seminar on strengthening child rights: experience...

First Draft Report for Inputs, Prepared by HIDR, 3 July 2015

Seminar on Strengthening Child

Rights: Experience of Nepal and Norway

25th

June, Hotel Himalaya

Lalitpur, Nepal


Seminar on Strengthening Child

Rights: Experience of Nepal and Norway

25th

/June/2015

Hotel Himalaya

Lalitpur, Nepal

Prepared by:

Himal Innovative Development & Research Pvt. Ltd. (H.I.D.R)

Tathagat Marg, Kathmandu

Submitted to:

Royal Norwegian Embassy

Pulchowk, Nepal


Acknowledgements

The HIDR is pleased to carry out “Seminar on Strengthening Child Rights; Experiences of

Nepal & Norway.” We firmly believe that this seminar will be useful for all stakeholders in

mapping out the state of child rights and taking necessary policy and administrative actions in

promoting and protecting the rights of children in Nepal. It is obvious that the 42% of population

constituted by the children deserves due attentions from all stakeholders. They are not only children,

but at the same time they are our present and future. Due to a number of remediable reasons, they

are vulnerable today, but they are the sources of immense power. Today, many of them are

deplorably deprived of opportunities, but they are the ones who will supply all social, political,

economic, cultural, and civilizational services in the present and future. Therefore, the HIDR is

grateful to the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Kathmandu, Nepal for its partnership with the HIDR in

commissioning such a key seminar.

This seminar would not be possible without the untiring commitments and encouraging role of Mr.

Milan Dharel, consultant. The HIDR immensely profited from Mr. Dharel experience and

professionalism. The employees of HIDR deserve appreciation for their tireless work and support as

well as the volunteers i.e. Lumana Upreti, Tashifa Upreti, Grishma Giri and Prapti Aryal without

whom seminar would not have functioned well. And the rapportuers of the event Bishow Hari

Nepal and Chetana Tulachan for their coordination while summing up the whole seminar.

The HIDR owes special thanks to Dr. Bhola Dahal, Mr. Håkon Arald, and Ms. Fredrikke Kilander

for their invaluable inputs and feedback. The HIDR appreciatively acknowledges the financial

support of the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Nepal. The special thanks to Hon. Justice Kalyan

Shrestha, Supreme Court of Nepal, Hon. Minister Neelam KC, MoWCSW , His Excellency Børge Brende,

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Norway, Mr Dhan Bahadur Tamang, Secretary, MoWCSW, Mr Yagya

Adhikari, NHRC, Mr Tarak Dhital, Executive Director, CCWB , Ms Elin Saga Kjorholt, Ombudsmen for

Children, Lawyer, Hon. Judge Tek Narayan Kuwar, Lalitpur District Court, Nepal, Justice Arnfinn Bardsen

, Supreme Court of Norway, Dr. Hari Lamsal, Joint Secretary, MoE, Ms Gopini Pandey, Save the Children,

Ms Marilyn Hoar and Ms Ver Prit, UNICEF, Mr Shankar Nepal, Under Secretary, Depart of Civil

Registration and Vital Statistics, MoFALD, Mr Tonje Steen, Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth

and Family Affairs, Moderators Mr Gauri Pradhan, Former Member of NHRC, Prof. Ganensh Man

Gurung, CA member, Mr Njal Hostmalingen and Ms Indu Tuladhar, Advocate.

Finally, the HIDR feels honored to have a large group of well known experts in their respective

fields participated in our seminar. This group includes government officials, Professors, Academia’,

child rights activist, Advocates, Social workers, Researchers, Consultants, Members of CCWB and

other authorities. We appreciate your time and effort and sharing of your ideas and expertise.

Without you all it was impossible to achieve this grand victory as the participation was highly

commendable.


We believe we have achieved the targeted results and can all agree that this “Seminar on

Strengthening Child Rights: Experiences of Nepal & Norway” has been a great success.

Thathagat Marg

Kathmandu

June 2015


Table of Contents

1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1

2. Objectives of the seminar ................................................................................................................. 1

3. Introduction of the host

organization………………………………………………………………………………………...1

4. Details of proceedings...................................................................................................................... 4

4.1 Inauguration

ceremony………………………………………………………………................4

5. Working Session .................................................................................................................................. 8

5.1 Child rights governance/monitoring in Nepal ..................................................................................... 8

5.2 Child rights governance and mechanism in Nepal .......................................................................... 9

5.3Child rights governance monitoring in

Norway……………………………………………………9

5.4 The floor discussion on Presentation…………………………………………………………….10

5.5 Response from presenters………………………………………………………………………..11

6. Second Panel Discussion…………………………………………………………………………….11

6.1 Children’s rights in Nepalese Court

6.2 Children’s right in Norwegian Court

6.3 The floor discussion on Presentation

6.4 Response from presenters

7. Third Panel Discussion

7.1 Child rights to education in emergencies: policies and practices

7.2 Government policy on Education in Emergency

7.3 Child rights to education in emergencies: policies and practices



8. Fourth Panel Discussion

8.1 Birth Registration for Child Protection: Provisions and Practices

8.2 Child protection and chld welfare: the duties of state authorities



9. Closing Ceremony


10. Conclusion and way forward

11. Quality Control

12. Annexes

Annex 1: Program Schedule

Annex 2: Presentations

Annex 3: Collection of Photos

Annex 4: Name list of Participants


1. INTRODUCTION

Nepal has made considerable progress in order to establish children issues as national agenda and

gained government attention on children issues following the signing of UN Child Rights

Convention in 1990. Some important achievements have been made towards development of

policy framework, national system and mechanism for the protection and promotion of children

rights. For instance, the Interim Constitution of Nepal enacted in 2007 has ensured the children

rights as fundamental rights, giving a sense of priority. Similarly, the child rights organizations

have received ample opportunity to scale up their efforts to contribute in this area through

ongoing constitution making & drafting process in Nepal. For example, HIDR with the support

of UNICEF and coordination with other child rights as well, were able to reach out to various

thematic committees of Constituent Assembly building a new constitution for the country with

their inputs on the ways and means to ensure child rights in this fundamental document.

This encouraging development at policy level needs to be supported with international

standardization, global experiences and best practices as well as political and theoretical

underpinning at the level of implementation.

Against this context, this has been developed to organize seminar on the contemporary and

pertinent children issues in Nepal for promotion and protection of children rights in reality. The

seminar serves as a platform to exchange experiences from Nepal and Norway and open avenues

for collaborative efforts in future for enhancing child rights governance. The seminar was

conducted jointly with Norwegian Embassy in Nepal and HIDR on children rights on 25 June in

Kathmandu.

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE SEMINAR

- Use the opportunity of Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende’s visit to

draw attention to children rights in Nepal, and that Norway has given and will continue to

give priority to this.

- Establish a meeting place for leading child rights institutions and individuals in Nepal

working on children rights.

- Follow up on and promote reports to the Embassy on children rights, while at the same

time not necessarily promising additional resources or new partners.


3. INTRODUCTION OF HOST ORGANIZATION

Himal Innovative Development and Research Pvt. Ltd. (H.I.D.R) is a company of experienced,

capable and energetic professional on the field of management and rights based development

especially targeting to women, children and overall marginalised people/communities’ rights

including other various development issues in Nepal. Since its establishment in 2014 in

Kathmandu, Nepal, Himal Innovative Development & Research (HIDR) has been providing

multi-disciplinary services from the beginning of its operation. Following a period of significant

expansion in the field of service to be provided, it is now one of the growing consultancy firms

that is led by established professional women in the various sectors of human development areas.

