US embassy cable - 02KATHMANDU555

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000555 
 
SIPDIS 
 
LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, KWMN, PHUM, SMIG, NP, Human Rights 
SUBJECT: PARLIAMENT PASSES WOMEN'S RIGHTS BILL GRANTING 
PROPERTY RIGHTS, ABORTION ACCESS 
 
REF: 01 KATHMANDU 2041 
 
1. Summary.  Nepal's lower house of Parliament passed a 
bill March 14 granting women more equitable property 
rights, legalizing abortion under certain conditions and 
dictating stricter penalties for child marriage, polygamy 
and rape.  Although the law failed to pass the upper house 
in late 2001, its second passage in the lower house was 
constitutionally sufficient for enactment.  Members of 
Nepal's largest minority party felt the law did not go far 
enough in granting women equal property rights - 
especially because women will still be required to return 
inherited property on their wedding day - but put aside 
these objections in order to get the bill's other measures 
on the books.  The minority party plans to introduce 
further amendments during the next session of parliament, 
but will likely have difficulty getting them past the 
Nepali Congress Party majority.  End Summary. 
 
Abortion Law Loosened, Inheritance Restrictions Lifted 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
2. Nepal's lower house of Parliament on March 14 passed an 
amendment to the Civil Code that grants women more 
equitable property rights, legalizes abortion under 
certain conditions, and provides harsher penalties for 
child marriage, polygamy and rape.  The bill's most 
controversial provision requires daughters to return 
inherited parental property if they get married.  A 
similar bill passed the lower house October 10, 2001 
(Reftel), but was defeated in the upper house.  Since the 
bill has now been passed by the lower house twice, under 
Nepal's constitution, upper house endorsement will not now 
be required.  The bill will next go to the Royal Palace 
and will take effect immediately upon receiving the King's 
assent. 
 
Minority Party Accepts Less-Than-Perfect Bill 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
3. In voting for passage, minority party MPs put aside 
reservations that measures in the bill related to female 
property rights did not go far enough.  Opposition MP 
Pradeep Kumar Gyawali (CPN-UML) from Gulmi district said 
that his party opposed the provision requiring daughters 
to return their inheritance after marriage, but voted for 
passage anyway to reap the benefits of the bill's more 
positive features.  A female member of the upper house 
agreed, citing the importance of passing measures related 
to abortion and the property rights of divorced women, 
which Nepali law had not previously addressed.  In 
general, the government was not in favor of giving equal 
rights to women, she added.  The punishment in rape cases 
has been doubled, several UML parliamentarians noted with 
approval. 
 
4. UML leaders plan to propose an amendment in the next 
session of parliament specifying that sons and daughters 
share equally in parental property, and permitting 
daughters to keep their inheritance after marriage. 
 
5. Ruling Nepali Congress Party (NCP) Chief Whip, Tek 
Bahadur Chokhal, viewed the bill as a move in the right 
direction.  Its "good points" included legalizing abortion 
with the consent of the husband, on medical grounds, or in 
the case of rape.  The new law will allow a woman to keep 
a share of the family's property after a divorce, which 
was also a positive step.  Predictably, Chokhal noted the 
provision granting female children the right to inherit 
parental property, but less enthusiastically. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
6. The new law is unlikely to satisfy women's rights 
activists who were lobbying for equal treatment under the 
law.  Moreover, given that the NCP maintains a clear 
majority in the more powerful lower house, near-term 
prospects for further efforts to rectify the civil code's 
gender bias remain dim. 
 
MALINOWSKI