 
The civil war in Nepal between Maoist rebels and government forces has affected 73 of the 75 districts in the country, and has led to more than 8,000 deaths and widespread displacement. According to most estimates, 100,000 to 200,000 people, out of a population of approximately 26 million, have been displaced in Nepal (although the Nepalese organisation Community Study and Welfare Centre has recently reported that the number of displaced could be in the range of 350,000-400,000). The Government of Nepal has largely ignored its obligations to provide protection to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), especially those forced to flee their homes due to action by the government forces. Although the civil war and displacement have been going on since 1996, few UN agencies and international NGOs have programs aimed at providing assistance to the IDPs. According to an analyst on the IDP situation in Nepal, "the involvement of the international community in the issue is so far limited to some NGOs conducting small IDP-targeted programs and UN agencies setting up [an] information system to monitor food deficits, health security and population displacement, albeit very recently." The IDPs in Nepal have received less attention and assistance than refugees from other countries who have sought asylum in Nepal.
Nepal, a landlocked country bordered by India and Tibet, is about the size of the state of Arkansas. The United Nations estimates that over half the population of Nepal lives in poverty, with few people in rural areas having access to sanitation facilities or potable water. Life expectancy in Nepal is 59 years, and the literacy rate is below 30 percent. Nepal is faced with a lack of educational opportunities for its children, poor health facilities, deforestation, soil erosion, and a dependence on subsistence agriculture. The country has seen 12 governments in the past eight years and made the transition from absolute monarchy to multiparty democracy only in the spring of 1990. Nepal's population is made up of over 40 different races and tribes. The two major groups in Nepalese society are Tibeto-Burmans, or Mongoloids, from the north, and Indo-Aryans from the south. The majority of the population is Hindu (86.2%), followed by 7.8% Buddhists, 3.8% Muslims, and 2.2% others. The official language is Nepali, though there are about a dozen other languages and about 30 major dialects.
The ongoing conflict in Nepal is a result of a complex combination of social, economic, and political problems. A monarchic government has been in power in Nepal since 1962. The multiparty democracy introduced in 1990 made no difference in economic conditions of Nepalese people nor did it bring about any real transformation in the country's political culture. Poverty, along with a weak government, no real transition from autocratic to democratic rule, and absence of efforts to address caste and ethnic problems, resulted in a period of instability which led to the rise of the Maoists. In February 1996, a group of rebels led by the Communist Party of Nepal and the United People's Front, both organisations of Maoist orientation, launched a "people's war" against the Nepalese state. The purpose of this war was to overthrow the monarchy and replace it with a republic, and as the multiparty system established in 1990 had not brought about any change, in the views of the Marxists, the system too had to be replaced. ced. Throughout the late 1990s, the Maoists attacked police outposts, but until November 2001, the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) was not permitted to get involved in the fighting. At first the Maoist operations were limited to western districts of Rolpa and Rukum, but during the years the RNA did not act, the Maoists expanded their operations in various parts of the country, and attracted new recruits. Peace talks were started between the government and the Maoists in August 2001, but the latter walked out of negotiations in November, broke the ceasefire, and the fighting resumed. A second cease fire began in January 2003, and during negotiations the Maoists demanded the drafting of a new constitution to limit the King's powers. Recently the Maoists have agreed to accept the multiparty system, but also call for elections to be held for a constituent assembly, which would then draft a new constitution and decide the outcome of the monarchy. Despite several rounds of talks, the two sides could not come to an agreement, as the government opposed the idea of creating the constituent assembly (although it did agree to revisions being made to the existing constitution), and the peace talks broke down in August. Since then the humanitarian and human rights situation in Nepal has deteriorated. The conflict is expected to escalate as the government creates local civilian militias - made up of untrained and undisciplined civilians - and if the Maoists' fulfill claims that they are planning to raise a militia of 50,000 children by April 2004.
Following the breakdown of peace talks in August 2003, Nepal has been experiencing the highest level of violence since the start of the armed conflict in 1996. As pointed out by Amnesty International, there has been an exponential increase in violations of human rights by both sides to the conflict, including arbitrary arrests, disappearances, extrajudicial executions, torture, including rape, and other serious human rights abuses. More than 2,000 people have been killed since August 2003, including a substantial number of civilians, and the majority of the killings have been done by the state. The Norwegian Refugee Council has noted that people have been fleeing their villages to escape being caught in the crossfire, which has led to the breakdown of education, closure of businesses, weakening of local economies, and interruption of public services. The elderly, women, children and poor villagers are often less able to flee, and they have ended up staying behind to face worsening poverty, food shortages, and harassment by Maoist and security forces. The
Maoists have targeted private schools, leading to the closure of 700 schools,
and 3,000 teachers being displaced from district schools. Many young
children have been forced to flee to urban or semi-urban areas, unhygienic
conditions and hostile environments.
Government assistance to IDPs has been very limited. The government set up compensation and resettlement funds for victims of the conflict, such as the Victims of Conflict Fund under which IDP families were entitled to an equivalent of US$1.30 per day, but most of the money was spent by July 2002. All those displaced after July 2002 were therefore excluded from assistance and official recognition. Another problem with the government assistance is that it has only been provided to people displaced by the Maoists, and not to those displaced by the government security forces. Official
data collection on displaced people has tended to mask the displacement
problem. Authorities have not encouraged displaced people to come forward
with their problems, and people remain reluctant to register as displaced
persons for fear of retaliation or being suspected as rebel sympathizers.
Moreover, government data has excluded people directly or indirectly affected
by the actions of security forces and the politicized compensation system.
Furthermore, the government has not facilitated access for humanitarian
organisations.
The few aid agencies that focus on assisting IDPs find it difficult to carry out their programs due to poor security conditions in rural areas. Aid agencies, however, are trying to address the information void that has complicated assistance to the IDPs. Refugees International, therefore, recommends that:
by
Kavita Shukla
|
The
People and the Land
