• Introduction
• Purpose of Unit
• Structure of Unit
• Terms to Know
• Concept of Social Justice
• Concept of Human Rights
• Key Components of Human Rights and Freedoms
• Nepal's Commitment to Human Rights and Freedoms
• Activities
• Conclusion

"Any society committed to improving the lives of its people must also be committed to full and equal rights for all." 1

INTRODUCTION <TOP>

Full and equal rights for all citizens means that everyone in the country is able to live a long and healthy life, acquire knowledge and have access to the resources needed for a decent standard of living. To achieve equal rights, people must also have access to their political system. They must be able to express their views, practice any religion they want and be protected from physical harm. If someone is accused of a crime they need to be given the opportunity to adequately defend themselves. Full and equal rights for all citizens means that any citizen, no matter his or her caste, ethnicity, religion, or age should be treated fairly and given respect.

People around the world have struggled to gain equal rights for all citizens. They have attempted to push their governments to recognize that they, as human beings, deserve the right to just treatment. Nepalis have also joined in this struggle, many were jailed and some even died in their attempts to institute a government that protects the rights of all Nepalis. These courageous individuals succeeded in establishing a more fair government. In 1990, democracy was re-instituted in Nepal and our government leaders began setting up institutions that can now better protect our human rights.

PURPOSE OF UNIT <TOP>

The main purpose of this unit is to define social justice and human rights and to assist students in determining when these rights are violated, how our government attempts to protect these rights and what we, as citizens, can do to help improve the human rights situation in Nepal.

After studying this unit you should be able to:

· Define Social Justice and Human Rights
· Determine when our human rights are violated
· Recognize the steps taken by our government to protect our human rights
· Identify effective ways of responding to violations of our human rights

STRUCTURE OF UNIT <TOP>

This unit is divided into the following sub-units:

· Concept of Social Justice
· Concept of Human Rights
· Key Components of Human Rights and Freedoms
· Nepal's Commitment to Human Rights and Freedoms
· Activities
· Conclusion

TERMS TO KNOW <TOP>

Please pay attention to the key words listed below. Become familiar with their definitions and how they are used in the text. You will need to understand these terms to answer the questions at the end of the unit.

Social Justice
Human Rights
International Human Rights Agreements
Caste Discrimination
Child Labor
Bonded Labor
Human Rights Commission
Human Rights Nongovernmental Organizations

CONCEPT OF SOCIAL JUSTICE <TOP>

What is social justice?

Social Justice is the practice in which all people are treated equally. That means that everyone in the country has the same opportunities. Women are allowed to go to school and work as doctors, lawyers and teachers. They can make choices about how they want to spend money and what should be done with their family's land or business. Women are not sold into forced labor or abused physically by their husbands or strangers. Social justice is when women earn equal pay with men for doing equal work.

Just as women have equal opportunities, members of lower castes also have equal opportunities. Dalits, like Biswakarmas and Chamars, can travel anywhere, find any job, go to school and cook and clean in anyone's house without a problem. When they walk down the street people do not look the other way but are happy to shake their hand and let them enter their house.

Social justice means that boy and girl children are not forced to work but rather go to school, are fed well and have time to play with their friends.

Individuals are not arrested without good reason and if they are arrested they are given the time and resources to defend themselves properly in an attempt to prove their innocence.
Social justice means that all citizens are able to participate in their political system, speak their minds, demonstrate peacefully and express their opinions. As long as the individual's actions do not hurt others then that individual should be able to move freely throughout the country and say and do what he or she wants.

Social justice is when everyone in the country is treated fairly, given respect and protected by the law. People have the ability to live long and healthy lives and have access to the information and resources needed for a decent standard of living.

Social justice means fairness, and situations can be fair or unfair in different ways. For instance, someone may or may not get their fair share of something that is distributed, like water, food or fodder. Someone may not get a fair chance to explain his or her side of the story. Maybe someone is arrested and jailed without a fair chance to prove his or her innocence or suffers a punishment that is unfair in relation to his or her conduct.

