Uma K.C., 26, has seen the worst of Nepal’s patriarchal system. Originally from a small village, she fled during the Maoist insurgency when she was only 16 years old. At the height of the civil war, women were frequently tortured and raped. Afraid that she might fall victim to the same fate, she sought a better life in Kathmandu.

Uma K.C., 26, has filed a case against her abusive husband.

Uma K.C., 26, is survivor of severe domestic abuse.

It wasn’t long before she found herself on the street, hungry. She didn’t have the skill set to obtain a proper job, so she found work in a dance bar. Dance bars, frequented mostly by local men, would be classified in the U.S. as strip clubs. Unlike the U.S., however, sex can often be found on the menu.

Within a year, she met a 52-year-old widower named Lakshmi. He was kind and frequented the dance bar. He told her that he was lonely. He had been married before, but his wife had died, leaving him without any children to care for. He didn’t have anyone to live with and he needed a wife to give him hot water. He wanted to marry her; he could provide for her, and she would be able to quit the dance bar. Believing that she had met a good man, Uma married Lakshmi in 2001.

Soon after, the torture began. He often abused her, using a kukri or grinding stone typically used for grain. He told her that he was not getting the sexual satisfaction he needed and forced her to perform oral sex, something that she was not comfortable doing. He told her he needed to share his bed with other women and continued to visit dance bars. He refused to wear protection and forbid Uma from using contraception. During their marriage, she was pregnant four times. Each time, he made her get an abortion.

She later learned that he was still married; in fact, he had never been widowed at all. His first wife, and grandchildren of theirs, lived with him in the city. His wife was unaware that he had married Uma. Later investigations would uncover that he used his job as an excuse to get away. A driver who was sometimes required him to spend nights away from home, he often told his wife that he was working late and would stay with Uma.

A friend told Uma about Raksha Nepal, an NGO that helps victims of prostitution, human trafficking, and domestic abuse. They advised her to speak up and seek justice, but first she would need to prove they were married. The law at the time did not provide protection to women who were victims of unmarried domestic abuse. She would need to produce a marriage certificate in order to file charges.

Uma knew what she had to do. One night in December 2007, she decided that she would request a copy of their marriage certificate from Lakshmi. To soften the mood, she prepared a meal made up of meats and large dishes. At the end of the night, she requested a copy of their marriage certificate and her citizenship, something husbands are required to sign in Nepal.

Lakshmi was skeptical. Realizing Uma was up to something, he grew angry. In the midst of an argument, he doused her body with gasoline and set her on fire. A neighbor overhead her screams and saved her.

Uma still has full use of her hands, badly scarred from a tragic night nearly two years ago. She is using them to develop new skills, such as driving.

Uma still has full use of her hands, badly scarred from a tragic night nearly two years ago. She is using them to develop new skills, such as driving.

Her hands and body, badly scarred, are daily reminders of the abuse she endured. Raksha Nepal is helping her to file a case, but it is difficult since there is no marriage certificate and Lakshmi burned all of their wedding photos. In a creative attempt to get around the law, they have produced copies of her abortion certificates as evidence. In order to get an abortion, a husband is required give permission. All four times, Lakshmi came to the hospital and signed his name.

Since the investigation began, the police have told Raksha Nepal and Uma that Lakshmi is missing. Witnesses, however, have seen him riding his motorbike in the city with other women. They suspect that he paid off the police. The neighbor who helped Uma is also nowhere to be found. In their own investigation, sources have told Raksha Nepal that he was paid 10,000 rupees to disappear, approximately $133 U.S. dollars.

Uma’s story highlights the difficulty in fighting domestic violence in Nepal, but it also provides one example of courage. Although she has not been awarded justice in the legal system, she is bright eyed, laughed during much of our interview, and is learning new skills. She now lives with other survivors, who are also being helped by Raksha Nepal.

Survivors of severe domestic violence and sexual abuse abroad now have a greater chance of receiving asylum in the United States, according to a recent article published in the New York Times.

A brief issued by the Obama administration allows immigration courts to consider victims of domestic abuse as a persecuted group under the law. In addition to standard requirements, victims must prove extreme abuse, that there is a widespread belief in their culture that domestic violence is acceptable, and that the government does not adequately provide protection to victims.

