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Brief post conference report
on
"Nepal: Looking beyond Kathmandu
Challenges and Opportunities for Peace-Building from Below

Europe should underpin democracy and peace in Nepal by addressing the widespread poverty and discrimination that leave the country's political situation volatile, a Brussels conference has been told.

Although Nepal has made considerable strides in political terms since the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) last November marked the end of a decade-long civil war, more than 30% of it's around 29 million inhabitants live on less than a dollar a day.

Held on 20 April, the Brussels conference examined how the lot of Nepal's poorest can be improved as part of efforts to ensure the peace agreement does not break down and the regained democracy last April is sustained.

Opening the conference, Cora Jansen from ICCO, the Dutch inter-church organisation for development cooperation, said the situation in Nepal had seemed "quite hopeless" until last year. Since then, however, a peace process has gone "relatively well" and a new eight-party government, including the Maoist Communist Party of Nepal, has been formed.

Yet Jansen noted that the peace remains "very fragile" and that the political elite in Kathmandu has expended little energy on meeting the needs of Nepalese citizens.

Elections to the national parliament have been scheduled for June, yet doubts have been cast on whether the country will be sufficiently prepared for them. According to Jansen, a genuine peace will only be established when the Nepalese authorities and the international community look beyond Kathmandu and reach out to the poor in more remote areas. "Democracy requires more than elections," she said. "It requires equality, inclusiveness and government institutions working throughout the country."

Ambika Luitel, the chargé d'affaires with Nepal's embassy to the EU, recalled how the Union suspended aid to Nepal in 2005-06 because of the coup by King Gyanendra. As democracy has been restored and the King "succumbed to people's power" by stepping down last year, she urged the Union to release the funds it had frozen and spend them in Nepal within the next few years.

British Socialist MEP Neena Gill, head of the European Parliament's delegation to South Asia, expressed hopes that the forthcoming elections will be free and fair and that their results will be accepted by all participants. She emphasized that the eight parties must work constructively, share power equally and learn their lessons from past experience..

Gill argued that the EU has a good reputation in Nepal as unlike other major international powers it is "not seen to have a political axe to grind". Nonetheless, she said that there had not been sufficient attention paid to poverty and severe unemployment in the country and to bolstering cooperation between aid donors working there.

Sahana Pradhan, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nepal, via a video message, acknowledged and thanked the EU for constantly supporting democracy and peace in Nepal. She expressed that the Maoists, now being in the government, are expected to work towards democracy and peace.

Bijay Raj Gautam, director of Nepal's largest human rights organisation, the Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), spoke of a "rampant impunity" in Nepal. Both members of the security forces and Maoist insurgents who violate human rights are not being held to account.

He also said that priority should be given to tackling the discrimination faced by marginalised sections of the population such as women, those belonging to the Dalit caste, Janjatis (as people of ethnic origin are known) and the Madhesi community in the southern Terai plain. Some marginalised groups have warned that they will resort to violence if their demands are not heard, he noted.

Gauri Pradhan, president of the Human Rights Alliance, said that victims of discrimination outside Kathmandu often have a perception that the new government is insensitive to their rights. Although, very soon, success and celebrations of the first Loktantra Diwas or Democracy Day would be observed in Kathmandu, the democratic gains and peace dividend is yet to reach beyond Kathmandu.

Pradhan, who has been nominated human rights commissioner by the new government, called for children to be recognised as "zones of peace". In particular, their right to education has to be upheld - something that is routinely denied to girls and to Dalit children.

Daniele Smadja, director for multilateral relations and human rights in the European Commission, said Nepal had a good track record in ratifying international human rights conventions but that these also need to be implemented and enforced. The EU should not be writing the reform agenda for Nepal, she said, but that it should be using its development aid to give the Nepalese a capacity "to articulate their own human rights agenda".

Michael Swann, an official with the Council of the European Union specialising on relations with South Asia, said that EU representatives had delivered "rather strong messages" to Nepal following the royal coup. These met with a "large degree of resonance" in Nepalese society and the EU has seen a potential to play a positive role there as a result, he added.

Renu Raj Bhandari, chairwoman of the Women's Rehabilitation Centre in Nepal, said that political parties and other official organisations in Nepal had been largely indifferent to issues of gender discrimination. She underscored reconstruction of the entire system being an imperative towards the way forward in Nepal.

The situation of women has not improved one year after the restoration of democracy, she said, with the physical and mental harassment of those who campaign on sexual rights and land rights worsening. Health facilities have been concentrated in areas where richer sections of the population live, with maternal health workers sometimes refusing to provide services to the poor.

Joining the conference by telephone, Amanuel Gebremedhin from the United Nations Development Programme in Nepal, said the new government is not seriously addressing the problems faced by more than 31,000 Maoist ex-combatants living in the cantonments. The basic needs are not in place despite promises made in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. About 20 per cent of the combatants are women, many of whom are either lactating mothers or are pregnant and 70 per cent is below the age of 23.

Young people who joined the Maoists during the civil war don't have skills "except knowledge of the gun", he said. Hence, demilitarization of their mindset is crucial before any major security sector reform and a strategy for reintegrating them into society is urgently required.

Geneviéve Federspiel from Swiss Development Cooperation said that half a million young people enter the labour market in Nepal each year without any training. While vocational education is crucial for the country, most young people have not had their needs taken care of by the state. She emphasized the importance of social and institutional reconstruction.

Simon Stocker, director of Eurostep, a network of organisations focused on EU-financed development cooperation, with the South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE) as its leading Southern partner, said that the EU has been constructive in Nepal. Nevertherless, he questioned whether its actions are actually matching its rhetoric.

He opined that the draft Country Strategy Papers (CSPs) should be available to the civil society and consultations should be held to achieve ownership. He mentioned that no consultations could be held on the programme if no information regarding the draft CSP was shared with civil society.

Rensje Teerink, a desk officer in charge of Nepal in the European Commission, said that about €120 million will be allocated to Nepal under the Nepal CSP for 2007-13. Besides, focus on social and enonomic sectors, conflict-sensitive as well as peace-building projects are the priorities for its expenditure.Strengthening of the government is also a key area of focus.

Teerink said that 40% of countries emerging from a conflict lapse back into violence and that "Nepal must not be one of these."

James Moran, the Commission's director for Asia, said there is a "delicate balance" between having elections as soon as possible and avoiding a situation where they are wasted due to poor preparation. Yet while he recognised that the challenges ahead are vast, he argued that Nepal is showing a good example as it is the only South Asian country attempting a reconstruction, where the project "seems to be holding".

Marlou Pijnappel, a programme officer with Dutch Christian organisations ICCO and Kerk in Actie, called on EU representatives to study who exactly benefits from their development aid activities. The roots of conflict can only be tackled, she said, if poverty and inequality are addressed.

Prerna Bomzan, programme officer with EEPA, closed the conference thanking all participants, and expressing her wish that the deliberations would benefit the people back home in Nepal.