On April 1st 2025, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Women, Peace and Security organised a screening of the award-winning documentary, Devi, about Nepali conflict related sexual violence campaigner, Devi Khadka. The film addresses Khadka’s battle for justice for thousands of unrecognised survivors of sexual violence from Nepal’s ten year civil war, that ended in 2006. A third of the Maoist rebel fighters were women but only 314 sexual war crimes were registered with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Nepal, and none of those cases have been processed. Devi’s own horrific experience of rape taught her how to speak to fellow survivors. As the film unfolds we see women start to trust her with their stories and she builds a group to take to parliament and demand recognition and the same level of compensation received for other wartime injustices.  

The event—chaired by Baroness (Fiona) Hodgson, co-chair of the APPG-WPS – focused on the power of women to resolve the failings of a patriarchal peace process, what the international community and the UK could now do to support Khadka’s movement and the impact of the withdrawal of foreign aid by the U.S. and other governments in recent months.  

“Devi, gives us the impetus to continue the fight,” for the rights of women facing sexual violence in conflict, Baroness Hodgson said.  

Subina Shrestha is the director of the award-winning film, Devi. The filmmaking process catalysed Devi’s campaign for justice. Shrestha and the film’s producer, Rosie Garthwaite, have helped to raise funds and find in kind support for the organisation the women have built to support their campaign called The Undefeated or Aparajit in Nepali. In the panel that followed the screening of the film Subina Shrestha explained that on March 19th 2025 some 794 testimonies were officially accepted by TRC, gathered by Aparjit. She explained that in the end, realising the scale of the problem, Devi was “willing to take any risks” to see their testimonies properly recorded. Shrestha explained that while in August 2024 an amendment to the Transitional Justice law was passed enabling a pathway to justice for these women, that law is yet to be implemented. The commissioners of the TRC have not yet been appointed.  

Christina Lamb, OBE, is the chief foreign correspondent for The Sunday Times. Her book, Our bodies, Their Battlefield is a devastating account of warfare on women’s bodies during wars across the world. Lamb said that Devi was “a beautiful and chilling film”. She said that sexual violence like this was happening in conflicts around the world, victims rarely getting justice, “in fact, most of the time victims feel like they have done something wrong.” It has been 25 years since the UN Security Council adopted resolution (S/RES/1325) on women and peace and security on 31 October 2000. It was supposed to reduce rape being used as a weapon of war and increase the participation of women in peace processes. But Lamb says that data reveals the situation is in fact worse now for women in conflict. Despite that Lamb says she has always struggled to get editors to engage with stories of sexual violence in war. “It took Ukraine – a country in Europe – to get people reporting it more widely,” Lamb explains. But the lack of action by governments, even where there is attention, is “extremely disappointing,” Lamb says. Even ISIS fighters, whose abuses, of Yazidi women in particular, have been so widely reported. “Not a single one of them was tried for sexual violence.” Prosecutors, Lamb said, did not consider those crimes as serious as the others with which they were charged. 

Thomas Bell, a journalist and author, gave credit to the women who had managed to push through the amendment to the law in 2024 and also to the campaigners and politicians who, at the last minute, made it possible. Bell explained, “the reality is that the TRC needs a lot of support.” The sort of support Bell identified was international political pressure and sustained donor funding. “The hope is, it will be through a UN backed mechanism which will be a way to provide some guardrails to uphold to international standards and prevent political interference,” he explained.   

Ian Martin brought a special insight to the panel as he was the Personal Representative of the Secretary-General in Nepal, supporting the peace process 2006–2007. He was also Head of United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) 2006-2009. When the UNMIN left, Martin explained, there was a full report of war crimes, which included sexual violence. He paid respect to the women in the documentary and campaigners for keeping pressure up to see justice for nearly two decades. “But,” Martin said, he thought “criminal accountability is unlikely in Nepal”. In his experience “the TRC was seen as a way of avoiding criminal accountability rather than a route to it by the Maoists.” And further, ‘the Nepali army (accused of many of  these attacks) is essentially untouchable.” The UK has a strong relationship with the Nepal Army. Martin asked, “in what ways can the UK contribute to the current context.” 

Anneliese Dodds, MP, served as Minister for Development at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Minister for Women and Equalities at the Department for Education from July last year until a month ago. Baroness Hodgson took time to recognise the excellent job Dodds had done whilst a Minister. Dodds called the Devi documentary an “extraordinarily powerful film,” that “shows the horror and ambiguity that victims of sexual violence face.”….”Devi Khadka explores movingly in the film the difficulties of facing so many blocks to her progress by powerful men, some of them her own “comrades”.” Dodds says she found particularly poignant the comment Khadka made about how as long as there was impunity for war time criminals no daughter could be safe. Dodds echoed the words of Gisele Pelicot: “Shame has got to change sides.”  

The first question from the audience asked if there should be more focus on prevention since justice looked like such a remote possibility. There was a lot of push back on this idea from the panellists, Dodds said “Nothing will change if there is no chance that the people in charge can get in trouble.” 

Subina Shrestha was asked to describe the impact of the documentary in Nepal and talked about how the team had been screening the film to survivors around Nepal and that at each screening women came forward with new testimonies, many speaking to people for the first time about their experiences. For that reason there is a heavy cost of these screenings, as a trauma therapist and other support is needed for the women.  She also emphasised on the need for continued support for Devi and the survivors organisation.   

Miss Gillian A Dare, OBE and Lady Anne Greenstock both commented that their many years of experience campaigning for the rights of women has taught them that involving men in the work is crucial for success.  

Devi is touring festivals around the world, with simultaneously impact screenings being planned. The film is still seeking distribution in the UK.