Activity

Now that we understand what social justice is, let's see if we can identify when we or someone else we know is being treated unjustly. Read the story below and identify the many ways in which Sunil and Gobinda limit others' opportunities and do not treat everyone fairly.

Sunil works as the police chief in Khushi Shahar. He has some strange ideas about what is fair. One time he needed to hire a deputy chief and hung a sign up that said, "Deputy Police Chief Wanted. Women Only Apply." A number of men said, "Women only? We can do the job too, we are qualified."

Sunil replied, "I don't want men deputies around here. Women work better than men."

Some of the townspeople thought it was unfair that men did not have the chance to be deputy just because they are men. They told Sunil, "You are not fair."

Gobinda was the judge in Khushi Shahar; he too had strange ideas about what is fair. One time Sunil arrested a 10-year old boy for stealing a piece of candy. Gobinda sentenced him to a year in jail with adult prisoners. Gobinda sentenced a bank robber to pay Rs 3,000 fine because the robber promised never to do it again. "Gobinda doesn't seem to know how to make an appropriate punishment for the crime!" the villagers complained.

One time Sunil needed to find out who robbed a villager's home. To find out, Sunil tickled the feet of a prisoner to make him tell who committed the robbery. Sunil tickled so hard and so long the prisoner nearly died laughing.

Later that day, Sunil was speaking to Gobinda in court:

Sunil: Your honor, five witnesses have said that this man was nowhere near the scene of the crime when it happened.

Gobinda: Why did you arrest him, Sunil?

Sunil: Well, he looked like a criminal.

Gobinda: That's not fair, Sunil!

Activity

Write in your copy the answers to the questions below. As you answer the questions, keep in mind what we learned about social justice.

1. What did Sunil do that was unjust? Why was it unjust?
2. What should Sunil have done?
3. What did Gobinda do that was unjust? Why was it unjust?
4. What should Gobinda have done?
5. Examine your list of Sunil and Gobinda's unjust actions. Which are problems of:
   - Fair ways to distribute something among members of a group?
   - Fair ways to correct a wrong or injury?
   - Fair ways to gather information and make decisions?
6. Describe in your copy an experience where either you or someone you know was treated unjustly? What happened and what about the experience was unfair? Also write down in your copy, what, if anything, the person did to protest the injustice.

Activity

Find an article in a newspaper or listen to a program on the radio that demonstrates someone treating another unjustly. Write in your copy a description of this unfair treatment and describe why it is unfair. Also write about what should have taken place in the situation you describe. Your class will break up into groups. Each person in the group should present the situation you have found and discuss with your classmates why the situation describes injustice. Discuss, in your story, what this family or individual can do to defend him or herself from unjust treatment.

CONCEPT OF HUMAN RIGHTS <TOP>

We, as people of Nepal and as citizens of the world, are entitled to particular rights just because we are born and exist in the world. These rights are called Human Rights and include:

• The right to life
• The right to live freely
• The right to a standard of living adequate for our health and well-being
• The right to protection in times of need
• The right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
• The right to work and to work in just and favorable conditions
• The right to food and housing
• The right to privacy and to family life

Human rights also include those rights and freedoms necessary for self respect, creativity and intellectual and spiritual expression, for example they include:

• The right to education and to access to information
• The right to practice any religion we choose
• The right to our own opinions and our public expression of these opinions
• The right to gather together freely
• The right to participate in the political process
• The right to participate in cultural life

Human rights also include those rights necessary for freedom and our physical safety, such as:

• The right to be free from slavery or servitude
• The right to personal security
• The right to be free from arrest or imprisonment without cause
• The right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or humiliating treatment or punishment

These human rights apply to everyone, no matter their race, color, sex, language, religion, political opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or status.2

We can understand these rights as all being equal. In other words, a person cannot have one right but not another. Also, we cannot give up these rights voluntarily; they belong to us.

