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The Advocacy Forum and Human Rights Film Week 2012: A Collaborative Engagement | Veneeta Singha 2012
Mandira Sharma, President of the Advocacy Forum, was the guest speaker at a Human Rights Film Focus Nepal (HRFFN) Community Screening of the film IMPUNITY at 1905 Restaurant in Kathmandu last year. Her insights and the Advocacy Forum's work paved the way for a near-complete film going experience. The film IMPUNITY brings to light a number of traumatic and controversial aspects of the conflict in Colombia. Closer to home, the insurgency in Nepal ended in 2006. However, many important matters remain unresolved and hidden from the public sphere.
Following the screening, Mandira spoke, at length, with HRFFN on the Advocacy Forum's focus on the plight of conflict victims in Nepal. The Forum is mandated to document and monitor cases of human rights violations in Nepal perpetrated by the State apparatus and Armed Groups during the 10-year long insurgency. It provides free legal aid and advice to conflict victims and incorporates key dimensions of human rights crimes - namely, torture, sexual abuse, extra-judicial killing and disappearance.
HRFFN is seen as a key ally of Advocacy Forum Nepal for raising awareness of human rights principles and practices and amplifying the voices of conflict victims. Importantly, proper documentation of conflict and human rights issues and violations alongside effective public advocacy and awareness have formed the foundation of the partnership. Human Rights Film Week 2012 was designed at a crucial juncture in contemporary Nepal. The Advocacy Forum's support for and partnership with HRFFN enabled the Film Week program to encompass an impressive array of films and documentaries.
Mandira also highlighted the lack of public debate and discussion on human rights violations in Nepal as well as the silence this has engendered with regard to conflict victims. The Forum recently released two documentaries on conflict-related disappearances and on people abducted and detained during the insurgency. These films were part of the Human Rights Film Week 2012 screenings.
In addition, the Forum advocates for international standards and obligations on human rights; works towards policy interventions; engages in media briefings on human rights issues and organizes victim groups for effective victim empowerment, starting at the VDC level. The commitment required in Nepal for effective conflict resolution is, as yet, inadequate, at best, given the urgent need for accountability and rule of law in post-conflict Nepal.
With the massive scale of human rights violations perpetrated during the insurgency, the Advocacy Forum's work and support for the Human Rights Film Week in November has helped raise public consciousness on human rights and helped to amplify voices of conflict in Nepal and around the world.
Mandira and her work are featured in The Sari Soldiers, a film by Julie Bridgham. With Mandira's compelling perspectives, intrepid approach and equally sensitive contextualization, the film sheds light on a disturbing period during the recent insurgency in Nepal. The Sari Soldiers was telecast on Nepal Television on December 8 in a collaborative initiative with HRFFN as part of its 'Watch, Talk, and Walk' for Human Rights Campaign in support of International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2012.
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