Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP) - 2011

The government of Nepal has continued to improve efforts to combat human trafficking despite limited resources, according to the 11th US Annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report released on 27th June 2011 on Washington.

The report released by the U.S. Department of State says the country has not fully complied with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.

Nepal's section on the report

Nepal is mainly a source country for men, women, and children who are subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. Some Nepali women and girls are subjected to sex trafficking in Nepal, India, and the Middle East, and also are subjected to forced labor in Nepal and India as domestic servants, beggars, factory workers, mine workers, and in the entertainment industry, including in circuses and in pornography. They are subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor in other Asian destinations, including Malaysia, Hong Kong, and South Korea. Nepali boys also are exploited in domestic servitude and – in addition to some Indian boys – are subjected to forced labor in Nepal, especially in brick kilns and the embroidered textiles industry. One NGO is concerned that China is an emerging sex trafficking hub for Nepali girls. There were reports of traffickers in the remote Karnali region who deceive families into sending their children to urban areas with false promises of schooling. Many of these children, however, are never sent to schools and some end up in forced labor, including forced begging. Bonded labor exists in agriculture, brick kilns, and the stone-breaking industry. Particularly in agriculture, this is often based on caste lines, where traditional landlord castes use debt bondage to secure unpaid labor from Dalit laborers. Traffickers generally target uneducated people, especially from socially marginalized and traditionally excluded groups. However, a growing number of victims are relatively well-educated and from traditionally privileged groups.

Many Nepali migrants seek work in domestic service, construction, or other low-skilled sectors in Gulf countries, Malaysia, Israel, South Korea, Afghanistan, and Libya with the help of Nepal-based labor brokers and manpower agencies. They travel willingly but some subsequently face conditions indicative of forced labor such as withholding of passports, restrictions on movement, nonpayment of wages, threats, deprivation of food and sleep, and physical or sexual abuse. Some are deceived about their destination country, the terms of their contract, or are subjected to debt bondage, which can in some cases be facilitated by fraud and high recruitment fees charged by unscrupulous agents. Many workers migrate via India; this is illegal, due to the 2007 Foreign Employment Act that requires all workers to leave for overseas work via the Kathmandu airport. Many migrants leave by land because it is easier and cheaper than traveling by air, and to avoid legal migration registration requirements, the scrutiny of a labor migration desk in the airport, and bribes that some officials reportedly require at the airport to secure migration documents. A recent survey of returned migrants served by the NGO Maiti Nepal assessed that 67 percent of female Nepali workers who returned from the Gulf were unhealthy; most disorders were psychological illnesses. Nepali officials have reported a large increase of Bangladeshis transiting through Nepal in recent years due to increasing migration restrictions of Bangladeshis by foreign countries. Officials believe many Bangladeshis illegitimately obtain Nepali visas and work permits for employment in the Gulf, and noted, because these Nepali documents are often produced fraudulently, the Bangladeshis are at risk of being trafficked.

The Government of Nepal does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so, despite limited resources. During the year, the government established the Central Crime Investigative Bureau’s special unit to investigate trafficking and increased its direct financial support for protective services in Nepal and abroad. Incidents of trafficking-related complicity by government officials were not documented by the government, but reported by civil society. The lack of proactive victim identification remained a serious problem in Nepal.

Recommendations for Nepal: Increase law enforcement efforts against all types of trafficking, including labor trafficking, and against government officials who are found to be complicit in trafficking, while respecting the rights of victims and defendants; institute a formal procedure to identify victims of trafficking and refer them to protection services; ensure that sex trafficking victims are not punished for involvement in prostitution; improve protection services available for victims of all forms of trafficking; promote legal awareness programs to potential trafficking victims and government officials; work with Indian officials to establish a procedure to repatriate Nepali victims of trafficking in India; decentralize the system to file complaints under the Foreign Employment Promotion Board as a means to facilitate victims’ access to legal remedies; consider increasing avenues for female migrant workers to migrate legally and safely to the Gulf; and provide disaggregated data under the Human Trafficking and Transportation Control Act.

Prosecution : Nepal prohibits most forms of trafficking in persons, including the selling of human beings and forced prostitution, through its Human Trafficking and Transportation Control Act (2007) and Regulation (2008) (HTTCA). Prescribed penalties range from 10 to 20 years’ imprisonment, which are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape. The Bonded Labor (Prohibition) Act (2002) prohibits bonded labor, but has no penalties. Defendants in trafficking cases are not assumed innocent, violating fair trial standards. According to the Office of Attorney General, 174 offenders were convicted in 119 cases tried in court under the HTTCA; 71 cases resulted in convictions and 47 cases resulted in acquittals in Nepal’s 2009-2010 fiscal year. This compares with 172 offenders convicted in 138 cases tried in court, with 82 cases resulting in convictions and 56 case acquittals, in the previous fiscal year. It is not known how many of these cases were for human trafficking, since the HTTCA also prohibits other offenses that do not constitute human trafficking, such as people smuggling. Government statistics did not include information about punishments and did not disaggregate whether convictions were for sex trafficking, labor trafficking, or non-trafficking offenses. The much lower number of convictions reported in the 2010 Report represented only convictions obtained from the Supreme Court, while the numbers offered above represent convictions obtained from district courts. Some Foreign Employment Tribunal case convictions under the Foreign Employment Act may have involved human trafficking. The tribunal is based in Kathmandu without branch offices, which restricts victims outside of the capital from filing cases. In 2010, the government established a special unit to investigate human trafficking within the Central Crime Investigative Bureau. One government source noted a decrease in victims’ confidence in the prospect of justice in Banke district – a western district of Nepal – because very few labor traffickers of migrant workers have been punished in the district. This is believed to have negatively affected the number of trafficking cases filed with police in the district.

