Hello all!

We are excited to share that Maria’s article “Easier Said than Done: Integration and Rehabilitation in Nepal” has been published on the WIP website, here is the link:

http://thewip.net/talk/2012/06/easier_said_than_done_integrat.html

Enjoy!
Keep checking back for the rest of the groups’ articles throughout the month!

When a person sees their ‘sense of self ’ threatened or denied it is likely to produce a strong response. That is why identity is a huge factor inside the Security Sector Reform (SSR) that might not be so apparent at first, but it is a consideration that has to be taken with great care.

The Maoist combatants now hold an identity that is intrinsically tied to the 10 years of armed conflict they not only fought but also endured, and to whom they lost family and loved ones. They have received years of political indoctrination in order to find logic to the fight. These are individuals that deeply believe in the ‘Maoist’ ideals, and that have taken arms against Nepali citizens and the Army. Their identity is one of a rebel, of a fighter, of a defender. How do you legitimize their struggle without stepping over the needs and identities of other Nepali citizens?

On the other hand we have soldiers of the ‘defeated’ Royal Nepali Army, now the Nepali Army, who also fought the war for the protection of the monarchy, of the status quo of certain political leaders, but also fought for the defense and security of their country. They too lost loved ones and are now facing a difficult task: welcoming the enemy into their barracks.

There are many questions that are still to be answered. Those in charge of the process of reconciliation and reintegration within SSR must address these issues in order to preempt a tense situation in the barracks: something that all parties should want to avoid at all costs. How are these two clashing identities planning to live and thrive under the same roof? It is vital that a new identity is created then – one where the voices of both sides can be heard, and where all of them can identify as being on the same side, for the upholding of peace and the protection of the rights of all.

No doubt about it, great challenges lie ahead for all of those involved. But every actor plays a key role now – it’s not only the leaders or the politicians in Kathmandu, it’s every single woman, man, combatant or soldier must help the process of reconciliation and reintegration forward. Seeing themselves as one, as one Nepali people who wish and believe in peace and reconciliation, will facilitate the peace process and the rebuilding of a country ravaged by so many years of tragedy.

Working together

What is the Constitution of your country to you? Is it a symbol or a tool? Do you know how, when and under what conditions it was drafted? Has it been revised and renewed? Do you know your responsibilities, duties and benefits as a citizen?

Having lived through a change of constitution in my own country, I am now much more familiarized with the process of drafting and approving a new Constitution. A country does this extraordinary job though, when it wants and needs change, much like what Nepal needs after the monarchy was dissolved and the People’s War has ended. Yet again, its not as easy as following predetermined steps as 1,2,3…. The drafting of a Constitution that is suitable to the needs and hopes of a country is an excruciatingly long and difficult process, with plenty of negotiations, debates and political tug and pull wars, and many opinions and views to include.

At this moment, Nepal is governed under an Interim Constitution which came into force in January of 2007, replacing the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal. This Interim Constitution sets up the rules and procedure for the creation of a Constituent Assembly (CA), which is in charge of drafting Nepal’s first Permanent Constitution after the war ended. Under the original clauses, the CA would be elected in 2008 and have two years to draft the new Constitution (the Interim Constitution would expire on May 28, 2010 in order to open way for the permanent one).

The CA (with 601 members) have not been able to read the original deadline proposed in the Interim, and, although ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Courte, have extended their deadline for one year from May 2010 until May of 2011; then again for three more months; in August 2011 for another three months; and finally in November 2011 for another six months. So now the scenario is set for May of 2012 – two whole years after the original deadline was set.

This topic came up during one of our debrief sessions in Monterey after the trip. As a group we remembered that when the topic of the political transitions came up throughout our interviews, once and again, the response included how they are ‘waiting’ for the CA to finish drafting the permanent Constitution for things to actually start changing. We would ask ourselves why they laid their hopes so blindly on a process that is obviously taking place between four walls in Kathmandu and not amongst society as a whole. We saw no relevant actions or  evidence that showed that the CA members were including the general population in their debates and progress made. We never saw any campaign designed to inform or even to gather support for a particular bill that could be approved or integrated into the new Constitution. – This seemed highly suspicious to me, since as I thought that being in the presence of such a divided society, there would be much more popular rallies in order to be more inclusive or grant more rights to those who before had been deprived of basic rights.

I am afraid that Nepalese people are laying all hopes on this single document without actually integrating themselves into the process. I would guess that political activism is not the most popular career at the moment, but only if the views of everybody in Nepal are included, from Simikot to Dhankuta, only then will the Constitution be the answer everybody hopes it is.

Security Sector Reform is necessary when the security sector (army, police, etc) of a country cannot provide adequate security to the state or the citizens. Moreover, a failing security sector can be a huge detriment for the promotion of peace and development.