HIDR team/group is a well-established name in Nepalese consulting Business in the area of

policy analysis, advocacy, child rights, women rights, study, research, evaluation, publication on

social, economic, educational, cultural, political rights and overall human rights issues of

women, children and marginalized communities. It also provides management-consulting

services to other agencies on the human resource management and capacity building.

The consultancy services are undertaken by HIDR itself and also in association with other local

consulting organizations, development partners and government institutions. HIDR is a learning

organization that is looking forward the opportunity to associate with international organizations

and experts as well.

4. DETAILS OF PROCEEDINGS

4.1 INAUGURATION CEREMONY

Mr. Milan Dharel, Emcee for the program 'Seminar on Strengthening Child's Right: Experiences

of Nepal and Norway' welcomed all the guest present in the program and proceeded to

requesting the following distinguished guests to take a seat on the dais:

Justice of Supreme Court Honorable Kalyan Shrestha as Chief Guest

Parliamentarian, Honorable Professor Dr. Ganesh Man Gurung

Ministry representative from MOWCSW, Secretary Dhan Bahadur Tamang

Representative from Royal Norwegian Embassy, Ministry Counselor, Mr. Hakon

Arald Gulbrandson

Mr. Dharel welcomed all the dignitaries of the parliament, constituent assembly secretariat, child

rights campaigners, international organizations, judges from various courts, judicial officials,

academia and other campaigners, activist and professionals working in the sector of child rights.

He introduced the organizers - Himal Innovative Development & Research (HIDR) and Royal

Norwegian Embassy who aimed to strengthen the initiatives on child rights through this program

with the North-South experience exchanges.


Next, Mr. Dharel requested

Mr. Hakon Arald

Gulbrandson from the Royal

Norwegian Embassy to shed

some light on the objective

of the program.

Mr. Hakon Arald

Gulbrandson

Mr Haken Arald

Gulbrandson welcomed the

chief guest, CA members,

dignitaries and all the guests

present in the one day

seminar. He said that the main objective of the program was to find ways to work together in the

child rights sector. With many joint challenges pertaining in both Norway and Nepal to promote

child rights, he said this was an opportunity to have a dialogue and learn from each other.

Distinguished guests from the Supreme Court in Norway, Ombudsmen for Children, Directorate

for Children, Youth and Family Affairs and civil society organization had come to participate in

the program. He also highlighted that the Royal Norwegian Embassy had worked with many

partners in Nepal over the years and this event helped to cherish the partnership as well as find

out ways to create a conducive environment to continue to work together through a systematic

dialogue. Mr. Gulbrandson informed the attendees that the Foreign Minister of Norway and

Minister from MOWCSW will be joining the program by the end of the day. He ended his

welcome by emphasizing that this program represented commitment at both political and

working level to promote child rights in Nepal and Norway.

Next, Mr. Dharel requested forth Secretary of MOWCSW, Mr. Dhan Bahadur Tamang to present

Children Rights in Nepal: Highlights on progresses, problems and plans.

Mr. Dhan Bahadur Tamang

Mr. Dhan Bahardur Tamang addressed all the distinguished guests and thanked the Royal

Norwegian Embassy for organizing an important event. He emphasized that children are future

of any country, so it is important to care them, as they grow up to be a responsible citizens. Mr.

Tamang stated that Nepal is signatory to the UNCRC (1990) and has committed to end child

marriage by 2020 in the London Child Conference. He discussed about having provisions,

various acts, regulations, policies and programs to fulfill the CRC obligations in addition to

Children's Act 1992 and National Plan of Action which addresses various aspects of children


such as rights, protection, participation and development. He also emphasized that it is the

responsibility of all stakeholders including the government organization, civil society

organization and donors to implement and be guided by the National Plan of Action. An example

of an initiative of the Nepal Government was establishing a separate Ministry for children and

social welfare, establishment of institutions such as Central Child Welfare Board, District Child

Welfare Board and Children and Women Department. Mr. Tamang highlighted the role of

CCWB to monitor, formulate policy and conduct research and development on children's affairs.

Likewise, a separate institution for juvenile justice called Central Juvenile Justice Coordination

Committee (headed by the Senior Judges at Supreme Court) and correction home (in Bhaktapur,

Morang and Pokhara with fourth one under construction in Banke district) is also in place to

support children juvenile delinquents. Other initiations include child friendly local governance,

child clubs and other forums where children can talk about their well beings.

Mr. Tamang said that in the aftermath of the Nepal Earthquake, children became more

vulnerable and Nepal Government took steps to ensure protection of the children. The inter

country adoption was banned for 3 months. High alerts and vigilance increased at the check

points, community and borders to stop and prevent trafficking of children. Protection cluster

became active. Nepal Government coordinated with UN agencies, INGOs and NGOs to tackle

various issues of the children. No new child welfare organizations could get registration.

Children without families and protection were relocated to SOS, Bal Mandir and children's

home. Furthermore, he discussed about the standards set up by the government for running child

care homes. In the end, Mr. Tamang expressed that limited budget and resources is a challenge

faced by the government. He ended his speech by thanking the Royal Norwegian Embassy for its

initiative to work for children in Nepal.

After thanking Mr. Tamang for presenting progress, problems and plans of Nepal, Mr. Dharel

welcomed Professor Dr. Ganesh Man Gurung to share his experiences particularly on Women,

Children, Senior Citizens and Social Welfare Committee of the Parliament and its Priority on

Child Rights. Dr. Gurung is chair of the Sub-Committee on Education in Parliamentary

Committee on Women, Children, Senior Citizens and Social Welfare.

Professor Dr. Ganesh Man Gurung

Thanking the organizers on behalf of the Committee Chairperson, Honorable Ranju Jha, Dr.

Gurung congratulated and appreciated efforts of the organizers. Dr. Gurung talked about the

democratic movement held in Nepal, the armed conflict, people's movement where Nepalese

suffered violation of human rights. He stated that the Government of Nepal brought various

ideas, plans and programs to address children's pertaining issue such as child labor, expanding

child protection mechanism at local level, formulating policy and child friendly local governance


initiatives. He informed the participants about the parliament's initiative: establishing various sub

committees and its role, which holds meetings with state authorities, subject wise experts, civil

society experts and civil society leaders to discuss about contemporary concerns and government

plans that directly affects children and aimed to overview various issues of child rights,

formulate suggestions, provide directives to respective ministries, monitor the government

performance and infuse appropriate rights and agendas in parliamentary discussion. He also said

that the upcoming constitution will recognize additional and significant rights of the children as

key members of the state and bona-fide members of the country. Dr. Gurung welcomed ideas

from various sectors, experts and experiences from developed countries which shall further

enhance policies in progressive and changing way as well as strengthen cooperation between

Norway and Nepal. He hoped that this seminar shall bring meaningful and concrete suggestions.

He ended his speech by thanking all the guests who came from Norway to participate in the

program.

After Dr. Gurung, Mr. Dharel invited Honorable Justice Kalyan Shrestha from Supreme Court of

Nepal for his key note speech on Children Rights: A Judicial Perspective and Priorities.

Honorable Justice Kalyan Shrestha from Supreme Court of Nepal

Addressing the chief guest and guests of the program, Mr. Shrestha shared his views and

perspective of children as experienced in the court. Though Nepal has many conventions, laws,

institutions and programs for children, Mr. Shrestha questioned whether such provisions are

actually reaching out to the needy. He poured his concerns over increasing migration of the

young people to other countries for employment and resettlement. This, according to him is a

critical issue and requires special attention. Mr. Shrestha said children are continuing to

experience problems such as trafficking, child labor, abuse, discrimination and deprivation.