The incidence of trafficking-related complicity by government officials remained a problem. Anecdotal evidence suggests that traffickers use ties to politicians, business persons, state officials, police, customs officials, and border police to facilitate trafficking. Although in the past it was reported that many dance bars, “cabin restaurants,” and massage parlors in Kathmandu that facilitate sex trafficking were co-owned by senior police and army officials, some security officials report that recently adopted police and army rules prohibit officials from running businesses without approval, and that this has decreased the practice; this has not yet been confirmed by civil society groups. Some Nepali officials may work with traffickers in providing false information in genuine Nepali passports. Politically-connected perpetrators enjoy impunity from punishment. There were no trafficking related investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government officials for complicity in trafficking during the reporting period. Between January and March 2010, according to official statistics, the Maoists discharged the 2,973 child soldiers they recruited during the 10-year conflict, some of whom may have been trafficking victims. However, no Maoist official has been charged in connection with the conscription of child soldiers. Government officials who participated in counter-trafficking training-of-trainers programs led workshops in their various districts.

Protection : The Government of Nepal does not have a formal system of proactively identifying victims of trafficking among high-risk persons with whom they come in contact. Some police officers made arrests during raids on commercial sex establishments but did not identify victims. As a result, child trafficking victims were arrested, jailed, and then charged “bail” which the police and court allowed traffickers to pay; this further indebted the girls before they were handed back to their traffickers. A 2009 Supreme Court ruling which ordered police to not arrest females in these establishments was largely unheeded, but some NGOs recently filed successful contempt of court cases which released some girls from detention. Police arrested some Bangladeshi migrant workers during raids in 2010 while they were allegedly trying to fly overseas with fake Nepali passports, and did not make attempts to identify whether they were trafficking victims.

During the last year, the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MWCSW) fulfilled a commitment reported in the 2010 TIP Report to open and partially-fund five NGO-run shelter homes for female victims of trafficking, domestic violence, and sexual assault; a total of eight NGO shelters are now given some funding by the government. As of February 2011, 77 victims were in those shelters. During the year, the MWCSW fulfilled a second commitment to open 15 emergency shelters across the country for victims of trafficking and other forms of abuse. All facilities that assist trafficking victims were run by NGOs and most provided a range of services, including legal aid, medical services, psychosocial counseling, and economic rehabilitation. The Nepal Police Women’s Cells reportedly sustained partnerships with NGOs to ensure that victims were provided with available shelter; however, it is unknown how many survivors received assistance. There were not sufficient facilities to meet the needs of all survivors, nor were there any protective services for males. The Government of Nepal allocated approximately $7,000 for rescue efforts by the Nepal Embassy in India in the 2010 to 2011 fiscal year, a 55 percent increase compared to the previous fiscal year. The government continued to run emergency safehouses in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. While the Foreign Employment Promotion Board collected fees from departing registered migrant workers for a welfare fund, most of the funds remain unused and are inaccessible to migrants who did not register with the Board; these irregular migrants may be most at risk to trafficking.

Limited protections for victims negatively affected law enforcement efforts. Victims were often intimidated in their communities not to pursue a case, and they did not want to prosecute due to concerns for personal and family safety, particularly as their traffickers may have been family members. Many victims were unaware that legal recourse was available against traffickers. The government did not encourage trafficking victims to participate in investigations against their traffickers. Judges reportedly often took an adversarial, rather than impartial, stance when dealing with trafficking victims.

Prevention : The Government of Nepal improved efforts to prevent human trafficking during the reporting period. The government organized rallies and distributed posters and pamphlets to mark the fourth annual National Anti-Trafficking Day. The National Human Trafficking Task Force was more active in the reporting period; it met more times than in previous years, secured more funds for rescue, and helped repatriate a Nepali victim from a rehabilitation home in Bangladesh. The MWCSW established District Committees on Controlling Human Trafficking in 49 districts this past year. While all districts are now covered, a number of those in rural areas are not active. According to the Foreign Employment Promotion Board, during the year the Board conducted safe migration radio programs on more than 50 stations throughout the country; this is twice as many stations as was reported in the previous year. In January 2011, the Ministry of Labor formed a Committee to Hear the Issue of Undocumented Workers. The committee met once during the reporting period, and includes an NGO. Chapter 9 of the 2007 Foreign Employment Act criminalizes the acts of an agency or individual sending workers abroad through fraudulent recruitment promises or without the proper documentation, prescribing penalties of three to seven years’ imprisonment for those convicted; fraudulent recruitment puts workers at significant risk of trafficking. Despite national registration drives and committees responsible for registering births, the Central Child Welfare Committee in 2008 reported that only 40 percent of children had birth registration certificates. All Nepali military troops and police assigned to international peacekeeping forces were provided some pre-deployment anti-trafficking training funded by a foreign government. Nepal is not a party to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.

Nepal is 27th most failed states as of FSI- 2011

Nepal ranked 27th in the list of the "most failed states", according to the annual ranking prepared by the Foreign Policy magazine and released on June 20, 2011.

With Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka -- are also in the list of the most failed states.

The Fund for Peace today released the seventh edition of its annual Failed States Index (FSI), highlighting global political, economic and social pressures experienced by states. Foreign Policy magazine, which collaborates on the FSI with The Fund for Peace, has feature articles based on the FSI in its issue.

Pakistan is at number 12, Myanmar is at 18, Bangladesh (25); Sri Lanka (29) and Bhutan is at 50 in a list of 60 countries in which African countries dominate.

Other countries in the top 10 are Chad, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan Central African Republic and Iraq.

On Pakistan, the report said, "Pakistan has long been dubbed the world's most dangerous country in Washington policy circles" and "yet Pakistan isn't just dangerous for the West -- it's often a danger to its own people."

On Bangladesh, the report said, two of five Bangladeshis live under the poverty line. Any improvements will also be fighting the environmental clock. If sea levels rise just by 1 metre, scientists warn, 17 percent of the country could be submerged.

"Nepal is the poorest country in South Asia, according to the United Nations, and that's unlikely to change until the peace process is implemented and security restored. There are signs that the Maoists may be losing patience -- and thinking about going back to the trenches to fight for more," the report said.

On Sri Lanka, it said, "The government's final push against the rebels relied on the shelling of civilians and other atrocities, according to a 2010 report by the International Crisis Group.”

"The most recent statistics from last year indicate that some 327,000 are still displaced from the conflict."

"Despite the pronounced fractures still lingering, the Sinhalese-dominated government in Colombo seems eager to forget the past," it added.

The 2011 FSI ranks Somalia as number one for the fourth consecutive year, citing widespread lawlessness, ineffective government, terrorism, insurgency, crime, and well-publicized pirate attacks against foreign vessels.

Finland has displaced Norway from the best position for the first time. Slight fluctuations in demographic and economic indicators, though minimal, lowered Norway's scores, allowing Finland, with continued its stability, to slip in front of its Nordic neighbor.

The FSI ranks 177 countries using 12 social, economic, and political indicators of pressure on the state, along with over 100 sub-indicators. These include such issues as Uneven Development, State Legitimacy, Group Grievance, and Human Rights. Each indicator is rated on a scale of 1-10, based on the analysis of millions of publicly available documents, other quantitative data, and assessments by analysts. A high score indicates high pressure on the state, and therefore a higher risk of instability.

Other notable changes this year include countries affected by natural disasters. Haiti, which suffered the greatest decline in the 2011 FSI, shot to fifth place in the index, largely as a result of the January 2010 earthquake and its aftermath. Natural disasters, including earthquakes, floods and drought, likewise affected scores in countries as diverse as New Zealand, Chile, Benin and Nigeria.

Greece and Ireland declined from the 2010 FSI as economic crisis have adversely affected their economic indicators. A loss of confidence in the state, coinciding with the state's lessened capacity to provide public services, have led to growing social pressures.

Georgia is the most improved nation, reaping the benefits of new accountability and transparency measures in the security sector and a government crackdown on corruption. A reduced threat of conflict with neighboring Russia further improved scores.

The Fund for Peace is an independent research and educational organization based in Washington, DC, with the mission to prevent conflict and promote sustainable security. Visit The Fund for Peace website at www.fundforpeace.org for more information on its work.

Global Economic Prospects- 2011

Remittances expanded by 17 per cent in dollar terms in 2010 supported in part by vibrant growth in India, a key source-country for Nepali remittances, according to Global Economic Prospects (GEP) 2011 report released on 8th June 2011 by the World Bank (WB).

The bank flagship report on world economy GEP has projected that Pakistan and Nepal are expected to lag behind in economic progress in the South, given continued political challenges and associated macro-policy slippage.

The GEP 2011 pointed out that the region’s relatively strong projected growth path - reaching 7.9 percent in 2013 as compared with the 6.0 percent average from 1998 through 2007 (compound growth rate) - is projected to be led by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, where acceleration of investment activity is expected to support higher growth outturns. In contrast, Pakistan and Nepal are expected to lag, given continued political challenges and associated macro-policy slippage. Indeed, GDP growth in Pakistan is not projected to recover to above the pre-crisis decadal average of 5.0 percent during the forecast period.

Nepal had received Rs 231.72 billion in remittance in 2009-10 and in the nine months of the current fiscal year, it has already received Rs 181.84 billion. “Worker remittance inflows to South Asia rose by 8.2 per cent in 2010 to $81billion, helping to offset sizeable trade deficits,remaining a critical source of foreign exchange,”the mulatilateral agency’s report said.

However, when measured in local currency terms, remittances inflows to the region grew by only 4.1 per cent in 2010, while high inflation rates meant that the real value of the inflows declined by 3.9 per cent. The pick-up in dollar value of remittances was strongest in Sri Lanka, where it increased by 24 per cent in 2010, reflecting increased inflows through official channels and the boost inconfidence following the end of the civil war.

