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विश्वको राजधानी शहर न्युयोर्कबाट नेपाली खबरहरु
संपादकीय Editorial
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Feature Story / News
स्थानीय खबरहरु
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नेपालका खबरहरु
News from Nepal
अन्रांष्ट्रीय खबरहरु
International News
साताको अनुहार
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न्यूयोर्कमा आगामी कायंक्रमहरु
Upcoming Events in NYC
न्यूयोर्क शहरमा एक साँझ
An Evening Out in New York
न्यूयोर्कका नेपाली संघ-संस्थाहरु
Nepalese Orgs in NYC
न्यूयोर्कमा नेपाली ब्यावसायहरु
Nepalese Business in NYC
अमेरिकामा नेपाली संस्थाहरु
Nepalese Orgs in USA
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Nepalese Business in USA
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Nepalese Folk Music & Dance
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यो वेबसाइट पढ्न युनिकोड र प्रीती फन्ट Font चाहिन्छ:
लेख-रचना र खबर पठाउँदा यि
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नेपाली युनिकोड फन्ट डाउनलोड
Nepali Unicode Font Download
प्रीती Preeti font Download
बिबिध Miscellaneous
नेपालका आदिवासी-जनजातिहरु
Indigenous People of Nepal
प्रवासी नेपाली संस्थाह्रू
Nepali Diaspora Orgs
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नेपाली पत्रपत्रिकाहरू
दैनिक Daily
साप्ताहिक Weekly
Monthly & Other Media
Nepali Online Portals
Nepali Radio / F.M. / TV
नेपाली अनलाइन् पोटंल
Part-II
Nepal: Don’t Call It Shangri-La
Economic programs targeting refugees and returning displaced populations in Nepal
Special report on livelihoods field assessment about IDPs and refugees in Nepal
-Dale Buscher & Lauren Heller, Women’s Commission, USA
I. Background
The Country
Nepal is a poor, under-developed country that has been plagued by instability, poor infrastructure, and ethnic and caste divisions. A land-locked country sandwiched between the giant nations and emerging powerhouses of China and India, Nepal is home to 29 million people – many of them residing in remote, barely accessible rural areas. It is, in fact, a country defined by topography – mountainous regions to the north that are inhospitable and largely inaccessible (eight of the world’s ten highest peaks are in Nepal), the foothills and heavily populated Kathmandu valley of the central region, and the Terai – the semi-tropical flatlands that border India in the south.
Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world. 82% of the population lives on less than $2 per day. Per capita income was $322 in 2006 and the literacy rate is 49%. Agriculture remains Nepal’s principal economic activity, employing over 71% of the population and providing 38% of GDP. Nepal receives substantial amounts of external assistance in the provision of grants and loans from India, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries. In fact, some 50% percent of the national development budget is funded by bi-lateral and multi-lateral foreign aid. The lack of government investment in the country’s infrastructure has led to scheduled power outages lasting up to twelve hours per day and few new or improved roads to meet demand, especially in the increasingly congested, polluted Kathmandu valley where the population doubled between 1995 and 2004.
Nepalese society is ethnically diverse and complex. An integral aspect of the society is the existence of the multi-layered Hindu caste system. The 1991 census, for example, lists sixty ethnic and caste groups. Bonded labor also remains a problem in Nepal with generations of families working as indentured servants. In addition, Nepal is religiously diverse. Hindus make up 80% of the population, Buddhists make up another 11%, and smaller percentages practice Islam or indigenous religions. The Nepal constitution while describing the country as a Hindu kingdom does not establish Hinduism as the state religion.
The Internally Displaced
An armed Maoist insurgency grew out of the Communist Party of Nepal and resulted in ten years of conflict, human rights violations perpetrated by both the government and the Maoist, and large scale displacement which impacted nearly all of Nepal’s 75 administrative districts. Although no reliable figures exist, estimates are that up to 200,000 people were internally displaced by the conflict, which claimed more than 13,000 lives. In addition, tens of thousands more relocated to Kathmandu valley during the conflict in search of both safety and economic opportunities as livelihoods were severely disrupted in conflict-affected regions.
