Nepal ratifies SAARC conventions

Nepali House of Representatives (HoR), or parliament, has ratified two South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) conventions on women and children trafficking for prostitution and children's welfare respectively, the Nepali National News Agency RSS reported Wednesday.

The 11th SAARC meeting held in 2002 at Kathmandu, had passed the SAARC Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking of Women and Children for Prostitition-2002 and the SAARC Convention on Regional Arrangement for the Promotion of Child Welfare in South Asia-2002.

The first convention has provisions of enhancing and widening areas to combat such crimes. It has paved the way for legal cooperation to punish those involved in the heinous crimes.

Trafficking of women and children for prostitution has been a major problem nowadays, according to RSS.

Around 7,000 Nepali women and children were sold to India and other gulf countries for prostitution, according to social organizations working to prevent such crimes in Nepal.

Another convention has provisions on how to ensure children's welfare and development.

The two conventions were ratified by the HoR on Tuesday's meeting.

Source: Xinhua