In India, the uptick in the dollar value of remittances inflows was more modest (7.4 per cent), reflecting larger shares of Indian migrants in high-income countries that have yet to fully recover from the financial crisis.

Elsewhere in the region, remittances inflows moderated sharply in 2010 — in dollar terms — by 2.7 per cent in Bangladesh, following 19.4 per cent growth in 2009, the report said, adding that the deceleration appears to partly reflect a delayed impact of the decline in the net outflow of migrants, which nearly halved during the first half of 2009 and continued to decline in 2010 and into early-2011.

Similarly, South Asian current account deficit deteriorated in early 2011, reflecting higher oil import bills and strong, albeit moderating, import volume growth.

Helping to contain the deterioration in external balances, the region recorded strong export volume growth in early-2011 — led by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — supported by strong external demand from China, the report added.

During calendar year 2011, the regional current account deficit is projected to expand to 2.8 per cent as a share of GDP from 2.4 per cent in 2010. “It reflects a projected shrinking of Bangladesh’s current account surplus, due to a stronger pace of growth in imports over exports, falling terms of trade — driven by rising international food and fuel prices — and a major slowdown in worker remittances receipts.”

Meanwhile, FDI to the region has fallen and regional current account deficit is expected to continue to be covered by significant foreign exchange reserve holdings, particularly in India, and sustained capital inflow.

Nepal experienced a moderation in activity in early-2011, it said, adding that ongoing political uncertainty attached to the post-conflict transition to a new government has extended into its fourth year, with law and order problems, continued extensive infrastructure bottlenecks — particularly widespread load-shedding and unreliable power delivery — projected to limit real GDP growth to 3.5 per cent.

"Globally, GDP is expected to grow 3.2 percent in 2011 before edging up to 3.6 percent in 2012.

"But further increases in already high oil and food prices could significantly curb economic growth and hurt the poor."

The bank predicted economic growth in developing countries will slow to around 6.3 percent each year from 2011 to 2013, from 7.3 percent in 2010.

High-income countries will see growth slow to 2.2 percent in 2011, from 2.7 percent in 2010, before picking up to 2.7 percent in 2012 and 2.6 percent in 2013, it said.

Nepal : 7th/13 dangerous countries for press

Nepal ranked 7th among 13 most dangerous countries for journalists in the world by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a US-based media watchdog. The organization has updated its 2011 Impunity Index and released on 1 June 2011.

In its full report titled Getting Away with Murder, the CPJ said that Iraq remains at the top of the list for the fourth consecutive year for violence against journalists, where none of the 92 murdered journalist cases were solved.

According to the CPJ website, impunity is the main factor in evaluating the levels of freedom of journalists and speech. Unsolved anti-press crimes most often result to restriction of the freedom of the press.

The 12 other countries that received the shameful distinction in descending order based on number of murdered journalists per one million population are: Somalia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Afghanistan, Nepal, Mexico, Russia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brazil and India.

The Philippines maintained its third most dangerous country for journalists status from last year when the watchdog recorded 69 crimes since 1992.

The CPJ stated, "Initial trial proceedings in the Maguindanao killings have been plagued by threats and bribes targeting witnesses, and incompetence and corruption among local investigators. The slow-moving prosecution has yielded no convictions thus far. "In countries with weak law enforcement, political reporting is the most dangerous beat. Among the unsolved cases on this index, nearly 30 percent of victims had covered politics."

First published in 2008, the Impunity Index gauges countries where media people are killed regularly and the state fail to have them solved. When no convictions are made, they are considered unsolved.

Nepal's part on the report :

Six local reporters and editors have been murdered with complete impunity in the past decade. Maoist cadres are suspected in a number of the killings, including the 2007 murder of reporter Birendra Shah, whose coverage had been critical of what was then an armed Maoist insurgency. After joining the government in 2008, Maoist leaders pledged to investigate the numerous press freedom violations that had been ascribed to their members, including several non-fatal attacks and abductions. Yet no evident progress has been made in achieving justice.

Impunity Index Rating: 0.205 unsolved journalist murders per 1 million inhabitants.

Last year: Ranked 7th with a rating of 0.210.

To read full report click here.

Global Peace Index- 2011

The Global Peace Index (GPI) 2011 Report, which was published by the Institute for Economics and Peace on 25th May 2011, stated that Nepal has been ranked in 95th place, 13 ranks and 18th ranks lower than its 2010 and 2009 positions respectively. The report presents Bhutan as most peaceful nation in South Asia after Bangladesh.

In 2010, Nepal was most peaceful nation in South Asia after Bhutan but 2011 findings, which involve 153 countries, placed the country in third place in the region. Neighboring Bangladesh has been ranked in 83rd place while Bhutan further improved its status in 2011 with 34th position in that order.

Bhutan’s place was 36th and Bangladesh was at 87th in the 2010 survey which ranked only 149 countries.