Though many works have been done, efforts are falling short of needs. Implementing the CRC

and other conventions requires commitment, resources, institutions and full compliance and such

is lacking in Nepal, for which, he suggested that the government formulate annual blue print

describing implementation status. Mr. Shrestha specifically said that "if we don’t have plans for

our children, we are not planning for future. And if we don't have plan for our future, then we do

not have plan at all". Thus investing in children is essential and thought of as an approach for

sustainable development that can be mainstreamed in national planning or policy formulation

process.

Mr. Shrestha recommended the National Plan of Action to incorporate comprehensive rule of

law, address implementation of human rights, identify needs for reformation, build capacity of

the institution and enhance accountability of the state. Another approach, he said, is to report

back to the people and seek direction from them. He shared that there are many contradicting

policies and laws which are not aligned to the philosophy of child rights and thus requires

reformation. He mentioned that juvenile justice system facility is underutilized due unawareness

about the service and insufficient education and unawareness in parents. His suggestion to


overcome this situation was to educate the parents, neighbors and society on their obligation and

to recognize the needs of the children. He gave an example of current initiative by the judiciary -

a judicial outreach program where judges visit the community and explains to the community

about their role and services.

Mr. Shrestha shared that many crimes are associated to adolescents; hence he expressed a need

of a separate program to address needs of the adolescents that may help prevent their

involvement in criminal activities and reduce any negative behavior. He mentioned about a need

of a one stop centre, a role model institution that caters to physical, educational, familiar and

social problems and demonstrates implementation of mechanisms across the country. Other

suggestions were about counseling service for those who were brought to safe place in course of

seeking justice which acts as a bridge and talks to children, parents, society and young offenders.

According to Mr. Shrestha, Nepal's juvenile justice mechanism has to be reviewed and its

capacity strengthened. As a democratic country, Nepal needs to ensure participation of children

in decision making and give children with an opportunity to speak for themselves. Furthermore,

government should bring their attention to reform laws, organize compensation relating to crimes

committed by children and raise critical awareness among society. Lastly, Mr. Shrestha

requested everyone to dream of an ideal situation and consolidate efforts to create it.

5. WORKING SESSION

Mr. Gauri Pradhan, former member of NHRC moderated the first session. He welcomed the

three panelists and informed the program participants that the following session will focus on

child rights governance issues. As there are many child rights governance issues relating to the

right to survival, protection, development and participation, Mr. Pradhan drew attention towards

role of the State, its obligation, responsibility and necessity to domesticate the UNCRC in Nepali

context.


5.1 CHILD RIGHTS GOVERNANCE/MONITORING IN NEPAL

Mr. Yagya Adhikari, Deputy Director from National Human Rights Commission's presentation

was about the role of NHRC on Child Rights Monitoring in Nepal. He introduced National

Human Rights Commission as the watchdog of the nation that acted as a bridge between

government and civil society organization. The NHRC possess power to investigate and monitor

the situation of human rights situation, request prosecution against human rights violator, lodge

petition in the court and compensate the victims. Next, Mr. Adhikari described the work of

NHRC: perform policy based, field based, theme based and complain based monitoring. He said

that monitoring was done to analyze situation of child rights. Some important monitoring

activities included detention centre visit, children's home visit, monitoring use of children in

demonstration and banda shut down of schools, Kamaiya status, corporal punishment in school,

child marriage, malnutrition and review of UPR and its implementation status. Mr. Adhikari also

shared that children were working as domestic servants, in agriculture, in public transportation as

conductors and ticket collectors, in streets as rag pickers, in commercial sex industry, in massage

parlors and in circus. Some of the children were involved in worst forms of child labors like

prostitution, pornography, etc.

The NHRC has made lots of recommendation with regards to protect right of the children. Few

initiatives included enacting the child rights policy, advocate for withdrawal of the child

combatants from camps during post war, eliminate Kamlari practice, abolition of corporal

punishment in school, incorporating human rights education in school curriculum, etc. among

many others. Though the implementation status is not satisfactory, Mr. Adhikari said there have

been few significant achievements such as being able to formulate rules that government

agencies will not to use labors in their home and canteen, formulation of child policy, removing

child rights soldiers, formal abolition of the corporal punishment, etc. During the end of the

presentation, Mr. Adhikari mentioned difficulty to take action against the perpetrators, slow

implementation of the recommendations, political party continuing to use children in election

and demonstration and no specific mechanism to implement UPR process as challenges faced by

NHRC.

5.2 CHILD RIGHTS GOVERNANCE AND MECHANISM IN NEPAL

Mr. Tarak Dhital, Executive Director for Central Child Welfare Board's presentation was focused

on child rights governance from CCWB perspective. With abundance of laws, policies, plans and

programs in place, Mr. Dhital's concern was that implementation was not result orientated and

according to the best interest of the child. He stated that various ministries (such as MOWCSW,

MoFALD, MoE, etc.), in line agencies, judiciary bodies, Nepal Police, NHRC, CCWB, etc. were

already existent and catering to the children and their rights. However majority of the mechanism

and policies were not in practice. Mr. Dhital discussed about several strengths of the governance

mechanism in Nepal; such as increased awareness and sensitivity towards children issues, laws

and policies, institutional mechanism, government programs for children, coordination between


government and development partners and information about children's issues. Having more than

19000 child clubs that promote child rights was an example of massive awareness regarding

child rights in Nepal.

Then, highlighting the gaps, Mr. Dhital said that lack of continuous and regular sensitization and

awareness programs, poor implementation of the laws and policies, lack of resources (such as

trained human resources) and lack of information brought forward challenges like poor

accountability, low capacity of organizations, projects focus being only short term, etc. among

many others. Mr. Dhital stated 'We are not derailed, but somehow delayed'. Furthermore, he

talked about how CCWB performed monitoring and ways forward for cooperation between

Norway and Nepal. He ended his speech with a statement that "though there is need of full

course medicine 'Antibiotics' to address serious illness with proper diagnosis,

normally generalists may provide only few capsules of broad spectrum antibiotics. And though it

seems effective in initial short period, later on illness revives and the medicine does not work. So

it is important to think and act with proper diagnosis and medication- with full course!"

5.3 CHILD RIGHTS GOVERNANCE/ MONITORING IN NORWAY

Ms. Elin Saga Kjorholt, Lawyer, Ombudsmen for Children's presented about what Ombudsmen

for Children was and how it operated it Norway. She first introduced her country and its present

status with regards to children's rights and economy. Ms. Kjorholt said that Norway has

challenges such as bullying, violence and sexual abuse, child welfare, divorce, inclusion, child

participation, asylum seekers, harassment of minorities, health and children with disabilities. The

Norwegian Ombudsman for Children, established in 1981, as the world’s first independent

monitoring mechanism for children acted as a spokesperson for children. The Ombudsman acts

as independent human rights institutions for children and plays a pivotal role in bridging two

very different worlds: that of policymaking, government and politics, and that of children. She

suggested that Nepal too needs a strong advocate for children's right which is national and

independent, like an Ombudsman who promotes children's interest in legislation, implementation

and monitoring, and promotes understanding and awareness of children rights in society.

