Kathmandu, August 11

The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare is preparing to set up rapid response teams in all 744 local levels of the country with a view to protecting the rights of women, children, elderly people and the disabled from violence and immediately responding to their complaints.

Organising a press meet in Kathmandu today, Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Asha Koirala said MoWCSW would be the first among all ministries of Nepal to have such teams comprising police personnel, legal practitioners, mediapersons, local level office bearers and civil society members, among others. It is said that the teams will collect complaints regarding violence against women, children, elderly people and the disabled and will swing into action at the local level. “We will also have helpline service at the central level,” she said.

“We are launching this programme to control domestic violence, superstitions and social malpractices such as chhaupadi, violence in the name of witchcraft  and criminal activities like human trafficking, murder and rape.

Koirala informed that the ministry would take measures to ensure right to information of the people with hearing impairment in telecast programmes with help of Nepal Television. Likewise, it will coordinate with Nepal Telecom to make sure that video calls are easier to have between any two bilingual persons, within the next six months.

Koirala also said hearing aid materials would be distributed free of cost to people with hearing loss in coordination with various agencies.