AGENDA ITEM 4

Abstract

The Role of Criminal Justice in the Alleviation of Extreme Poverty

Kedar Paudel,
International Director, ACPF
Under Secretary,
Ministry of Law, Justice
and Parliamentary Affairs
HMG/Nepal

The condition of poverty in Nepal, being extraordinarily widespread, is a major challenge to the development of the country. Extreme poverty has deprived a vastly major portion of the population of the must basic necessities of life - that of food, lodging and clothing. Adequate nutrition, health care, education, decent work and pay, social security, and other amenities remain imaginary, even in the doorstep of the 21st century. This daunting condition is the consequence of diverse reasons, much of which has to do with the topography and also with the dysfunctional bureaucratic and politic status quo. The latter reason is, in fact, more of a hindrance to the alleviation of poverty than an actual cause of it. It dwells mainly on corruption, tax evasion, and other criminal offences of the kind. The mere presence of these factors, apart from the mishandling of large sums of foreign debts and grants, undermine the basic principals and values of government, rule of law and democracy. This is where criminal justice plays such a pivotal role in the alleviation of extreme poverty. Corruption, tax evasion and other related offences, properly controlled and eliminated, results not only in the true and prolific usage of the finances but also in the mass positive upheaval of the democratic ideology. The criminal justice system, by harnessing the vice of corruption and crime, removes the very instrument that hinders the process of poverty alleviation. The proper and organized application of this system and its improvement thus leaves no space for the malicious criminal environment. Bereaved of crimes, the process of poverty alleviation is smoothened, thus freeing the largely poor population of their poverty and lead them towards prosperity.