Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

S event y-first session

Summary record of the 1632nd meeting

Held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, on Tuesday, 23 October 2018, at 3 p.m.

Chair:Ms. Leinarte

Contents

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention (continued)

Sixth periodic report of Nepal(continued)

The meeting was called to order at 3 p.m.

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention (continued)

Sixth periodic report of Nepal (continued) (CEDAW/C/NPL/6; CEDAW/C/NPL/Q/6 and CEDAW/C/NPL/Q/6/Add.1)

1. At the invitation of the Chair, the delegation of Nepal took places at the Committee table.

Articles 7 to 9 (continued)

2.Mr. Dhital (Nepal), replying to questions posed by Ms. Schulz at the Committee’s preceding meeting, said that, although the affirmative action measures taken to ensure the proportional representation of women in legislative and political bodies had not yet yielded the desired results, women’s representation in such bodies had increased dramatically since their adoption. The targets set by the Government in that connection could not be achieved overnight. More needed to be done to build women’s capacity at the grass-roots level to ensure that women of all backgrounds could avail themselves of opportunities on an equal footing. Women’s representation in the Federal Government and in provincial and local governments currently stood at 41 per cent overall, which was a remarkable achievement. Their representation in the civil service had grown to 26 per cent, compared to 11 per cent in 2008, while their representation stood at 8.4 per cent in the army and had grown to 6 per cent in the police, and continued to rise.

3.Mr. Gautam (Nepal) said that women were underrepresented in the judiciary because few of them pursued legal studies and subsequently entered legal professions. A series of targeted programmes, including scholarship and orientation programmes, were being conducted in an effort to change that situation. In addition, classes to prepare candidates for competitive examinations for entry into the judiciary were provided and the Nepal Bar Association had undertaken a number of initiatives to increase the recruitment of female lawyers from the Dalit community and other ethnic minority groups.

4.Ms. Schulz, recalling the principle of proportional inclusion enshrined in article 38 (4) of the Constitution of Nepal, said that she saw no reason why the State party could not further increase women’s representation in the Federal Government, given that the members of the Federal Government were selected from among the members of the Federal Parliament, where women’s representation had already increased dramatically. She asked what measures the State party had taken to ensure the proportional representation of women, particularly Dalit women, in provincial and local governments, bearing in mind article 40 of the Constitution, which enshrined the rights of that group.

5.While it was true that some women could benefit from capacity-building initiatives, there was also a need for communities and local authorities to stop acting on the basis of gender, racial and ethnic stereotypes. The Committee had been informed that Dalit women were routinely prevented from representing the interests of their community by Dalit or upper-caste men. She asked how the State party intended to address that problem and how it planned to break down such stereotypes and bring about change in Nepalese society.

6.The Committee had also received reports that, more often than not, political parties failed to respect the 33-per-cent quota for women’s representation in their governance structures and did not guarantee the representation of Dalit or other minority women. She asked what steps the State party would take to enforce that quota and to ensure the adequate representation of women belonging to those groups.

7.Mr. Dhital (Nepal) said that the 33-per-cent quota was difficult to meet in practice. The Government needed to invest additional resources in building the capacity of disadvantaged women in the education, health, economic and social sectors over the long term. Access to government and civil service positions was often contingent upon certain qualification and skills requirements. Quotas for women would serve little purpose if there were no eligible candidates to fill the positions in question. A series of programmes tailored to the needs of disadvantaged and vulnerable women and girls, including those from the Dalit community, had been launched in an effort to overcome that problem. Those programmes included a targeted scholarship scheme.

8.Strong legislation criminalizing differential treatment of members of the Dalit community was now in place. General public awareness of their plight had increased and relations between that group and the rest of Nepalese society appeared to have improved. Dalits and non-Dalits increasingly came together to celebrate social and religious occasions.

9.Over the previous decade, the Government had worked to create a constitutional and legislative framework and enabling environment to foster inclusiveness. Its efforts in that area had begun to bear fruit; for example, more and more women were participating in the public and political life of the country.

10.Ms. Schulz said that, to her mind, the State party was too focused on remedying gaps in Nepalese women’s capacities and had failed to draw lessons from their experiences, particularly those of Dalit women, who continued to suffer discrimination and oppression. The key to achieving the full inclusion of women in Nepalese society lay in understanding and learning from their experiences to date.

