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Kathmandu School Of Law (KSL) |
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Special Assembly and Progress Evaluation Meeting of CeLRRd |
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Synopsis One day Special Assembly and Progress Evaluation Meeting of CeLRRd was conducted on 25 July 2006 to review the progress of activities and challenges faced during the implementation of its activities. The meeting basically limited its discussion on two programs; Community Mediation and Prisoners Legal Aid program which have been initiated by CeLRRd from the year 1999. In view of the program impacts in the community level and encouraging feedbacks and challenges faced during the program, the meeting was called to share experiences of the officers working in the districts and to discuss how to proceed ahead in the days to come. Executive members, regional and district coordinators, mediation trainers, and faculty members of KSL were present in the meeting. District representatives from six program district of the CeLRRd put forward their views on the effectiveness and challenges faced during implementation of the programs. Participants unanimously adopted the following agenda to implement in the short future:
Discussion Session The meeting formally started with the welcome remarks by Mr. Prakash K.C, President of CeLRRd. He highlighted on objectives of the program and made clear about the vision of CeLRRd to promote rule of law and fostering human rights & accessibility to Justice for all. He focused that CeLRRd has internalized the responsibility of being a social engineer to serve the interest of the community since its inception.
Mr. Kishor Silwal, Director of CeLRRd made a brief overview of CeLRRd's activities conducted from its establishment and argued that CeLRRd's credibility lies on the impacts it has created on the society by its activities in the area of legal reform and access to justice. Activities such as developing criminal procedural guidelines, which helped actors of criminal justice system bring into one platform; anti- trafficking programs that initiated Community Surveillance System Against Trafficking (CSSAT); providing legal aid to indigenous prisoners; developing juvenile justice system to name a few were the pioneer activities done by CeLRRd for which it takes its pride, he asserted. Additionally, he discussed about the interventions made by CeLRRd in strengthening fair trail and promoting human rights culture, and its assistance in developing five years Judiciary's strategic plan. He highlighted that non legal sectors have also been priority areas of interventions of CeLRRd such as peace building, conflict transformation, and community mediation for social transformation which have recognized CeLRRd as community responsive organization. Also informing about the bitter reality, he further shared experience that although CeLRRd developed these concepts, number of organizations have replicated the activities without acknowledging the effort of CeLRRd and some organizations are engaged in unhealthy competition in these sectors. Assoc. Prof. Yubaraj Sangroula, Senior Advisor of CeLRRd, questioned increasing unhealthy competition among organizations in many areas. He said that CeLRRd has made error in ignoring to assert its contribution in the field of reforming of Criminal Justice System. He also indicated on a culture of funding by some organizations to duplicate the resources. He also drew attention on the need of social auditing of the organization to maintain its transparency and accountability. He also advised CeLRRd to develop programs in view of the demand and need of the community people. The session then moved towards over-viewing the progress and challenges of Community Mediation Program. Representatives from each district shared their experiences in course of implementing the program and recommended areas to be followed in future. CeLRRd has been implementing this program in Four districts (namely Dhading , Makwanpur, Banke, Kanchanpur,) in cooperation from The Asia Foundation Nepal and recently Danida Hugou has supported the program in additional two districts namely Bardiya and Morang. During the Meeting ,Mr. Satish Sharma, District Coordinator of Bardiya District was the first person to share the progress overview of the program in Bardiya District. "Community mediation has been conducted in six VDCs and one Municipality in this District in a full democratic way as demanded by people", he remarked. He said it has gained popularity among people and has created effective impact upon them, which can be reflected by the flow of disputes registered during short period of time and by the disputes that have been successfully mediated. He further opined that before the people's democratic movement, program faced obstruction from Maoist in the initial phase. However, ultimately, the mediation team succeeded in gaining their confidence in as they realized that the dispute, which couldn't be settled successfully even by their Court was amicably settled by the community mediators. For this, social marketing and advocacy via media were widely conducted. At present the program in Bardiya district is sustaining as it has received cooperation from both the community people and the Maoists. Cooperation from other organizations conducting programs in the district has also been broadened which has enhanced the sustainability of the program. He suggested that CeLRRd should design program for its sustainability at community level. Mr. Kumar Sharma Acharya, Regional Coordinator of Banke District of CeLRRd mentioned that Community Mediation and Peace Building initiatives have been gaining wide popularity in Banke district. He said that in course of four years journey the program has received cooperation from people, organizations and government officials and people have understood mediation as their own program. He said trust gained from the community has enhanced coordination with