Child Rights Campaign Expresses Deep Concern Over Rising Sexual Violence Against Girls in Nepal

Kathmandu. The National Campaign for Children as Peace Zone (Cizap) has expressed concern over the recent incidents of sexual violence, rape, murder, and exploitation against girls and adolescents.

Cizap expressed serious concern over the incident in Birendranagar, Surkhet, where a 16-year-old adolescent girl, Inisha BK, was gang-raped and murdered, the gang rape of a 12-year-old girl in Kanchanpur, and the incident in Dailekh where a 12-year-old girl was raped and became pregnant by her own uncle.

Similarly, Cizap stated that the incident in Tikapur, Kailali, where a girl was blackmailed and continuously raped for four years after being filmed nude through acquaintance made on social media, shows the horrific extent of digital sexual exploitation and long-term violence against girls.

Cizap Chairman Tilottam Poudel issued a statement today indicating that these incidents signal a growing trend of crimes such as sexual violence, physical abuse, online harassment, and murder against girls and adolescents in Nepal, and that such heinous violence against children is a serious violation of the right to child protection guaranteed by the International Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Constitution of Nepal.

The statement read, "We demand a swift, impartial, and transparent investigation into all incidents, strict legal action against the perpetrators according to the law, and the provision of psychosocial counseling, legal aid, and appropriate compensation to the victims and their families."