Kathmandu, April 25, 2007

The Supreme Court has issued directives to the government to review overall domestic child adoption law, making it compatible with international law so to bring an end to child trafficking in the name of adoption.

A division bench of Justices Khil Raj Regmi and Sharada Prasad Pundit passed the strictures directing the government authorities — the Prime Minister’s Office and the Cabinet, the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare — to review the domestic legal provisions in this regard. Justices Regmi and Pundit signed the full text of the judgment yesterday and the SC is preparing to forward the text to the defendants for their initiatives to implement the directives.

The bench directed the authorities to suitably amend the draft of the Civil Code 2006 before its promulgation and implementation, as it is now a public document. The bench ruled that the existing domestic legal provisions are not enough to regulate child adoption in the country.

According to the figures of the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, 1,715 children were adopted after 2000.

The Ministry of Home Affairs allows the inter-country adoption of children and Nepalese have been adopted in 17 countries, including US, Italy, France and Spain. On an average, more than 300 adopted children are sent abroad.

How come, why, tell us, MP urges Koirala

Kathmandu, April 25, 2007

Maoist lawmaker Janardan Sharma ‘Prabhakar’ today demanded Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s clarification on what the army did yesterday when king Gyanendra visited the Dakshinkali temple.

“The Prime Minster must give a clarification on the Dakshinkali incident. It is obvious that it was well planned and the security provided to the king was excessive,” he said, addressing a talk programme at New Media Club. The army had played the scrapped national anthem and gave the king a 21-gun salute, even though the king is no more the head of state or the supreme commander of the army.

He said the prime minister, who holds charge of the portfolio of defence, is responsible for whatever the Nepal Army does. “It was quite surprising that on the one hand the prime minister received the salute as the head of state at Tundhiklel and on the other hand, the king was given the salute by the army at Dakshinkali,” he said, charging Koirala with protecting regression from Baluwatar. Sharma said collaboration among the pro-republican parties will start very soon. “We are working with the UML and with leaders of the NC and NC-D to form a front,” he said, adding that NC must come up with a clear stand on republic now.