Maoists as well. He revealed that social auditing conducted in the district ranked community mediation program in second position first being the awareness campaign conducted by CeLRRd. Moreover, he suggested the need of reviewing the working mechanism of the program focusing on coordination part. Mr. Narayan Regmi District Coordinator of Morang, made highlights on community mediation activities conducted in the district. He said that although the program gained trust among people, the program fell into prey of criticism even by media accusing mediators performing role of comprador in the community. Later, it was found that the criticism was grounded on the misunderstanding about the concept of mediation among large populace. The misunderstanding has been sorted out to large extent by social marketing and program publicity. The situation is therefore slowly heading towards sustainability. He suggested that CeLRRd should focus on the wide dissemination and publicity of the program. Mr.Ram Krishna Adhikari District Coordintor, Dhading, briefed about the mediation program conducted in the district. He said that in context of Dhading, members of Jana Adalat attached to Maoists have shown cooperation in the program and were themselves involved in the trainings and orientations. This has eased the continuation of the program in the district. In this sense mediation program had been conducted effectively even in conflict and insurgency situation. He further mentioned that the program has been institutionalized in the district to make it sustainable by the community itself. Ms. Gyanu G.C District Coordinator, Nawalprashi presented briefly about the effectiveness community mediation has created in the last three years. She said that four programs have been conducted in the district viz. Community Mediation, Adolescent Girls Education, Human Trafficking, and District Visionary Program. As a positive indicator, local VDCs have started allocating small amount of money for community mediation program in Nawalparasi. Initiatives at local level to make mediation self reliant have also been started. A small pond in this respect has been provided by a VDC to mediation group to generate income for the mediation program. She suggested promoting such initiatives so as to sustain the program. She also accentuated that 72 % of disputes have been successfully mediated in the last three years. Mr Natra Tamang District trainer Kanchanpur said that since people have accepted mediation program in the district, good coordination between local organization and community people has been built up. He said that initially the program faced difficulty from people due to lack of understanding on the mediation concept. Disputed party used to threat mediators as broker. However, gradually it has been lessened after mediators succeeded in pursuing people that mediation is for the benefit of society and community themselves. He said lack of logistic facility and financial incentives such as proper office and long distance transportation cost have discouraged mediators to dedicate themselves for it. He, therefore, sought solution to this problem. He suggested that since community mediation has been targeted to grassroots level and targeted to generate human resource from the community itself, the process and mechanism included in the mediation process should be more simplified. It should target the less literate group of community and their skill development. Highlighting the same reason, he mentioned that among 27 mediators in the district, there is no trainer from Dalit and other marginalized group. In this sense equal participation and inclusion in mediator selection is still lacking. Shiva Baral VDC Coordinator of Belbari VDC, Morang, said that mediation has proved as a magical rod of dispute settlement in the district. He shared the experience that many a times political parties have inquired about the process of community mediation as it has surprisingly mediated number of disputes unable to settle for long time. However, he expressed that lawyers have the feeling that mediation is competitive to their profession and has reduced opportunities for their survival, which has sometime created hurdle in promoting mediation program. He recommended that despite challenges, the program has created notable impact on the community and therefore should expand its working area, program and vision. He further suggested that since mediation is more psychological process of dealing with dispute, skill and orientation on psychology is also deemed inevitable. After discussion on mediation, floor also discussed about the challenges faced by the prisoner's legal aid program in the program districts. Regional Coordinators opined that since prisoners legal aid program has created very positive impact upon prisoners and the indigenous people, criminal cases have been more referred to the legal aid lawyers. This has created the feeling of insecurity to the private lawyers and lawyers are criticizing legal aid activities to the people. However, every legal aid lawyers declared that they have been working under the mandate of legal aid and have not taken a penny from the service. To avoid these criticisms and accusations they suggested that a declaration paper should be issued in the form of resolution in which objective and criteria of providing legal aid should be disseminated nation-wide to maintain accountability and transparency. The floor agreed that reasons for unhealthy criticism of CeLRRd are due to effective service it has been providing in both mediation and legal aid and its gaining popularity, such as large number of legal aid cases, jail visit facilities, and skill orientation to young lawyers. Advisor Yubaraj Sangroula then remarked that CeLRRd center office should only perform as thin tank and mobilize human resource from the community level. He suggested for wide working relation by means of calling people from different walks of lives in CeLRRd programs, facilitating senior people in profession, honouring social activities etc. He also called for stopping practicing in court by legal aid lawyers, maintaining political neutrality, and full accountability and transparency of activities. He also focused on taking media in confidence as campaigning partners to disseminate organization activities. He also proposed for providing "Affiliation membership" for coordinators and trainers of community mediation and to those who have been directly, indirectly involved with CeLRRd. Following the proposition, the floor unanimously agreed the following:
