For the study, the four SDGs were reviewed as such WOREC has been relentlessly working since twenty six years on women’s health, gender equality, safe migration and advocacy on decent work and climate action in 9 different districts namely Kailali, Dang, Udayapur, Morang, Sunsari, Siraha, Dhanusha, Bardiya and Sindhuli. Though goal 8 and 13 are not being reviewed in HLPF this year, WOREC reviewed these goals being these its expertise areas so that the human and financial resources can be maximised in reviewing the implementation of SDGs at local level. WOREC’s human resources in aforementioned districts were mobilized to carry out focus group discussions and key informant interviews. During the data collection at the grassroots level, the community people were oriented on the basic knowledge on SDGs. Realizing that the local government officers such as women and children officers present in all the districts of Nepal are the key people to implement SDGs, WOREC facilitated orientations on SDGs, making them accountable to its execution. Additionally, awareness was raised among the networks and groups at the grass roots including women human rights defenders.

This book analyzes contemporary issues in governance, policy management, and policy performance both at the central and local levels in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The focus is on some central social issues such as empowerment, the inclusion of minorities, institutional trust, policy implementation, and local service delivery. Although these three countries have recently opted for democratic governance, the journey to establish and consolidate democracy as well as enhance governance capacity have been painful and filled with challenges. The chapters in this volume are country specific studies based on empirical data both quantitative and qualitative collected for several years and presented in readable prose. This does not, however, rule out the general applicability of the findings to other contexts within and beyond the borders of these countries. Despite huge differences in South Asia, the policy and governance issues and challenges that are explored, highlighted, and analyzed also have commonalities with other South Asian countries.

A brutal gang-rape of a young woman in India in 2012 caused a global outcry against rising brutal violence against women. In response to the young woman's death and the protests that followed, the contributors analyze the position of women in South Asia, the issue of violence, women's political activism and gender inequalities.

This collection of chapters tracks and explains the impact of the nine core United Nations human rights treaties in 20 selected countries, four from each of the five UN regions. Researchers based in each of these countries were responsible for the chapters, in which they assess the influence of the treaties and treaty body recommendations on legislation, policies, court decisions and practices. By covering the 20 years between July 1999 and June 2019, this book updates a study done 20 years ago.

This collection of essays in honour of Professor Leo Bouchez covers a wide variety of topics within the field of international law and related disciplines which Professor Bouchez came into contact with over the course of his long and distinguished career as a practising attorney. The contributions, by a distinguished group of friends and professional colleagues, reflect the diversity of his intellectual interests and professional activities, of both a theoretical and a practical nature. The essays include such topics as jurisdiction, extradition law, human rights and self-determination, the use of force and the enforcement of United Nations sanctions, territory and the law of the sea, as well as essays on municipal law topics relating to international law and on international relations. Professor Bouchez was a senior partner in the firm of Houthoff and Associates and Adjunct Professor of International Law at the University of Utrecht until his retirement in 1998.

While gender-based violence occurs in all societies irrespective of the level of development or cultural setting, whether in conflict or peacetime, the challenges for legal responses to gender-based violence are particularly acute in Asia. This book addresses the lack of academic discourse on gender-based violence in Asia beyond domestic violence, by demonstrating that gendered violence exists within many different contexts and is perpetuated by multiple actors. Bringing together scholars, legal practitioners and human rights advocates, the book examines the intersections between gender, violence and the state in Asian contexts. It considers the role of state institutions in perpetuating and preventing violence based on gender and identity, and thus contributes to growing scholarship around due diligence standards under international law. Analyzing both physical and structural gender-based violence, it scrutinizes how such violence exists within a landscape shaped by distinct cultural norms, laws and policies, and grapples with how to practically translate international human rights standards about state responsibility into these complex domestic environments. Contributors from diverse backgrounds draw on case studies and empirical research to ground this academic scholarship in lived experiences of individuals and their communities in Asia. By bridging the divide between policy, laws and practice to offer a unique insight into both theoretical and practical responses to how gender-based violence is understood within communities and state institutions in Asian countries, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Asian studies, Gender Studies and Law.

Across the world women constitute an integral part of the agricultural sector. This volume is based on feminist responses to farming women’s struggle for economic rights and social justice in Asia, and seeks to provide a greater understanding of the development consequences of women’s marginal, limited ownership rights to land and other productive assets. Using comprehensive analyses, quantitative and qualitative data, and case studies from India, China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and other countries of the Asia-Pacific region, this volume brings together scholars and activists engaged with women’s unmediated entitlement to land and productive assets. While generally taking a position in favour of asset redistribution, the volume addresses two major issues: first, the conflict between legal measures and socio-cultural norms, in a context where laws that seek to secure gender equality and women’s economic empowerment are often overruled by norms that favour men; and second, how changes in the global economy in relation to traditional farming practices have adversely impacted women’s rights, especially in regions where they previously enjoyed more customary rights in asset control and management. The book draws attention to issues of economic security, gender equitable access to resources and asset-building, human rights and law, land-based livelihoods, caste and ethnic diversity, and voices in the women’s movements. This book will be useful to policy makers, civil society organisations, researchers and students of gender and women’s studies, development studies, sociology, economics and agriculture.