Living in the shadows of the ‘people’s war’

Devi Khadka of the National Organisation of Wartime Rape Victims is worried about Nepal’s transitional justice process. She recently was in a camp treating sexual abuse survivors during the armed conflict when a Gynaecologist rushed to her to tell how a rape survivor needed a hospital immediately as her vagina was exuding pus.

“The state of sexual abuse and rape survivors in the country is dire. They need counselling and medical help. If we cannot provide that to them immediately, lives cannot be saved,” she said speaking at a programme in Kathmandu. “How long will it take for the leaders to draft and implement the Transitional Justice Act?”