Nepali human rights defender in danger -  ACT NOW

5 November 2008, 01:22PM

Defender of women’s rights in danger Nepalese counselor Rita Mahato has been threatened with rape and death – she risks her life for her work.

30-year-old Rita is a health counsellor with the Women’s Rehabilitation Centre (WOREC) – who works to defend the rights of women and dalits, a socially and economically marginalised caste – in Nepal’s Siraha district.

The area where Rita lives, in the east of Nepal, is feudal. The upper caste controls the district by holding the rights to land, and by dominating the marginalised groups, says WOREC, which has been working in the district for four years.

Police failed to investigate

In June last year, Rita Mahato was threatened with rape and death and ordered to leave the village, her office was attacked by a group of about 65 men, who objected to the organisation’s work. Before fleeing, the attackers threw bricks at staff, who had gone outside to confront them. The police have failed to investigate the incident.

WOREC staff are frequently threatened and intimidated. The organisation investigates cases of sexual violence against women, and provides counselling and legal support by registering cases with local police and government bodies.

” “Women human rights defenders are being harassed, humiliated and even killed for the work they do,” says the group’s chairperson Dr Renu Adhikari. ”

Threats of kidnapping

You can help Rita Mahato, who has been working for the group for a year and a half, by writing or emailing Nepalese authorities urging them to ensure the safety of women human rights defenders.

She has reportedly received other threats of kidnapping, shooting and beating. WOREC staff believe that men associated with the women whom the organisation is helping may be behind some of the incidents.

Violence against women is the most widespread human rights abuse in the world. All over the world women and girls suffer at the hands of the state, the community and the family. It’s a scandal that violence against women is allowed, excused and overlooked.

Working for rights of others

WOREC says Rita Mahato, who fears for her life, was told that “a woman who is uneducated should not be employed as a man would be, and if men want they can force women to go back to where they belong”.

She is from a community that follows strong patriarchal norms and values, says the group, in an online appeal for solidarity and support, in which they detail some of the rape cases they have worked on.

However, Rita Mahato has managed to break that rigid structure by working in the community for the rights of others, and she is fully supported by her husband. She has regularly been obstructed by members of her community, who have tried to break up her marriage by spreading rumors and gossip about her.

Stand up for Rita Mahato – write to Nepalese authorities, and voice your outrage at her the dangers she has to face in order to defend the rights of others. Nepal’s human rights defenders deserve protection.

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