Now that we are familiar with what human rights are, let's see if we can tell when these rights are violated. Figuring this out can sometimes be difficult to do. Here are some examples.

One of our human rights is our Right to Life. If we, or someone else we know, are killed then our right to life is violated.

Another human right is our Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health. If we, or someone we know, are physically abused then our human right is violated.

Read the situations below and see if you can tell which human right is violated in each situation. In some cases more than one human right is violated at a time. When you do this exercise, refer to the list of human rights above. Write your answers down in your copy and give a reason as to why you came up with your answer.

1. At the end of the month, Nirmala received her wages. She received Rs 3,500 for the month. She was upset and angry when she learned that Jitendra received Rs 5,000 for doing the same type and amount of work.
2. While Saran was participating in a peaceful protest, the police arrested him, dragged him to the police station and put him in jail. That night three angry men asked Saran why he participated in the protests. As they were talking to him, another man walked in and said, "You are guilty of rebellion against the government. You will receive 10 years in prison."
3. A 10-year old girl is born into a poor family. The parents have no money for food and decide to sell their daughter to a man who was visiting the village. The man gave the parents Rs 2,000 and after taking the girl sold her for Rs 6,000 to a brothel.
4. Shyam, a member of the Dalit caste, left his village and tried to find a job as a house worker. No family would hire him because of his low caste and Shyam was forced to work in a metal factory.
5. When Shanti went to the telephone company to request that the company fix her phone line, the phone company's employee demanded, for his personal use, Rs 150 before he promised to put a formal request into the company.
6. When Hari, a member of the Chamar caste, walks down the street, people look away and never meet his eyes. People consider him dirty.
7. An 8-year old child is taken out of school and forced to work 16 hours a day in a saw mill. At the mill, very little food is provided for him and he is not allowed to go outside and play.
8. A VDC official can decide who in the village receives fodder for his or her land. He always gives the fodder to his friends in the village and never to the other villagers.

Write in your copy the answers to these questions.

1. How are the situations described above similar to experiences you have had or seen others have? List at least three examples.
2. What customs, rules or laws do you know of that are designed to promote these types of injustices? List at least three examples.
3. What customs, rules or laws do you know that are designed to promote fairness and just behavior? List at least three examples.

Unlike some other governments in the world, Nepal's government recognizes the human rights of all citizens. But despite the government's recognition, our human rights still get violated. This happens, in part, because our government does not have the resources or capacity to change behavior throughout the entire country.

Another important reason why our human rights continue to be violated is because many of us are not aware of what our rights are or how we can protect them. In many cases, we think we deserve a poor quality of life. If we are forced to work at a young age or if we are discriminated against because we are female or a member of a lower caste then we think we deserve it. We are not aware that we have the right to be treated better or that our human rights are violated.

Although there are many different types of human rights abuses, this section describes some of the most common abuses in Nepal.

Child Labor

Harish is 10 years old and lives in Jorepati. He has 3 brothers and 3 sisters. Instead of going to school Harish works in a carpet factory. He works 12 hours every day. He almost never spends time outside. Because Harish does not go to school, he will likely spend his life working in the carpet factory. Due to the very poor working conditions in the factory, little light, no sanitation facilities and little food, it is very possible that Harish will get sick at an early age and die a young man.

Harish's life as a child laborer is not very different from millions of other children throughout Nepal.

About 2.6 million children in Nepal do not go to school but rather work in agriculture jobs, hotels, restaurants, factories or within the home. Studies show that children between the ages of six and nine work three hours a day, while children between 10 and 14 work five to six hours a day, with girls putting in nearly twice as many hours as boys.

Children work rather than go to school mostly because parents need their children to make money to help support the family. In addition, more than 80 percent of families in Nepal survive through farming. There are many tasks to do every day on the farm and parents need help with the work. Parents often do not believe that going to school will help their children become better farmers.
Another cause of child labor in Nepal is when families have only enough money to support one child in school. They almost always send their boy child rather than their girl child to school. They keep the girl at home to help with the housework or send the girl to another person's home to work.

