New report on “National Dialogue on Affirmative Action and the Electoral System in Nepal”
The Enabling State Programme (ESP) just published “National Dialogue on Affirmative Action and the Electoral System in Nepal”, a summary of the findings of a two-day dialogue workshop organised in September 2004 by IDEA, SAGUN and the ESP.
Affirmative action, also known as positive discrimination, such as the use of electoral quotas for underrepresented groups, is usually used to address structural or systematic inequalities and certain groups’ long-term lack of access to resources ad opportunities.
The reports points out that:
Nepal remains a deeply divided and stratified society and democracy has not brought benefits to the vast majority of people. Women, Dalits, and most Janajatis are marginalised and lack political representation. They have been denied the power to implement policies and programmes for their advancement. According to Dr Harka Gurung, a speaker at the workshop, high caste Hindus continue to dominate Nepalese society as they hold more than 91% of prominent positions in politics and the bureaucracy, while the Nepalese Dalits, who make up around 12% of Nepal’s population, have no representation in the echelons of power.
Exclusion has contributed to the alienation of marginalised groups and provided a constituency for extra-parliamentary struggles.
Although affirmative action programmes challenge simplistic conceptions of equality, they do promote greater social equity. They are not short-term measures but must be implemented over time to combat the centuries of structural discrimination and exclusion that has characterised Nepali society.
The report is available here in English. For a hard copy, contact publications@idea.int
