Welcoming to the participants Om Prakash Sen Thakuri from AF said that there is need of more discussions and strategic advocacy plans to bring the conflict related sexual violence cases in the attention of the government. On the similar note, Ranjeeta Silwal from HRJC shed light on the overview of the research conducted by the HRJC on conflict related sexual violence. The panel discussion was moderated by Biju Kandel from TSK. Speaking in the first phase of the discussion, the first panelist, Sushila Chaudhary from CVWNA expressed that Government should be pressurized to collect the actual data of the victims subjected to sexual violence during the conflict. The second panelist, Dr. Mandira Sharma from ICJ elaborated on the psychosocial, legal and social hindrances while investigating the cases of conflict-related sexual violence. Similarly, Advocate Raju Prasad Chapagain, one of the three panelists, expressed that the State has always been discriminatory towards the victims of conflict-related sexual violence as it did not even consider such victims for the interim relief. Chapagain also discussed on how provisions of fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of Nepal can be strategically used for the legal proceeding of such cases. As a Keynote Speaker, Murari Kharel, Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission remarked that NHRC has taken some steps to make the Government accountable in this regard and prior to taking any steps, consent of victim is the must.

During the second phase of the program, there was rigorous discussion among the participants on the identification of the way forward. The participants were of the opinion that continuous lobbying and strategic litigation is instrumental to bring the attention of the Government towards the issues and concerns of the victims of conflict related sexual violence. The program ended with Maina Rawal from CVWNA, thanking the participants for the active participation.