The Ministry of Women, Children, Gender and Sexual Minorities and Social Security has implemented the 'Formation and Operation Procedures for the Prevention of Gender-Based Violence Coordination Committee 2083', which was made public.
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The government has decided to form a Gender Violence Prevention Coordination Committee at all three levels to prevent gender violence, provide effective services to victims, and strengthen coordination between the federal, provincial, and local levels. The Ministry of Women, Children, Gender and Sexual Minorities and Social Security has implemented the ‘Formation and Operation Procedure for the Coordination Committee for the Prevention of Gender Violence, 2083’. According to the procedure, it is stated that a coordination committee will be formed at all three levels to effectively address gender violence, ensure access to quality services for victims and affected persons, and institutionalize coordination and collaboration between the relevant bodies. The ministry has stated that a procedure has been prepared in accordance with Sub-section (4) of Section 65 of the Financial Procedures and Financial Responsibility Act, 2076 BS to make the work of the committee systematic and effective. The objective of the procedure is to make programs, policies, monitoring, and collaboration related to gender violence prevention effective between the federal, provincial, and local levels. The committee will be formed under the chairmanship of the secretary of the ministry at the federal level and under the leadership of the heads of the relevant bodies at the provincial and local levels. Representatives of security agencies, government offices and other stakeholders as needed have been included as members in the committee.
The working procedure will be responsible for increasing cooperation between the relevant bodies for the rescue, protection, treatment, legal aid and rehabilitation of victims. In addition, arrangements have been made to make coordination between organizations and institutions effective between the One-Stop Crisis Management Center, police, local levels and service providers regarding prevention policies, plans and programs.
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Similarly, the committee has been given the responsibility of collecting data on gender-based violence, exchanging information, monitoring and evaluating it, facilitating the operation of public awareness programs and providing necessary policy suggestions. In addition, it will be responsible for coordinating between the relevant bodies in the rescue, protection, treatment, psychosocial counseling, legal aid and rehabilitation of victims, making cooperation and information exchange between federal, provincial and local level bodies effective.
Abha Shrestha Karna, Head of the Ministry's Women's Empowerment Division, said that reducing gender-based violence cannot be achieved through the efforts of the ministry or any single body alone, and that joint participation of all stakeholders is necessary. She informed that committees have been formed from the center to Lumbini and Koshi provinces and are in the process of being formed in other provinces and local levels.
She informed that a working procedure has been conceived to establish effective coordination between the federal, provincial and local levels and to institutionalize cooperation between development partners, civil society and government bodies. She said, "Reducing gender-based violence cannot be done by a single ministry or body alone." We have envisioned introducing such a procedure as joint cooperation of everyone from development partners, civil society to government agencies is necessary. ’
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According to her, an initiative has been taken to form a Gender Violence Prevention Coordination Committee at all three levels of government to prevent gender violence, provide quality services to victims, and make coordination between the concerned agencies effective. She expressed confidence that once the procedure is implemented, cooperation between the concerned agencies will become easier, and all parties will have a clear role, and the problem of repetition of the same types of programs will be reduced, resources will be utilized properly, and it will be easier to effectively run programs at low cost according to the government’s priorities.
She said, ‘There is a procedure at the central level, the direct implementing body is the local level. If a committee is formed at the provincial level, it may add to the dilemma in implementation if it is not clear who will play what role.’ She said that the lack of coordination between the level structures can create complications in addressing incidents of gender-based violence, ensuring access to justice for victims, and implementing empowerment programs.
Parajuli said that there is a lack of institutional mechanism for coordination at the district level since the district-based Women and Children Office was abolished after the implementation of federalism. She said that there will be problems in implementation because there is a lack of institutional mechanism for coordination at the district level. She said, ‘The objective of the procedure can be effectively fulfilled only if there is a systematic coordinating body at the district level.’
Human rights activist Sunita Mainali said that various committees have been formed at the provincial and local levels to reduce violence in the past and said that it is necessary to form a new committee after studying the implementation status and effectiveness of those committees. She said that more than the structure of the committee, its operating system and decision-making process need to be improved. She said, "It is positive for the government to form committees at all three levels to reduce gender-based violence, but the cost management of how it is run must be effective."