This is a landmark decision that highlights the intersection between gender, culture, violence, and gun control. The case that helped initiate this policy involves a Mexican woman who was raped at gunpoint, held captive, and set on fire by her common-law husband.

Her story is not confined to Latin America. Women in Nepal face similar abuse in their homes, due to widespread tolerance of violence against women, easy access to conventional weapons, and an increasing market for illegal guns.

And although the government recently passed a domestic violence law providing justice to victims of abuse, women may still be reluctant to come forward. According to a 2008 study by Saferworld, only 53 percent of women in Nepal would feel comfortable reporting family violence to the police. This makes determining the scope of a problem, like the use of arms in domestic violence, difficult.

The campaign to disarm domestic violence is aimed at strengthening institutions within home countries, rather than compelling victims to seek foreign assistance or asylum elsewhere. The U.S.’s commitment to help survivors of domestic violence is certainly laudable, but it emphasizes the need for international governments to address this issue on their own soil. Victims should not be forced to leave their own country in order to find protection from abuse.

Creating and enforcing laws in a newly formed democracy is a seemingly impossible task. A new government, not yet trusted, is expected to create a framework for enforcing order in a country still in a state of disarray. In Nepal, the result is laws that provide protection to marginalized groups in theory, but that are often times not implemented.

This is most evident in laws that affect women, including those regarding cases of domestic violence. Three weeks ago, the first law specific to domestic violence was passed in parliament. It is not yet published in English so I haven’t been able to look over it myself, but I have heard it is a huge success for women’s rights groups. Until then, there were laws that provided protection to victims of domestic violence. However, these provisions existed under separate laws regarding criminal activity. They are now consolidated into one domestic violence law.

The new law, however, does not include protection for women who have been victims of marital rape. This law, enacted after a Supreme Court decision, falls under a separate law. The Forum for Women’s Law and Development, an organization I met with this past week, represented the plaintiff in the deciding case that made marital rape illegal. Bimala Khadka, an advocate at the organization, estimates that 70 percent of all criminal cases in Nepal have to do with domestic violence. She said that violence against women in Nepal is “easily taken,” but that the government is trying to set up resources that will help victims. The new budget, which passed recently, includes funding to create women’s shelters for victims of domestic violence in every single district in Nepal. Currently, a few shelters run by NGOs exist.

Bimala Khadka, an advocate for FWLD in Kathmandu, Nepal

Bimala Khadka, an advocate for FWLD in Kathmandu, Nepal

There is one loophole in the law: women can only file a case against their husbands. In other words, a boyfriend, lover, or any other man in her life is protected from prosecution. It also means that in order to file charges against her husband, she must prove the marriage by means of a legal document. This is a challenge that Uma K.C., a woman I interviewed on Friday, is currently facing. Her story is extremely sad and I will be posting my interview with her in a few days. But her story, like many others in Nepal, show that the law and order system can be corrupt, making bribes to drop charges or to suggest a defendant has “disappeared” commonplace.

The new domestic violence law has penalties of at least six months, with a maximum sentence of ten years, for men who beat their wives. Marital rape carries a sentence of two to three years in jail.

Bimala said most cases of abuse do not involve guns, but domestic weapons including a traditional Nepali knife, kukri. She said obtaining a licensed gun in Nepal is extremely difficult. I have yet to learn if the domestic violence law mentions specific weapons, including small arms.

Please see some highlights from my interview with her below.

Last Monday, I had the opportunity to meet with Uma Bhandari, the president of Ruwon Nepal. Ruwon, also known as the Rural Women’s Network Nepal, is an organization based out of Chabahil that focuses on gender equality and women empowerment through education.

Unfortunately, Uma was not feeling well so I was unable to take video footage of my interview with her. She is resting at the doctor’s recommendation, so I met with her in her home. During our discussion, she shared with me her thoughts on gender discrimination in Nepal and Ruwon’s approach to fighting it.