Now in its fifth year, the GPI measures the relative peacefulness of 153 countries by looking at both qualitative and quantitative indicators that combine 23 internal and external factors determining a nation's peacefulness. These include arms imports and exports, violent crime, battlefield deaths, prison populations, potential for terrorism, political stability and the likelihood of violent demonstrations.

According to the report, Nepal scored 4.5 of 5 points in 2011 at the level of disrespect for human rights. Nepal secured only 36.38/100 score for the press freedom against 35.63/100 in 2010.

According to 2011 report, life expectancy in Nepal has remained unchanged as of 66.69 years in 2010. Consequently, Nepal’s infant mortality rate has been also decreased to 38.6 from 40.84 per thousand live births of 2010.

The findings of the other indicators including the civil liberties (5.59/10), potential for terrorist act (3/5), political democracy index (4.24/10), functioning of government (4.29/10), political instability (4/5), relation with neighboring countries (2/5), corruption perceptions (2.2/10) hostility to foreigners (3/4), gender inequality (0.61%) and unemployment rate (15%) remained unchanged from the previous year.

According to the report, Pakistan was ranked as the world’s eighth most unstable country, better than only Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Congo and DPR Korea, Russian Federation and Sudan. The main countries experiencing decreases in peacefulness in South Asia were India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. India was ranked 135th, Sri Lanka 1263rd, Pakistan 145th, and Afghanistan 150th.

The 2011 Index dramatically reflects the impact on national rankings of the Arab Spring. Libya (143) saw the most significant drop – falling 83 places; Bahrain (123) dropped by 51 places – the second largest margin; while Egypt (73) dropped 24 places.

According to 2011 report, Iceland (1.148) is the world’s most peaceful nation, followed by New Zealand (1.279), Japan (1.287), Denmark (1.289) and the Czech Republic (1.320). In 2010, New Zealand (1.188) had snagged the top spot, earning the title of most peaceful nation in the world for the second consecutive year, followed by Iceland (1.212) and Japan (1.247).

According to report, United States is ranked at 82nd place, falling behind China (80) and Egypt (73). Iraq (152) moved from the bottom of the Index for the first time ever.

The threat of terrorist attacks and the likelihood of violent demonstrations were the two leading factors making the world less peaceful in 2011, the report says.

If the world had been 25% more peaceful over the past year the global economy would have reaped an additional economic benefit of just over US$2 trillion. This amount would pay for the 2% of global GDP per annum investment estimated by the Stern Review to avoid the worst effects of climate change, cover the cost of achieving the Millennium Development Goals, eliminate the public debt of Greece, Portugal and Ireland, and address the one-off rebuilding costs of the most expensive natural disaster in history – the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

Key Findings

• The world is less peaceful for the third straight year.

• Due to an increased threat of terrorist attacks in 29 nations.

• A greater likelihood of violent demonstrations in 33 countries.

• Arab Spring unrest heralds biggest ever change in rankings, Libya tumbles 83 spots.

• Iceland bounces back from economic woes to top ranking.

• Somalia displaces Iraq as world’s least peaceful nation.

• Violence cost the global economy more than $8.12 trillion in 2010.

• US peacefulness shows minimal change.

Life expectancy in Nepal is 67 : WHO

According to the World Health Organization's health statistics 2011, released late on 14th May 2011, life expectancy (factoring in both genders) in Nepal is 67 (in 2009).

Globally, the average life expectancy (LE) at birth stood at 68 years in 2009 — an increase by two years since 2000.

An average Indian lived till 65 years in 2009. In comparison, an average Indian lived for 57 years in 1990 and 61 years in 2000.

WHO said since 1990, LE has increased globally by 4 years (both sexes). However, during the 1990s, it stagnated in Europe and decreased in Africa.

Compared to an average Indian's life expectancy in 2009, a Chinese (both sexes) lived nine years longer. The life expectancy of an average Chinese (both sexes) stood at 68 in 1990 which increased to 71 in 2000. In 2009, it stood at 74 years. An average Pakistani, however, lived two years less than an average Indian in 2009. The LE stood at 63 in Pakistan, 70 in Thailand and 65 in Bangladesh.

WHO said life expectancy at birth reflected the overall mortality level of a population. It summarized the mortality pattern that prevailed across all age groups in a given year – children and adolescents, adults and the elderly.

"In 2009, life expectancy was 68 years, ranging from 57 years in low-income countries to 80 years in high-income countries, giving a ratio of 1.4 between the two income groups," the report said.

Nepal : Journalism in unsettled times

Since the April 2008 elections that set up a Constituent Assembly to guide Nepal’s transition to a future of republican democracy, the country has had three governments. The first resigned in May 2009 and was followed by an unstable coalition that was deeply riven and finally quit in June 2010. The cabinet though, continued in a caretaker capacity for a record period of seven months while various rival combinations of parties that could

between them establish a parliamentary majority were tried. A coalition of the United Communist Party of Nepal Maoist (UPCN-M or simply Maoists) and the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML or simply UML) finally took office in February 2011, with the UML in the leadership role despite being the smaller partner. Early disagreements about portfolio-sharing caused some worries about the long-term stability of the alliance, and these remain to be worked through. Writing of the constitution has been delayed beyond its target date and the term of the Constituent Assembly ends on 28 May 2011. Agreement remains elusive on the two key issues that divide Nepal’s main political parties: the integration of the Maoist combatants into the structures of the new order and the devolution of power within Nepal’s diverse ethnic and regional mosaic.

