Interview with Bimala B.K.               

President, Dalit Feminist Uplift Organisation (DAFUO)

What are the major problems and difficulties faced by women human rights defenders?

In the present context in Nepal, carrying out human rights-related work is challenging for all Human Rights Defenders (HRDs), not just women. Looking at Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) particularly, the challenges for them are manifold:

Due to the low education level of many women in Nepal, WHRDs are usually unaware of international laws and conventions that enshrine their rights. Not knowing where they stand legally hinders their work. In terms of Nepal, all the laws and legal provision that exist are in favour of the perpetrator, rather than the victim, which causes definite challenges for WHRDs.

State authorities don’t take WHRDs and the issues we raise seriously, which is demoralising. It often seems that the authorities purposefully try to frustrate our efforts. The systems the Nepal government have to provide justice are slow. This fact affects both victims and WHRDs. Victims lose faith in the system and in WHRDs (Case Study 3).  As for WHRDS, the behaviour from the State authorities makes us feel we’ll never have their support and may never be able to provide justice to the victims (Case Study 2).

In Nepal it is commonplace that political parties attempt to politicise community issues, using incidents to maximise their own support by wooing either the victim or perpetrator (Case Studies 1 and 3). A 40 year-old woman was raped by her father; DAFUO activists heard of the incident and went there. They were met by the local political party representatives and elites of the area who announced to DAFUO that they planned to solve the issue ‘locally’ rather than see it through the legal system. A DAFUO activist argued that such an incident could not be treated lightly and that the culprit should be removed from the area and tried. In response the political representatives and local elites became aggressive, accused the WHRDS of ‘going against’ the local society and said, “This is our issue! It happened in our VDC [local administrative unit] so we handle it!”

One major challenge is the lack of support WHRDS get from their own families. The raised status of women, walking and talking freely and working on HR issues, has not become accepted in society yet. When a woman works on human rights issues local people put pressure on her family, asking “Why is your wife/daughter/sister involved in others’ affairs?”. They ask our family to control us better. As a result, family members of WHRDS often become critical and attempt to isolate them from society in a bid to stop them carrying out their work. Many WHRDs are divorced by their husbands, leaving them in vulnerable positions in society. While men HRDs are often highly regarded in society as doing a reputable job, the status of women in Nepal is such that people usually regard WHRDs as ‘out of control’.

As women, WHRDs in Nepal do not have the right to property owned by their family. So WHRDs on the ground are without the financial stability needed to fully engage in human rights issues. To combat some of these challenges, WHRDs nationwide are trying to work jointly to improve their confidence. The feeling of self-confidence is rising inside us but it is sad that we have to look to other WHRDs across the country for the support we need.

For personal security, a WHRD can never feel safe. She cannot find a safe space at work or with her family. The Government has no functioning mechanism for safeguarding HRDs, let alone specifically providing for those who are women.  In one incident, the local political leader of a VDC [local administrative unit] blamed DAFUO activists for raising the level of divorce in the area between female victims and their husbands. NGOs support victims, but don’t think about the wellbeing and security of the WHRDs who work on the ground with them. So while victims can access safe-houses, these are closed to WHRDs who may come under threat from association with the victims.

In short, the Government, NGOs, State authorities and society, including their own family, all demean the WHRD, her work and her right to carry that work out.

Case Study 1

A 40 year-old woman was raped by her father. DAFUO activists heard of the incident and went there. They were met by the local political party representatives and elites of the area who announced to DAFUO that they planned to solve the issue ‘locally’ rather than see it through the legal system. A DAFUO activist argued that such an incident could not be treated lightly and that the culprit should be removed from the area and tried. In response the political representatives and local elites became aggressive, accused the WHRDS of ‘going against’ the local society and said, “This is our issue! It happened in our VDC [local administrative unit] so we can handle it!”

Case Study 2

In Acham Nepal, a policewoman was raped by 4 male colleagues. The political parties matched their voices with the police and they described the victim as “a fallen, characterless woman”. The WHRDs who got involved with the case were accused by the police of exaggerating the issue.

Case Study 3

In Shanushree, Bardiya District, Nepal, a woman had been abused by her husband for the past 10 years. Recently she had become quite ill and her husband was refusing to take her to a doctor. She finally approached the local DAFUO leaders and told them of her situation in the hope she would get justice. The DAFUO WHRDs attempted to counsel her husband. When that failed, they brought the case to the Area Police. This prompted her husband to promise land and medical treatment to his wife, but even after 2 arrests for not complying with the police request, his behavior still hadn’t changed.

The man blamed the WHRDs for the situation. From his perspective, his wife had tolerated living with him for many years and so it must have been the interference of the WHRDs that had caused his family’s ‘private business’ to be aired to the world. In an attempt to control the situation, the man threatened the WHRDs with rape and promised to get their husbands to divorce them. The consequence of this was that the families of the WHRDs involved ordered them to stop working on the case, ‘or find shelter with the persecutor!’

The local community was also against the WHRDs, as what they voiced it was an ‘internal issue’ between husband and wife. The husband assembled a group of men who went to the home of one of the WHRDs and verbally and physically harassed her. After this incident, the WHRDs and the victim went to the District Police Office to report it. The police-officer in charge told the victim “You won’t find justice with this gang of women. They have destroyed their own homes and now they’ll destroy yours. If you want justice, come alone next time”.

The systems the Nepal government have to provide justice are slow processes, which effect both victims and WHRDs. Once a victim has been to the police and to WHRDs and there is still no hope of justice in sight, they often despair. In this case, the woman ran away and has not been heard of since. DAFUO are now at a loss with how to pursue this case through the legal system without the applicant.

The political environment also affected this particular case. A political party had originally strongly encouraged the WHRDs to raise the woman’s issue. However, her husband met with the party representatives and offered them his allegiance and some money. After this, the party turned on the victim and the WHRDs threatening that they’d get them divorced if they didn’t drop the case.