Centre for Constitutional Dailogue

Constitution Making in Nepal 
Constitutional Design
Constitutions and Constitution Making Elsewhere
Nepal's Constitutions
Constituent Assembly
Of Special Interest To
Electronic Library

New Publications from UNDP









Constituent Assembly Rules of Procedure, 2065

Constituent Assembly Schedule

Home » Of Special Interest To » Women

International Standards on Women's Rights


The main international instrument is the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) which Nepal accepted to be bound by in 1991. For the full text of CEDAW click here. The principles which it contains can be summarised as follows:

  • no discrimination, equality before law

  • full development and advancement of women in all fields,

  • suppression of trafficking in women

  • equal voting rights, equal participation in government, equal right to participation in NGOs

  • equal right to work and in work, including remuneration, health, pensions, maternity leave, support during pregnancy

  • equal rights with respect to nationality

  • equal rights in education, elimination of stereotypes in education, reduction of drop out rates, equal rights to participate in sports

  • health care

  • rights in economic spheres e.g. bank loans

  • special recognition of rural women

  • equality in respect of freedom of movement, and domicile [a person's legal place of residence, which very often is dependent on a woman's husband]

  • same rights to marry, to choose spouse, rights in marriage, rights as parents, on divorce, no child marriage, family education to include responsibility of men and women

All these will strike a chord with Nepalese women. And most of them could be reflected in a Constitution, though perhaps not as specifically as in the Convention. Conventions of this type are not intended to lay down the exact wording of national laws or constitutions.

The Interim Constitution includes a provision that says that the State has a responsibility to implement all treaties (Article 33). But this is just a principle that cannot be enforced in the courts. A new Constitution could include stronger provisions in implementing international law. The South African Constitution says that the courts must consider international law when interpreting the human rights provisions, and the Constitution of Fiji as a similar provision.

If you want to learn more about CEDAW you can read the Government's own report to the Committee that is responsible for monitoring implementation of CEDAW here. And there was a shadow report by NGOs putting perhaps a different view. You can read that here.

There is also a handbook for members of parliament on CEDAW described as:

This handbook, jointly produced with the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, offers a comprehensive and educational presentation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which is the most comprehensive international instrument on women's rights, and its Optional Protocol. The handbook presents the background to and content of the Convention and the Optional Protocol and describes the role of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which secures implementation at the national level. It provides examples of best practices and gives an overview of what parliamentarians can do to ensure effective implementation of the Convention and encourage use of the Protocol. It also proposes model instruments and reference material as aids designed to facilitate the work of legislators.

*You can download this at http://www.ipu.org/PDF/publications/cedaw_en.pdf

You might also be interested in the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 which "urges Member States to ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions". *You can see the entire text at http://www.un.org/events/res_1325e.pdf. There is an *explanatory document in English at http://www.un.org.np/reports/UNIFEM/2006/2006-9-22-UNIFEM-sec-council-report-eng.pdf and a short pamphlet in *Nepali at http://www.un.org.np/reports/UNIFEM/2006/2006-9-22-UNIFEM-jaankari_pustika.pdf.

Other United Nations procedures and bodies dealing with issues of women include the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences see http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/women/rapporteur/ . These materials include the Nepal Governments response to a questionnaire from the Special Rapporteur - see http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/women/rapporteur/Nepal.pdf

*To read any of these you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer. You can download it here:
Get Latest Adobe Reader
^ Home

Copyright © 2008  |  All Rights Reserved  |  Constitution Advisory Support Unit, UNDP