The ceasefire of 2006 and the aftermath of the 2008 elections were seen by the country’s journalists as an opportune moment to build a legal framework that would promote the healthy growth of the media, on firm foundations of the public interest and the right to free speech. Nepal’s journalists and their organisations played a central role in both resisting the repression that was unleashed during the years of royal absolutism and turning back the tide by creating a popular movement for the restoration of democracy. Since the ceasefire, the journalists’ community has secured legally protected rights to freedom of speech and freedom of association. Journalists were key participants in lobbying for and successfully securing the passage of a right to information law.

The momentum for positive change has since been lost. Journalists in Nepal still face enormous challenges, not the least of them being security. Though formally ended, the Maoist insurgency has, in certain perceptions, implanted a cult of violence and spawned numerous militant groups which are smaller, uncoordinated and hence more dangerous. State institutions and authorities have shown a limited ability to protect lives and assure people of security. Maoist elements that are keen to enter the political mainstream and participate in democratic politics feel betrayed that there is no sense of accountability for the years of royal absolutism and its structural and often hidden violence against the poor and the underprivileged.

Caught in crossfire

The coalition that took office following the resignation of the Maoist led government in May 2009 had little popular legitimacy. A succession of Maoist-led protests seeking to force the resignation of this coalition government, turned violent during May 2010 and several journalists were injured in the ensuing affrays. These protests and a nationwide general strike forced then Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal of the UML to resign in June, though as mentioned, the transition to a new government took inordinately long .

On May 5, Maoist supporters attacked the assistant editor of Shikshak monthly, Sudarshan Ghimire, in Kathmandu.

In similar incidents during that cycle of political protests, Gyanendra Niraula, a correspondent for the Purbanchal daily, was assaulted in Jhapa and Kashi Ram Sharma, correspondent for the state-owned news agency in Surkhet, was attacked in Birendranagar. Ramesh Chandra Adhikari, a correspondent of the Kantipur daily in Dhankuta, was threatened by Maoist cadre over a news item that had appeared under his name.

In most of these cases, the journalists had identified themselves as media workers but were attacked regardless.

Among those to bear the brunt of the violence unleashed during these protests was journalist and cameraman Sri Krishna Phuyal, who was attacked in Gogabu in Nepal’s Central Region on May 6.

The Maoist leadership issued a statement on May 8 that included a criticism of the media for its supposed hostility. The implicit threat of retribution inflamed further violence against journalists. On May 10, Avenues Television cameraman Rabindra Shrestha and Associated News Agency photographer Prabin Mahajan were reportedly beaten by a group of political activists at a demonstration outside the Nepali Parliament. Shrestha was seriously injured after being hit with metal rods and sticks and his camera was destroyed.

Towards the end of May, Maoist activists burnt copies of the Nagarik and Republica dailies in Kathmandu, allegedly because of stories published about a Maoist hand in the kidnapping of a hospital director. Maoists also disrupted newspaper distribution in sections of the country, according to their publishers.

The southern plains bordering India (the Terai) remain the arena where the most serious contestations of identity politics are taking place. And this is where attacks on journalists have been a recurrent phenomenon. In March 2011, Pawan Yadav, a correspondent for the Nepali-language Kantipur Daily, was threatened allegedly by close aides of a local Maoist MP over articles he had written. Around the same time, Nepal Samacharpatra journalist Deepak Gautam was warned by the Chief District Officer of Parsa in the Terai of possible criminal action for arms smuggling and drug dealing, after he published reports suggesting serious corruption in the local administration.

The previous month saw two journalists Ram Pukar Raut and Pravin Sharma Jha, who bring out a local weekly, being arrested in Rautahat district, in the eastern Terai, and charged with illicit links to a banned underground armed group. The arrests followed the weekly’s publication of a press release put out by the underground group.

SAMSN partner and IFJ affiliate, the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) believed that the arrests were in retaliation for a number of articles published in the weekly exposing corruption in the local administration and police.

Rautahat, a district bordering India, is believed to be a transit point for contraband traffic and Raut and Jha had suggested in their reports that local police may be complicit in smuggling.

Journalists recognise that the post-conflict situation in Nepal does not yet bear sufficient assurance that there will not be a relapse into violence. They characterise the current situation as one where the potential for violence is inherent in the delicacy of the political transition underway.

And the institutions that could mediate between the competing demands and beliefs of different groups are yet to be built up.

Radio operators murdered

Three radio operators were killed in Nepal between February and July 2010, indicating that the environment for journalists is becoming progressively more unsettled. In the most recent of these, Devi Prasad Dhital, chairman of Tulsipur radio in the mid-western district of Dang was shot dead on 12 July 2010. At the time of his murder, Dhital was campaigning for elections to the local village committee of the Nepali Congress (NC) party, of which he had been an ordinary member for fifteen years. The NC was then a coalition partner in Nepal’s interim caretaker government, but local investigators were convinced that the election Dhital was campaigning for was not a high-stakes contest, being merely about local delegates to the provincial and national conventions.

