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Press Release
Statement delivered
by Gauri Pradhan*
in the Exchange of Views on Nepal
organized by The Sub-Committee on Human Rights in the European
Parliament on 20th February, 2006
Nepal is undergoing
the most painful process of social change at present. In the
history of nearly 237 years of modern Nepal, it she has gone
through a long and difficult journey for democracy, freedom
and social justice. Many times in history, people of Nepal
have waged courageous movements against the two major obstacles,
i.e. age-old feudalism and neo-imperialism in different forms.
With the sacrifice of martyrs and dedication of people, Nepal
has achieved freedom and democracy for a short period of time
in different occasions in the past. However, none of these
achievements were sustained and institutionalised in a real
sense. In 1990, we achieved the democracy and freedom, which
was also ensured by the 1991 Constitution of Nepal. But regressive
and reactionary forces have created political turmoil and
conspiracy in the country. As a result, the achievements of
the historical people's movement and democratic exercises
of 1990s have been systematically curtailed by the establishment.
There is no democracy, human rights and rule of law in Nepal
now.
In the past ten years,
particularly after the inception of the Maoist-led "people's
war", almost 13,000 people have been killed, about 200,000
people have been internally displaced from their native land,
at least 0.5 million people have moved from rural areas to
urban centres for the sake of right to life and security.
At present, there is no area left in the country where the
effect of the armed conflict is unseen. On the one hand, development
infrastructures worth billions of rupees are destroyed and
on the other, a major part of national budget allocated for
education, health care and services for people is shifted
to the defense sector. This has not only caused an additional
burden on the people but pushed their present as well as their
future into more precarious condition.
After the incident
of the February 1st 2005, the situation has become worse in
terms of human rights, social justice and security of the
people. This has also challenged the constitutional provision,
which states: "sovereignty of the country lies on people".
Despite many other
problems, the degree of violence and killing has gone down
tremendously during the Maoist declared a four month long
unilateral ceasefire at the end of last year. The understanding
between seven political parties and CPN (Maoist) for the establishment
of the democratic Nepal came as another opportunity to restore
democracy, human rights and peace in the country. However,
the royal government of Nepal did not try to take even minimum
advantage of these opportunities for the best interest of
the country and the people. Continuing to ignore the call
from all international communities, mainstream political parties
and civil society, the Government very ineffectively held
the municipality election despite the nationwide disagreement
and boycott. This has further protracted the gaps and conflict
between the state and the democratic forces. Now, Nepal has
once again gone back to the full-fledged war stage, which
has caused further violations of human rights of ordinary
people and a massive damage to the country. Effects of such
violent war is seen everywhere and is naturally very threatening
to the development of children.
According to CWIN,
a leading national child rights organization of Nepal, in
the past ten years of the war between the state and Maoists,
over 500 children have been killed and almost the same number
of children have been injured or disabled. Use of landmines
and explosives has killed at least 250 children. Both parties
of the conflict are violating the international law to prohibit
the use of landmines and explosives in the public places and
civilian areas. Likewise, approximately 8000 children have
lost at least one parent, approximately 40,000 children have
been displaced from their native villages. Tens of thousands
of children who are internally displaced from the rural areas
are mostly working and living in the most difficult situations
in the urban poor areas of Nepal and India. This situation
has further contributed to the increment in social problems,
such as child labour exploitation, trafficking and forced
migration in the country. Apart from this, already frail situation
of children's overall health is getting worse due to the lack
of food supply and food security in the remote districts.
The situation may very soon increase the rate of malnourished
children in coming years in the remote and poverty-stricken
areas.
One of the major
violations of the rights of children in Nepal is the disturbance
over the children's right to education. Use of children, for
example, as soldiers, informants, cooks, porters and cultural
troops for the purpose of war, abduction of children for the
political training, arrest of minors and detention with adult
prisoners, use of school premises for military purposes are
the most common violations of the rights of children carried
out by the warring parties. There are number of incidents
where both Maoists and the state have attacked schools, health
posts and child care centres in the past. Both the warring
parties have violated the national call of human rights bodies
to regard "Children as Zones of Peace". There are
many reported incidents of students having been killed in
aerial bombings, as well as in random gunfire by the state
security forces into school compounds where Maoists have organised
cultural programmes. Similarly, there have also been reports
of the Maoists targeting schools in different districts including
incidents of digging of bunkers inside and near school premises.