Additionally, Ms. Kjorholt also discussed about various systems in Norway and approaches

taken by the Ombudsman, such as surveys, discussions, facilitation, etc. through which

knowledge children have a place to express their views and be heard. Ms. Khorholt emphasized

at the end that it is very important to talk to children as they are the best people tell about their

siutation.

5.4 The Flor Discussion on Presentation


Dilli Guragain, Save the Children inquired about the current status regarding ratification of the

third optional protocol to the rights of child on communication procedure by Nepal and NHRC's

plan to encourage government to ratify the treaty. Similarly, he raised issue of having absence of

monitoring body that looks after the implementation of UPR recommendation. At last, he

emphasized need of an independent child rights commissioner in the NHRC instead of only a

member with child rights background.

Kul Bahadur Biswokarma, NNDSW requested Ms. Kjorholt to elaborate about different issues

faced by children and adolescents in Norway. He also wanted other panelists to shed some light

on initiatives taken by CCWB and NHRC to address caste based discrimination faced by

children such as from Musahar and Dome community.

Rajiv Bikram Shah, CA Member said that Nepal is very progressive towards incorporating

human rights such as children rights and acceptance of third gender. He further said that there are

many policies in place but

lacks implementation. Giving

an example of Norway, where

discussion starts from

children, he hoped that Nepal

would replicate such model of

having dialogue from grass

roots level, which he felt was

not much in practice.

Furthermore, he

complimented on the works of

CCWB and NHRC and

suggested them and others to

start working from the grass

root level.

Nar Bahadur Limbu, National Association of the Blind put his concern that none of the

discussion and presentation focused on children with disability. He questioned Mr. Tarak Dhital

on whether CCWB had an inclusive monitoring plan with regards to rights of children with

disabilities.

Sumnima Tuladhar, CWIN had two major concerns. First, she raised the issue of children who

were in the state of statelessness. She hoped that CCWB and NHRC were serious about this issue

and demanded their attention to advocate for acquisition of citizenship without any

discrimination. Her next concern was that the civil societies are burdened by the request to deal

with cases of children who were suffering violation of human rights. She brought to attention

that the State should be responsible to deal with cases of children, especially when legal or


judiciary mechanism is involved (children's case in court) and also to ingrain the role of civil

society in monitoring mechanism.


Mr. Yagya Adhikari (NHRC) reconfirmed that the third optional protocol of CRC was very

important which would open ways for victims to get justice. He also mentioned that one of the

UPR recommendation was to ratify the third protocol, elaborating further that NHRC is focused

on encouraging the government to ratify the protocol and that the Prime Minister's office also

had an action plan to implement UPR recommendations. Mr. Adhikari also said that the ultimate

responsibility of the government mechanism should be monitoring but one major issue was

absence of specific monitoring body within the executive. He emphasized about prioritizing

marginalized communities and children with disability in the monitoring mechanism. He agreed

with the CA member about starting work at grassroots level and gave an example of how NHRC

were working in the grass roots through establishing offices in 75 districts. He also agreed to

make criteria of acquiring citizenship without any discrimination.

Mr. Tarak Dhital (CCWB) also talked about CCWB's district and local chapters: DCWB and

village child protection committee as an example of working in the grass roots level. He also

highlighted that CCWB was working directly with children through child clubs and CLFG to

respect children's voices in the planning process. Mr. Dhital also reemphasized about keeping

children with disability and marginalized population in the focus. He suggested that the state had

become dependent on the civil society due to lack of child protection system, for which, he

suggested establishment of child protection system and cooperation with the civil societies.

Ms. Eling Saga Kjorholt (Ombudsmen for Children) said that the major problems faced by

children in Norway included exposure to violence, sexual abuse and living with parents with

drug problem or illness. Though majority of children enjoy good life in Norway, there were other

challenges associated with the children living in less secure environment such as health problem,

integrating disabled children in schools and activity, inclusion of the minority groups, problems

relating to the asylum seekers, etc. As divorce rate is about 50%, children are influenced a lot

under such situation. She mentioned about good practices in Norway such as system, child

friendly police, court and trained human resources such as teachers who are able to identify and

deal with children having problems. Further, she said that Norway had additional challenges

relating to child participation, monitoring in the psychiatric wards, etc. She ended her comments

with plans of Norway government and other mechanisms to work on the issues of children with

disability and those facing violence and sexual abuse.

6. SECOND PANEL DISCUSSION


Child Rights in Court Practices

This session was moderated by Njal Hostmalingen and it was followed by two presentations by

Hon judge Tek Narayan Kunwar, Lalitpur District Court, Nepal and Justice Arnfinn Bardsen,

Supreme Court of Norway and both of the presenters shared their experiences of child rights in

court practices and provisions of law respectively.

6.1 CHILDREN’S RIGHTS IN NEPALESE COURT

Hon judge Tek Narayan Kunwar mainly highlighted following things in his presentation i.e.

procedural court practices, trends, policy, best practices, challenges and opportunities. Basically

his presentation was focused on Juvenile justice system in court of Nepal. He reported that, the

rate of registration of juvenile cases in court of Nepal is in increasing trend. Since it was only

four in fiscal year 2005/006 but it is reported to be 140 in 2013/014 and 92 in 2014/15. So, his

saying was that, the number of

cases in court shows where actually

Nepal is on the matter of juvenile

case. He also presented the best

practices practiced so far and these

are juvenile court room (juvenile

bench), witness protection room,

in-camera hearing, social workers

and psychologist, referral to

correctional home, compensation

by government and so on.

Most importantly, he presented

some land mark decision that are

done in favor of children, i.e.

children should not be physically

abused, children should not be handcuffed, only the juvenile bench has jurisdiction, children

should be kept in child correction centre during judicial custody or punishment, children have

right to organization and peaceful gathering, no financial/corporate punishment be imposed on

juvenile. He made clear about National Policy on Children 2013, juvenile justice regulation

2063, juvenile justice coordination committee, CCWB and DCWB as existing mechanism and

policies in Nepal for child rights and juvenile justice. He concluded his presentation

foregrounding the challenges that Nepal is facing in the course of juvenile justice. And some of

the challenges are, age of criminal responsibility in Nepal starts at the age of 10, but this is not in

par with the G.R. 10 of CRC, no juvenile police in Nepal, limited number of reform house, Nepal

is yet to establish the juvenile court, limited resource, lack of trainings, awareness and so on.


6.2 CHILDREN’S RIGHTS IN NORWEGIAN COURT

Supreme court Justice Dr. Juris Arnfinn Bardsen of Norway’s presentation was focused on child

rights in Norwegian court practices. His presentation mainly highlighted on The UN Convention

on the Rights of the Child (CRC), child cases in Norwegian courts, constitutional approach,

Article 104 of the constitution, the best interest rule and relocating equilibrium in juvenile

criminal cases. He started his presentation defining child rights in line with UNCRC which

regards children as a subject of respect and their rights to be ensured without any discrimination.

Starting with the UNCRC, Bardsen was showing that, rules and regulation, laws, policy and its

implementation in Norway is in full fledged form which exactly is in line with CRC since

Norway is signatory country of it. He also described that, there are three tier court systems

existing in Norway i.e. District Court, Court of appeals (Appellate Court) and the Supreme

Court. The District Court deals with a very large number of cases involving children; in

particular parents dispute over the children after divorce, child welfare cases and criminal cases

where children are victims. In short, he stated that, cases in Norway are dealt by District court at

first stance with the possibility of appeal to the court of appeal and ultimately to the Supreme

Court that is also known as constitutional court. He also stated that, Article 92 of the constitution

amended in May 2014 so that Norway would have a full fledged “Bill of Rights” comparable to

that in the international human rights convention. Its main purpose was to strengthen human

rights in Norwegian law and new rights to be interpreted in light of their international parallels.