Tulsipur FM, run by a trust that Dhital chaired, is a community radio station set up in 2005 with international donor assistance. The station has since been running on local advertising revenue, which amounts to roughly NPR 250,000 (USD 3,300) a month. The station employs 17 journalists and manages to break even with a certain nominal level of donor assistance for content generation.

Government ad placements also contribute significantly to the radio station’s viability.

Early in 2010, a journalist working in Tulsipur FM, Narayan Khadka, received a threat via telephone after the station ran a story on a local criminal gang, calling itself the “Tigers”, which had burnt down a village school that refused to comply with its extortion demands. Khadka sought refuge in Kathmandu and returned to Tulsipur only after he was assured that the threat had abated. Local police acknowledge that the “Tigers” are a criminal group that has long been under surveillance and has been, to a great extent, neutralised. Several months on, the Dhital murder remains unsolved. The sole witness to the crime and her family have long since left their home in Tulsipur for fear of their lives. Police rule out any motive connected to Dhital’s chairmanship of a radio station, but without the murderer being found and the motive established, difficulties remain with this theory.

Chairman of National Television Nepal, Yunus Ansari, who was being held in the Sundhara Central Jail on charges of counterfeiting and drug-dealing, was shot at on 10 March 2011 by a visitor but survived the attack. News reports tended to rule out any connection between his role as a radio station head and the attempt on his life. Jasjeet Singh, from just across the border in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India, admitted to being paid INR 1.5 million (USD 33,500) to carry out the contract killing. The attack was thought, in local media reports, to bear a similarity in terms of motive, to the daylight murder of TV entrepreneur Jamim Shah in Kathmandu in February 2010. The fact that the assailant managed to carry a firearm into the jail through several layers of security suggested complicity at very high levels in prison hierarchy.

Investigations lacklustre

As with human rights violations during the years of conflict, impunity has been the norm when it has come to investigating the murder of journalists during the period of transition. A commission of inquiry was set up to ascertain the truth behind the killing of journalist JP Joshi in late 2008, with the explicit mandate that findings would be made available within fifteen days. After repeated extensions, the committee finally submitted a report late in 2009, only to have it vanish under a shroud of official secrecy. Late in 2010, an application under the Right to Information law by Ramji Dahal of the fortnightly paper, Himal Khabar Patrika, revealed that the commission had spent NPR 3 million (USD 40,800) on its sittings, including in the acquisition of SIM cards for members’ mobile phones. All this time Joshi’s impoverished family had received absolutely no financial support, Ramji Dahal’s investigations found. Soon after these reports were published, Nepal’s cabinet met to approve financial support of the order of NPR 1.5 million (USD 20,400) for Joshi’s family.

The conduct of the committee constituted to inquire into Joshi’s murder has been referred to the Commission for Investigation of the Abuse of Authority, a special body created under the 1991 constitution and expected to function as a vital part of the process of national reconciliation after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2006.

Reporting on the land seizures that took place during the years of civil war could also prove hazardous, as illustrated by the tragic case of Uma Singh, murdered in the Terai town of Janakpur in January 2009. Because of the international attention her brutal killing elicited, the local authorities moved quickly to arrest some among those suspected of involvement. The story was then put by the local police that the killing was related a family quarrel rather than her pioneering reporting on the continuing iniquity of land seizures during a supposed period of reconciliation and peace. The main suspect in Uma Singh’s murder reportedly still roams free in the border region with India. Police have failed to bring him in because of the vast political influence he exercises. Meanwhile, the five who were arrested in deference to nation-wide and international outrage, continue to languish in prison.

Arun Singhaniya, chairman and part owner of the Janakpur Today Media Group, which runs the local FM station and newspaper that Uma Singh worked with, was shot dead in March 2010 in a busy part of Janakpur.

In a grim sequel in July 2010, Pramod Shah, director of Radio Janakpur, was brutally assaulted at his home by a group of about eleven persons armed with heavy rods and canes. Shah sustained deep injuries to his head and back.

Though the police swiftly arrested three of the supposed attackers and claimed that they were all under the influence of psychotropic drugs, there is no denying the Janakpur Today group has valid reason to consider its very existence under threat.

Accountability processes for attacks on journalists are often subject to unforeseen political pressures. Illustratively, in September 2010, the local Maoist leadership in the far-western district of Mahendranagar went public with accusations that three journalists in the district had been responsible for the abduction of a professional colleague, Pappu Gurung in 2007. The accusation caused outrage, since the three journalists named, Karna Bohra, Yubaraj Ghimire and Lakshman Tewari are all senior figures and widely respected in the profession. At a town hall meeting organised by the FNJ a few days afterwards, the Maoist leadership seemed to relent marginally. And the journalists were prepared to concede that their early reports – that the Maoist leadership was behind the momentary disappearance of Gurung – may have been in error. The situation was retrieved by the prompt intervention of the FNJ, but underlying tensions remain.

Training lacking

Journalists have key concerns regarding the lack of training and awareness among personnel in the many media establishments that have sprung up across the country. They worry that a failure by poorly trained media workers and others to understand and recognise the human rights of minorities can become a base for serving special interests, leading to renewed conflict. Integral to this concern is the limited availability of high-quality professional training focused on the principles of ethical and inclusive journalism.