Nepal is in dire need of a Security Sector Reform since the end of the Maoist Insurgency, and it has proved to be a different topic to tackle due to the particularities of this specific case. Why? First and foremost, it is not an easy task at all! But moreover, there is a power struggle in Kathmandu for political power, and those taking the major decisions in this process face great obstacles and pressures to make this reform a successful one. The future of Nepal’s political and military stability lie greatly in their hands, as well as the willingness of all Nepalese people to accept the changes that are to come.

So, in regards to SSR, what has been done and what has yet to be accomplished?
Since the end of violent conflict in 2006, the government has indeed accomplished several difficult tasks in this regard. Firstly, it has identified and categorized the totality of Maoist combatants, disarmed them, stored their weapons securely, and recalled them into their cantonments. They have also come to the decision of three different ways to deal with former Maoist combatants. These combatants have the option to chose: either to be integrated into the Nepali Army, the Nepali Police, or the Armed Police Force; accept a voluntary retirement which is accompanied by a financial remuneration package; or choose rehabilitation and reintegration into society. The government has also been able set a limit into how many combatants will be reintegrated into the army and police force, have separated child combatants from the cantonments and set them up with rehabilitation and educational packages, and agreed on the method, quantity and time frame of the combatant financial remuneration packages.

Although much has been done, there are still major issues that have to be dealt with. First and foremost, what to do with politically indoctrinated soldiers and combatants, who used to target each other just some years back, living under one roof and one command? How is this process being dealt with? Is there a need for rehabilitation no matter what decision the combatants choose to take?

From the interviews and research done in Nepal, we could find no clear answers to these questions, other than a detailed explanation of how complex this issue is, and how pivotal it is to the success of the entire peace process. There was little to learn about the underlying process and feelings of the reintegration of combatants, while there was plenty of information in regards to the bureaucracies involved in doing so.

I am afraid that after so much effort and time, these combatants and soldiers will not be happy with the offers handed to them by the government and leaders, or will perhaps see the decisions taken as unfair or bias. We must hope that their willingness and vision for peace go beyond their grievances, and their motivations for a united Nepal go beyond their distrust of the ‘other’… After all, they managed to get what they wanted through arms already, right?

The first impressions of Rolpa arrived before we even got there: in the faces of the people when we told them we were going. A mix between shock and nervous smiles in some faces, and in others a look of pride and admiration. You see, Rolpa is the birthplace of the Maoist insurgency. It was in this small remote town located in the western Nepal where the rebels started the ‘People’s War’ in 1996.
After hours traveling through winding roads, getting stopped once and again by police checkpoints, and getting increasingly anxious just to arrive to this much-anticipated stop of our program, it was great to see Rolpa from the road (very narrow and curving roads may I add). It looked other rural villages we had visited; a town a bit more developed than expected, in the middle of an amazing landscape of mountains, greenery, and clear skies. As we started to get closer though, and as night crept in, it started to seem that the streets were considerably emptier than in other villages that we had encountered, and the police held us for a longer time than usual, and once we arrived to what seemed like a huge empty parking-lot, were directed to a narrow alley where our hotel was located. I wont elaborate much on our humble abode, but lets say it was a rather cold and long night for most of us.
The next morning we started our day bright and early – trying to have our best disposition to what Rolpa had to teach us. Since we already knew that Rolpa is highly-influenced by the Maoist party, our minds were rushing with questions we might or might not want to ask, the nature of the answers we were going to get, and the freedom with which the organizations we were to meet would have to tell us the truth.
The first meeting went down rather strangely – the room was a bit more crowded than usual, and after inquiring as to the role of the people inside the meeting, we were told that there was a security personnel present “to vouch for our security”… Security? Against what? The violent conflict is well over, the Peace Agreement was signed, and the Maoists are a legitimate part of the government in power, so… what danger could we face in Rolpa? “Oh, none whatsoever!” we were told by everybody around us; but it took only about four or five more questions to the police man for him to inform us that he was there to take notes about the content of our meetings and to bring them back to his headquarters. We all thought to ourselves ‘oooooooohhh’ as we exchanged looks.
I wont go into further details with the particular content of the rest of our meetings (I’m saving the good stuff for my research paper), but it became apparent to me particularly that the answers we were getting did not actually portray the needs, worries or challenges that Rolpa was suffering from. The high rates of domestic violence, low rates of freedom of speech and precarious living conditions where not being highlighted – the fact was that since the Maoist insurgency succeeded in obtaining power in Kathmandu, the situation in Rolpa had improved. It was only in our last meeting that we met a human rights activist that kept our little fire of hope alive – he was brave, had gone through a lot, was not afraid, and was ready to change how things were at the present. This encountered only highlighted the difference between him and the other meetings we had been to. So…is the political influence so engrained in Rolpa that people lack the ability to look at things from another perspective? Or were they afraid of telling us the truth? Is the ‘development’ of Rolpa just a Band-Aid over a gushing wound, or is there an actual improvement in the livelihood of Rolpa.