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| Special General Assembly of National Legal Aid Network | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Special General Assembly of National Legal Aid Network (NaLAN) was held on 26 July 2006 on the chairmanship of Ms. Geeta Pathak Sangroula, President of the Network. The assembly was called to discuss about the necessary amendment to be made on NaLAN statute passed by the executive committee. The assembly mainly focused on the amendment of statute's objective and the structure of the executive committee. It also incorporated the proposal to categorize its membership as honorable, organizational and individual. It also passed the framework of executive committee that will incorporate seven representations from organization and two individual representations. The assembly also elected new executive committee as per the new amended statute. The network has already established secretariat and created different types of committees. The assembly was facilitated by Mr. Bal Krishna Dhakal, General Secretary of NaLAN. He highlighted on the necessity of calling the assembly so as to amend the statute and also to finalize it from the general discussion. Speaking at the programme, Ms. Geeta Pathak Sangroula mentioned that the network is not an implementing NGO but an umbrella organization that co-ordinates and facilitates the legal aid providers nationwide. She later highlighted the reasons behind the establishment, progress and proposed activities of NaLAN. Members of Legal Aid Network from districts have attended the meeting. |
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| House directs Government to ratify Rome Statute | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The House of Representatives passed a resolution on 25th July asking the government to ratify the Rome Statute of International Criminal Court (ICC). The resolution is aimed at forcing the government to sign the Statue, allowing international prosecution of any person committing crime against humanity or other serious offenses.
"This House directs Nepal Government to ratify the Rome Statute of ICC paving the way for international initiatives for justice to the people and end to the state of impunity," the resolution stated.
Tabling the proposal, UML whip Parshuram Meghi Gurung said the government's ratification of the Statute would discourage those trying to commit mass murder and other crimes against humanity in future. “Once the government signs the statue, those committing serious crimes will not be able to escape legal action,” Gurung said. The proposal was supported by NC (D) chief whip Tek Bahadur Chokhyal and MP Hom Nath Dahal, NC MP Hari Bhakta Adhikary, UML MPs Mahendra Pandey and Jagannath Khatiwoda.
The government assured the House of Representatives that it will respect the House's resolution and ratify the ICC statute at the earliest. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister KP Sharma Oli has said the government believes the Rome Statute should be ratified at the earliest. "The government would ratify the Statute and become party to it after completing necessary legal procedures", he said. Human rights organizations and law experts have welcomed the House's resolution and urged the government to ratify the Rome Statute immediately. Kathmandu School of Law and its sister organization Centre for Legal Research and Resource Development (CeLRRd) have been campaigning for the Statute for the past few years, as crimes against innocent people had increased significantly. |
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Feature Article |
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| Mahabharata range – victim of immoral actions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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On my flight to Nepalgunj from Kathmandu on March 24th 2006, I saw from air a sight very alarming but yet concealed in the womb of present political crisis – a massive desertification of whole Mahabharata range. Undisputedly this issue of desertification will be a major concern, politically, socially and economically once the present political conflict ends. This is already a potential ‘bomb’ waiting to explode within next decade if state and all the likeminded people and organizations do not take appropriate actions and devise policies. It’s an explicit message for the people living in Mahabharata range that present environmental and human problems cannot be understood or addressed in isolation from each other. By looking at the trend of immoral actions occurring in Mahabharata range's fragile ecosystem the earlier message seems to have been largely ignored as the statistics of deforestation are shocking. The problem of desertification in Mahabharata range has multifaceted effects on food security, health, climatic condition, hydrology, freedom of choices and many minor ecological functioning on both the Mahabharata range and the lower plains of south. Mahabharata range embraces exceptional biodiversity and the benefits brought about by the ecosystems are manifold. To synchronize the benefit we have to establish linkages among biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being, mainly through supporting services and expressing freedom and choices. The continuing loss of biodiversity in Mahabharata means losing nature’s services that are essential for humanity. As an environmentalist my mind