Thereafter, he also talked about new Article 104 in Norwegian law. Most importantly, he stated

as an illustration on the current development in Norwegian law as child rights where Article 104

deals that, “the child’s best interest shall be a primary consideration.” He in support of the idea

said that, in all decisions concerning children, their best interest are of paramount importance,

the Norwegian Supreme Court has characterized Article 104, second paragraph as the “corner

stone” in children’s legal protection according to the Norwegian constitution. Therefore, his

main argument was that, the Norwegian Supreme Court in recent case law emphasized that in the

balancing against other interests and consideration, the child’s best interest must carry great

weight and the child’s best interest must be the starting point and these interest shall be lifted to,

and remain in the forefront. Finally, Dr. Bardsen fore grounded that, one fourth of the cases in

Norwegian courts are criminal cases and concluded his presentation with Relocating the

equilibrium in juvenile criminal cases “Where the convicted person was under 18 year of age

at the time of the offense, the equilibrium in the balance of the individual concerns and deterrent

considerations is relocated: what in the long run overall serves the child’s best interest comes

first, and can only be set aside in so far as there are particularly weighty general deterrence

considerations that are not satisfactorily ensured also by a sentence of community service. The

younger the child, the more is required in order to justify imprisonment.”

Finally, moderator, Nijal Hostmalingen gave thanking remarks to both of the presenters for

foregrounding chid rights in the court practices. Before opening floor for discussion he also


stated that, children’s rights to a greater extent must be part of the constitution not only they are

vulnerable and have special needs of protection but they are also in special dependency position.


Mr. Pitamber, Early Childhood Education Teacher Trainer: There have been many cases of

children abuse and violation of their rights. But at last when they go to the court, there are not

enough evidences and family and parents are even threatened in many ways by perpetrator. So,

in such cases, How do you provide protection to them?

Binu Maya Gurung, Alliance against trafficking in women and children in Nepal

Regarding the legal practices in Norway, how the legal laws ensure the compensation right of the

children of sexual exploitation or trafficking? Do you take from the perpetrator or provide

through government? How the government can ensure? We have various problems in Nepal

regarding the provision of compensation. Sometimes perpetrator is not convicted and also found

to incapable of compensating to the victim. Even after the final decision in court, sometimes

victim is found to be not compensated. So, could you please share some good practices that will

relay be very helpful to us?


Hon. Judge Tek Narayan Kuwar- This is the main problem to decide the case for the judge.

Definitely there are some stakeholders, police, attorney, judiciary as well civil society and

community people

should be helpful to

the court process and

should be

responsible and bear

responsibility. We

are the responsible

components who

have their

responsibility to

gather evidences,

and without help of

the people, court

cannot reach to the logical conclusion. So, all the community people, civil society, police and

other mechanism existing in the society should help court process.


Justice Arnfinn Bardsen- It connects more with the general issue on the protection of rights;

the system in Norway of course, is formulated in very simple manner. Suppose a child in

Norway that has been a victim of some kind of an offence he/she does not have to go directly to

the perpetrator in order to have compensation. There are two different ways of dealing with this.

There are two different approaches. One is where the perpetrator is in court we obviously know

who the perpetrator is. The police will charge the offence and he is convicted. As a part of that

case, the public prosecutor is under duty to include the issue of compensation to the victim as a

part of criminal case. And then if a person is convicted then the compensation will be the part of

that judgment. And even if the perpetrator is not convicted, one might actually have ruling on

he/she being under the duty to pay compensation to the victim.

At the condition, even if the perpetrator is not convicted or even if we don’t know who the

perpetrator is, and even if the perpetrator is found to be incapable to compensate to the victim,

and if the victim may make reasonable doubt that he/she has been victim of the violation. At

such condition in Norway, there is the provision of providing compensation by the Government

through particular body. So, of course this is the system in Norway that is based on the

government with quite good economy, if so is not the condition, which may cost high to the

government to compensate to the victims. The government with all its powers will do what it can

do in order to have the money paid from the perpetrator. Of course in many situations the

perpetrator never pays. But the victims at least do not have the burden.

7. THIRD PANEL DISCUSSION

Child Rights to Education during Emergency

Professor Ganesh Man Gurung moderated the Third Panel discussion which consisted of

presentations by Dr. Hari Lamsal (Joint Secretary, of MoE), Ms. Gopini Pandey (Save the

Children) and Ms. Marilyn Hoar and Virginia Perez (UNICEF). He at first welcomed Ms. Gopini

Pandey from Save the Children to make presentation on Child Rights to Education in

Emergencies.

7.1. CHILD RIGHTS TO EDUCATION IN EMERGENCIES: POLICIES AND

PRACTICES


Ms. Gopini Pandey started by sharing that in emergencies, education is never a priority. She

believed that education is equally important and it helped save lives. Opening schools, formal

and non formal education centers for children helps children's lives become normal and

overcome pain and loss. She also highlighted some serious damages caused by the April

Earthquake in Nepal, where more than 35,000 classrooms were damaged, teachers lost their

lives, emotional and psychological effects, disturbance in prescribed curriculum, etc. among

many others which has resulted to more than 1 million children being out of school. According

to Ms. Pandey, though temporary learning shelters are being built, teaching is not regular. Few

identified causes include teachers being affected, parents and children not psychologically strong

enough to send/attend schools, etc.

In the aftermath of the earthquake, many UN Agencies and Save the Children led establishing of

the Temporary Learning Centers through a cluster wise strategy with collaboration with Ministry

of Education. More than 100 agencies were part of the emergency contingency plan, with which

Ms. Panday said Save the

Children was working in 63

VDCs in 9 mostly affected

districts aiming to build 500

TLCs. She also revealed Save

the Children's three phase

country strategies which were

to (a) establish TLCs’ that are

inclusive and have equitable

learning environment, (b)

improve quality of education

through monitoring and

support to teachers and (c)

increase community

participation and work with District Education Offices and schools.

Ms. Pandey elaborated that there were however, challenges. Few listed by her includes increase

of violence in TLC and community, lack of adequate help provided to districts other than the 14

most affected districts, delay in delivery of services due to procurement process and staffs

placements among others. Her other concern was related to the upcoming rainy and winter

season which required protecting the TLCs. She recommended few activities as way forward,

like: to continue to advocate making education a priority in emergencies, protect the TLCs from

rain and winter, develop transition plan to engage community, revisit the school curriculum to

include disaster risk reduction and protective measures, etc. Her focus was to take this as an

opportunity to build back better in terms of quality education and reaching out to more children

in Nepal.


7.2 GOVERNMENT POLICY ON EDUCATION IN EMERGENCY

Dr. Hari Lamsal, Joint Secretary from Ministry of Education, stated that education should be a

right even in emergencies as it leads to life with dignity. He started his presentation with two

kinds different thoughts regarding Education during emergency i.e. education should be only

after emergency or education should be during crisis as well. It can be life-saving and life-

sustaining, providing physical, psychosocial and cognitive protection. It is a key part of a child’s

survival strategy. He also presented the challenges in emergency like Communication

,sensitivity toward events ,temporary learning centers ,resume school activities ,curriculum and

curricular materials ,appropriate training and support to teachers ,Making friendly environment

in school, psycho-social support to teachers and students, partnership with parents . He also

talked about the policies at present for education in emergencies. There are many policies at

present for education in emergency like restoration of education (safe spaces for children –

temporary learning centers, providing security, protection, community engagement) ,provision of

psycho-social counseling to students and teachers which is much needed, provision of essential

teaching and learning materials ,partnership with community members. According to him, as

status of now assessment of damages –Post Disaster Need Assessment report were made.

