6 May 2020, Kathmandu: Duty of state to protect basic human rights of people persists during time of crisis. The current pandemic situation caused by Covid-19 has adversely affected the lives of people all around the globe. Amid this critical situation, the Human Rights Monitoring Committee, Nepalgunj, in which Advocacy Forum-Nepal is also a member, monitored the human rights situation in Banke district and draws attention of the stakeholders concerned during meeting and submitted an attention letter. Likewise, they issued a press statement in order to bring various issues of human rights to the attention of concerned stakeholders.
The committee found that many of the quarantine facilities in Banke district are not as per the standards set by the Government of Nepal. The committee found problems in quarantines such as those related to health check-up, food quality, sanitation and other health services. Furthermore, they have stressed that relief distribution to the needy people should be carried out as per the procedures prescribed by the Government. It should be transparent so that genuinely needy and marginalized people have access to the relief packages distributed by the Government.
The committee has further expressed concerns on the various problems related to health services. One of the major problem highlighted is that the private hospitals and health service providers are not providing quality health services. There is a lack of essential medicines, birthing centers are not being regulated, and in some places health workers are not obeying the directions/orders of local level government. Likewise, the activists also requested that security personnel and health workers be provided with Personal Protection Equipment and other necessary health equipment. The committee also highlighted that the plight of farmers as there is lack of seeds and fertilizers for agriculture. One the one hand the vegetables grown locally are being wasted because of lack of transportation and on the other hand the vegetables imported from India are being sold directly to the consumers at high price.
With an aim to monitor the situation of human rights during this crisis and draw the attention of the concerned stakeholders to protect and promote the basic rights of people, the committee has urged the government to provide support and make the conducive environment to the activists to monitor the human rights situation in the district. As of the day, 24 cases of COVID-19 positive cases are found in Banke district.
For further details of the attention letter, please find the attention letter attached. Attention letter of Monitoring Committee in Banke
