Skip to content
Center for Reproductive Rights
Center for Reproductive Rights

Primary Menu

  • About
    • Overview
    • The Center’s Impact
    • Center Leadership & Staff
    • Annual Reports
    • Corporate Engagement
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
  • Work
    • Overview
    • Litigation
    • Legal Policy and Advocacy
    • Resources & Research
    • Recent Case Highlights
    • Landmark Cases
    • Cases Archive
    • World’s Abortion Laws Map
    • After Roe Fell: Abortion Laws by State
  • Issues
    • Overview
    • Abortion
    • Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
    • Assisted Reproduction
    • Contraception
    • Humanitarian Settings
    • Maternal Health
    • COVID-19
  • Regions
    • Overview
    • Global Advocacy
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • Latin America and the Caribbean
    • United States
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Stories
    • Events
    • Center in the Spotlight
    • Press Releases
    • Statements
    • Press Room
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Resources & Research
    • U.S. Abortion Rights: Resources
    • Maps
    • World Abortion Laws Map
    • After Roe Fell: Abortion Laws by State
    • Repro Red Flags: Agency Watch
  • Act
    • Overview
    • Give
    • Act
    • Learn
  • Donate
    • Become a Monthly Donor
    • Make a Donor Advised Fund Gift
    • Leave a Legacy Gift
    • Donate Gifts of Stock
    • Give a Gift in Honor
    • Attend an Event
    • Employee Matching Gifts
    • Mail a Check
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
Donate
icon-hamburger icon-magnifying-glass Donate
icon-magnifying-glass-teal

U.N. Committee Calls On Nepal to Eradicate Child Marriage and Ensure Women’s Access to Safe Abortion Services

Center for Reproductive Rights - Center for Reproductive Rights - search logo
search Close Close icon
Center for Reproductive Rights -
Menu Close Menu Close icon
Donate

Primary Menu

  • About
    • Overview
    • The Center’s Impact
    • Center Leadership & Staff
    • Annual Reports
    • Corporate Engagement
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
  • Work
    • Overview
    • Litigation
    • Legal Policy and Advocacy
    • Resources & Research
    • Recent Case Highlights
    • Landmark Cases
    • Cases Archive
    • World’s Abortion Laws Map
    • After Roe Fell: Abortion Laws by State
  • Issues
    • Overview
    • Abortion
    • Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
    • Assisted Reproduction
    • Contraception
    • Humanitarian Settings
    • Maternal Health
    • COVID-19
  • Regions
    • Overview
    • Global Advocacy
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • Latin America and the Caribbean
    • United States
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Stories
    • Events
    • Center in the Spotlight
    • Press Releases
    • Statements
    • Press Room
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Resources & Research
    • U.S. Abortion Rights: Resources
    • Maps
    • World Abortion Laws Map
    • After Roe Fell: Abortion Laws by State
    • Repro Red Flags: Agency Watch
  • Act
    • Overview
    • Give
    • Act
    • Learn
  • Donate
    • Become a Monthly Donor
    • Make a Donor Advised Fund Gift
    • Leave a Legacy Gift
    • Donate Gifts of Stock
    • Give a Gift in Honor
    • Attend an Event
    • Employee Matching Gifts
    • Mail a Check
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn

Related Content

Issues:

Abortion, Legal Protections, Adolescent SRHR

Regions:

Accountability Bodies, United Nations

Work:

At the United Nations, Reporting on Rights

Type:

News, Press Releases

Follow the Center

Donate Now

Join Now

12.03.2014

At the United Nations Abortion Accountability Bodies News

U.N. Committee Calls On Nepal to Eradicate Child Marriage and Ensure Women’s Access to Safe Abortion Services

Justin Goldberg

Share

  • facebook
  • Twitter
  • linkedin
  • Email id
U.N. Committee Calls On Nepal to Eradicate Child Marriage and Ensure Women’s Access to Safe Abortion Services

(PRESS RELEASE) The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (U.N. CESCR) this week denounced the Nepal government for its failure to end child marriage and to ensure all women in the country have access to reproductive health care services, including safe and legal abortion.



While U.N. CESCR recognized the Nepal government for its political commitments to end child marriage, the committee criticized officials for slow progress in eliminating the illegal practice, citing low prosecution rates in child marriage cases.  Further, the committee noted that despite Nepal’s legalization of abortion in 2002, too many women are still unable to obtain safe abortion services. In its recommendations, U.N. CESCR noted, “The low awareness of legality of abortion and the existence of safe abortion services as well as the lack of access to trained health assistants and adequate services…” has forced many women, especially those from rural and disadvantaged communities, to obtain unsafe abortions.



Said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights:



“Nepal has some of the strongest constitutional and legal protections for women’s rights in the world, but they cannot be allowed to exist on paper alone.



“Countless girls are still married off against their will and women are consistently denied essential reproductive health care. These are serious violations of fundamental human rights.



“The United Nations committee is right to hold the Nepal government accountable, and the government must now act decisively to ensure that the progressive laws and rights it has established become a reality for women and girls throughout the country.”



The U.N. CESCR recommendations call on the Nepal government to create a public awareness campaign on safe abortion, to adequately train health assistants, and to take measures to prevent uterine prolapse, a serious pregnancy complication affecting thousands of Nepalese women.



In 2006, the Nepal government adopted an interim constitution that established reproductive rights as fundamental rights, and in 2009 Nepal’s Supreme Court deemed that the government has an obligation to guarantee women’s access to safe and affordable abortion services, and ordered the state to develop a comprehensive abortion law which has yet to be enacted.