Temporary Learning Centers were constructed. Management of learning materials was being

distributed. Training and support to teachers were given. Regular communication and feedback

system was in process.

Most importantly, he presented what can we learn in emergencies is that there should be

readiness of the system. There should be effective communication and response mechanism.

There must be good coordination among different actors .The mindset of people should be open

towards change. There should be effective reporting and feedback mechanism. He also stated

many challenges lying ahead during education in emergency such as chidren, teacher as well as

parents may not be prepared physically and psychologically, TLCs are also for maximum three

years. So, it is also challenge to build permanent building. His statement was that whatever the

challenges are on the course of education during emergency we must overcome them and go

ahead without compromising the rights of child.

7.3CHILD RIGHTS TO EDUCATION IN EMERGENCIES: POLICIES AND

PRACTICES

Ms .Marilyn Hoar, representative of UNICEF in her speech stated that, Education should be

given high priority because education saves lives of the children ad it is very important for the

children to get back into a normal situation if they get engaged in schools and teaching learning

and other activities. Her concern was that, during schools must be reopened as soon as possible.

She also in tune with Dr. Hari Lamsal said that, “It’s not just response it’s the preparedness”.


Ministry of education had this stand for years and so there was great deal of preparedness for

done before April 25th

, 2015.The cluster mechanism has been used for last number of years.

Starting form 2011 earthquake, the Koshi flood, the flooding last year. The cluster has been used

quite effectively in Nepal. Her concern was that, the curriculum of school in Nepal does not

largely talk about Climate change, disaster risk reduction and precautions during and after

disaster. So, these all things are needed to be included in the school level curriculum that may

minimize the risk during disaster. A lot of works of retrofitting are done in schools. The

retrofitted schools performed well and they are full of kids.ECD classes often have 3D map of

their community because the facilitator talked to the kids about the dangers in their community.

They talk about how to avoid dangers and reduce the risk of dangers in the communities. Lots of

things are being done to prepare for any kind of emergencies. She mentioned that there is

existing school sector reform plan. There is whole thematic working group for school safety that

looks on regular basis. And UNICEF is a focal point for that and Norway is co-focal point. She

also stated that, in first month aftermath of quake, there were 30,000 aftershocks. That means the

existing building are also getting weakened and they are under stress all the time. She also

mentioned that, every school in the 14 district has been assessed with structural engineer to

determine whether that class is safe for kids. The government is moving toward the new

education sector plan and it is very clear that the disaster risk reduction and school safety is

integrated throughout that plan to move forward. She highlighted the point that education saves

life, not just the safety part but there is lot more to it. She meant to say that, safety now is mostly

important. Finally she said that, life saving messages must be shared to children by teachers and

parents as well so that they can return to normal life gradually.

Virginia Perez, UNICEF

Since the day after the earthquake, they have been working in many different forms. The main

problem of pre-quake and post-quake in Nepal is trafficking. In every emergency situation, there

is always a risk of children being moved in trafficking because of the confusion, desperations of

the family. And in Nepal it is a pre earthquake problem as well. They don’t know exactly the

number of children trafficked a day. She mentioned that they don’t know where they are

trafficked, in India or to the Middle East. She stated that, there is trend of movement of children

from rural cities and Kathmandu. One of the main reasons behind it is lack of education to their

parents. So, she highlighted that, the education for the parents is very important. If the parents

were supportive and if the education provided closer to their communities then there won’t be

any unnecessary family separation. Accordant to her, 65-80% of the children globally, that

applies to Nepal, children in care homes and orphanages are not orphans. She focused that the

best place for child to grow is with their parent. Among 80% of care homes in Nepal are in

Kathmandu, Chitwan and Pokhara which is closely related to tourism, which is close to money.

Many of the institutions are using the children as a source of income. That is why; she stated

that since the earthquake she was constantly focusing on reopen of schools as soon as possible.

Her argument was that, when children are in school, they are in safe place. She mentioned that


this will make her sure that children are not exposed to violence, trafficked. She concluded her

speech foregrounding the idea that, that home and school save life of children and children are

also likely to stay with their parents if there are school nearby their home.

Thereafter, with the note of thanking remarks and applaud to the presenters, the moderator Prof.

Ganesh Man Gurung opened the floor for discussion.


Dilli Guragain, Save the Children- Trafficking in Nepal is pre quake as well as post-quake

problem. So, how UNICEF is undertaking responsibility?

B.K Shrestha, Global Action Nepal- In fact children are very happy to go to school after quake

and they are beginning to enjoy. But the schools are beginning to have summer vacation.

Whether this is the policy of the government or this is decision of school in their own? People

are really worried about this.

Another question raised by him was that, it’ll take at least another three years to construct

permanent school. Looking at TLC’s concept, it doesn’t give children the school flavor .children

does not enjoy to be there. For the time being they will enjoy it but friendly environment should

also be created. So, regarding this matter is there any strategy or policy formulated plan being

formulated?

Sumnima Tuladhar, CWIN- Those children who are in school and homes are safe. We are also

concerned about the children who are moved from place. For example in Kathmandu , CIWIN

Volunteers and out of valley our team has reached to 8 different localities where children with

their families displaced from Sindhupalchowk , Dhading ,Ramechap and are taking shelter in

Bode , Sallaghari, around bhaktapur campus, Thali etc and they do not have schools since they

left their home and village. And we have supported some of the schools for taking back their

children into their school. So how may we response to this issue?

Another query was to the government officer, Dr. Hari Lamsal, CIWIN is just an NGO but they

had been receiving many letters from the government schools coming all the way from Nuwakot

and Rasuwa asking to help build TLC. So, how CIWIN may bear all the responsibility?

Kumar Bhattarai, CONSORTIUM- Nepal, Many of the schools in remote areas has not been

opened .Even if they are opened, children don’t come and parents too are not willing to send

their children at school. So, what strategies are there to help those children? In northern Dolkha,

schools have not been opened because of lack of TLCs and safe space. People are still

frightened. The government had announced that the area to be vulnerable and risk. He also

requested to develop the monsoon plan .Some of the locations are going to be totally cut off. He


in tune with B.K Shrestha said that the concept of TLC and temporary schools are really

confusing. So, what is Governments policy to address this issue?

Narendra Limbu, Nepal Association of the Blind- Drawing the attention of Dr. Hari Lamsal,

he pointed out about the devastating earthquake which collapsed the classes and hostel of the

blind children. Their brail books are buried inside the collapsed building. He requested the

government to provide the new brail books as soon as possible. Department of Education is

delaying in publishing brail books. He wanted the Government to be aware about this matter.


Dr. Hari Lamsal showed his commitment to provide budget in time to build TLCs where these

are still to be constructed. In another concern, he said that, the Ministry of Education has already

given order to all District Education Offices to adjust academic calendar and already told the

schools to make new academic calendar. As there was loss of 26 days, the teaching hour , the

credit hour must be maintained in summer vacation or winter vacation or any other vacation. But

government is not precise about which vacation should be used He suggested not to entertain

poor people. The government has provided budget to the district for the purpose of temporary

learning center. He also requested to all to take TLCs as normal though the TLCs are not

friendly, this is difficult situation and Nepal is undergoing transitional phase. He mentioned that

from July 16th

2015, the construction of building will start as the design are being approved by

the government. The whole construction of schools will be completed within 3 years and

government is planning accordingly.