The development of a public service journalism culture in Nepal is already evident in reports like that which emerged in one of the country’s largest circulated Englishlanguage

dailies on the day that the Dashain observance began in October 2010. Dashain is a nation-wide cycle of festivals rooted in the Hindu faith but respected equally by all Nepal’s religious communities. The front-page article of state-owned newspaper Rising Nepal on October 9 under the headline, “Festivals fail to bring joy to families of disappeared”, reported that:

Many families who lost their close ones during the armed conflict have not yet received the information regarding the whereabouts of their families till date. Their continuous appeal for providing them with the information regarding the whereabouts of family members has not been addressed yet. Three years have passed since the country has been

declared as democratic federal republic state but still the state had not made public the whereabouts of persons got disappeared (sic) from the state.

The Maoists too have not made public the whereabouts of the persons who were disappeared from their side.

Meanwhile, the struggle for decent wages and working conditions continues among Nepal’s journalists. An officially mandated inquiry found in a report submitted in November 2010 that 37 percent of the country’s journalists are paid below the prescribed minimum wage, while 45 percent of journalists are working without letters of appointment.

Among the media houses surveyed, 48 percent had failed to introduce basic measures such as retirement and welfare funds, medical cover and insurance. The figures revealed that media houses were choosing not to invest in quality journalism or the professional development of staff and in many cases were not compliant with legal obligations to issue letters of appointment.

The recent media boom in Nepal has created favourable conditions for professionals within newspapers and broadcasters catering to the upper income demographic strata, which are generally favoured by the high-value advertisers. However, the situation for the vast majority of journalists, including those in Nepal’s dynamic and expanding radio sector, remainsuncertain. Without a serious investment in quality reporting, the ability of the media to contribute in a constructive fashion to Nepal’s transition to democracy will remain constrained.

Box : A spot of bother with an embassy

India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), an office under the country’s Finance Ministry, seized a shipment of 1000 tonnes of newsprint imported from Canada and South Korea en route to its destination in Kathmandu on 27 May 2010. The 39 containers routed through the port of Kolkata were found to be in need of “investigation” and were detained for more than a month. The shipment was bound for the Kantipur group of Kathmandu, publisher of the largest circulation dailies in Nepali and English, Kantipur and the Kathmandu Post.

Under trade and transit arrangements to which all landlocked countries are entitled, Nepal can move imports and exports across India without impediment. Sealed containers are allowed to arrive directly at a dry port within Nepali territory, unless there is evidence of misuse of the facility. Although authorities, both in the Indian embassy in Kathmandu and in India’s External Affairs Ministry, denied involvement, it was clear that the Kantipur group had drawn ire for reporting deemed to be adverse to India’s national interests.

It is believed that the Indian embassy may have been annoyed by coverage in the newspapers regarding the attacks on Nepali-speakers in the Assam-Meghalaya region of India and a report about canal works on the Kosi River, shared by the two countries, endangering Nepali villages.

Kantipur’s editorial stance against the Madhav Kumar Nepal government then in office and widely perceived to be backed by India, as well as its coverage of New Delhi’s handling of India’s home-grown Maoist crisis, were reportedly other sources of annoyance. When backroom negotiations did not work, Kantipur proceeded to make the newsprint seizure front page news in June, prompting statements of concern from the IFJ and other press freedom organisations.

The Indian Embassy issued a belligerent note in response, saying that motives were being imputed to a routine customs examination and that “the distorted manner in which the issue has been publicised is hardly helpful in bringing about an early resolution to the customs investigations”. But it was precisely this publicity and pressure that led to the consignment of newsprint being released on 27 June.

That should have been the end of the story. However on 27 August the Indian embassy in Kathmandu issued a press release speaking of “certain print and television media” that had been reporting “against products manufactured by Indian Joint Ventures in Nepal”.

The statement went on to impute an extortionist intention to these media organisations. Certain organisations, the statement said, had “informed the embassy that they have been approached by such media houses for release of advertisements and are being threatened with negative publicity if those requests are not met”.

A storm of protest followed, with journalists’ unions, media organisations and the Nepal Press Council all denouncing the Indian embassy for breaching diplomatic propriety and acting in gross disrespect of the freedom and autonomy of the Nepali media. The Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) termed the embassy statement as “unfit and improper” and vowed to undertake a “detailed study” of the entire incident. Also joining issue with the Indian mission were the Television Broadcasters’ Nepal, the Nepal Media Society, the Broadcasting Association of Nepal and the Association of Community Radio Broadcasters.

The Indian mission responded by pointing out that the organisations would carry more credibility if they were also attentive to the unethical practices that in its estimation, flourished within the media.

The IFJ with the support of SAMSN partners in India criticised the Indian Government’s decision to hold up the newsprint imported by the Kantipur group. In the context of the later upsurge in friction, SAMSN partners urged that all parties submit the entire range of issues to the adjudication of the Nepal Press Council. This course of action, SAMSN held, would help build institutional capacity in the Nepali media and establish precedents that could guide future decisions on matters of ethical practice and professional conduct.

(2011 May 3,

By : International Federation of Journalists; IFJ

&

To read full report click here)