“Women in Nepal face discrimination from the womb,” Uma told me. Since Nepal is a patriarchal society, the birth of a son is valued at more than that of a daughter. This is due, in part, to religious beliefs that only a son can help give salvation to his ancestors. In Hinduism, it is traditionally believed that only sons or elder grandsons can perform shraddha, or funeral rites that pay homage to the dead. Even though some villages closer to the city now allow women to perform funeral rites, Uma said that traditional beliefs lead some families to abort a pregnancy for this reason if they discover that it is a girl.

In more rural areas, which make up the majority of Nepal’s population, this type of discrimination may persist throughout a woman’s lifetime. Traditionally, a woman belongs in the home, taking care of the children and household chores. Her property is her husband’s. In fact, until recently inheritance laws only allowed sons in the family to inherit property. In the event there are no sons, property is inherited to the men in the husband’s family.

Husbands have traditionally been given multiple provisions in the law to divorce their wives or remarry additional women. The primary reasons include if his wife did not give birth to any children in the first eight years of a marriage, if she did not bear him any sons, or if she displayed “misdemeanor characteristics.” Divorce for women was allowed under only one provision: after her husband’s death.

Uma told me that these laws have since been changed. Legally, men are not allowed to have multiple wives or divorce for these reasons. However, as seems to be common in Nepal, there is little enforcement and many rural areas continue to practice traditional norms without regard to the law.

It is very difficult to change gender roles, particularly those that are grounded in traditions and beliefs. Ruwon Nepal focuses on educating women and promoting awareness of these issues as a way to what Uma calls “culture refinement.” She believes that Nepali culture thinks of a woman’s social self, a term she uses to describe a woman’s role in the community, and does not focus enough on her as an individual person.

This is part of the problem in raising awareness of domestic violence. According to Ruwon, one in three women in Nepal are victims of domestic violence. Many women, Uma said, are aware that they are being mistreated and try to get help, often from her own or her husband’s family. Instead of being told to think about herself and her own needs, she is often told to think about how leaving a marriage or exposing her husband’s behavior will affect her family and her community. In this way, she is urged to put her social self and the sustainability of her family before her individual self, and tolerate violence because of a social stigma attached to divorce.

“Human rights are individual issues,” Uma said, adding that through education, “a girl child can become an individual.” Originally from a rural village outside of Kathmandu that still has no electricity or water, Uma is the only woman in her village not currently doing traditional housework. She completed her master’s degree in education and is currently pursuing a doctorate at Tribhuvan University. Her research on gender, identity, and education has been published widely and her master’s thesis, titled Beyond Patriarchy, is set to be published in the next year.

“When we read, we become clearly aware,” she said, “and intolerant of these issues.” Her husband, who was present during our discussion, told me not a day goes by that she doesn’t talk about how something is gender biased in Nepal.

A professor in the journalism department at Tribhuvan University, her husband said that he was unaware of women’s issues until he married Uma. Interestingly enough, their marriage was arranged by one of her brothers. Since their marriage, he has learned more about women’s rights in Nepal, currently serves on Ruwon’s advisory board, and tries to include some of his wife’s experiences in the field in his classroom discussions. Sometimes, he finds himself pointing out gender bias to others.

Uma joined Ruwon Nepal three years ago, after meeting Dhruba Prasad Ghimire through a mutual professor. Dhruba, who I met at the bicycle rally launching the “Disarm Domestic Violence” campaign, founded the organization in Sinhuli, a rural area in Nepal. He was the one kind enough to set up a meeting between Uma and me.

The organization is optimistic about change for women in Nepal, citing the increase in women in parliament. However, Uma says NGOs are still facing a lot of work given the current political situation.

Now that everything has “sprouted up so fast, everyone wants something,” she said.

It has been a while since my last update and I’ll be filling in the blanks soon. In the meantime, please take a look at this video showcasing the bicycle rally and SAP-Nepal’s campaign launch to “Disarm Domestic Violence.”

This is my first experience shooting and editing video. I plan to do a lot more for this issue in the near future, including profiles, so I would appreciate any feedback that you might have. How can I use video to highlight the connection between domestic violence and gun control in Nepal? What would be useful to you in learning about this issue? What do you think would be helpful to policy makers?

