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1 Nepal: Police on 'Sexual Cleansing' Drive 1/06 2 Nepal transsexual 'abuse' concern 1/06 3 Human Rights Watch petitions Nepal on transgender rights 1/06 4 'Sexual Cleansing' Continues in Nepal, 26 New Arrests 3/06 5 Nepal's gay community joins anti-king protests 4/06 6 HIV hospice for gay and transgender men offers hope 5/06 6a Nepal's Parliament Strips King of Last Powers 6/06 7 First public gay wedding in Nepal 8/06 8 Gays Want Voice in Nepal’s New Constitution 8/06 9 Score's attend first gay marriage in tradition-bound Nepal 8/06 10 Nepal government begins crackdown (again) on gays 9/06 11 Gay rights fight in Nepal 10/06 12 January
2006 January 13, 2006 2 A leading human rights group has written to Nepal's government voicing concern over what it calls continuing police abuse of transsexuals. Human Rights Watch says there has been a pattern of arbitrary arrests and violence against "Metis", who identify themselves as women.The organisation has called for a full investigations of such abuse and appropriate punishments.Police in Nepal say they are taking the allegations very seriously. However, the head of a human rights cell in the police said many of the Metis were working as prostitutes and that as this was illegal in Nepal, raids on hotels were "permissible". The BBC's Charles Haviland in Kathmandu says Metis are a common sight in the city's streets late at night. Human Rights Watch said that in the past few weeks, Metis had been detained without warrants, badly beaten, burned with cigarettes, forced to strip and even had guns pointed at them. Similar allegations - sometimes with photographic evidence - are regularly made by the Blue Diamond Society, a charity working among Nepal's transsexuals. The
officer
said the police were in dialogue with Blue Diamond on how to
train the Metis in other job skills. Blue Diamond is the
subject of a
lawsuit by a conservative
lawyer who wants it closed down. However, the government has
said there are no legal grounds for doing so. 3 March 17, 2006 4 The
police threatened that “these hijras pollute the society and
must be cleaned out.” On December 28, police arrested a meti,
took her to the Shore Khutte police station, and forcibly stripped
and mocked her while checking her genitals. They also allegedly threatened
to cut her hair off as punishment for wearing women’s clothes.
She was released the next day. For more information the Nepalese "sexual
cleansing" campaign,"out the Blue Diamond Society website.
April 19, 2006 5 Kathmandu - With the protests against King Gyanendra's absolute reign snowballing in Nepal, the kingdom's homosexual community has pledged solidarity with the protesters. Blue Diamond Society, the only gay rights organisation in the country, said it was joining the "historic democratic movement" for ousting the "autocratic" government of Gyanendra. As the anti-king demonstrations and a nationwide shutdown called to force the monarch to relinquish power entered the 14th day on Wednesday, homosexuals and trans-genders as well as office bearers of Blue Diamond Society here donned black arm bands to protest against the "black reign of the king". Sunil Babu Panta, president of the NGO, said it had donated Nepali Rs 10,000 ($138.5) to the public fund set up though voluntary donations to treat protesters injured during demonstrations. The tiny lesbian cell in the organisation, Mitini Nepal, too said it was donating Nepali Rs 5,000. Panta said the gay community would take part in the march called for Thursday by major opposition parties. Nepal's gay community, already under repression from a patriarchal society, has been facing greater jeopardy since last year, when Gyanendra seized power with the help of the army and added political turmoil to the nearly decade-old Maoist insurgency. With security forces having been given greater authority, homosexuals have been at the mercy of assaults, arbitrary arrests and molestation inside police stations. As the kingdom's rights activists grapple with mounting human rights abuses inflicted on suspected Maoists and opposition party activists, the plight of homosexual detainees is being virtually ignored. In a bid to keep NGOs under control, the government has come out with a stringent code of conduct for them, clipping their freedom and funding.
