Sapana Pradhan Malla

Sapana Pradhan Malla is known regionally for her fearless work on women's rights in Nepal. She is is the president of the Forum for Women , Law and Development, Nepal , an organisation that is working to implement CEDAW in the National context. Ms. Malla is a legal advocate and women's human rights activist, and has extensive experience in women's human rights, legal advocacy, law reform, public interest litigation and has worked with many international agencies and NGOs in women's rights implementation strategies. Her cases challenging unequal rape laws and inheritance laws are widely cited as instances in which the anti-discrimination clause of the CEDAW was successfully used to dismantle discriminatory laws affecting women in her country, for example, aiding the passage of a legislation that legalized abortion in Nepal in 2002. In addition, Ms. Malla has also been an Advisory Board Member for IWRAW Asia Pacific since 1998.

Publications:

“Challenging the Abortion Law in Nepal .” Arrows for Change. May 2002.
“Baseline Study on Inheritance Right of Women.” Forum for Women, Law and Development 2000.
“Property Right of Nepalese Women, Gender and Democracy in Nepal .” Modern Printing Press 2001.