I would love to hear your thoughts on using new media in advocacy.

It should come as no surprise that women are disproportionately affected by domestic violence. Even less surprising, they are often the victims when domestic abuse escalates to death.

In fact, women are three times more likely to die violently due to one factor alone: if a gun is present in the house. In many cases, the crime is committed by a spouse or partner-someone with a prior history of domestic abuse. Gun control laws and domestic violence laws are rarely harmonized, creating a loophole that allows people with a history of domestic abuse to purchase firearms or maintain licenses for those that they already own.

Preventing situations like this, and increasing awareness of this issue, are the main goals of IANSA’s “Disarming Domestic Violence” campaign, which I will be working on for the remainder of the summer.

"Disarming Domestic Violence" campaign launch

In the first international campaign of its kind, IANSA and 85 partner organizations around the world, including SAP-Nepal, are making the connection between gun control and domestic violence. Out of nearly 900 million small arms in the world today, more than 75 percent are in the hands of private individuals-most of them men-putting women in these households at a significant risk.

Last Friday was the launch date for the campaign here in Nepal. SAP-Nepal, collaborating with SASA Net Nepal and Yatra, organized a bicycle rally to launch the campaign. More than 61 people (including myself!) participated in the rally, biking between four major political party offices and delivering a memorandum of policy suggestions to top party officials.

The party representatives who took the memorandum with appreciation and signed a commitment to “disarm domestic violence” included: Mr. Narayan Prasad Daha, Central Committee Member and CA Member of the UCPN-Maoist party; Mr. Nanda Kishore Yadav, Office Secretary of the Madhesee Youth Forum – Nepal (MJF); Mr. Ram Krishna Tamrakar, former minister and Center Committee Member of the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) party; and Mr. Ishwore Pokhrel, former minister and General Secretary of Nepali Congress (NC).

They agreed to bring up the issue, and the policy suggestions, at a future legislative meeting.

Supporters present policy recommendations to a Maoist party official

Supporters present policy recommendations to a Maoist party official

Mr. Ram Krishna Tamrakar, former minister and Center Committee Member of the Unified Marxist Leninist party signs the commitment to "disarm domestic violence"

Mr. Ram Krishna Tamrakar, former minister and Center Committee Member of the Unified Marxist Leninist party signs the commitment to "disarm domestic violence"

More photos from the event can be viewed here. Also, look forward some of my video footage in the coming week!

I was recently introduced to a Hebrew phrase that explains, in the most concise way, why I am drawn to social justice.

“Tikkun Olam.” More or less, the world is in great need of repair.

It is perhaps this challenge that interests me: we live in a world that has more problems than we will ever have solutions. For every moment of triumph, we encounter a new and increasingly more complex issue. But I find it takes more than a good challenge to travel halfway around the world to a nation recently divided by civil war. It takes a desire to truly comprehend real suffering-an attempt to witness firsthand the sorest of shoes-to understand that civil and human rights as I know them are not universal.

We, as human beings, have a social responsibility to help.

Two weeks from today I will be on a flight to Kathmandu, Nepal in an effort to understand the relationship between women’s rights, domestic violence, and international security. I will be working for the South-Asia Partnership, a regional office affiliated with the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), on its “Disarming Domestic Violence” campaign. To be completely honest, I know very little about Nepal. What knowledge I do have consists of geographic landmarks, basic demographic information, and a barebones understanding of its recent history. Currently the youngest republic in the world, I will be traveling to a very unique place during an exceptionally important time.

I have no idea what to expect. One thing I did not expect-and recently discovered-is that it will be monsoon season. But I am prepared to encounter far more surprises. I hope to merge this experience with others that I have had for a more comprehensive idea of global issues. I have never been to Nepal, but I have been to less developed countries. I am eager to explore a new place and provide an international context to domestic violence and gun control.

I hope that you will share this journey with me over the next two and a half months by continuing to follow this blog. My next post will likely be from Doha, Qatar, during a 15 hour layover. In the meantime, please explore the websites of IANSA and the South-Asia Partnership to learn more about the organizations that I will be working with this summer.

Map of Nepal