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As the Nepal government is still enforcing prohibitory order, following a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases, the attention is still focused on containing Covid-19. Till now, WOREC has recorded 371 cases of violence against women and girls since the ongoing prohibitory order was issued on April 29, 2021. 171 cases against women and girls were recorded in the past two weeks alone (May 30-June 14, 20201).
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From the cases recorded by WOREC during the period from April 29-June 14, 2021, 73 cases are related to rape. Out of 73 cases of rape, 1 case is of marital rape, while 3 cases were related to gang rape.
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The neighbours committed a staggering 35 percent of rape cases (26 cases). Analyzing these 73 cases of rape further shows that 19 percent (14 cases) of rape were committed by family members where 5 were committed by fathers, 1 by an uncle, two by fathers-in-law, one by brother-in-law and 5 by other family members. Similarly, 14 cases of rape were committed by boyfriends, one by a teacher and 18 by strangers.
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The age analysis of these documented cases shows that girls aged below 16 have been most affected, where 34 girls fall under this age group. Similarly, 23 women and girls are within 17-25 years, while nine survivors belong to 26-35. In the same way, there are two survivors between the age group of 36-45, and in the cases that involve five survivors, their ages haven't been identified.
The case that WOREC has recorded shows that a 4-years-old girl was raped by a 53-years-old man in Kanchanpur district of Nepal on May 26. The perpetrator, who was the neighbour to the girl, is in police custody while the girl is undergoing treatment at the One-Stop Crisis Management Centre (OCMC). Similarly, in Udayapur district, when the public came to know that her father raped the 15-years-old girl in May, the community members tried to hide the incident by pressuring the family to settle the matter outside of the court. However, the family members later registered a complaint at the police station with the support of the Women Human Rights Defenders Network. At present, the perpetrator is under police custody while a case against the perpetrator has gone for a trial in court. In another incident, when the parents of the 8-years-old girl, who was raped by her uncle, went to lodge a complaint against the alleged perpetrator in Siraha district, the police initially refused to register the complaint. The girl's parents succeeded in registering the complaint at the police station only after the Women Human Rights Defenders and WOREC jointly advocated on their behalf.
These rape cases are just a few examples and represent many women and girls who face social stigma and rejection from their families and communities. As a result, many suffer in silence while the rape cases often don't get reported to the police. This practice has only encouraged perpetrators to commit a crime while discouraging the survivors from registering the complaint against the perpetrators.
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The data also shows that the husband or other family members committed 50% of domestic violence cases (186 cases). Along with that, WOREC has recorded 42 cases of social violence, 71 cases of rape, 2 cases of attempt to commit rape, 11 cases of sexual abuse, 20 cases of murder, 9 cases of murder attempts. Likewise, 5 cases are related to suicide, 2 cases of trafficking, 3 cases of suicide attempt, 1 case of acid attack, while in 15 cases, survivors were abandoned.
During this period, a total of 549 people was provided psychosocial counselling by WOREC's psychosocial counsellors through virtual, telephonic and one-to-one face to face psychosocial counselling.
The documented 371 cases of violence against women and girls were reported from two hotlines run by WOREC, 23 psychosocial counsellors, Women Human Rights Defenders, and community-based organizations. Among these, 70 cases were collected from different media.