11.Contrary to the State party’s assertion that Dalits and non-Dalits had frequent opportunities to interact, the Committee had received reports that, in reality, such opportunities were few and far between and that, in schools, Dalit and non-Dalit children were effectively segregated, lending credence to the theory that, despite being part of the Nepalese population, the Dalits were actually second-class citizens. She asked how the State party planned to combat the effects of such entrenched stereotypes.

12.Mr. Dhital (Nepal) said that the requirement that two elective positions on local ward committees must be reserved for women and that one of those two positions must be reserved for a Dalit woman helped foster women’s inclusion and ensured that women of the most vulnerable community in Nepal had a voice.

13.Ms. Haidar said that the Constitution provided that a person born to a Nepalese father or Nepalese mother was a citizen of Nepal by descent, but also that a person born to a Nepalese mother and a non-Nepalese father could obtain citizenship only through naturalization, which was rare in practice; the latter provision was discriminatory against women. The Committee had also been given to understand that Nepalese single mothers were unable to register their children as Nepalese citizens, even though the Constitution provided for that possibility when the father of the children was unknown. The denial of that constitutional right often led to the stigmatization of single mothers and exposed their children to a greater risk of statelessness.

14.In 2018, an estimated 5.4 million persons in Nepal, or one quarter of the population aged 16 years or over, possessed no proof of citizenship, even though such documentation was a requirement for voting, marrying and claiming social benefits. Furthermore, the Committee had received reports that progressive court decisions and precedents concerning citizenship were inconsistently applied. Noting that the 2006 Nepal Citizenship Act was currently being reviewed and amended, she asked whether the State party planned to involve civil society and the national human rights institution in the consultations being organized in that connection; when the review of the Act would be completed and the proposed amendments enacted; and what changes the amendments in question would entail. Lastly, the delegation might indicate whether the State party intended to accede to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

15.Mr. Dhital (Nepal) said that the 2006 Nepal Citizenship Act was already more progressive than its predecessor. The increasing number of Nepalese citizens moving overseas and non-resident Nepalese citizens had posed new challenges, which the Government was endeavouring to address. Women were entitled to the same proof of citizenship as their male counterparts and had access to State benefits on an equal footing.

16.A court decision had been handed down that allowed single mothers to transmit their citizenship to their children and to register them under the mother’s family name when the children’s father was unknown. A special procedure had to be followed in order for persons born to a Nepalese mother and a non-Nepalese father to obtain Nepalese citizenship through naturalization. Various citizenship issues were being discussed in the context of the review and amendment of the 2006 Nepal Citizenship Act. According to the Constitution, persons born to Nepalese parents in-country or abroad were entitled to Nepalese citizenship. In the past, registrations had been done manually and record-keeping had been poor, which could explain the administrative difficulties encountered in identifying Nepalese citizens and in providing them with proof of citizenship. The competent national authorities were developing a database to help expedite the issuance of such documentation. Local government units were likewise collecting data, and mobile teams distributed proof of citizenship in remote areas.

17.Ms. Haidar said that she failed to understand why, if eligible persons could obtain proof of citizenship upon request, there were still some 5.4 million persons who did not possess it. She found it regrettable that the next census would not take place until 2021, as it would have provided useful information that could have helped the State party address the current situation.

18.The fact remained that, in practice, a Nepalese man could transmit his citizenship to his children automatically, regardless of the citizenship of his wife, whereas a Nepalese woman whose husband was a foreign citizen could not and her children were obliged to acquire citizenship through naturalization, which amounted to discrimination. She asked whether the proposed amendments to the 2006 Nepal Citizenship Act would address that situation.

19.Mr. Gautam (Nepal) said that the Government was fully committed to upholding the constitutional right of eligible persons to obtain Nepalese citizenship. The 5.4 million persons who possessed no proof of citizenship could well include refugees and their children, in addition to eligible persons who did not wish to claim their citizenship. In the past, eligible persons usually had not claimed their citizenship until they had been required to deal with the public authorities, with the result that the number of village dwellers in possession of proof of citizenship was very low. A blanket provision regulating the acquisition and conferral of Nepalese citizenship would fail to capture the specificities of the different categories of persons in the country and so was not a feasible option. In Nepal, naturalized citizens enjoyed all the same rights and benefits as citizens by descent, although they were barred from occupying certain high-level positions.