The massacre inside the Royal Palace in 2001 led to a political crisis in Nepal and the re-invigoration of the pro-democracy, “people’s movement”, which ultimately resulted in the end of direct Royal rule in 2006. The subsequent formation of an interim government created conditions for negotiations between the Maoist and the Government of Nepal. In November 2006, a comprehensive peace agreement was signed between the 7-party alliance and the Maoist which ended the ten-year conflict. Relative peace has allowed for the return of many the displaced and current estimates are that only 50,000 - 70,000 remain displaced. This reduced figure, however, may be more of a reflection of IDPs reluctance to participate in the government registration process rather than an accurate reflection of returnee numbers. As displacement impacted most regions of the country, assisting IDPs with return and reintegration poses significant challenges – from identification, targeting support to small numbers per location, and difficulties accessing smaller villages and rural areas.
The recent eruption of violence in the eastern Terai has resulted in new displacements - not as a consequence of the now quiet Maoist insurgency but rather due to inter-ethnic conflict. Violence, in fact, has escalated and the law and order situation has deteriorated in southern Nepal over the past year. The situation has been further exasperated by the recent decision of ethnic Madhesi leaders to quit mainstream parties and open up their own regional groups to fight for ethnic rights – including the right to self-determination.
Studies conducted on the internally displaced show that 41% in 2006 were unemployed; that most have no regular source of income or no income at all; and that over 70% said that they could not earn enough or anything at all to even feed their families. Further, large numbers of IDPs have moved to urban areas and end up as urban poor. Many, in fact, are surviving on loans, at least 63% of them had taken loans to make ends meet, resulting in heavily indebted families often burdened by high interest rates.
On the politic front, though, stability has not been achieved. Constituent Assembly elections, originally scheduled for November 2007, have been postponed until April 10th, 2008. Pre-election violence is already escalating and there are fears that the elections may be further postponed or that a coup could restore that largely unpopular king to power. The reality is that the Royalists, Maoists and Republicans envision very different futures for the country and compromise and collaboration have never been modus operandi amongst these historically fractious groups. Several armed groups, in fact, have vowed to disrupt the election and strikes, bombings and roadblocks are becoming common occurrences.
The Refugees
In the late 1980’s the Government of Bhutan enacted discriminatory citizenship laws that stripped nearly one-sixth of the population of their citizenship and led to the expulsion of tens of thousands of ethnic Nepali Bhutanese who had lived in Bhutan for generations. Today 104,500 of these Bhutanese live in seven refugee camps in southeastern Nepal where they have been in exile for 17 years. The Government of Bhutan refuses to allow the refugees back to their long since confiscated lands as the Government claims that the refugees are, in fact, Nepali and Hindu rather than Bhutanese and Buddhist. Similarly, Nepal refuses to allow the refugees to integrate locally and insists that they eventually be allowed to return to Bhutan. Nepal has no national legislation on refugees and the Government considers them illegal immigrants.
Due to the protracted nature of their displacement, which has left refugees largely dependent on humanitarian assistance, the United States and other countries have recently begun offering third country resettlement to those who desire and qualify for such. The U.S. has promised to take up to 60,000 of the Bhutanese refugees over the next few years with Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Scandinavian countries taking smaller numbers. Intimidation and threats, however, have been used in the camps to dissuade individuals from accepting third country resettlement. Many refugee leaders promote return to Bhutan as the only viable long-term durable solution and fear that resettlement might undermine their support base.
An additional 20,000 Tibetan refugees reside in Nepal (the numbers are probably much higher), although they have achieved a degree of local integration. However, their legal status in the country remains inadequate for their full and durable local integration. The majority of refugees fleeing Tibet, however, only transit through Nepal to seek protection and a durable solution in India.
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