One of the major
consequences of children in the armed conflict is the psychological
break up. On the one hand children have faced serious consequences
of the armed conflict, such as deaths of near and dear ones,
arrests, abductions and disappearances of family members and
internal displacement. On the other hand, they have themselves
become victims of killings, injuries, arrests, abductions,
recruitments as child soldiers, etc. from both conflicting
parties. These circumstances have not only created despair,
distrust and fear among children but have similar effects
within the whole community. As the social networks are gradually
breaking down and families are left without proper options
to cope with, such circumstances, which eventually have greater
impact on the livelihoods and psychological wellbeing of children
make them much more vulnerable. In addition, thousands of
children who have witnessed violence directly or through various
channels of media have also faced the brunt of emotional suffering.
Experiences of organisations like CWIN, directly working with
these children, show that such children are loosing hope and
it is a difficult task to re-build aspirations including personal
and community resilience to cope with harsh situations. Many
children who are direct victims of the armed conflict are
psychologically traumatised and need psychosocial and emotional
support and other immediate humanitarian services to regain
their dignity and reconciliation.
Children have a right
to survival, protection and development. They need a protective,
secure and stable environment in which they get an opportunity
for their overall development so that their moral, psychological,
social and emotional development needs can be met by their
families and communities. Children have a right to childhood.
They have a right not to be used in armed conflict in any
way. Children have a right to be protected from any negative
consequences including the physical and psychological effects
of armed conflicts. Children have a right to receive help
at the time of emergency and to recover from the effects of
conflict. Children have a right to live in peace. A child
growing up in a conflict-affected environment has little time
for carefree play and other childhood pursuits.
Nepal is a state
party to the number of international instruments on Human
Rights including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
of 1948, the Geneva Convention of 1949, Convention on the
Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989), and its Optional Protocols
on the Use of Children in Armed Conflicts and on the Sale
of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (2000),
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment (2002), and Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW 1979),
as well as the ILO Convention (182) on the Worst Forms of
Child Labour (1999). As a state party to these international
instruments, Nepal has an obligation to protect and promote
the rights of all children who are affected by war. While
the state is obligated to provide humanitarian support and
services to children affected by war and to protect their
fundamental rights, the non-state party is also obligated,
as per the Geneva Conventions, not to involve children in
the armed conflict in any form. However, both the state and
the non-state parties involved in the conflict in Nepal have
breached several provisions of international laws on the protection
of the Rights of Children.
Thousands of children
in Nepal are encountering many dreadful and violent scenes
in their every day lives. In order to help protect these children
from the effects of the ongoing war, organizations working
for the rights of children have been advocating the principle
of "Children as Zones of Peace" through a national
campaign, which was initiated in 2003. The campaign has stretched
all over the nation. On behalf of Nepali children and organisations
working for the rights of children I, therefore, would like
to call the European Union and all concerned international
communities to take immediate and urgent action to protect
the rights of children and other vulnerable people and restore
democracy, human rights and peace in Nepal.
Last but not least,
I would like to appeal to the European Union to:
- Put pressure to both state and non-state
parties of the conflict to respect human rights of people,
particularly the rights of children in Nepal.
- Monitor effectively the implementation
of the government commitments for the promotion and protection
of human rights and child rights.
- Monitor the implementation of Agenda
item no. 19 as agreed between the Government of Nepal and
the UN High Commission on Human Rights.
- Put pressure to the Government of Nepal
to restore a rule of law and start a fresh democratic process
to peacefully resolve the present political crisis.
As for the EU specifically, I would like
to put forward the following recommendations for future action:
- The EU must urge both warring parties,
the Maoists and the government of Nepal, to immediately
stop targeting children.
- The EU should find innovative ways to
use the EU Human Rights Guidelines on Children and Armed
Conflict. We urge the EU to take concrete measures to ensure
the full and active role of the EC delegation in Nepal,
and embassies of the member states to implement these guidelines
in Nepal. These include follow-up and reporting on all demarches,
also by subsequent Presidencies, inclusion of all aspects
of the UN Optional Protocol in demarches and taking an important
role in Child Protection Networks in Nepal.
- The EU should condemn the use of schools
for any military purposes by both warring parties and call
for an end to this practice. The European Union should also
call for declaring 'Children as Zones of Peace' in Nepal
in all its communications, as urged by the human rights
groups in Nepal.
- The EU should establish mechanisms to
effectively implement its resolutions on Nepal and play
an influential role to resolve the present crisis of Nepal
in a peaceful and democratic way.
- The EU must urge the government of Nepal
to implement the recommendations of the report of the UN
Committee on the Rights of the Child (2004).
Thank you!
* President of Child
Workers in Nepal Concern Centre (CWIN) and Human Rights Alliance,
Nepal
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