May 17, 2006 6 Kathmandu - There's no signboard outside the simple white-washed building at the end of the road - and neighbours have little idea of who its occupants are. But in this traditional Hindu society, where open discussion about HIV/AIDS remains largely taboo, that's not surprising. Behind the well-trimmed lawn and flower beds of the two-story building lies Nepal's only hospice dedicated to caring for men who have sex with men (MSM) infected with HIV/AIDS, a particularly marginalised group in this impoverished nation of 28 million. Funded by the Elton John Foundation and French NGO Sidaction, the hospice, located in a working class residential district of the capital Kathmandu, provides one of the few rays of hope for MSM members living with AIDS. "I thought my life was over and even tried to commit suicide," Devya Gurang, a 24-year-old transgender person from the western city of Pokhara, said, recalling in vivid detail when she learned that she was infected with the virus. Working the brothel circuit in the Indian film capital of Mumbai and popular for her effeminate features, she once serviced up to 25 men a day, and conceded to having unprotected sex on more than one occasion. Not knowing what to do, and with little money, she returned to Nepal only to find a less than hospitable welcome. "People looked down upon me as a transgender person ... Life was and continues to be terribly difficult," Devya maintained. "Nobody will give me a job and the fact that I am HIV positive only makes things worse." A resident of the hospice since it first opened its doors over a year ago, she now looks upon it as her home, where she assists other transgender or gay men living with the virus. Ramnath Shah, another caretaker at the hospice from Saptari district, close to the Indian border, agrees. "Life was unbearable for me there," he said, referring to his staunchly conservative village. "People didn't accept me," he explained, recalling how he too found sanctuary at the Kathmandu hospice, where residents receive room and board, along with literacy training and counselling, as well as antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and periodic group meetings to provide psychological support. For the past five months, Devya has been receiving a daily dosage of ARVs, including Nevirapine and Duovir, drugs that otherwise would have been out of reach to her financially, while a doctor comes by once a week to check on her and other residents' progress. "I still have recurrent bouts of diarrhoea and am not feeling very good – but at least now I have a chance to get better," she said. Others, however, are doing less well. Chinak Tharu, 34, another resident from the midwestern district of Rupandhi and now physically disabled, laments he is paying the ultimate price for having unprotected sex. "I'm feeling better now. Before this I could barely walk," the five-month hospice resident said. The brainchild of Sunil Pant, the Director of Nepal's Blue Diamond Society (BDS), the hospice, already operating on meagre resources, can mean the difference between life and death for some. "The situation is particularly poor given the double stigmatisation of being gay and HIV positive in Nepal," the NGO director said, explaining how some people had actually been driven out of their homes by their families and communities. "The general understanding of HIV is that people have been infected by taking part in immoral or dirty behaviour," he said. According to the United Nations, there are an estimated 70,000 people between the ages of 15 and 49 currently living with the virus in the Himalayan kingdom - with most people not even knowing if they are infected. But Nepal's HIV/AIDS epidemic is considered to be "concentrated" in nature, meaning a prevalence rate of less than 1 percent, concentrated among specific vulnerable groups such as injecting drug users, commercial sex workers (CSW) and their clients, as well as members of the MSM community. "These are the groups that have shown high-risk behaviour and that's usually where a general epidemic will begin," Aurorita Mendoza, Country Coordinator for the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), warned. But while it is difficult to estimate how many HIV cases have actually been registered within Nepal's largely underground MSM community, it's clear more needs to be in terms of public awareness. There has yet to be any comprehensive study of the group, with many people remaining reluctant to divulge their HIV status, the UNAIDS official said.
11 June 2006 6a by Patricia Nunan Last month, parliament removed the king as head of the 90,000 member Armed Forces, removed his legal immunity and his freedom from paying taxes. These steps by lawmakers effectively make Nepal's king a figurehead - just two months after he was forced to give up absolute power and restore parliament in the face of weeks of violent anti-government rallies. The king took over the government in February 2005 - on the grounds Nepal's political parties were fractured and inept at dealing with 10-year Maoist insurgency. Backed by the Armed Forces, King Gyanendra imprisoned opposition politicians and activists, and severely restricted press and civil liberties. Despite being effectively stripped of his power, some say King Gyanendra and the monarchy are not finished in politics. Rhoderick Chalmers is an analyst with the conflict resolution organization, the International Crisis Group. "I believe there is already underway a rearguard action by the palace, by the people who depend on the palace, the powerful feudal elites in the country who retain all sorts of leverage behind the scenes. And I think it would be very naïve if we imagine that the king's surrender ... means the end of the game for them." Parliament is expected to organize an election for a new Constituent Assembly. Legislators have promised that through that new body, Nepalese voters will ultimately determine the fate of the country's monarchy and the role it should play, or whether it should be scrapped altogether. No date for that election has been set. King Gyanendra is the latest monarch in the Shah dynasty, which has controlled the Nepalese throne since 1768. His predecessor, King Birendra instituted a series of democratic reforms in 1990, but he retained control over the Armed Forces, and the power to dissolve parliament.
25 August 2006 7 Kathmandu - Anil Mahaju and Diya Kashyap met about a year ago, were attracted towards each other and, after going steady for some time, decided to tie the knot. The wedding will be solemnised at a little party in Kathmandu on Saturday attended by friends and well-wishers - but no relatives. Anil and Diya are not their real names but the names they have chosen for their future life together. Both the groom and "bride" are men and the wedding will be the first public gay marriage in Nepal where homosexuality is a crime, punishable with a year in prison and a fine. "I am really excited and happy that they have dared to challenge (traditional) culture and family values, where the whole society is oriented towards heterosexual marriage," says Sunil Pant, president of Blue Diamond Society, Nepal's most prominent gay rights organisation that is offering its premises for the wedding. "It is very courageous of them and I congratulate them." As part of a gay rights organisation, Pant knows better than most the perils homosexuals face in Nepal's conservative, patriarchal society. Blue Diamond Society has to routinely bail out gays and transgenders arrested by police on weekends, beaten up, detained without trial and even sexually assaulted inside police stations. Blue Diamond Society had also informed human rights organisations about the murder of a teenager in southern Nepal, allegedly by his father, after his family discovered he was gay.