Articles 10 to 14

20.Ms. Nadaraia said that, although the State party had made significant progress towards achieving substantive equality between men and women in the field of education, the Committee remained concerned that literacy was still lower among women than among men, at 65.7 per cent, and that children living in remote areas, children with disabilities, Dalit children and children belonging to other ethnic minorities still struggled to gain access to adequate education, often as a result of neglect suffered in the mainstream education system. While the State party was to be commended on having achieved gender parity in primary school enrolment, it needed to do more to close the gender gap in higher education. Furthermore, the scholarship programme for girls still lacked an effective monitoring mechanism and, in general, schools did not have the infrastructural features necessary for creating a gender-friendly and accessible environment, especially in the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake. The proportion of female teachers in Nepal also remained unsatisfactorily low. She wondered whether the high dropout rate among female students could be attributed to the persistence of child marriage, particularly in the Dalit community, despite its having been outlawed. The Committee had also received reports that female students frequently suffered sexual harassment and sexual abuse at the hands of teachers. A further cause for concern was the small proportion of the State budget allocated to education in the 2018/19 fiscal year, namely 9 per cent, which would only make it more difficult for the State party to guarantee free and compulsory education. She asked what measures had been or would be taken to address those issues.

21.Mr. Bergby said that he wished to know what specific measures had been taken by the State party to eliminate horizontal and vertical gender segregation in the labour market, facilitate women’s access to social protection and benefits and ensure the effective implementation of the law prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace. In that regard, he would welcome data on the prevalence of sexual harassment in the public and private sectors. He wondered what could account for the extraordinarily low reporting rates for that offence, whether appropriate complaint mechanisms had been established in all workplaces and whether all government departments and agencies had joined the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens in implementing the Anti-Sexual Harassment Code of Conduct. He would like to know what steps the Government had taken to ensure the comprehensive implementation of the Labour Act of 2017 and its attendant regulations. In particular, he invited the delegation to comment on reports that the provisions requiring equal pay for work of equal value in State-owned enterprises were not being implemented. He also wished to know how the Act was being used to create employment and self-employment opportunities for women and to increase the participation of Dalit women in the formal and organized sectors. Information on how the labour and social security rights of women working in the so-called entertainment sector and on how women were protected from abuse would also be appreciated.

22.He asked whether Nepal intended to become a party to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and whether a time frame had been set for ratifying the International Labour Organization (ILO) Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189). Referring to paragraph 33 of the Committee’s previous concluding observations (CEDAW/C/NPL/CO/4-5), regarding the vulnerable situation of Nepalese women migrant workers, he said he would be grateful for more information on the bilateral agreements being entered into with a number of destination countries, including whether those agreements incorporated a gender-sensitive approach. It would also be useful to know whether the State party had any special programmes to reintegrate returning women migrant workers into the local labour market. Lastly, he asked whether the Government planned to implement the recommendations contained in the report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants on his mission to Nepal, in particular those concerning women migrants and domestic workers (A/HRC/38/41/Add.1, para. 109).

23.Ms. Narain said that she wished to commend the State party for the numerous positive measures it had taken to improve women’s access to health care. In particular, the recent enactment of the Right to Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Act of 2018 represented a major step forward for Nepalese women. Noting the high rate of unintended pregnancies and clandestine abortions in the country, she urged the Government to give priority to disseminating information about safe and legal abortion and contraception as it began to implement that Act. In that connection, she wondered whether the State party intended to decriminalize abortion in all cases, provide comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education to adolescent girls and boys and ensure the availability of adolescent-friendly sexual and reproductive health services.

24.She asked what action the Government was taking to reduce the rates of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity; address the unusually high number of uterine prolapse cases; and prevent obstetric violence, including unnecessary caesarean sections, by regulating and monitoring the practices of private health-care clinics. She noted with concern that certain groups of women, such as women with disabilities, Dalit women and women living in rural areas, continued to face obstacles that impeded their access not only to health-care services but also to nutritious food, clean drinking water and toilets. Dalit women, in particular, were often subjected to stigmatization and degrading treatment by health-care providers. She would therefore like to know what the State party was doing to eliminate discrimination in the provision of health-care services and whether consideration had been given to training Dalit women and girls as health volunteers in local health-care facilities. Information on how the Government intended to ensure that women in prostitution had full access to health-care services, including sexual health, would also be appreciated.

