Amnesty International Nepal organised its 12th national Youth Mela in Gorkha from 18 to 20 April 2018. A total of 121 participants including 97 youth delegates from different Youth Networks affiliated to Amnesty Nepal from 16 districts of Nepal participated in the three-day event.
Participating in the Mela as resource persons were trafficking survivor-turned activist Chari Maya Tamang, founder of Shakti Samuha, Nepal’s leading human rights activist and former chair of Amnesty International Nepal Charan Prasai, executive committee member of the National Youth Council Rupa Upreti, LGBTIQ activists from Mitini Nepal Laxmi Ghalan and Sarita K.C., and Chair of Conflict Victims’ Common Platform Suman Adhikari.
The Mela kicked off with an inaugural session with Amnesty Nepal’s Chair Rajan Prasad Kuikel lighting a candle. This was followed by a welcome speech delivered by Director Nirajan Thapaliya who underscored the reason of organising the Mela in Gorkha. The Mayor of Gorkha Municipality Rajan Raj Panta, the chief guest of the inaugural programme, noted the importance of fighting through struggles in achieving human rights goals in Gorkha in the wake of the ten year conflict and the devastating 2015 Earthquake.
The inaugural programme also contained a panel discussion faciliated by Press Officer Gaurav Gurung in which panelists Chari Maya Tamang, Rupa Upreti, Laxmi Ghalan and Amnesty Nepal’s youth Board member Bipin Budhathoki candidly shared about their struggles and experiences as youth activists. The inaugural event was closed with the remark from Amnesty Nepal Chair who highlighted the key human rights priorities of Amnesty Nepal and wished success for the Mela.
The first day of the gathering commenced with a review of the inaugural session. This was followed by sessions and interactions as set out in the tightly packed agenda of the Mela. Activisit Chari Maya Tamang’s moving presentation showcasing her life experiences and struggles as a trafficking survivor moved everyone present in the hall. She also responded to the pertinent questions of the participants.
This was followed by a session on the core human rights concepts by Director Thapaliya. Former chair of Amnesty Nepal Charan Prasai then took to stage to engage with the youths in an interactive discussion. His statements that there could be no excuse for violation of human rights and that the youths should be aware of social situations as they could likely, one day, become elements of the state bodies were keenly noted by participants. There was then a session on human rights campaigns and its types.
Then the participants were introduced to the origin and nature of Amnesty International and how it has evolved as one of the largest human rights movements in the world with over seven million members and supporters.
Suman Adhikari, a victim leader and chair of Conflict Victims’ Common Platform then deliberated on Nepal’s transitional justice process highlighting the major achievement in this area so far. What was drawn from his deliberation was that the conflict victims’ perennial demand for justice is greeted by a lackluster approach from the government with not substantial headway made in the transitional justice even after 12 years since the end of the conflict.
Suman Adhikari’s session was followed by an orientation on rights and identity issues of the Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans-gender community by Sarita K.C. and Laxmi Ghalan. They also talked about the challenges faced by members of communities of sexual and gender minority. With the end of the interactions and sessions of the first day, all participants converged and took out a rally to Gorkha bazaar demanding equal rights to women and an end to violence against women. The rally converted into a gathering at the Gorkha bus park where youth members from Rampur Youth Network performed a street drama on the same theme.
The second day on 20 April began early for all participants with a hike to historical Gorkha Durbar. After an uphill walk of nearly an hour, everyone took part in a public action demanding release of Amnesty International Turkey’s former chair Taner Kilic. Upon return to the programme venue, the participants were offered a session on Amnesty’s International Solidarity Campaign.
This was followed by engaging presentations by Amnesty Nepal’s two youth Board members, Bipin Budhathoki and Pasang Sherpa, who talked about the role of youth in protection of human rights. They also dwelt on how Amnesty International is working on to integrate youths across the movement to achieve human rights impact.
This year, Amnesty Nepal took a novel initiative to acknowledge the activism of the youth networks with due recognition being accorded to:
- Largest number of members: Amnesty International Kathmandu University Youth Network
- Highest number of actions carried out: Amnesty International Kathmandu University Youth Network and Rampur Youth Network
- Highest number of signatures collected in the Write for Rights campaign: Fusion Youth Network
- Consistent and timely reporting: Krishi Youth Network
All the participants were then divided into two large groups for a debate on the topic: ‘Abortion: For or Against’. The teams themselves selected the best speakers to represent them and what followed was a very lively debate with the speakers grasping the attention of all the participants with their incisive points and logic.
The team speaking in favour of abortion was declared winner. Once the debate was over, Director Thapaliya elucidated on Amnesty’s current policy debate on the topic. After this, all participants engaged in a signature collection drive in Gorkha bazaar demanding an end to the current human rights crisis in Syria. In a span of about half-an-hour before being dismissed by the heavy rain, we managed to collect over 500 signatures.
Before Amnesty International Nepal’s 12th National Youth Mela concluded, participants shared their experiences and perceptions of the gathering. Amnesty Nepal’s National Board Deputy General Secretary Yasodha Kumari Upadhyaya, member Sangita Chapagai and Appeal Committee member Basant Subedi distributed certificates of participation to all the participants, and the Mela was closed with a word of thanks and appreciation by Thapaliya who called on all the participants to share their learnings with their team and contribute to the human rights causes in their locality.