August 24, 2006 8 When the Maoist guerrillas and the government begin discussion Friday with the committee framing a new constitution for the country, Nepal’s gay community wants a voice in the new charter of rights. Metis, males who see themselves as feminine, mardanas, females who see themselves as masculine, samalingis, homosexuals and lesbians, transgenders and other sexual minorities in the Himalayan state—where homosexuality is a punishable offence—are demanding changes in laws that discrimination against them, and representation in the elections that the government has promised to hold by next year to allow people to choose between monarchy and a republican form of government. The Blue Diamond Society, Nepal’s most visible organization fighting for the rights of gays, lesbians and transgenders, its sister organization for lesbians, Mitini Nepal, and Shakti Samuha, an NGO for former victims of trafficking, are pressing for changes in the criminal laws formulated nearly five decades ago that declare “unnatural sex” to be a criminal act punishable with one year in prison and a fine ranging from NRS 500-5000… Irish Examiner http://www.irishexaminer.com/breaking/story.asp?j=82748604&p=8z7489x6&n=82748984 26 August 2006 9 Cheered by scores of wedding guests, two gay men exchanged garlands of marigold today in the first public same-sex marriage in tradition-bound Nepali society. The guests, mostly activists from gay and lesbian rights groups and a few relatives applauded as Anil Mahaju, 25, and Diya Kashyap, 21, exchanged vows in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital. The marriage, however, will not receive official approval, as Nepalese laws do not recognise same-sex unions, said Suni Pant, who heads the Blue Diamond Society, a non-government organisation. There was no Hindu priest present to conduct the marriage. “They have decided to get the marriage registered but I think they will have to wait for a new constitution that would legitimise same sex marriages,” Pant said. Rights groups are hoping a new constitution, currently being prepared by experts, would provide Nepal’s gay and lesbian community with their civic rights. Although there are no official figures, Pant said there were around 20,000 gay men and 1,000 lesbians in Nepal – a country with a population of around 25 million – where homosexual sex is a crime punishable by up to two years in prison under public offence laws.
In Nepal's conservative society, where the son is valued much
more than the daughter, homosexuals are regarded as freaks and homosexuality
is a punishable offence. The gay community has been urging the new
government to end homophobic laws and incorporate gay rights in the
new constitution that is to be implemented soon.
18 October 2006 11 The Blue Diamond Society has expressed concern that gay rights will be forgotten while the country discusses more controversial issues of the future of the monarchy and arms management. The interim constitution has not been endorsed and the date for constitutional assembly has also been lingering with the dispute between the SPA and Maoists. With this political vacuum, in recent days the law and order situation has become one of the worst after the historic people’s democratic movement in April 2006, leaving campaigners wondering whether the protests were worth it. The groups claims that Nepal Police seem to have nothing better to do except chasing after the most poor and marginalized sections of society like Metis (transgender) and sex workers, raiding night clubs, hotels and streets around Thamel, Kathmandu, and arresting and taking advantage of transgender and sex workers. Last night three Metis, and few days ago about a dozen sex workers from the highways, were reportedly arrested by the Nepal Police. Looting, kidnapping, murder cases are said to be rampant. Common Nepalis are feeling insecure as the police are not doing much to make the security situation better. A Blue Diamond Society spokesman said: “Many of us, including homosexuals and transgender, who came out on the streets to protest against autocracy and fought for democracy, are now asking ourselves: is this the mandate we gave to our leaders to manage democracy?” Sexual identity is complex in Nepal. There are Metis, men who see themselves as feminine, Mardanas, women who see themselves as masculine, as well as gay men and lesbians and Tesrolingis (transsexuals). The group is demanding recognition of same-sex partnerships and property rights for transsexuals. They also want changes to identity cards so that transgender people can be identified as a separate category. The King has promised to hold free elections next year, and the Nepalese will be given a chance to choose between a monarchy or democracy. Gay rights groups intend to stand in those elections, joined the opposition to the king, after he sacked the government last year, thus plunging the South Asian country into turmoil. Protesters, including homosexuals and transgenders, put on black arm bands to campaign for the monarch to relinquish his power. The group’s president, Sunil Babu Panta announced they had donated Nepali Rs 10,000 ($138) to support injured protesters and were happy to join the “historic democratic movement" for ousting the "autocratic" government of Gyanendra NGOs such as the Blue Diamond Groups have previously had restricted funding and freedom from the government. King Gyanendra dismissed the Nepalese government in February 2005 claiming they were not doing enough to end Maoist communist rebellions. It is as yet unclear if any of the demands of the Nepalese gay, lesbian and transgender people will be granted in the new constitution. |