A typical child worker:

• Has four to nine members in the family
• Stays with his or her parents, siblings, aunts and uncles
• Has low family income so the child is forced to work to help earn money for the family
• Lacks access to government services
• Lacks bathing and toilet facilities
• Is exposed to the sun, rain and cold
• Is severely malnourished
• Does not get any medical attention when he or she falls sick
• Suffers from nutrient deficiencies as an unsatisfactory physical growth
• Is constantly exposed to direct smoke pollution and other environmental hazards

Write down the answers to these questions in your copy.

1. Do you know any child workers?
2. If so, what are their family lives like? Do their families have similar lives to what is described above as a "typical child worker"?
   

Arbitrary Arrest, Jailing and Torture

Another major human rights abuse common in Nepal is the jailing of innocent people as well as physical abuse within jail. Of course, not all people arrested are innocent, but our human rights laws require that any person arrested must be given the right to defend him or herself. They should be allowed to have a lawyer and adequate time and resources to prove their innocence. Before being convicted of a crime, the person is required to have a court hearing and possibly even a jury who can make a decision on his or her case. If arrested, the individual should not be physically harmed in any way. No one within the country, neither the police nor any other individual, has the right to kill or torture anyone. Nor do they have the right to kidnap or rob anyone. When this happens in Nepal, the individuals committing the act are violating our human rights.

Untouchables

Shreeram is 7 years old and a Dalit. He lives with his family in Kalenchok and goes to school in the village. He sits in class with members of all castes and communities including Brahmans, Chhetries and Magars. During lunchtime, his school provides milk powder and biscuits to the students. Shreeram and the other Dalits wait in one queue for their food and the Brahmans, Chhetries and Magars wait in another. The students in the upper caste always eat their food inside the classroom and the students from the lower castes are expected to eat outside. When it is raining and very windy and cold outside, Shreeram and his friends are not allowed in class to eat their food, they are forced by other students to eat in the rain.

Activity

Discuss these questions with your classmates and then write your responses in your copy.

1. Why do you think the students in Kalenchok won't allow Shreeram and his friends to sit inside and eat, even when it is raining?
2. Why do you think the students from the upper castes are acting this way?
3. Do you think they are behaving in accordance with tradition?
4. Are the upper caste students acting in accordance with what we know about social justice and human rights for all people?
5. What would you do if you were in the classroom with the Dalits, Biswakarmas and Chamars? Would you let Shreeram and his friends eat inside? Why or why not?

The experience that Shreeram and his friends have in Kalenchok School still occurs in Nepal.

Dalits are often treated unfairly. Often, lower caste members must get their water from a different tap than members of the upper castes. If a lower caste member earns money while in India, when he or she returns to Nepal he or she must get permission from an upper caste member to spend that money. The Dalits produce milk for sale in the market and others refuse to buy that milk. In one instance, a Dalit joined in a wedding ceremony taking place in Kathmandu. When others at the ceremony realized that a Dalit had joined in, they beat up the man and forced him to leave.

Caste discrimination goes against what we learned about social justice and human rights. These ideals are based on the premise that all people, no matter their race, ethnicity, gender, caste, marital status or age should be treated with respect and given the same opportunities that others receive.

Activity

Write in your copy 5 other examples where members of lower castes are treated unfairly.

Bonded Laborers

For more than 150 years, some individuals in Nepal, mostly in the West, worked as bonded laborers. These people, called Kamaiyas, worked on farms and did not receive money for their work. They were provided a small amount of food and poor quality shelters and forced to work for many hours each day. The workers' children also were forced to labor on the farm. If a Kamaiya wanted to leave the farm, he was often threatened or beaten by the landowner. To protect the human rights of all citizens, the government of Nepal in 2000 abolished this practice. Now, the government and other independent groups are working to provide the freed laborers with clothing, land and schooling.

