More than 13,000 people lost their lives and many others suffered in different ways during the Maoist led armed conflict that lasted for ten years (through 2006) in Nepal (Nepal Human Rights Year Book 2006). Many people are still missing and many more have been displaced. The lives of women in particular have been affected with the heightened prevalence of gender-based violence during the armed conflict and post conflict transition period. This essay addresses how the warring sides in this period of conflict used gendered strategies to wage war against each other and the implications of such tactics. For this article, gender-based violence is defined as violence which is derived from unequal power relationships between men and women in which women are generally the victims.
This article is based on fieldwork carried out from January to April 2011, as part of a multi-level study to assess gender-based violence during armed conflict and transition period in Nepal. The comprehensive peace accord between the then time government and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) in 2006 ended the armed conflict. Simultaneously, it also moved the country into republican system overthrowing the monarchy and the existing constitution. However, new constitution has not formulated yet and this has escalated the chaos in different aspects of social life in Nepal and thus this period is commonly regarded as transitional phase. The author-led team collected qualitative information from two districts, Rautahat and Bara from southern part of Nepal. The inhabitants of the area and thus respondents of the study were from different caste and ethnic groups. The study sites were chosen in consultation with key informants while the victims were selected through snow balling process, in which the victims identified by the key informants gave the clues about the other victims residing in their locality.
Forms of Gender-based Violence in Nepal
Women have been identified by 54.5% respondents as the primary victim of gender-based violence during conflict and transition period (NCCR report, 2011). They were victimized in numerous ways such as harassment, beating, physical torture, rape and sexual abuse. Women themselves or their family members were kidnapped, murdered and displaced. No matter who the perpetrators were and what kind of violence women endured, girls and women were subjected to repeated victimization. Such cycles of violence commenced by forcing the victims to keep silent, blaming them for bringing it on themselves, or abusing them verbally. Accusations of witchcraft and women?s trafficking were other serious forms of violence during the transition.
Locals regarded the post-conflict time as a transitional phase. They realized that their lives were much more relaxed in the post-conflict period. However, a wide number of violent activities continued during the transitional period. In some ways, the method, target and means of executing violence remained similar, but increasing involvement of civilians made this period different.
Violence from the ?outsiders? was a salient feature of this armed conflict. Females during the conflict became vulnerable because of an absence of male family members at home, limited security at the community level, and increased power of the armed forces. Though the degree of victimization decreased in the post-conflict period, women are still victimized in the post-conflict context. The new perpetrators of violence are not strangers to the community, rather, are from their neighborhood and kin group. Some males were also victimized during the conflict, particularly by armed groups through forced recruitment, kidnapping, physical torture and even murder. Fortunately, such mayhem has declined remarkably in the post-conflict era.
Consequences on Victims
The armed conflict and the transition in Rautahat and Bara have adversely affected the individual, family, kin networks, and community. It has influenced various aspects of social life of women. Associated with high degree of stigma, widowhood, for many women, had been the onset of misery in their life (Dahal 2010). In addition to losing their life partners, the loss of income for the family escalates both the economic impact and the work burden. In a patriarchal society, with the loss of her husband, a woman often becomes discriminated against and disrespected in her everyday life. Often the widow is blamed for her husband?s death. In many cases in-laws create a situation where the widow is compelled to leave the family.
Domestic violence against women in this post-conflict time has increased. A significant number of respondents equated domestic violence with the gender-based violence (NCCR 2011). However, domestic violence is so deeply embedded in the social structure that often both the perpetrators and victims do not regard it as violence. It operates as a structural violence (Galtung 1969) exerted by a patriarchal social structure.
Vulnerability at home comes both from inside and outside of the house. Married men rape women, especially their close relatives, when their wives are away. Local people consider this a result of the criminal mentality of the perpetrators but also add that such tainted acts have been flourishing. As a result, the family, which used to be a space for and symbol of safety, has become an unsafe place. The outsiders have been attacking people at their own homes for various reasons such as accusations of being a Maoist or anti-Maoist, not supporting political agendas, not paying ?donations?, spying, or simply being suspicious to the group. Vulnerability of a woman multiplies if a male family member has already been murdered, displaced or away from home because of the conflict-related matters.
Vulnerability, suspicion and insecurity created by the conflict and transitions have threatened social connectedness (Lee et al. 2001 in Journal of Counseling Psychology 48[3]), both inside the family and also among the community members. Victims feel that their fellow villagers have become indifferent to their problems. In compact settlements, where people interact regularly for their daily needs, indifference may gradually turn to animosity.
There have been some instances of communal violence since 2006. During the Madhesh movement in southern Nepal, there were several cases of looting, threat and physical torture to people simply based on their ethnicity. People who were not regarded as belonging to one?s group were regarded as enemy. To humiliate the others, their girls and women were targeted.
Such violence leaves irreparable psychological wounds. Victims undergo feelings of hopelessness, isolation and depression, and also face sleeping problems and nightmares. They also know that the perpetrators are not punished yet.
Enacting Body Politic
The powerful bodies, as Scheper-Hughes and Lock (The Mindful Body, 1987) would call the warring sides, employed body politics over the less powerful in many ways. The way they waged war against each other had a gendered effect on women?s lives. The perpetuation of this throughout the transition phase has further weakened the justice system; informal and local to the formal, and, thus, has curtailed the victim?s access to justice.
While different people became the victims of targeted assault, women suffered much more than men. Often women?s bodies became a battle ground over which opposing forces struggled. Different means of violence was employed against men and women. The variation has been based on how men, women and their bodies are perceived in the locality. For the physically strong men, the perpetrators employed the violence to weaken them. Likewise, as women are regarded as honor of the family and physically weak, so the perpetrators used the sexual and other means of violence to take away honor of the family.
Acknowledgements: I am indebted to UN Women and A2J Project (Enhancing Access to Justice for the Consolidation of Peace in Nepal) of UNDP for providing funding to conduct this study. I would like to thank David K Beine for his comments in the preparation of this article.
Kapil Dahal lecturer at the Central Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He earned an MA in medical anthropology from the University of Amsterdam and MA in social anthropology from Tribhuvan University. Dahal?s main areas of research interest are health/illness, health policy and planning, public health, body, violence, political economy of health, social and cultural change and development.
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