floated to find out what seeded the problem. The 1990 relatively open democratic era no doubt paved way for sound policies in forest management. As such many progressive policies in Natural Resource Conservation were drafted or rejuvenated and were put into action. Increasing populations of leopard in the mid hills and some areas of Mahabharata notably indicated the success of community forest programs. Following the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment and Earth Summit in 1992, Nepal developed a substantial body of environmental law and regulations under the then Ministry of Population and Environment dealing with the protection of the environment and the management of natural resources. In last few decade people of Nepal have been sensitized on the need for resource conservation and management. Hence the lack of sensitization is not a problem since we often hear widespread public concern over pollution led to legislation to curb emissions of effluents and airborne pollutants, similarly concerns over the depletion of natural resources led to legislation for resource conservation and the preservation of areas of special biological value. The problem is all these legislation were more comprehensive than sectoral-based, consequently institutions of environmental governance and protection were not strengthened. The development activities should have been based on the needs and demands of the people, which state ignored on the account of indictment of illiteracy rate of people of Mahabharata. This action of state since 1950's have visibly created a distinct demarcation between the people and the state, the state recognized these people as not a partner for conservation but as a destructor of natural resources. They have been marginalized from all arenas of political, social and economic rights without recognizing their stewardship which is closely linked to the sustainability of life in lowland areas. The short sight ness of state has encouraged migration of many mountain young and productive people in search of supplementary incomes or better opportunities in low land. The village is left only with children, women and elderly people. Women no doubt can play significant, or even dominant, in the sphere of production as they are the pivotal of family unit bearing a major responsibility for agriculture, forest, and other natural resource management as well as for their family's well-being provided they manage some time from the household chores. Without men the women must assume greater proportion of management of resources which is almost impossible. The absence of male figure is often taken advantage by the unscrupulous players who flood to take advantage of the resources of the range largely by cutting the forest, thus intensifying desertification. Nepal has excellent customary laws regarding the sustainable use of resources. Along with the migration many traditional values (customary laws) are eroded and hence replaced by the alien values which are definitely not congenial for the protection of resources. Added the process of desertification the problem has been further triggered by the government’s decision to provide financial incentive to each VDC to enhance the livelihood of people promoted many to dig roads throughout Mahabharata range without considering the ecological backlash. The delicate ecological balance in the young and unstable range had been upset, increasing the extent of erosion and the number of landsides. Many people realized latter that they are fighting a loosing battle against the ecological destruction. In addition to competing for these products men and commercial interests, unite together to fulfill their fruitless wish. The situation has been made worse by the ever increasing pressure of population on limited land resources, which has resulted in the increasing deforestation and consequently an excellent way out for desertification. Other being through out Nepal the prime examples of ineffective policies in Nepal are the nationalization of private forests in 1957, and the Forest Act of 1961, which created a perverse incentive structure leading to the steady degradation of forests. Private land was not surveyed when forests were nationalized, which further contributed towards ecological destruction. Nationalization of forests in 1957 and subsequent survey and registration of private land in 1960 provided further inducement to convert forests into agriculture land. Detailed cadastral surveys of Nepal started only in 1960, with the formulation of the Land Act. The Forest Act of 1961 allowed HMG foresters to issue permits to harvest trees for subsistence needs only. It’s an established phenomenon, when people the guarders of the forest have been excluded from the long practiced sustainable use of forest then the idea of conservation severely fails. The policing and other controlling tasks of the forest staff in terms of law enforcement aggravated the deforestation in Mahabharata range. Now the question is what measures ought to be adopted to answer the problem at initial stage? The state should hear opinions and suggestions of local mountain people (Mahabharata) who have the sophisticated knowledge to manage a multiplicity of roles and small production systems to adapt and survive in a fragile environment. The state and other institutions should promote return of men to their own villages and revive the indigenous laws that preserves and uses the forest products. Nepal Government should take action to reconcile trade and environmental interests, through the development of trade-environment related policies aimed at fostering the local eco-friendly products through out the range. Lastly a greater role can be played by the amendment to the criminal law and recognizing and strengthening as a mandatory aspect of environmental protection. |
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Kathmandu
School of Law / Telephone : 977-01-634455/6634663, 2042268 |
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