Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizen Tham Maya Thapa, who is in New York to participate in the CSW-63, said that Nepal attaches great importance to the work of CSW. In her opening remarks, Minister Thapa said that the Constitution of Nepal has enshrined social security as the fundamental right.

Organised by Permanent Mission of Nepal to the UN, various speakers spoke in a side event entitled ‘Empowering Women through Social Protection: A Case of Nepal’ in the margins of the 63rd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW63) at the UN Headquarters.

Panelists of the event included Dr. A.H. Monjurul Kabir, Senior Policy Advisor for Rule of Law, Justice and Security at the UN-Women; Dr. Bishnu Maya Pariyar, a social entrepreneur; Arpana Rayamajhi, Jeweler and Artist based in New York City; Rudra Devi Sharma, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen; and Bandana Rana, Vice-Chair, Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

The panelists shared their diverse range of perspectives on the importance of social protection system. Dr. Kabir highlighted the importance of ensuring social protection through legal provisions so that change in the political system or economic crisis do not deprive the disadvantaged groups from the social protection schemes. Similarly, Dr. Pariyar said that rather than distributing cash to marginalized communities there should be a holistic approach to address their needs.

While Rayamajhi shared her personal story on the role of support system for successful startups, another panelist Sharma gave a comprehensive picture of social protection schemes in Nepal and the Government’s initiatives, policies and programs for the empowerment of women and girls. Likewise, Rana shared her perspective on inter-linkages among Sustainable Development Goals, social protection and CEDAW. She also highlighted the importance of quality, accessible service, enabling environment, valuing domestic unpaid care to uplift the status of women.

Ambassador Rai, the Permanent Representative, welcomed all the participants to the event and also summed up the discussions into four concrete points: importance of constitutional and legal provisions, adequate resources, capacity and focused approach. The event was moderated by Mudita Bajracharya, First Secretary at the Mission. The Event was participated by representatives of Permanent Missions and CSW delegations of different countries, civil society dedicated to women's issues, among others.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari, who was in New York to participate in the High-Level event, ‘Women in Power' organized by the President of the United Nations General Assembly, left for Kathmandu today concluding her four-day visit.

She was seen off at the John F. Kennedy International Airport by Arjun Kumar Karki, Ambassador of Nepal to the United States and Amrit Bahadur Rai, Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations.