KATHMANDU, Nepal — The government of Nepal last week ordered more than 24,000 adult entertainment sites blocked, according to Al Jazeera.
The reason, according to Al Jazeera's report, is to put a clamp on sexual violence in the country, which was said to have doubled in the past several months.
"Easy access to porn and vulgar content through the internet has affected our social values and social harmony and it has encouraged sexual violence," the government said in a statement to Al Jazeera.
The list of sites authorities told providers to block has not been made public. Just 60 percent of Nepal's population has access to the web, so the state crackdown raises questions about the efficacy of blocking online adult content to curb sexual violence.
Binaya Bohara, CEO of Vianet, an ISP, warned that the government's directive would be difficult to follow.
"There are many back-end ways to reach these sites. It's not a very effective way of doing things," Bohara was quoted in Al Jazeera.
The real problem with sexual violence in Nepal is the lack of justice for women who do take complaints of domestic and sexual violence to the police, according to women's rights activist Mohna Ansari of the National Human Rights Commission, who added that country lawmakers are "closing their eyes to the reality."
Nepal is a landlocked country in South Asia sharing its borders with China in the north and India on three other sides.