Prisoners' Rights

Mala was arrested and jailed for stealing jewelry. Mala has two children, ages 3 and 7. Because the children had nowhere else to go, they went with Mala to jail. The jail used to be a place where people kept horses. It was built about 70 or 80 years ago. The building is old and can fall down at anytime. Mala and her children spend their days in a very small room with 30 people in it. The room is so crowded . During the evening hours, prisoners are not allowed to leave the room and must find a place within the room to use as a toilet. When Mala or her children get sick, there is no doctor at the jail who can treat them.

Activity

As you answer the following questions in your copy, refer to the human rights list above.

1. Which of Mala's human rights are being abused?
2. Which of her children's human rights are being abused?
3. What do you think could be done to improve the living conditions of prisoners in jail?
4. Do you think improving these conditions is important? If so, why? If not, why not?

Women's Rights

Abuses against women and girls are extremely common in Nepal. They include limited access to adequate health care and nutrition, laws that prohibit women from owning property, social practices which limit women's ability to participate in the financial decision making of the family and the forced selling of girls into prostitution. Women's workload is much higher than men and women are discriminated against in the job market, they are not hired for the same kinds of jobs as men nor do they receive equal wages for the same work. A more detailed discussion on these human rights abuses takes place in unit 6.

Activity

Discuss these questions with your classmates and then write your responses in your copy.

1. Are the individuals described above able to protect themselves from having their human rights abused?
2. Is there something we, as citizens, can do to protect them?
3. What would you do if your human rights were abused?
   

NEPAL'S COMMITMENT TO HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS <TOP>

For many years, Nepalis have struggled to create a government that protects every citizen's human rights. They wanted to have the freedom to speak publicly and organize in political groups. In the late 1950s, democracy was established for the first time in Nepal and Nepalis won their struggle to protect their human rights.

Unfortunately, democracy lasted only a short time. With the introduction of the Panchayat system citizens' rights were greatly limited as only a few people within the government made decisions. Citizens were not allowed to join in political organizations or speak out against the government. Among other rights, we were denied our fundamental right to express our opinions publicly. We were also denied the right to gather freely and participate in the political process. In this way, our human rights were violated.

Nepalis took to the streets to overthrow the Panchayat system and re-institute democracy in Nepal. They understood that democracy better helps to ensure that our human rights are protected. These courageous people who died and were jailed during the struggle succeeded in their efforts and democracy was re-established in 1990.

Only following the reintroduction of democracy in Nepal did our leaders begin to ratify the most important international human rights agreements. (To ratify means to approve and promise to uphold and an international human rights agreement is an agreement that could be signed by many countries in the world, whereby each country promises to protect the human rights of its citizens.) Human rights agreements are also known as human rights conventions or treaties.

With the restoration of democracy in 1990, Nepal became a signatory to several international instruments on human rights, including:

• International covenant on civil and political rights
• Optional protocol to international covenant on civil and political rights
• International covenant on economic, social and cultural rights
• Convention on elimination of all forms of discrimination against women
• Convention for suppression of traffic in persons and of exploitation or prostitution of others
• Convention on the rights of the child
• International convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination
• International convention on the suppression and punishment of the crime of apartheid
• Convention on the political rights of women
• Slavery convention of 1926
• Slavery convention of 1926 (amended)
• Supplementary convention on the abolition of slavery, slave trade and institutions and practices similar to slavery
• Convention against apartheid in sports
• Convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide

These conventions are legal documents that protect all citizens' rights to education. They also protect our rights to health services and to practice any cultural traditions we choose. The conventions protect our rights against domestic violence, forced prostitution, bonded labor and child labor. They protect our right against torture and arrest without cause. The conventions protect women's rights and individuals in the lower castes from being excluded from well paying jobs or access to good quality health care and nutrition.

When our democratic leaders ratified these treaties, they promised to do what they could to protect the human rights of their citizens.

In addition to signing inter-national conventions, the founders of our democracy designed a Constitution that guarantees equal rights for everyone.

