This is the third bi-monthly report published by NepalMonitor based on its monthly dataset of reports related to human rights and security incidents for Nepal. The report summarizes interesting patterns and trends in incidents recorded by our team during the months of September and October, 2016.

In total, NepalMonitor.org recorded 556 reports for the period under review. This compares to 531 reports recorded during the previous months of July and August.

Gender Based Violence

A total of 193 reports related to gender-based violence were recorded in September-October. The majority of these reports fell into four categories: rape or attempted rape (98), child abuse (58), domestic violence (34) and human trafficking (25). (Some reports fall into multiple categories, hence summing the number of incidents for each sub-category yields a number greater than 193). With 8 to 10 incidents each, the highest number of incidents in these categories were recorded for the districts of Banke, Saptari, Kathmandu and Kaski (see figures 1 and 2).

Human Rights

Similarly, Nepal Monitor recorded 75 reports that related to human rights over the same period. These reports include various human rights abuses, such as incidents related to children’s rights (23), abuses for allegedly practicing witchcraft (5), socioeconomic rights (13), caste discrimination (3), and torture (5) (see Figure 3). 

Incidents related to Human Rights Defenders

Nepal Monitor also tracks incidents related to security and protection of Human Rights Defenders. In the months of September and October, seven such incidents were reported among which four were attacks on HRDs (see figure 4).

Security Incidents

A total of 334 reports were mapped under the security category in September and October. These include reports on protest/demonstration (95), vandalism (22), strike (11), padlocking (14), killings (51) and injuries (61). Figure 5 below displays security incidents (other than killings and injuries) reported for the months of September and October. The incidents are categorized by actor affiliations.

Peace Monitoring Platform

Since August 2016, Nepal Monitor has also started more rigorous coding of incidents under its new peace monitoring platform. Under the peace monitoring system, causes and type of incidents, number of actors and their affiliation, and impacts including casualties are recorded for each incident.

Incidents related to Economic Tension

In September and October 37 incidents were recorded related to economic tensions. About half of these incidents were reports of labor disputes and disputes over markets access or disputes related to syndicates.

Similarly, thirteen of forty-nine demonstrations reported over the period of September and October were related to economic tensions. Some incidents of vandalism, strike/bandh, assault and road block were also reported to relate to economic tensions (see figure 6).

Incidents related to Constitution and Federal Restructuring

In September and October, a total of 21 incidents related to constitution and federal restructuring were mapped, the bulk of which occured in September. September 19, 2016 marked the first anniversary of the constitution’s promulgation and parties dissatisfied with the new constitution took out protests and demonstrations. In October, only one such incident was recorded. Figure 7 shows the type and main actor of each of those incidents