Launch of Research report on Women’s Access to Justice in Nepali Judiciary

Kathmandu, Nepal – National Judicial Academy (NJA), under the leadership of the Supreme Court of Nepal and with support from UN Women launched the research report on “Women’s access to justice through the Nepali judicial system” (Nepali version) in Kathmandu on 14 September 2016.

The launch programme was attended by Rt. Hon’ Chief Justice Sushila Karki, the first woman Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Nepal.

Hon’ Tanka Bahadur Moktan – the Chief Judge of Patan High Court; Hon’ Sapana Malla – the Justice of Supreme Court of Nepal, Hon’ Raman Kumar Shrestha – the Attorney General of Nepal; Rt. Hon’ Sushila Karki – the Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Nepal; Hon’ Keshari Raj Pandit – the Executive Director of NJA; Gitanjali Singh – the Deputy Representative of UN Women Nepal Country Office. (From left to right)

The report aims to draw attention to the challenges faced by the women in accessing justice. The study for the report was conducted with an objective to gain a more enhanced understanding of what enables women’s access to justice and what hinders it, and to obtain a better sense of the current level of women’s confidence in Nepal’s judicial system. The study was carried out in 15 districts across Nepal, and efforts were made to ensure that all the 5 physiographic regions and 14 zones of Nepal, considering also the ethnic feature of the district, prevalence of violence against women and the case load in court.

From these districts, 1497 women (non-court users) were reached through questionnaire survey; 282 women (court users) and 148 concerned stakeholders were interviewed through key-informant interview; 30 focus group discussions were held with concerned stakeholders; and court observation was done in the 15 district courts.

“This comprehensive study on women’s access to justice was commissioned by Supreme Court with the support from NJA and UN Women. The study will be supportive in reforming the justice sector to make it more gender responsive, and in bringing gender friendly laws. The recommendations of the report will guide and support the Supreme Court's movement to ensure access to justice for all women”, said Rt. Hon’ Chief Justice Sushila Karki.

Rt. Hon’ Chief Justice Sushila Karki giving her speech in the report launching programme.

The vision of the Nepali judiciary aims at ensuring justice for all. However, rule of law often rules women out. Speaking at the programme, UN Women Deputy Representative to Nepal Gitanjali Singh stated, “Nepal has made significant progress in guaranteeing women’s rights through constitutional, legal and institutional reforms over the years. However, there is still room for improvement in the substantive and procedural laws to promote gender justice. The laws that exist on paper, must translate into substantive equality.”

The report highlights that the main hindrances to women’s access to justice are financial constraint, fear of re-victimization from the perpetrators, family’s prestige, lengthy and complex court procedures, lack of knowledge about available legal remedies, lack of trust in the justice system, geographical distance from service providers, and language barrier. Only 27.6% of women victims of violence and discrimination seek support from the justice sector institutions. Only 41.5% of the court user women were found to seek support from justice sector actors immediately after facing the problem. Despite the special legal provisions for gender sensitive handling of cases and support mechanism, only one-third of the female court users are informed about the availability of the legal aid service. Continuous hearing is conducted in about half of the women’s rights related cases, and in-camera hearing in 40% of the cases. Confidentiality was maintained only in a quarter of the women’s rights related cases.

“The study finds that non-court users have more negative perspective on the judiciary than the court-user women. The challenge is to enhance the trust in the judiciary”, added Hon’ Keshari Raj Pandit, the Executive Director of NJA. The study finds the financial problem as the major barrier for women accessing justice. He reiterated the need to have the integrated policy for mobilizing the different government funds established under various government bodies to ensure comprehensive service for the women victims of violence and discrimination, which the study report has also recommended.

Speaking at the programme, Hon’ Justice Sapana Malla expressed, "It is time to think and act on how to make the whole justice system inclusive and make it more trustworthy for the people.” Hon’ Raman Kumar Shrestha, the Attorney General said, "Justice has to be delivered to the level the victim can feel it. How to repair the loss of a victim of violence at the realization level is a challenge."

The study was conducted under the guidance of the high level Steering Committee chaired by the then Hon’ Justice Sushila Karki and the high level representatives from Supreme Court of Nepal; National Judicial Academy; Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs; Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare; Office of Attorney General; Nepal Bar Association; Nepal Police, UN Women and a civil society organization.

The report has come up with concrete recommendations which will inform the action plans of the Access to Justice Commission established under the Supreme Court, and will be taken forward by the Supreme Court. “The possible collaboration with UNDP and UN Women will be sought in this regard”, as the speaker Hon’ Justice Sapana Malla reiterated in the programme.