Activity

Each of the following excerpts from the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 2047 B.S. is designed to protect and promote one or more of our human rights. As you read each selection write in your copy which human right the law means to protect. Each law may protect more than one right. Write your answers down on a piece of paper. When you are through, compare your responses with other classmates.

Excerpts from the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal

Part 3: Section 1.2
No discrimination shall be made against any citizen in the application of general laws on grounds of religion, race, sex, caste, tribe or ideological conviction or any of these.

Part 3: Section 13.2
No press shall be closed or seized for printing any news item, article or other reading material.

Part 3: Section 14.5
No person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed of the grounds for such arrest, nor shall he or she be denied the right to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice.

Part 3: Section 16
Every citizen shall have the right to demand and receive information on any matter of public importance; provided that nothing in this article shall compel any person to provide information on any matter about which secrecy is to be maintained by law.
Part 3: Section 18.1
Each community residing within the Kingdom of Nepal shall have the right to preserve and promote its language, script and culture.

Part 3: Section 19.1
Every person shall have the freedom to profess and practice his own religion as handed down to him from ancient times having due regard for traditional practices

Part 3: Section 20.1
Traffic in human beings, slavery, serfdom or forced labor in any form is prohibited. Any breaking of this provision shall be punishable by law.

Part 3: Section 20.2
No minor shall be employed to work in any factory or mine, or be engaged in any other hazardous work.

Part 8: Section 45.5
Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, election to membership in the House of Representatives shall be held on the basis of one-person-one-vote through secret ballots in accordance with the provisions of law.

Part 8: Section 45.6
Every Nepali citizen who has attained the age of eighteen shall be entitled to vote in one of the election constituencies in accordance with the provision of law.

Part 11: Section 88.2
The Supreme Court shall, for the enforcement of the fundamental rights conferred by this Constitution, for the enforcement of any other legal right for which no other remedy has been provided or for which the remedy even though provided appears to be inadequate or ineffective, or for the settlement of any constitutional or legal question involved in any dispute of public interest or concern, have the extraordinary power to issue necessary and appropriate orders to enforce such rights or settle the dispute.

Part 12: Section 98.1
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority may, in accordance with law, conduct or cause to be conducted inquiries into and investigations of, improper conduct or corruption by a person holding any public office.

Part 15: Section 104.1
The Election Commission shall, subject to the provisions of this Constitution and other laws, conduct, supervise, direct and control the elections to Parliament and local authorities at the village, town and district levels.3

In addition to signing international agreements and drafting a Constitution that promotes human rights, our government has taken other actions to protect citizens' rights to justice.

The Human Rights Commission

In 2000 (2058 B.S.), the government formed a Human Rights Commission to help address human rights violations within Nepal. The Commission has the power to: inquire into complaints regarding the violation of human rights; advise and assist the government in writing laws and undertaking steps to protect human rights; and make recommendations to the government on how better to follow international human rights agreements.

EVERY PERSON LIVING IN NEPAL has the right to make a complaint to the Commission if he or she suffers from a human rights abuse.

Guaranteeing social rights for all citizens is difficult. Governments must take an active role in designing laws and implementing fair practices. But our government cannot do everything. Citizens must also take an active role in securing their rights and protecting each other from unfair treatment.

Activities by Nongovernmental Organizations

Nepalis have formed human rights nongovernmental organizations that work in many parts of Nepal to help improve human rights conditions around the country. They help reduce poverty and inadequate food supplies. They help establish schools and encourage both boy and girl children to attend. They set up health care facilities and inform Nepalis about safe health practices. Nongovernmental organizations work to limit child labor. They also work to protect girls from trafficking, to improve women's access to health care and access to property rights. These organizations are very active and help protect our human rights.

Unfortunately, although our government has ratified international agreements and drafted a Constitution and other laws that protect our human rights, still more needs to be done by our lawmakers and importantly, by the citizens of our country, to protect our human rights.

