivors. These mechanisms include safe houses, legal aid, psychosocial counseling, and hotlines. Although these mechanisms exist, they have not been able to provide quality services as per the needs of survivors fully. One major challenge lies in the federal system, where there is a gap in clarity regarding the roles of local, provincial, and federal governments. Furthermore, service delivery mechanisms specifically targeted at survivors of gender-based violence are not easily accessible to those in need.

As a result, survivors often fail to receive essential services such as safe houses, psychosocial counseling, hotlines, and legal aid promptly. Keeping this situation in mind, WOREC has continued to provide safe house services for GBV survivors in four districts—Morang, Sunsari, Udayapur, and Dhanusha.. Additionally, it has been providing services via two hotlines based in Kathmandu (16600178910) and Morang (16602152000). Alongside this, WOREC has also continued offering psychosocial counseling and legal counseling/support and assistance to survivors, reaffirming its commitment to further improving the quality and accessibility of services in the coming days.

2. Fighting Inequality

Inequality refers to the differences in the distribution of resources, access, opportunities, power, decision-making capacity, and rights among individuals or groups within a community. The root causes of inequality lie in structural discrimination, social norms, patriarchy, caste, class-based exploitation, and neoliberal structures. In Nepal, inequalities based on caste, gender, class, sexuality, language, and geography deprive women and marginalized communities even of their fundamental Human rights.

In the current context of Nepal, gender inequality, caste-based discrimination, and class-based discrimination remain the most prominent. Gender, caste, class, and other structural inequalities are the root causes of gender-based violence. The marginalized community continues to be deprived of economic, social, cultural, and human rights. Likewise, the interlinked structures of neoliberalism, capitalism, and patriarchy severely restrict the access of marginalized communities to resources and opportunities. The majority of resources remain in the hands of the upper-class communities, who benefit, while marginalized communities are being used as merely cheap labor. At the same time, these privileged groups exploit natural resources for their private interests, deepening environmental inequality.

Struggles and movements to raise voices against such systemic inequalities have been ongoing. For decades, human rights defenders have stood as frontliners to raise their voice against violence, discrimination, and oppression, laying essential foundations for social transformation. Through continuous movements and advocacy on various issues, human rights defenders have succeeded in institutionalizing some transformative achievements.

Therefore, since its establishment, WOREC has been working to enhance the resilience of human rights defenders through solidarity, unity, coordination, building common agendas, and fostering aspirations for transformation, thereby continuing the struggle against inequality.