He in another concern requested to provide actual data of blind children who are victimized

seriously if so he showed his promptness to work urgently for new settlement. And they have to

be accommodated in nearby school. His saying was that, nobody should be outside of school. He

concludingly said that, Nepal is undergoing post quake scenario and many sufferings

Government and a single ministry can do nothing for the betterment of humanity so requested to

all partners to support education sector. He again showed his commitment to all that, there will

be no any compromise in academic calendar.

Marilyn Hoar ,UNICEF

She answered about the monsoon contingency plan. The TLC is the design that has been

approved by the government with CGI. There are plans for transitions. NGOs have been working

on how the TLCs can be safe and rain proof. They are trying to mobilize NGOs as much as

possible.


Concluding the session, moderator Ganesh Man Gurung said that, all of us in Nepal are being

affected in one way or other. All the schools are being devastated to greater extent and a major

challenge is appeared. So, at this situation the government should come with concrete plan and

support and collaboration between all the partners and agencies is required.

8. FOURTH PANELDISCUSSION

Child Protection, CRVS and Duties of State Authorities

This session was moderated and facilitated by Ms. Indu Tuladhar, executive chair of Himal

Innovative Development and Research (HIDR) Pvt. Ltd by highlighting the duties of state

authority especially in child protection. And this session was followed by the two presentations

of the Panelists, Mr. Shankar Nepal, director, Department of Civil Registration Nepal and Ms.

Tonje Steen, Norwegian directorate for Children, Youth and Family affairs.

8.1 BIRTH REGISTRATION FOR CHILD PROTECTION; PROVISIONS

AND PRACTICES (EXISTING MECHANISM AND FUTURE

SCENARIO)

Mr. Shankar Nepal focused his presentation on the importance of vital registration. More

importantly he talked about the importance of birth registration, which gives first identity to the

people and it is the right of a child to ensure his/her legal identity. His presentation also

highlighted provision of vital registration in Nepal which is guided by birth, death and other

personal event registration Act 1976 which applies to all residents of Nepal and those certificates

registered under this Act can be taken as evidence in the court and other authorities. He made

clear that, provision of vital registration in Nepal started from April 14th

1976.


He also further made clarification on the procedure of birth registration in Nepal which is based

on the informant and the provision informant is family head or an adult member of the family,

mother, and village chair person/mayor as an informant for a person having no family head or

adult family member. He also presented the sample of old and new birth and citizenship

certificates and requested to the representative foreign officials to be taken those as the same if

two or more than two individuals come to them with two different types of certificate. He, most

importantly presented about the online vital event registration as the new initiatives of the

Government of Nepal. Finally, he showed his commitment to the UNECSAP’S shared vision i.e.

“Let us join hand in hand to achieve our shared vision of Civil Registration and Vital

Statistics Decade, 2015-2024 for Asia and the Pacific.”

Moderator Indu Tuladhar clarified on the vital registration process in the present context of

Nepal. She also highlighted the progressive initiatives of government of Nepal and thanked to

Mr. Nepal who made clear about the different provisions of vital registration through

photographic presentation which existed so far.

8.2 CHILD

PROTECTION

AND CHILD

WELFARE; THE

DUTIES OF

STATE

AUTHORITIES

At first, Ms. Tonje steen in

her presentation made clear

about the main task of

BUFDIR which provides

help to children, young

people and families in need

and supports with appropriate, high quality assistance nation wide. It is also responsible for child

welfare, family counselling, adoption, violence in close relationships, equality and non-

discrimination. But her main focus of the presentation was on Child Welfare. She presented

about the state mechanism of child welfare existing in Norway. In Norway, The overall

responsibility for child welfare lies with the state through the Ministry of Children and Equality,

while the administration of child welfare services is primarily carried out at the municipal level

and through the Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs. She als stated

that, the over all responsibility for child welfare lies at central government level and Norwegian


Directorate for Children assists the local authorities in child welfare cases. In the like manner,

country committes deal with the custody cases on the basis of the recomendations made by the

local authority. Further, the country governer supervises child welfare activities.

Moreover, she shared about the welfare state of Norway, that was very poor hundred years back

where only poorest and weakest child could receive the government assistance. But only after

1945, social benefits started to be introduced gradually. She also said that, both the parents in

Norway are responsible for providing care and protection for their children. Her main concern of

presentation was to show the child welfare system in Norway that is taken into full consideration.

There are also some principles of child welfare in norway such as, The best interest of the child,

Participation in decisions, involving the personal welfare of the child,The right to state the view

of the child in accordance with age and level of maturity,Quality of attachment between child

and caregiver,Biological ties to parents and the like. All in all, Tonje stated that, protecting

children is the responsibility of all but the overall responsibility for promoting and ensuring the

rights of child lies with the state authority. Ensuring child protection requires qualified human

resources at all levels and also said that, importance ofnational coordination and long term

planning for a sustainable development on child rights are necessarily required.

Thereafter, Moderator Indu Tuladhar opened the floor for discussion with the remarks that, as the

best interest of children is taken into consideration in Norway, it must be taken as guiding

principle by the Government of Nepal in policy formulation and its implementation.


Jayant Chand, CA member

His concern was that, childhood leads adolescent and adolescent leads to adulthood. So that

investment on children is necessarily required. But in Nepal, the plight of children from poor

background is very miserable. Child labor is like common in the context of Nepal whic shows

the gap and fissures between law and implementation of it. Nepal is at post-quake scenario where

children are more at risk. As a parliament he also made commitment that he will be more

focused on the rights of children. He also stated that, government should take effective intiatives

towards the implementation of law and vigilance of I/NGOs is required.

Rajiv Bikram Shah, CA member

He said that, there is large population in Nepal in comparision to Norway. Whatever, Norway

achieved at present is the long history of about 100 years . But even in short span of time, Nepal

achieved so many things in the issue of child right. Therefore, he requested all to be quite


optimistic in regard to their achievements and practices. He also pointed that, Nepal is doing

fairly well but also requested to the Norwegian officials for continuation of their support.

Amrita Poudyal, Voice of Children

Her concern was that, since they are working for parentless, street children, children of incest

and the like, what may be the solution about their birth registeration and citizenship certificate?

Which lies as a big question to them.

Dilli Guragai, Save the Children, Nepal

The qualified human resource in Norway is in full fledged form. But in Nepal, it is seriously

lacking in bottom as well as in top level. So, what may be the solution in this context of Nepal?


Mr. Shankar Nepal-As the government of Nepal is taking some positive initiatives and the state

is in constitution making process, lets hope for the best that no children will be stateless in

coming days and welfare of chhldren would be the guiding principle of the state.

Tonje steen- As there is lacking of capable and qualified manpower in the bottom level for child

protecton, there should be the provision of monitoring system from central level for child

protection. She also stated that, in Norway, they also have strong monitoring system. They

constantly raise voice against ill practices doing against children. Most importantly she said,

untill and unless there is not child welfare system and its implementation, it is very difficult to

address children properly.

With the note of thanks and applaud to the presenter, moderator Indu Tuladhar gave the

concluding remarks of the session. More importantly, she thanked to Mr. Shankar Nepal and also

praised the well functioning system and mechanism existing in Norway in the issue of child

welfare. She also presented her rays of hope that, Nepal will soon reach to meet the standard of

Norway.

9. CLOSING CEREMONY


At the end of working session, a closing ceremony was held by Njal and Indu Tuladhar

representing RNE and HIDR respectively. Njal thanked HIDR for hosting the ceremony and

making the event more successful. Indu Tuladhar also presented note of appreciation remarks to

RNE for their great support.

His Excellency Mr Kjell Tormod Pettersen, Ambassador of Norway for Nepal thanked to the all

participants. This session was also followed by two important speeches by Hon. Minister Neelam

KC, MoWCSW and His Excellency Borge Brende, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Norway.

CHILDREN’S RIGHTS; A PRIORITY OF NEPAL

Hon. Minister Neelam KC, MoWCSW

Hon Minister, Neelam KC started her speech with the relevancy of programme which was set in

post-quake scenario where thousands of children are victimized by quake and undergoing severe

sufferings. In such scenario protection of children has become challenging to the Government of

Nepal in the sense that, some of the groups are involving in the effort of trafficking of children,

misuse and sexual abuse of them. But, she mentioned that, the Government of Nepal has taken

strong steps against such ill practices. Some positive initiatives against this, highlighted by

Minister are- no permission for new shelter home, no permission of transformation children from

one place to another without permission of CCWB, and no inter country adoption for upcoming

three months.

In another context, she said that, the more the

children are rightly brought up, educated and made

capable, the more nation may get good leadership

in future. Therefore, Government of Nepal has

invested more on children. Nepal has also

expressed international commitment by ratifying

UN CRC 1989 and other international treaties and

conventions. She further added, Nepal has also

taken positive initiatives for eradicating worst form

of child labor. Her speech highlighted the

implementation of different laws and by laws by

the government of Nepal for child rights and child

protection. CCWB at centre and DCWB in all 75

districts are actively working for children. She also

rightly marked that, the issue of child right in

Nepal is not only limited to the periphery of MoWCSW but it is also directly related to the

Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Local Development and Federal Affairs,

Ministry of Labor and Employment. These ministries are also taking positive initiatives for child


rights and child protection. National Grand Plan for Eradication of Child Labor and National

Work Plan on “Education for All”, 2065-2075 are the illustration of it.

She also acknowledged that, the different presentations of different child rights experts and

activists working in Norway and Nepal and solid conclusion drawn among the different

participants will be the guiding principle to the state. This will also be included in coming policy

formation and design of programme. Finally she thanked to His Excellency Borge Brende,

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Norway for his participation and commitment in conference of

international donors for rebuilding Nepal. She also thanked to RNE for providing a good

platform to the child right experts and activist for a contextual programme.

CHILDREN’S RIGHTS: A NORWEGIAN PERSPECTIVE AND PRIORITY IN

DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION

His Excellency Borge Brende, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Norway

His Excellency Borge Brende started his speech with thanking remarks to the Minister of

MoWCSW, Hon Neelam KC. His Excellency rightly marked in his speech that, Nepal is

undergoing post-quake scenario where many challenges are on the way to overcome. But in spite

of this, Nepal has not lost each and everything. He meant to say that, gains of past are not lost.

He also said that, Nepal is focused country for Norway which comes as first priority out of 12 of

their partnership in development cooperation and rights of children are in priority in their

development project. His concern was that, because of massive earth quake children are

victimized in Nepal. Some of the children also have become parentless. But his commitment was

for the certain and bright future of them. Most importantly, he highlighted his speech on

Education. He stated that, when a child is educated, he/she will be able to claim his/her rights.

Education must be regarded both as means and end. He said that Norway will invest more on

educational programme for Nepal. He

also stated that, children’s rights must be

recognized, violence and abuse should be

eradicated and child protection should be

ensured so that a state can claim it as

child friendly one.

Finally, His Excellency, Borge Brende

appreciated the organizers which brought

both experts from Norway and Nepal

together which will help to promote child

rights in Nepal. He also presented his


hope about the upcoming constitution of Nepal that will be more inclusive and child friendly

one. Finally he gave concluding remarks with his commitment of cooperation in rebuilding

Nepal and also for the continuation of their support and cooperation for Nepal.

10. CONCLUSION AND WAY FORWARD

The participants from Norway and Nepal, representing parliamentarians, Government

institutions, civil society, UNICEF and Academia, with discussion and sharing in Seminar on

Strengthening Child Rights: Experience of Nepal and Norway on 25 June 2015 held in

Lalitpur, Nepal, concluded and recommended to:

1. Promote the best interest of child as a fundamental platform for implementing child rights

at all levels in Nepal and Norway.

2. Realized that both countries can learn and strengthen from each other on policy and

practices related to child right to participation and ensuring their voices are heard and due

considered in decision making process.

3. Advocate the need of visible and operational child rights monitoring and protection

systems in place at all levels.

4. Strengthen children’s access to a child friendly justice system and services with enabling

justice mechanism and empowering children.

5. Work to ensure equal access to quality education as a fundamental right also in

emergency periods.

6. Realized the need of strengthening capacity and competence among parents,

professionals, government officials and political leaders.

7. Strengthen CRVS for identity protection and ensuring entitlement of children to public

services.

8. Acknowledged the values of joint sharing and mutual learning from the cooperation

between Nepal and Norway.

9. Thus, highlighted the importance and relevance of joint collaboration and technical

cooperation on the field of child rights.

11. Quality control

HIDR and RNE ensured the quality of the programme via enlisted activities for the quality

control purpose:

Concept note of the programme was wisely drafted and finalized.

Series of meeting was organized between HIDR and RNE members at various levels and

discussion was made on.


Moderator and Panelists were finalized and there was pre briefing session to them about

the programme.

Sent invitation and follow-up for their participation

Logistic arrangement: venue, food, stationary, banners etc.

12. Annexes:

Annex 1: Program Schedule

Annex 2: Presentations

Roles of NHRC on Child Rights Monitoring in Nepal

Yagya Prasad Adhikari

Dy. Director

National Human Rights Commission

[email protected] 1


Independent Child Rights Monitoring Mechanism

- how it can make a difference

The Norwegian Ombudsman for Children

Nepal June 2015

Elin Saga Kjørholt, lawyer

[email protected]

Birth Registration for Child Protection

Provisions and Practices

Shankar Nepal

Director

Department of Civil Registration

Nepal


Government of NepalMinistry of Women Children and Social Welfare

Central Child Welfare Board (CCWB)

Tarak DhitalExecutive Director, CCWBa long way to go for the

protection of rights of Every Child

Seminar on strengthening Child’s rightsExperiences of Nepal & Norway

25th June, 2015

Children’s Rights Governance/Monitoring in Nepal

C H I L D PR O T EC T I O N AN D C H I L D W EL FAR ET H E D U T I E S O F T H E S TAT E A U T H O R I T I E S

Speaker: Tonje [email protected]

Senior Advisor

Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs

Seminar on Child Rights Nepal 25 th June 2015


T E K N A R A Y A N K U N W A R

D I S T R I C T J U D G E

L A L I T P U R D I S T R I C T C O U R T

[email protected]

Child Rights in Nepalese Court

Children’s Rights in

Norwegian Courts

Supreme Court Justice dr. juris Arnfinn Bårdsen

Kathmandu 25th June 2015


Education In Emergency

SEMINAR ON CHILD RIGHTS

25th June 2015

Annex 3: Collection

of Photos

Annex 4: Name list of Participants

seminar on strengthening child rights: experience...

Documents