Prior to the U.N. CESCR review, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Justice for All and Forum for Women, Law and Development submitted a joint letter to the committee expressing serious concerns related to access to reproductive health care services, quality maternal health care and child marriage. While the government of Nepal has demonstrated political will to address child marriage—even signing onto a U.N. Human Rights Council resolution last year—the country has one of the highest rates of child marriage in South Asia and has been slow to effectively implement laws and policies to eradicate the practice.



Child marriage is just the tipping point of human rights violations against girls and women in Nepal and throughout South Asia. According to the 2011 national census, more than 100,000 women were given away in marriage before the age of 10. These young girls are pressured to bear children soon after marriage, even though it puts their health at grave risk. If these brides want to leave the marriage, the current law does not offer any legal protection or entitlements to women. Adding insult to injury, the laws in place are not enforced so women cannot seek justice.



“All women and girls have the fundamental right to make critical decisions about their reproductive lives and with whom they wish to build a family,”said Melissa Upreti, regional director for Asia at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “In order for the Nepal government to fully respect and protect the human rights of women and girls, law and policymakers must work swiftly to adopt a robust national strategy to end child marriage and enact a comprehensive abortion law.”



In its recommendations, U.N. CESCR called on Nepal to finish drafting the new constitution quickly and to “ensure that under no circumstances will the enjoyment of rights already acquired by women and disadvantaged and marginalized individuals and groups be restricted.” The committee also urged the government of Nepal to enforce its Domestic Violence Act of 2009 so survivors of violence and sexual assault can seek justice. It also called on the state to expedite the adoption of the “National Strategy to End Child Marriages.”



In 2013, the Center issued the report Child Marriage in South Asia: Stop the Impunity examining the consequences of child marriage, which subject girls to heinous abuses, including domestic violence and marital rape, placing their reproductive health and lives at serious risk. The report criticizes the failure of governments in South Asia to prevent and prosecute cases of child marriage, which has led to these countries being responsible for violating young girls’ human rights.​


Related Posts

Decision: L.C. v. Peru

In a groundbreaking decision issued in L.C. v. Peru—a case brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partner organization...

Abortion, Legal Restrictions,Latin America & Caribbean, Peru, Accountability Bodies, United Nations,In the Courts, Engaging Policymakers, Around the World, Reporting on Rights

Addressing Medical Professionals’ Refusals to Provide Abortion Care on Grounds of Conscience or Religion

In many European countries where abortion is legal, domestic laws and regulations allow medical professionals to refuse to provide abortion...

Abortion, Other Barriers,Europe, Accountability Bodies, European Human Rights System,Reporting on Rights
Addressing Medical Professionals’ Refusals to Provide Abortion Care on Grounds of Conscience or Religion

Rights of the Child in Humanitarian Settings: A Missed Opportunity

The Center for Reproductive Rights and its international partners produced a statement on the protection of the rights of the...

Adolescent SRHR,Accountability Bodies,At the United Nations

Sign up for email updates.

The most up-to-date news on reproductive rights, delivered straight to you.

Footer Menu

  • Careers
  • Privacy Policy
  • Gift Acceptance Policy
  • Contact Us

Center for Reproductive Rights
© (1992-2024)

Use of this site signifies agreement with our disclaimer and privacy policy.

Better Business Bureau Charity Watch Top Rated Center for Reproductive Rights
This site uses necessary, analytics and social media cookies to improve your experience and deliver targeted advertising. Click "Options" or click here to learn more and customize your cookie settings, otherwise please click "Accept" to proceed.
OPTIONSACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
CookieDurationDescription
_ga2 yearsThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_gat_UA-6619340-11 minuteNo description
_gid1 dayThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the wbsite is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages viisted in an anonymous form.
_parsely_session30 minutesThis cookie is used to track the behavior of a user within the current session.
HotJar: _hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress30 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjFirstSeen30 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjid1 yearThis cookie is set by Hotjar. This cookie is set when the customer first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. It is used to persist the random user ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behavior in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID.
HotJar: _hjIncludedInPageviewSample2 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjIncludedInSessionSample2 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjTLDTestsessionNo description
SSCVER1 year 24 daysThe domain of this cookie is owned by Nielsen. The cookie is used for online advertising by creating user profile based on their preferences.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
CookieDurationDescription
_fbp3 monthsThis cookie is set by Facebook to deliver advertisement when they are on Facebook or a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising after visiting this website.
fr3 monthsThe cookie is set by Facebook to show relevant advertisments to the users and measure and improve the advertisements. The cookie also tracks the behavior of the user across the web on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin.
IDE1 year 24 daysUsed by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile.
IMRID1 year 24 daysThe domain of this cookie is owned by Nielsen. The cookie is used for storing the start and end of the user session for nielsen statistics. It helps in consumer profiling for online advertising.
personalization_id2 yearsThis cookie is set by twitter.com. It is used integrate the sharing features of this social media. It also stores information about how the user uses the website for tracking and targeting.
TDID1 yearThe cookie is set by CloudFare service to store a unique ID to identify a returning users device which then is used for targeted advertising.
test_cookie15 minutesThis cookie is set by doubleclick.net. The purpose of the cookie is to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
CookieDurationDescription
adEdition1 dayNo description
akaas_MSNBC10 daysNo description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional1 yearThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others1 yearNo description
geoEdition1 dayNo description
next-i18next1 yearNo description
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo
Scroll Up