NEPAL
COMMON AREAS OF CONCERN
1. Violence Against Women
NEPAL
COMMITMENTS:
- Amend laws that violate equality enshrined in Nepal's Constitution.
- Develop legislation amending ancestral property laws.
- Strengthen enforcement agencies dealing with trafficking women & girls.
- Expand credit supply and income generating program for women.
- Develop programs to combat iodine deficiency & anemia among women.
- Reduce maternal mortality rate NY 50% by the year of 2000.
- Provide 90% immunization coverage by the year of 2000.
- Implement programs to achieve universal literacy and reduce the drop-out
rate within the next five years.
ACTIONS TAKEN:
By Government:
- Establishment of the Separate Women Ministry Council
- SAATI was invited by the Women Ministry to review the BPAR for
women 2000 and the topics has been included in the 9Th PLAN.
By NGOs:
-After the Beijing, the legal Aid and Counseling Center (LACC)has been
implementing post-being activities which draw upon the commitments made
at the fourth UN World Conference on Women in Beijing.
-SAATHI, LACC along with few more NGOs conducted policy oriented studies
to make recommendations for policy change in areas of legislation.
Property rights bill which was one of the important issue along with
other amendments to the civil code were submitted to the Ministry of
Law & Justice and subsequently to parliament.
-Mini Beijing conference was organized by International Institute for
Human Rights Environment and Development (INHURED) to make the concerned
institutions & agencies familiar with BPA and the Provisions of CEDAW, &
the constitutional & legal remedies for the protection of the rights of
women
Although a lot of effort is made by NGOs to put forth their perspectives, the government has not been able to take steps toward amending the civil code.
BANGLADESH
COMMITMENTS:
- Establish gender focal points in the relevant sectoral ministries and
agencies.
- Reduce the drop out rate and increase the rate of enrolment of boys
and girls through the Food for Education Program.
- Establish Committees at district, sub-district and union levels to
bring women into the mainstream of development.
- Convene national assembly on women's development in the early 1996 to
formulate national strategies for the implementation of the Platform
for Action.
ACTIONS TAKEN:
By Government:
-Bangladesh's National Action Plan for implementing recommendations from
the Beijing Conference approved in November 1997.
-Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs has made an attempt to
encourage the various line ministries to make resource allocations &
incorporate programs and projects into the Fifth Five Year Plan,
covering the period July 1997 to June 2003 based on the NAP.
By NGOs:
- A GO-NGO collaborative process was adopted for the drafting of the
national action plan and included the establishment of Sectrorial
Needs Assessments Teams, to review WID capability of the government
and the use of a broad-based & gender-senitive approach for the
drafting of the national action plan.
- In order to address problems and issues regated to women's
development in a more comprehensive way, establishment of linkage and coordination between NAP, NGOs, human rights groups,
women's organizations, legal aid agencies, professional associations, private sectors was
done.
PAKISTAN
COMMITMENTS:
- Create a separate and independent Human Rights Ministry
ACTIONS TAKEN:
By Government:
- The government set up a follow-up mechanism in Pakistan through establishing the
Beijing Follow-up Unit in the Ministry of Women's Development, Social Welfare &
Special Education in Islamabad in October 1996.
- Setting up of focal points in 13 ministries such as the ministries of education,
health,population,interior, labor and manpower, law and Justice, information and
Planning and development.
- The formation of core groups at the national and provincial levels.
By GOs/NGOs:
- Translation and distribution of the Platform for Action and the national report
have been undertaken.
- Orientation to the Women's Convention was provided to provincial core groups.
- Review of the Ninth Plan WID Working Group in Islamabad to make the Ninth Plan
more gender sensitive. Inputs were sought from experts in various fields.
- Liaison with the Provincial WDD Secretaries on a regular basis on issues related
to Beijing Follow-up.
- Development of a resource pool and networking with organizations working in the
WID/GAD field.
- A workshop for NPA formulation - November 3-4, 1996.
SRI LANKA
COMMITMENTS:
- Data not available
ACTION TAKEN:
By Government:
- The Ministry of Women's Affairs is the primary agency responsible for policy
formulation on women's issues. The National machinery for women's advancement
comprises the Women's Bureau and the National Committee on Women which are under the
Ministry of Women's Affairs and are considered to be the implementing arms of
of the ministry.
- The Sri Lankan National Plan of Action (NPA) on Women is based on the global
Platform for Action. The NPA was formulated through an NGO-Government collaborative
effort and covers the following eight critical areas of concern:
* Violence Against Women and Armed Conflict
* Education and Training
* Economic Activities and Poverty
* Health
* Environment
* Decision-making
* Girl Child
* Media.
By NGOs:
- The Sri Lanka Women's NGO Forum is in the process of preparing a Shadow Report to
CEDAW which incorporates some aspects of monitoring.
- The Beijing experience has allowed women from different ethnic, religious and
socioeconomic groups to network and work together to achieve their common goals.
It has also enabled some of them to realize the implication of global policies and
actions at national and local levels.
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