KATHMANDU, July 19: Nepal Information Commission (NIC) and UN Women have jointly launched a booklet on the government policies, schemes and facilities for women.
“Nepal's constitution has ensured rights of women but it is challenging to effectively implement these provisions,” said Onsari Gharti Magar, speaker of the Legislature-Parliament, during a program organized here in Kathmandu on Tuesday.
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“Every citizen has the right to get public information without any hindrance,” she said, adding that many Nepalis, however, are still unaware about their rights to information.
Krishna Hari Baskota, chief commissioner of NIC said, the government has allocated 23.1 percent budget for programs directly linked to women for the current fiscal year. Many women are unaware of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB), he said, adding that they should not be kept out of information cycle while decisions are made for them.
“Women lack the awareness about their rights,” said Ziad Sheikh, representative of UN Women. “Women's issues should be raised by the entire society,” he said, adding that only collective efforts can help the country to be an inclusive one.
“In a research held at government offices, we found out that even the government officers are not aware about the legal provisions or the women's basic rights,” said Yashoda Timsina, commissioner at NIC. “The main motive of NIC's campaign is to inform and be informed about women rights issues,” she added.
Women receive very low percentage of information about their rights, the booklet states. Even many educated women of the city area are not aware about their rights. It is important to make them aware and to inform them regarding their rights in different sectors like economic, social, and political and many more, participants at the program highlighted.