25.She would be interested to know whether there were plans to develop a more gender-sensitive approach to health care; assign more women medical practitioners to rural areas to help improve reproductive health care in such areas; and increase budgetary allocations for the establishment or improvement of health-care facilities in remote or disadvantaged areas.

26.Mr. Dhital (Nepal) said that the right to health was guaranteed to all Nepalese citizens. Health-care services were provided in all areas of the country and the Government aimed to provide support to persons in need, while taking into account the resources that were available. There were, admittedly, certain gaps and challenges that needed to be addressed, such as ensuring sufficient health-care personnel and access to quality and affordable medicines for all. The high incidence of uterine prolapse among women had drawn considerable media attention, and action had been taken to address the problem. For example, medical teams had been sent to the areas most affected in order to perform the necessary procedures or provide additional support. There was now increased public awareness of the issue, which had helped to encourage women to seek assistance.

27.There were various reasons why abortions could only be carried out under specific conditions — which were briefly described in his country’s replies to the list of issues (CEDAW/C/NPL/Q/6/Add.1, para. 108) — including the need to ensure that women provided their express consent before undergoing such a procedure and to prevent the practice of sex-selective abortion. In certain circumstances, such as in the case of rape or incest, abortions could be performed after the 12-week limit.

28.Concerning employment, women had the right to participate in the labour market on an equal footing with men. The principle of equal pay for work of equal value was enshrined in the Labour Act of 2017, which also set out minimum daily and monthly wages for workers. While employers were required to comply with those provisions, it was difficult to monitor the informal sector, which was where many women, especially in remote areas, were employed. In addition, a dearth of decent jobs in Nepal forced many people to seek employment opportunities abroad. Depending on the situation of labour and social rights in the destination country, women migrant domestic workers were sometimes in a particularly vulnerable position. For that reason, the Government was seeking to sign labour agreements with destination countries with a view to establishing good terms of employment.

29.Ms. Radhika Aryal (Nepal) said that various efforts had been made to reduce geographical disparities and improve access to education, in particular for Dalit women and girls and for women and girls with disabilities. For instance, the Government had provided support to the different religious schools in the country in order to help them align their curricula with that of the mainstream education system. It had also introduced a number of educational scholarships and grants to cover the cost of, among other things, transport to and from school and assistive devices for women and girls with disabilities. University scholarships were also available to encourage students with disabilities to pursue higher education. To encourage more women to enrol in technical, vocational and higher education, the Government had increased the budget allocated to those areas for the current fiscal year and had launched a programme of educational loans at a low rate of interest for disadvantaged groups. Lastly, it should be pointed out that local governments were now responsible for managing primary and secondary education. Provision was therefore made in local government budgets specifically for education spending. In addition, although the percentage share of the federal budget allocated to the Ministry of Education appeared to be small, the overall education allocation had actually increased in absolute terms every year for the past five years. Replies to the questions regarding employment would be provided to the Committee in writing.

30.Ms. Bethel said that, while the State party’s efforts to reduce poverty were commendable, the Committee was concerned to note that 25 per cent of the population — in particular, disadvantaged groups such as rural, indigenous and Dalit communities — continued to live below the poverty line. She wished to know what measures had been or would be taken to implement macroeconomic, social and sectoral policies aimed at tackling the root causes of poverty and gender inequality, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals; expand poverty alleviation programmes to cover the most disadvantaged groups; remove the obstacles preventing women in disadvantaged groups from qualifying for economic and social benefits, such as the difficulties they faced in obtaining proof of Nepalese citizenship; and enable disadvantaged women to own land and gain access to income-generating activities. The high poverty rate among women was also linked to unpaid care work. She would therefore like to know what steps the State party was taking to recognize, reduce and redistribute unpaid care work, such as by investing in infrastructure and social services; ensure that employment policies improved the labour market conditions and availability of decent work for women; and strengthen initiatives aimed at encouraging the sustainable economic empowerment of women, including by providing them with access to collateral-free credit.

31.She would like to know how the State party intended to combat hunger and ensure food security, in particular for disadvantaged groups such as indigenous, Dalit and rural women; tackle the structural causes of hunger and malnutrition; and ensure equal access to food, safe drinking water and resources such as fuel by eliminating discriminatory practices, particularly against indigenous and Dalit women. She invited the delegation to comment on reports of forced evictions, including in the context of development projects, and on the lack of a comprehensive housing policy, which reduced the access of marginalized women and their families to adequate housing.

