“We want to help the next generation realize and claim their sexual and reproductive rights”
– Secretary General Shetty
Amnesty International (AI) launched its newest campaign ‘My Body My Rights’ from a village in Nepal. Secretary General of AI, Salil Shetty launched the campaign amid a special program in Samundratar village, Nuwakot district on 6 March 2014.
“With My Body My Rights campaign, we want to help the next generation realize and claim their sexual and reproductive rights,” said Shetty. He stressed that the health and lives of millions of people across the globe are being threatened by government failures to guarantee their sexual and reproductive rights. “Together we want to send a clear and unequivocal message to governments that this kind of over-reaching control violates human rights and is simply unacceptable,” he added.
Explaining AI’s choice to launch this global campaign from Nepal, Shetty said that Nepal has similar character with other South Asian countries and problem of uterine prolapse is higher in Nepal. He also said many girls in Nepal are forced to marry as children and more than half a million women suffer from uterine prolapse, as a result of continuous pregnancy and hard labour.
According to a recently published AI report named ‘Unnecessary Burden: Gender Discrimination and Uterine Prolapse in Nepal’, about 6,00,000 women have been facing uterine prolapsed problems. Uterine prolapse in Nepal, a widespread preventable medical condition affecting women after child-birth to be recognised as a human rights issue. Beyond this, the latest campaign calls on relevant ministries to cooperate to establish, fund and implement effective policies and programmes to address the gender discrimination which underpins the condition. In the two-year campaign, AI will publish a series of reports on a number of countries where sexual and reproductive rights are denied.
My Body My Rights is Amnesty International’s newest campaign on the right to make decisions about our own health, body, sexuality and reproductive life without fear, coercion or discrimination. The campaign draws attention to the fact that all over the world, people are punished – by the state, medical professionals, and even their own families for making these decisions – or prevented from making them at all.
“It is unbelievable that in the twenty-first century some countries are condoning child marriage and marital rape while others are outlawing abortion, sex outside marriage and same-sex sexual activity, even punishable by death,” he further said.
According to an AI report, around 1.8 billion young people worldwide are at risk of having their sexual and reproductive rights ignored. It reports alarming statistics- 150 million girls under the age of 18 have been sexually assaulted, 142 million girls are likely to marry as children between 2011 and 2020, 14 million adolescent girls give birth every year, mainly as a result of coerced sex and unwanted pregnancy, 215 million women cannot access contraception, even though they want to stop or delay having children.
Amnesty International’s high level mission, led by Secretary General Salil Shetty arrived in Kathmandu on 5th March 2014 for a three-day visit to launch the global campaign.
Launching Program in Nuwakot
The high level mission led by Secretary General Shetty launched the My Body My Rights campaign at Samundratar village in Nuwakot district. The campaign was launched at a health camp jointly set up by Yashoda Devi Bhagawan Sing Memorial Trust, Nepal Medical College and Suryamati Chandramati Multipurpose Cooperative.
Member of Parliament from Nuwakot District Arjun Narsingh KC, senior human rights defender Krishna Pahadi, Public Health Expert and Campaigner Dr. Aruna Uprety were the key speakers at the official campaign launch programme.
Press Conference
Uterine Prolapse Condition is Human Rights issue
After launching the My Body My rights Campaign, Secretary General Shetty interacted with journalists from local, national and international media. He explained why a village in Nepal was chosen as the place to launch the campaign and what AI is calling for. He re-emphasized that the condition of Uterine Prolapse, as mentioned by AI’s recent report, is a human rights issue and the Nepali government should recognize it as such.
Shetty said, “Nepal government should not delay any further to form the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The transitional justice mechanism is needed to ensure justice to war-era victims. Nepal should resolve its outstanding cases of disappearances, torture and unlawful killings that took place during the conflict era’. The government should be accountable and ensure justice to the victims.” He also added that he would request the government to create a favourable environment for the protection of witnesses.
“The verdict of the Supreme Court early this year was in favour of the victims, which has opposed impunity,” he said. The Supreme Court on January 2 had ordered the government to form separate commissions of inquiry on truth and reconciliation and enforced disappearances.
Meeting With Cross Sections of Society
He met senior Human Rights Defender Krishna Pahadi separately on the same day. He also had a separate meeting with AI Nepal’s Board. He also met with senior journalists and ambassadors residing in Kathmandu on the evening of 6 March.
Panel Discussion
Secretary General participated in a panel discussion with more than 200 activists on sexual and reproductive rights and gender discrimination with a focus on Nepal. The title of the discussion was ‘Who Controls Our Bodies?’ The panel comprised Gagan Thapa, popular youth leader and Member of Parliament (representing the Nepali Congress Party), Shanti Adhikari, the former Member of Parliament (representing the Communist Party of Nepal Unified Marxist and Leninist), Samita Pradhan, Executive head of CAED, an organization working for the Women’s Reproductive Rights Program and Secretary General Shetty.
The event was hosted by Malvika Subba, a local media personality and also a former Miss Nepal.
Meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs
Secretary General also met with the newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs Mahendra Bahadur Pandey and raised the issue of the state of human rights in Nepal. He also informed the minister about the newest campaign launched by AI.
On the occasion, the minister appreciated the role played by AI all over the world on human rights and expressed his commitment to protecting fundamental human rights.
Meeting with AI Activists
Secretary General Shetty also discussed various perspectives of human rights with AI’s activists on 7 March. The high level mission led by Secretary General Shetty concluded its visit on 7 March 2014. The members of mission were Thomas Schultz-Jagow, Senior Director Campaigns and Savio Carvalho, Director of Demand Dignity campaign.