If we determine that our human rights have been violated, then we can take actions to protect ourselves or someone we know. By protesting the abuse, we may be able to stop the abuse from happening again.

• As we live in a democracy, there are many opportunities for us to protest injustice. Some of these opportunities include:
  
• Going to the police to complain and requesting that they take steps to correct the wrong;
• Writing a letter to your government official;
• Meeting with an individual from a nongovernmental organization working on human rights issues to tell them what happened and ask for their help;
• Meeting with your Village Development Council official and requesting that he or she take action to correct the wrong;
• Making a direct complaint to representatives of the Human Rights Commission;
• Filing a court case against the wrongdoer; and
• Making a public statement about the event, maybe by writing a newspaper article.

Activity

Talk with your classmates about other opportunities available to you within your democracy to protest human rights abuses. Write down in your copy at least three more ways you can protest.

Write in your copy the answers to the questions below.

1. Which international conventions did our government ratify in 1991?
2. What type of information is included in these conventions?
3. What does it mean when our government ratifies an international convention?
4. What does our Constitution say about freedom of expression?
5. What does our Constitution say about discrimination against women or members of the lower castes?
6. What does our Constitution say about the right of citizens to participate in government decision-making?
7. What does our Constitution say about child labor?
8. Since citizens have the right to vote, as mandated by the Constitution, how can citizens influence political decisions?
9. When was the Human Rights Commission formed?
10. What are the Commission's responsibilities?
11. Who can file complaints with the Commission?
12. Are some Nepalis concerned with protecting citizens' human rights? If so, what are they doing?
13. What steps can we take to protest human rights abuses?

For individual and group work:

1. Brothers and sisters of different ages often feel parents are not 'fair' and do not treat them equally. As you look at your family and other families in your neighborhood, notice how each child is assigned different tasks within the home. Identify what the boy and girl children's responsibilities are within the home. Are these responsibilities different? If so, how? Discuss with your classmates if you think the boy and girl children are already or should be treated equally.

2. In nearly every society, women have been treated unequally in comparison to men. For instance, although men in Britain have received university degrees for hundreds of years, women could not get a university degree until the mid 1900s. Why do you think this was so? Can you describe any present-day societies where women have fewer rights than men?

3. Which of these would you describe as socially just?

a) Medicines and medical treatment are available to everyone at a reduced rate because our government helps pay for the medicine and treatment.
b) Medicines and treatment are free for poor people but are paid for at a profit rate by richer people.

c) Everyone pays the same amount for medicine and treatment. The amount covers only the costs of these items and does not allow for a profit to be made.

d) No one pays anything when ill, but everyone pays into a special health fund according to his or her income.

e) Every year, the government gives everyone a certain fixed amount for free medicine and treatment; above this amount individuals must pay for these services at a profit.

f) Women and children receive free treatment, all men pay at cost.

g) Treatment is only available at government hospitals for Hindus.

4. There has been a lot of petty stealing in your class - food, books, pens and small amounts of money. A very unpopular boy has just been caught taking money from a bag. The head has given the class captain the task of dealing with the situation. What would you do if you were the class captain?

5. Have you ever felt unfairly treated at school? In what way? How did you feel? What did you do?

6. "We are entitled to rights just because we exist". Until modern times, no one would have understood this idea. Why do we have these rights? Who gives them to us? What would you say to persuade someone who believes that these rights must be earned that indeed we are born with these rights.

7. Many countries have insufficient food and housing for everyone, however, we all agree that everyone has the right to a decent standard of living. Whose duty is it to provide this standard of living?

8. Child rights can by put under four headings: Survival, Development, Protection and Participation in Public Life. Below are some violations of child rights. Put them under the four headings. Some can fit under more than one.

Can you think of other violations that can fit under each of these headings?

9. More conflict of rights! Many town families have a household worker who is a poor child from the village. Are the child's rights MORE or LESS respected by living in poverty in the village or as a child laborer within a town family?