32.Noting that women were often employed in the informal sector, she asked what measures were being taken to establish a social protection floor in line with the ILO Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202). Lastly, she was concerned at reports that relief and support efforts in the wake of the 2015 earthquake had been inadequate and had failed to reach the vulnerable groups of women and girls disproportionately affected by the disaster. What measures had the State party taken to address that issue?

33.Ms. Hofmeister said that, although the country’s mountainous environment made it difficult to establish certain types of infrastructure, particularly in remote areas, there was no justification for disparities between men and women in terms of landownership. The State party should understand that women’s rights were human rights and that equality between men and women should be established now rather than at some distant point in the future. The State party was urged to take account of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, as a result of which many women faced additional barriers to equality because of their race, language, religion or sexuality, among other factors. For instance, Dalit women and girls faced severe caste and gender discrimination, and widows of all ages were often subjected to harmful practices, harassment and exclusion, as were female and transgender sex workers, indigenous women, women with disabilities, and lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex women. In its efforts to implement the Convention, the Government should consider the Committee’s general recommendations Nos. 34, 35 and 37, which addressed the rights of rural women, gender-based violence and the gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction, respectively.

34.The Committee would be interested to learn what steps were being taken to address the issue of intersectionality in gender-related policy, how the State party would ensure that civil society and women’s non-governmental organizations were actively involved in legislative processes and what proportion of the budget for the forthcoming fiscal year would be allocated to capacity-building and awareness-raising activities in the area of gender equality.

35.The Committee would welcome further information on displaced women and girls who were living in shelters and on the amount of time that it took them to be reintegrated into society. It also wished to learn what was being done to ensure that women and girls with sensory and intellectual disabilities could obtain access to health care, education and the justice system and what measures would be taken to legalize same-sex marriage. Lastly, she asked for further information on the situation of widows in the Hindu community.

36.Mr. Dhital (Nepal) said that the Constitution and the legal framework of Nepal took into account the rights of every sector of society, including Dalit and indigenous women. As a landlocked developing country, Nepal faced many structural challenges and constraints. Although the range of viable economic activities was limited, the Government focused on those sectors that had the most potential, including renewable energy sources and off-grid energy projects through which electricity could be supplied to remote areas, agriculture could be modernized and creativity and innovation could be enhanced. In order to address the problem of unemployment, high-level plans were in place to create an additional 5 million jobs within five years. In order to promote entrepreneurship among women, a specific programme had been established that was primarily aimed at women in rural areas. To date, that programme had benefited almost 1 million people.

37.The poverty rate had fallen from 25 per cent to 23 per cent in recent years, but had risen slightly in the wake of the earthquake in 2015. In addressing the issue of poverty, the Government made efforts to focus on those parts of the country where economic opportunities were fewest. In that regard, specific programmes for assisting persons belonging to vulnerable communities, including the Dalit, had been established.

38.Ms. Bethel said that she would welcome further information on civil registration, citizenship and lack of access to social services. It would be interesting to learn what steps were being taken to distribute land more equally, including among Dalit and indigenous women. It was still not clear what measures were in place to promote the right to housing and to combat forced evictions.

39.Ms. Radhika Aryal (Nepal) said that, as part of the Government’s efforts to ensure that value was attached to unpaid care work and domestic work carried out by women, plans were in place to conduct a survey of such work in conjunction with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) and the World Bank. In order to address the issue of food insecurity, the Parliament had recently adopted the Right to Food and Food Sovereignty Act, which gave priority to the needs of women. Food security cards were made available to households that included at least one woman 18 years of age or older. The Government had been implementing the Multisectoral Nutrition Plan in order to address deficiencies, particularly among pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and their children.

40.Forced labour had been prohibited and efforts had been made to distribute land to communities that had previously been subjected to such labour. The Government had established indicators and plans to promote the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals at the local level. In order to address the situation of widows in the Hindu community, the Government had established the Single Women’s Security Fund, which was intended in particular to ensure that poor women and those living in remote areas could obtain access to health care, education and opportunities to develop their skills.

