Political Transition in Nepal and the Role of the International Community
ASIA--PACIFIC, 9 Jan 2012
Yadab Bastola – Peace & Collaborative Development Network
Nepal is the one of poorest country in the world. It has around $ 440 GDP national per capita income[1] of the people. The country Nepal heavily depends on the international assistance and aid. Main occupation of the people is agriculture; more than 70 % of people depend on it.
Nepal itself suffered from 10 years internal armed conflict. More than 13000[2] people have been killed and most of infrastructure has been destroyed during that period. In 1996, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) announced the start of a ‘People’s War’ in Nepal by influencing from Maoist ideology. After the 10 years long conflict in 2006 the seven political parties the Maoists have agreed to sign a “Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA)”[3] to end the decade-long insurgency. Both parties also agreed to invite UN to facilitate the process and constituent assembly in Nepal.
After the successful constituent assembly election the newly elected majority assembly members, voted to form a new government and declared that Nepal a secular and inclusive democratic republic country. After long struggle finally Nepal has succeed to abolish the historical monarchy system from the country.
After these all the development Nepal is still suffering from various problems. Country is still in political transition. New constitution has not been finalized yet. Reconciliation, reconstruction and rehabilitation are the main challenges of the country. Nepal relies heavily on development assistance to implement its development programmes so Nepal cannot do anything itself alone. One quarter of the population still lives below the national poverty line and inequality is increasing even though Nepal has been practicing democracy system.
Nepalese People had high expectations of positive reformation in the country after the democratic system in the county. But unfortunately, nothing has been changed all political parties believed that democracy meant do anything. The human rights violation is one of the most difficult challenges facing by Nepal in transition from feudal system to democratic system. Nepal is highest country where the1368[4] people are still missing during the 10 years armed conflict. There are several conflict victim families who have lost their family members in the conflict. Even though existing law provides the right to know and “right to information”[5] to the people but government is not serious to give any answer to the victims
Together with all these problem Nepal has been going through the political transition but Nepal need more technical support from the international community to deal with all these kind of problem. There are only 4 years to reach the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) but is far behind to achieving the all these goals. People of the remote Mid-Western and Far Western regions and some communities in the Tarai( low land area) are never responded by any of those 8 goals.
To make the progress in MDGs goals, the government of Nepal and the donor community especially UN country tem has to have regular dialogue on Aid Effectiveness. Donor agencies have to be careful whether the development assistant is being properly reached to the target people or not. All the development assistance should be developed according to the community need which has to be done through the popper assessment in the target filed .Importantly the political commitment at the national level is also an important factor to achieve MDGs. There are some achievements and future challenges as well; the challenges are how all stakeholders, public and private sectors can maximize their role and synergize through concerted action based on each party’s expertise for benefits of the country and its people even though the date catches up on.
Another important issue is the human rights and post conflict justice. There are several outstanding cases of human rights violence. Thousands of people who were killed, disappeared and tortured during civil war but there has not been a single prosecution for abuses in civilian courts even though all political parties were agreed to set up the independent truth commission during the peace agreement in 2006. Maoist leaders who are heading the government now are saying that it was a political war and those incidents can’t be judged by courts and it should be judged through political consensus which is really unfortunate for the victim family.
In Nepal the international community has big role to influence in various sector for the county’s prosperity. The international community has to identify the weakness of the process and be prepared to attach with it. UN including UN Human Rights (OHCHR) has to pressure to the government to improve the human rights situation and work on the post conflict justice system. UN and other international community should advice to work immediately on full picture of independent Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The Commission has to investigate all the human rights abuse cases during the armed conflict which has to be dealt through its Human Rights Violations Committee of TRC. Those responsible for human rights violations must be brought to justice whether they are officials of a past or current government and regardless of whether they are politicians or unofficial armed groups.
NOTES:
[1] Asian Development Bank Fact sheet April 2011. ( see the link http://www.adb.org/Documents/Fact_Sheets/NEP.pdf
[2] NEPAL: PEACE AND JUSTICE Asia Report N°184 – 14 January 2010 by International Crisis Group ( see the link http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/asia/south-asia/nepal/184%… , accessed date 3 November 30, 2011 .
[3] See the full CPA version in this link http://www.un.org.np/node/10498 access November 30, 2011.
[4] Missing persons in Nepal: the right to know 29-08-2011 Report by ICRC
[5] The Right to Information Act grants every Nepali citizen the right to access information held by public bodies. The Act specifically places an obligation on public bodies to respect and promote the citizens’ right to information and provides for an independent National Information Commission.
Right to Information Act, 2064 B.S. (2007 A.D.) And Right to Information Rule, 2065 B.S. (2009 A.D) see the link http://right2info.org/resources/publications/nepal-rti
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