Monday 15 June: Why women human rights defenders should wear trousers while travelling to a young democracy.
Imagine this, an Albanian woman on the back of a motorbike with a Nepali driver going up hill in Kathmandu. She’s wearing a black and white dress that is caught by the wind. She tries to push it down, but then at the same time has to cling on to the driver, otherwise she might lose her balance. Smiling already? Ok, I’ll get back to it in a minute or so.
Nepal in many ways is a young democracy, making small strides ahead after a civil conflict that cost the lives of at least 12.000 people. In recent years a peace agreement has been reached, elections held, the Hindu Kingdom became a secular Republic and the former Maoist rebels have joined the government. However, as in many post-conflict situations, the peace can be disrupted easily and politics remain a treacherous and difficult minefield. This time a possible political murder of a member of the new communist echelon is putting this new Republic to the test. A national strike was announced today and everyone had to stay at home, no traffic was allowed except for walking. The duration of the strike is uncertain.
Our meeting on the development of the human rights compliance instrument for domestic violence started today anyway. The strike, nor the political instability will affect our meeting directly, as long as we remain within the grounds of our hotel and follow the instructions of our excellent host women’s rights organisation WOREC. The only thing we hadn’t taken into account was that we were still one participant short. A representative from Albania had to arrive on an early morning flight. Due to the strike there was no possibility for her to be taken from the airport to our meeting place by car. A member of staff from WOREC fortunately lived nearby the airport and was so kind to walk and wait with her at the airport. After some debate it was decided to pick her up by rickshaw, so she could at least rest at the office of WOREC after her twenty hour travel. Some people in the streets didn’t approve and shouted at them, but they made it quite safely to their destination. A next step was the half an hours drive to our hotel. A car was not a possibility, a rickshaw ride uphill neither. The only option left was a motorbike, still not something that was allowed in the strike, but there was little choice left.
Can you imagine the picture now? And perhaps why trousers are really a better choice of travelling gear for a women’s human rights defender? However when all is said and done, a dress on a motorbike is only a slight inconvenience compared to the Nepali that were not allowed to go to their work, attend to their shops, businesses, rice fields and make their daily living. Essential in a country that is one of the poorest in the world and has many living under the poverty line. The last thing they need is civil and political disruption.
We will continue to work on our human rights compliance instrument for domestic violence this week. Ultimately we strive to make a difference for millions of women affected around the world by this problem. We hope to develop an instrument that can help organisations hold their governments accountable and let them take effective measures to fight domestic violence. However, we hope as well that the political situation in Nepal will improve step by step, so that the beautiful valley we see from our meeting room, that is giving us inspiration and peace of mind to work, becomes a truly peaceful place to live in for its citizens.
N.B. By the time of publication of this blog, the strike was ended and life in Kathmandu has resumed it’s usual buzz.
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