Action Volunteer Alliance

These are some highlights I found on websites about Nepal. I would like to add that there is peace in Nepal now, some of these articles are a couple of years old but will still give you an idea of what these people have had to endure. Some of them will also give you an idea of how the social structure in Nepal works. Click on the links below them and you can read the whole story. 

“conservative estimates, published by the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, state that 5000 to 7000 Nepalese women are sent every year to brothels in India.”  http://www.kurakani.tk/Article84.phtml

“In Nepal, disparities are also closely linked to the Hindu caste system that divides the population into dozens of hereditary groups. At the top of the social order are members of the Brahman class of priests and scholars, followed by the Kshatriya (rulers and warriors), the Vaishya (merchants), and the Sudra (peasants and manual laborers). The lowest position in the social order is occupied by the Dalits, also referred to as "untouchables." For example, Dalits may not enter temples or fetch water from wells that are also used by members of higher castes. Although caste-based discrimination was outlawed in Nepal in 1963 it is still present in Nepali society.”

 

“Overall, 30.9 percent of all Nepali children of secondary school age attend secondary school.” http://huebler.blogspot.com/search/label/Nepal

"Children faced human rights abuses from both sides of the conflict. THere were reports of children being detained and tortured by security forces, as well as being abducted and recruited by the CPN (Maoist). Children were also killed in indiscriminate attacks and were particularly at risk from improvised explosive devices planted by the CPN (Maoist) in civilian areas."

"Many children died from poverty and disease, exacerbated by the conflict. Many schools were forcibly closed by the CPN (Maoist) and thousands of schoolchildren abducted for "political education" sessions." http://www.amnestynepal.org/news_aireport.php

“Nepal's Maoist rebels announced plans to raise a militia of 50,000 children by April, amid reports of mass abduction, even sexual abuse of kids, who they allegedly use as cannon fodder.” http://www.antiwar.com/article.php?articleid=2054

“…the first case of HIV in Nepal was reported in 1988 and nearly 60,000 people were infected with the virus by 2003. It is predicted that AIDS will become the leading cause of death among the nation’s 15- to 49-year-olds in the next decade.”  http://www.titanmag.com/news/2007/kottler/

“A Maoist rebellion that began in 1996 in the remote hill districts of the Mid-Western region later intensified and spread across large parts of the country. Many areas fell completely under rebel control. More than 14,000 Nepalese were killed in the conflict and about 600,000 have been internally displaced or made homeless. In addition, more than 2 million people are believed to have fled to India.” http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/english/regions/asia/npl/index.htm

"The Nepalese government admitted that half of the country's 500 orphanages are involved in the illegal "sale" of children to foreign couples." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/12/wnepal12.xml

This is from "An Inconvenient Truth". Al Gore is talking about the Himalayas. “40 percent of all the people of the world get their drinking water from rivers and spring systems that are fed more than half by the melt-water coming off these glaciers” http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=57523

"...at lest 15,000 children below five die every year in Nepal because of diarrhea." http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200606/03/eng20060603_270801.html