“Violence Against Women is perverse and it is a gross violation of human rights. It is complex and has taken dangerous form. One such form of Violence is Women being labeled as witches that is not only limited to a certain group of economically marginalized women or certain category such as Single women but it cross cuts through every group of women from different region, caste, class etc”. This statement was shared by the Chief Guest of the event, Honorable member of the Constituent Assembly, Dama Sharma during the launch of the Report on Labelled as Witches, Prosecuted, Tortured and Stigmatized by WOREC Nepal on 11 December, 2009. The guests for this launch was Hononorable Constituent Assembly member Prativa Rana, Women Human Rights Defender and member of Nepali Congress Chitralekha Yadav, Dr. Trolichan Upreti, Secretary, Office of the Prime Minister,Human Rights Defenders Mr. Subodh Pyakurel from INSEC, Human Right Defender Ms. Mandira Sharma, Advocacy Forum, Human Rights Defender Mr. Charan Prasai, HURFON and Mr. Richard Bennet, Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights ( OHCHR) respectively. The first report of its kind encapsulated the situational analysis of the women being labeled as witches and drafted a roadmap on how to address this heinous crime and way forward. Dr. Renu Rajbhandari, Chairperson of WOREC Nepal shared that this report has also tried to give an in depth analysis and lesson learnt that this information at the tip of the iceberg and there is a need to further work on it. She added that this report has been done on the basis of 82 cases from June 2007 – September 2009. The methodology has been done on the basis of primary and secondary sources where 40 cases have been documented by WOREC Nepal where 42 cases have been documented from various media sources magnifying the sensitivity of media in reporting and disseminating such incidents. According to the data, 67% of the women who were labeled as witches were married. The information collected shows that married women seemed to be more at risk of being accused of being witches than single women, contradicting the belief that accusations are normally levied at widows and women who for some reason or another are not married. Similarly the information challenges another preconceived notion that women are “safe” after marriage. This study suggests that most of the cases of married women who has been accused as wtiches are either those who don't have children and their husbands are abroad working leaving them “unprotected". Likewise beating is the most common forms of violence where 35% of the women have been found to be beaten either by their neighbors or other members of the community. The community that is meant to act as a support mechanisms are the main perpetrators of the violence. A correlation between accusations as witches and the subsequent violations seems to exist between incidents, such as disease affecting the community, that threaten the established power and privilege positions and relations within that community. The “less-protected” and powerless, the widows and the outsiders are blamed for the incidents and accused of being witches. Amongst the distribution of the survivors in terms of development regions, it has been seen that eastern region of Nepal has reported the highest number of cases with 41% indicating that the Women Human Rights Defenders Network and documenters in that region is active and also the terai belts are located in those regions where the practice of women labeled as witches is high. Far Western region has documented only one case of women being labeled as witches and there is a need to seek spaces on how to break the feudal structures so that women can come forward and report the cases. In addition of the total cases documented the most vulnerable group who are accused as witches are the Janjati and Dalit women. Janjati women comprise of 33% followed by Dalit women 30%. 10% non dalit , 10% muslims and than the figure is slightly lower of Brahmin and Chhetri which is 6% and 7% respectively. This evidence contradicts the belief that not only dalit women who have been marginalized and excluded in the society are labeled as witches but it is even in janajati who maintain and enjoy certain power and privileges in the society and it is believed it is because of this power of control over certain aspects of their lives, sexuality that they have been targeted. Muslim community is minority groups. Small in numbers then the percentage of women victims of accusations of witchcraft and abuse is relatively high. Such incidence is perverse in small pocket areas inhabited by the moslim community. This is quite alarming and muslim women have faced discrimination as being minority and of religious beliefs. Dr. Rajbhandari concluded that practice of women being labelled as witches reinforces the culture of patriarchy and feudal structure. There is a need to link this practise as a part of Economic Social Cultural Rights with focus on Right to Health and culture where women have been subjected to violence and used as a weapon to control their bodily integrity, sexuality and mobility. In the early days, there used to a common practice of traditional health measures and people did not have access to health facilities hence if anyone fell sick, it used to blamed on women who were not “ liked” as witches and her evil eye is the culprit behind such mishap. Hence it is important to assess the situation of health in Nepal. Given the structures of health system in Nepal, there is lack of access to She shared that in a report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women on Culture has shared that "Across all regions of the world, culture is a primary source of normative systems that provides the rationale for patterns of gender relations and the continuation ofeveryday practices over time. Culture evolves as a response to different and competing individual and collectiveneeds and aspirations, which makes culture diverse and dynamic. However, at any given time, dominant interpretations of culture may be legitimised and imposed on a society or a community. The assertions of dominant interpretations of culture, in seemingly diverse socio-cultural settings, are often similar to the extent that they (i) presuppose a static and homogenous set of values and norms that govern the lives of a collective entity; (ii) reflect and reinforce hegemonic and patriarchal power relations.Such cultural discourses are at odds with universal cultural standards". Recommendations were presented to the government and civil society in how they can play an active role in ending such a gross violation of human rights. Some of the recommendations to the government was to develop massive campaign on awareness about alleged as witches and the need to restructure the feudal and patriarchal structures and the need to strengthen the Women's Cell to promote justice. The Civil Society were recommended to raise advocacy programmes on women being labeled as witches and sensitive the media about the prevailing cases and follow up. The guests also stressed on the accountability of the government and need to address the rampant impunity that has created obstacle in access to justice. There are no specific laws on women being labeled a witches but there are many legal mechanisms that can be accessed however there is weakness and inefficiency in the part of the Police personnels to recognize this heinous violation as a crime and human right violation. The Police do not tend to follow due process of law and send it back to the community to be dealt a it is an issue that should be resolved in the community.