Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a teacher was harassed and fired from her job at a segregated secondary school after she spoke out about discrimination against her Dalit students. She was then prevented from taking up a job by colleagues at another secondary school, and now receives regular death threats. There is no law against caste-based discrimination in Nepal and as the constituent assembly drafts a new democratic constitution it must take the chance to criminalise discrimination of any kind, and bring the country in line with international human rights norms.
CASE DETAILS:
Dalits make up about 90% of the student body at the at the Shree Saraswati Lower Secondary School but common practice dictates that they use separate equipment and facilities, including taps for drinking water. Teachers allegedly avoid touching the papers of Dalit students and low grades tend to be assigned without much regard for the content of the work. Dalit students there have also been banned from the cooking classes, which are needed for the home science course.
Ms. Pushpa Karki is not from the Dalit community herself, but she objected to these practices. According to the Jagaran Media Centre her protests were rejected by the school’s mostly non-Dalit management as ‘popularity seeking’ among an ‘undeserving’ class. She was also told that like her Dalit students, she would be prohibited from touching the statue of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge due to her close association with them. The school is named after the goddess.
Offended and finding no course of action possible with the school management, Pushpa told the local media about the discrimination at the school in August. Summoned to a school meeting, she was then allegedly threatened and physically pushed around in the meeting hall. She was accused of having sought cheap publicity at the expense of the school, of becoming a spokesperson for an undeserving class, and was threatened with dire consequences unless she change her tone. It should be noted that Ganesh Parki, chairman of the school’s management is a Dalit, however this has not helped Pushpa’s case.
The teacher was transferred to Narayan Secondary School in the same district, but says that she was dismissed soon after, having been prevented from signing the attendance register. She filed a complaint with the National Information Commission (a national body that overlooks the rights and responsibilities of public institutions and servants concerning the right to information). The Commission issued a temporary stay of Pushpa’s dismissal at the school, directing staff to allow her to mark her attendance and to pay her salary, and seeking written explanations from them for their actions. However Pushpa has started to receive life threatening calls and is planning to file a complaint at the local police station.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
There are no laws in Nepal to protect religious minorities from discrimination, or to support people like Pushpa in her fight for equality. The country is a party to various international human rights treaties that reject the inherent discrimination of the caste hierarchy; it has responsibilities under international law to protect the rights of all Nepalis, regardless of their social origin, property, birth or any other kind of status. The Asian Human Rights Commission urges the government of Nepal to take the opportunity, as it creates its new, democratic constitution, to rectify this grave omission and to pass a domestic law that criminalises discrimination of any kind, in particular that based on caste.
Furthermore, minors have the right to be protected from such discriminatory practices according to the Convention for the Rights of the Child, and to this end entrenched discrimination in Nepali schools must be thoroughly investigated and addressed without delay.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the authorities below seeking the reinstatement and legal support of Pushpa Karki, and the investigation of the school managements responsible for promoting caste-based discrimination. Please also request that a comprehensive law criminalising discrimination be inserted into the new constitution.
The AHRC is also sending a letter to the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance calling for an intervention in this case.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear _________,
NEPAL: Please take steps to end caste-based discrimination in Shree Saraswati Lower Secondary School
Names of the victims:
1. Ms. Pushpa Karki, teacher; Shree Saraswati Lower Secondary School.
2. Dalit students at Shree Saraswati Lower Secondary School, Kailali district, Nepal.
Names of alleged perpetrators:
1. Mr. Padam Raj Joshi, principal; Shree Saraswati Lower Secondary School, Kailali district
2. Members of the school management committee; Shree Saraswati Lower Secondary School, Kailali district
Date of incident: August 2008, and ongoing discrimination for several years
Place of incident: Shree Saraswati Lower Secondary School, Kailali district
I am writing to seek intervention into the caste-based discrimination at Shree Saraswati Lower Secondary School, Kailali district, currently being waged against the Dalit students, and the harassment of a teacher who has defended their rights.
I am informed that the discrimination is actively encouraged by staff members, and includes, among other practices: separate drinking water taps for Dalit students; non-Dalit teachers refusing to evaluate the answer papers written by Dalit students; Dalit students being prevented from taking cooking lessons in the home science course; and Dalit students prevented from touching the statue of goddess Saraswati, the patron goddess of the school.
I am aware that Ms. Pushpa Karki objected to these practices, in a school in which Dalit students constitute 90 percent of the total student body. In response she was physically and verbally abused by colleagues, transferred from the school and later dismissed from her second school after further harassment. She is currently receiving death threats.
I am concerned to find that this inhuman and degrading discriminatory practice so entrenched in the Nepali education system with many of its victims young students and that there are currently no domestic laws at all to protect against caste-based discrimination.
I therefore urge you to take immediate actions to intervene in this case and to ensure that:
1. An immediate enquiry into the case is conducted;
2. If the enquiry reveals caste-based discrimination practiced against the Dalit students, the management of the school, the Principal in particular, must be asked to publically apologise to the students, and further, be disciplined for practising caste based discrimination;
3. Adequate compensation is awarded to Pushpa for the mental and physical trauma she has undergone in order to bring this discrimination to light.
4. The state acts according to its responsibilities under international human rights law, and to the United Nations conventions and treaties which it has signed, all of which reject the inherent discrimination of the caste hierarchy; and as such, passes a domestic law in the new constitution that criminalises discrimination of any kind, in particular that based on caste.
Furthermore, according to the Convention for the Rights of the Child, it should be noted that minors have the right to be protected from such discriminatory practices, and to this end entrenched discrimination in Nepali schools must be thoroughly investigated and addressed without delay.
Yours sincerely,
—-
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Mr. Om Bikram Rana
Inspector General of Police
Police Head Quarters, Naxal
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 4415593
Tel: +977 1 4412432 (Secretary to IGP)
E-mail: ranaob@nepalpolice.gov.np or info@nepalpolice.gov.np
2. Mr. Raghav Lal Vaidya
Attorney General
Office of Attorney General
Ramshahpath
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 4262582
E-mail: attorney@mos.com.np
3. Ms. Pampa Bhusal
Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare
Singha Durbar
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 4241516
4. Ms. Nainkala Thapa
Chairperson
National Women’s Commission
Bhadrakali Plaza
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 4256783
5. Mr. Dev Gurung
Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs
Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs
Singha Durbar, Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 4220684
Tel: +977 1 4223727, 4224633 or 4220672
6. Mr. Kedar Nath Upadhaya
Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission
Pulchowck, Lalitpur
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 55 47973
E-mail: complaints@nhrcnepal.org or nhrc@nhrcnepal.org
7. Mr. Binod Singh
Senior Superintendent of Police
Police HR Cell
Nepal Police, Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 4415593
E-mail: hrcell@nepalpolice.gov.np
8. Mr. Richard Bennet
OHCHR Representative
OHCHR, United Nations, PO Box 107
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 4670712 or 4670713
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