41.Mr. Gautam (Nepal) said that, under the Right to Housing Act, persons who had no access to land or housing were entitled to financial support for the construction of housing in coordination with the national Government, provincial governments and local entities. To that end, the local authorities were required to collect data on families that lacked housing and land and to ensure that those families received the appropriate support. Identity cards were issued to facilitate that process. Measures had also been taken to ensure that compensation was provided to persons subjected to forced displacement or eviction as a result of development projects.

Articles 15 and 16

42.Ms. Halperin-Kaddari, noting that marriages involving persons below the age of 20 were deemed to be null and void under section 173 of the Criminal Code but valid and voidable under sections 71 and 73 of the Civil Code, said that she would welcome clarification of the exact legal status of such marriages. In that regard, it would be interesting to learn when the National Assembly would consider the bill aimed at resolving the inconsistency in question. In view of the fact that children who married were often forced to do so, she asked why that bill did not amend the relevant sections of the Civil Code to ensure that children would not be punished for marrying, particularly as such punishments did not appear to be in line with the recently adopted Children’s Act.

43.She asked how the State party would resolve the inconsistency inherent in the fact that, although bigamy was prohibited, a woman who bore a child was deemed, under the Civil Code, to be married to the father of that child when the birth was not the result of rape or incest.

44.Given that the recognition of customary and religious marriages and the State party’s failure to establish mandatory marriage registration could result in violations of the rights of women and girls, she asked whether measures would be taken to ensure that all marriages were registered. In addition, the Committee wished to know what was being done to raise awareness of the importance of marriage registration and whether the Government would protect the rights of Muslim women and girls by banning the practice of triple talaq divorce.

45.In view of the fact that, under the new Civil Code, the property rights of women in a divorce were protected only when the husband was found to be at fault, she asked whether legislative amendments would be adopted that would bring the relevant parts of the Civil Code into line with the Committee’s general recommendation No. 29 (2013), which required that property rights should not be affected by the cause of a divorce and that States parties should adopt a marital property regime that provided for shared property and recognized non-financial contributions made by women to the acquisition of property during marriage.

46.Noting that the land revenue authorities asked for the written consent of sons, but not daughters, when they registered deeds governing the partition of parental property, she asked whether measures would be taken to ensure the enforcement of the law granting married daughters the right to an equal share of such property.

47.Mr. Gautam (Nepal) said that the practice of triple talaq divorce was completely prohibited under the Civil Code. Any divorce that did not meet the requirements set out in law was considered to be unlawful. Where inheritance rights were concerned, the law made no distinction between the rights of married and unmarried daughters. Both daughters and sons had an equal right to inherit parental property, and any failure to enforce those rights probably stemmed from patriarchal attitudes and values and would be addressed through education and awareness-raising activities.

48.Ms. Halperin-Kaddari, noting that States parties were required under the Convention to eradicate all norms that constituted discrimination against women, said that she wished to know whether triple talaq divorce was explicitly prohibited by law or whether it was simply not recognized in the civil legal system.

49.The legislation governing the division of property in the event of divorce appeared to be discriminatory in that it stipulated different grounds for divorce for men and women and did not protect the property and alimony rights of women when they were found to be at fault.

50.Mr. Gautam (Nepal) said that legislation governing women’s property rights in the event of divorce provided for exceptions only in cases where the husband had children from a previous relationship. Such exceptions were made in order to ensure that children were not left without any inheritance.

51.Mr. Dhital (Nepal) said that it had been an honour and a pleasure to engage in the interactive dialogue with the Committee. The delegation was grateful to the Committee for taking such a keen interest in the implementation of the Convention in Nepal. The insights and experience that it had shared were valuable and would help the Government to address the challenges that it faced in implementing the Convention. The delegation was encouraged by the Committee’s appreciation of the constitutional and legal framework established for the advancement of human rights in general and the Convention rights in particular. Although much work remained to be done before the Convention could be fully implemented, the dialogue with the Committee had strengthened the Government’s commitment to attaining that goal in collaboration with civil society and the country’s development partners.

52.Ms. Thapa (Nepal) said that she wished to thank the members of the Committee for scrupulously analysing the efforts made by the Government to end all forms of discrimination against women. The Government would take all the Committee’s comments seriously and would make every effort, in accordance with its resources, to implement the recommendations arising from the dialogue.

The meeting rose at 5 p.m.