Kathmandu, March 22, 2007

Survivors of human trafficking today demanded that the provision of providing compensation to the survivors be included in the Human Trafficking Bill, which has been tabled in the parliament.

The demand came at the conclusion of a three-day ‘National Consultation on Access to Justice for Trafficked Persons’, organised jointly by the Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women (GAATW), Women’s Rehabilitation Centre and the Alliance Against Trafficking in Women in Nepal (AATWIN).

After consultations, 23 survivors of trafficking, lawyers, human rights advocates, police personnel, public prosecutors and participants concluded that compensation is essential as the survivors suffer gross rights violations.

The survivors need compensation also to restart their lives.” The current Bill has the provision of imposing fine on the traffickers. Fifty per cent of the fine will go to the survivors and 50 per cent to a State fund for providing rehabilitation and services to the trafficked persons.

Demanding that 100 per cent of the fine collected from the traffickers be paid to them, the survivors said the money generated by the traffickers through the trafficking be collected in the fund.

“Trafficking survivors, their families and community workers have to face social stigma, discrimination and threat from traffickers,” Dr Renu Rajbhandari, president of the WOREC, said.

Surya Nepal Masters 2007 to be held next week

The major international golfing event in Nepal, Surya Nepal Masters-2007 has been scheduled for March 27-31 at the Le Meridien Kathmandu Gokarna Forest Golf Resort & Spa.

The main event, Surya Nepal Masters, will be played on March 28-31, while Standard Chartered Pro Am will be held a day earlier. About 90 amateurs and 30 professionals will participate in the Pro-Am event, the organisers said in a release today.

Surya Nepal Masters will witness some of the top golfers from India and Malaysia along with Nepali professionals vying for Rs 324,000 winner’s cheque. The field for the main event includes the likes of India’s current No 2 Ashok Kumar, former Indian Open winners Vijay Kumar and Feroz Ali, the 2004 Surya Nepal Masters winner Shiv Prakash, Rohtas Singh, Yusuf Ali, Harinder Gupta and Parnita Garewal including three Malaysia golfers, the release added.

Professional golfers Deepak Acharya, Sabin Sapkota, Deepak Thapa Magar, Ramesh Nagarkoti and Pashupati Sharma will lead the Nepali challenge in the Rs two million event. Main sponsor Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd, however, said that they were forced to stage the event before holding Surya Nepal Western Open as has been the case in the previous years.