10. A person accused of terrorist acts has been formally charged and arrested. How should he be treated? What rights does he have? What rights has he temporarily forfeited?

Long Answer Questions:

Write at least 2-3 paragraph response to the following questions.

1. Does Nepal have laws protecting our human rights?
2. Give at least 3 examples of human rights violations common in Nepal.
3. Give at least 3 reasons why such violations exist if they are illegal.
4. What is social justice?
5. Why do we have human rights?
6. Describe briefly 3 rights concerned with physical survival, three concerned with self-respect and intellect and three concerned with security.
7. On what basis are many people discriminated against?
8. What does the Constitution say about children and work?
9. Why is child labor a bad thing?
10. How much force should the police have the right to use when arresting someone? How much force should the police have the right to use within a prison?
11. What does it mean to be detained in prison without charge?
12. List the minimum standards, which you think should be provided in all jails.
13. Why do you consider the use of torture to be right or wrong?
14. What is meant by a caste system?
    
15. What does Nepali law say regarding caste?
16. What is a bonded laborer?
17. Which human rights are violated for bonded laborers?
18. What is a convention and what does it mean to ratify a convention?
19. Ratification is easy: implementation is difficult. Explain.

Longer Answer Questions:

Write essays (no more than 2 sides of your copy) on some of the following statements or questions.

1. Describe the problems of eliminating child labor in Nepal.
2. Describe the human rights you consider most important and how they apply to yourself.
3. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of at least 4 different actions you could take to help stop girl trafficking or help a friend who was held by police for 10 days, severely beaten and then released without being charged.
4. Describe and discuss possible solutions to challenges our government faces in granting citizens the right to health, education and a reasonable standard of living.
5. What is the purpose of human rights conventions?
6. In many countries there are terrorists who are fighting for political change. They extort money, take hostages, possibly kill, and claim that this is the only way to have a more just system, with everyone enjoying their rights as
   humans. Do you think that such terrorism or political warfare is justified in any circumstance?
   

CONCLUSION <TOP>

In this unit you have learned that:

• Social Justice is the practice in which all people, no matter their race, ethnicity, caste, gender, age, marital or economic status, are treated equally.
• We, as people of Nepal and as citizens of the world, are entitled to particular rights just because we are born and exist in the world. These rights are called human rights.
• Human rights include rights related to life, freedom, health care, education, working conditions, physical protection, self-respect and intellectual and spiritual expression.
• The government of Nepal recognizes the human rights of all citizens.
• Despite the government's recognition, human rights abuses continue in Nepal. The most common of these abuses include: child labor, caste discrimination, arbitrary arrests and jailing, physical abuse as well as abuses against prisoners and women.
• After becoming a democracy, the government of Nepal signed important international human rights conventions whereby the government promises to protect citizens' human rights.
• After becoming a democracy, our leaders drafted a Constitution that protects our human rights.
• Due to a lack of resources and capacity, the government of Nepal is unable to protect the human rights of all people. We, as citizens, must take an active role in protecting others and ourselves from human rights abuses.
• Citizens in the country have organized into nongovernmental organizations to protect the human rights of Nepalis. They work to reduce poverty and improve health care for all citizens, protect girls from being sold into prostitution and encourage access to education for all children.
  
• Because we live in a democracy, there are many opportunities for us to protest injustice. Some of these opportunities include:
  1. Going to the police to complain and requesting that they take steps to correct the wrong;
  2. Writing a letter to your government official;
  3. Meeting with an individual from the nongovernmental organization working on human rights issues to tell them what happened and ask for their help;
  4. Meeting with your Village Development Council official and requesting that he or she take action to correct the wrong;
  5. Making a direct complaint to representatives of the Human Rights Commission;
  6. Filing a court case against the wrongdoer;
  7. Making a public statement about the event, maybe by writing a newspaper article.

Back to Civic Education | Unit 1 | Unit 2 | Unit 3 | Unit 4 | Unit 5 | Unit 6 | Back to Contents