The pictures of Hasrun Idrishi were posted on the walls of the Fatima Foundation, an organization we were visiting in Birganj, which works with Muslim women in the community; a group highly marginalized, not only for their gender but for religious reasons as well.

Her story is an inspiring one, and I thought it would be a good example of the pains and hardships women deal with in Nepal. She had been married off to her prospective husband, but shortly afterwards, when her new family realized her father could not pay her dowry, decided to take ‘justice’ into their own hands. Hasrun’s husband, brother and mother in law poured kerosene over her entire body and lit a match. The effects were devastating of course, when just barely escaping death she had 75% of her body burnt.

The Fatima Foundation was able to intervene in her case and attempted to bring justice, and managed to arrest the perpetrator, who received a mere 2 years in jail. The Foundation was also able to bring Hasrun to the attention of UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), who flew her to Kathmandu for immediate treatment and care. She spent 7 months recuperating for her wounds, and the pictures on the wall of the foundation were proof of it. They were surreal… They showed her raw wounds straight after the incident, with her swollen tongue protruding out of her mouth, her hair chopped off short, and her bloody wounds covering her. But as time passed, her internal and external wounds started healing. Once back in Birganj and seeing it very hard to reintegrate to society, the Fatima Foundation offered her basic skills training. Once discovering she had a gift for sowing and designing dresses, the Foundation managed to designate her 20 thousand rupees, enough for her to open a shop. This meant that she was now a financially independent woman, not having to rely on her family or her husband’s family.

This amazing and touching success story, although laudable and worthy of much praise, is just one case that the Fatima Foundation has been able to help. So many other women in the community though suffer from domestic violence and gender discrimination issues without ever coming forward, which have spurred the popularity of the Foudation’s awareness raising campaigns, educational campaigns, and skills development programs.

This was an excellent example of an organization lead by women, working for women. But most importantly, working for change; change inside the society, inside the minds of Muslim women, and now with a 33% representation of women in the Constituent Assembly, maybe even a change at the policy level.

We had spent the day in the area, visiting some local NGOs, schools, and getting a sense of how people lived. In Bara, a few days into our time in Nepal, we had the opportunity to visit a cluster of huts that live in very underprivileged region, of a majority of Dalit families. When the sun started setting, we decided to walk through the village, trying to talk to some locals and ask them about their lives and experiences, to get a pulse of the challenges to peacebuilding in that area.

A woman sitting by the fire outside had caught our attention. The pitch dark was surrounding us, we had turned off our flashlights and the only source shining some light came from a small fire in the middle of the ground. I think it was because she was not inside any hut, shielding the cold away, but rather sitting outside, in front of her husband and surrounded by her eight children. I cant put my finger on her age; she might have been 35 or 40, but the years of strenuous life and poor health made her look at least 20 years older.

She was kind enough to open up to us. Since we were only 3 kilometers from the Indian border, she spoke Hindi, which meant that Professor Iyer directly to her, overpassing our male translators which has sometimes hinder communication and trust when interpreting the answers and questions. We would whisper questions and doubts to our teacher’s ear while she would casually include them in the conversation she was having with her.

She told the story of her life, but being a Dalit landless woman in a remote cluster in southern Nepal, you can start getting an idea of the strains and struggles she has dealt with since the very day she was born. She worked in the fields nearby, not for money but for food, for about 16 hours a day. She would work the equivalent of hours to 4kgs of rice a week, but would only receive 2kgs to bring back home. Having nine mouths to feed on 2kgs of rice a week is extremely hard. Of her eight children, only one went to school, the older male… no surprise there!

She explained in detail the hardships of living as a landless family in this area of the country. She explained told us about daily living activities, how she struggles being a woman, the discrimination imposed by society, by her village, by her own family. A small cold for instance, can prove mortal, with a high probability of complicating simple ailments was so dangerous because there was no way to pay any health services, with the hospital being miles away.

I wish I could convey the image of the process in which these conversations took place. A woman squatting in front of a fire, trying to keep her hands warm, surrounded by all her children, all trying to huddle together for body heat, with her children squishing close together, hands extended over the small flames. As we grew close, so did the curious villagers around us, creating an arena like scenario, with the woman being the center of attention and interaction. Every once an again an elder would erupt in shouts about how unfair and how hard was life.

These experiences touched me deeply. I left the cluster feeling very moved; very emotional. We weren’t witnessing a tragedy, she wasn’t crying or pleading for money. But how to explain that the situation would change for her, or maybe for her children? How can we give her some hope that her children, or her daughters, would link out of this highly dangerous and disheartened cycle? It also made me think of the poverty in my country, where the roots, causes and consequences were worlds apart from what we had just witnessed. Essentially, some say that poverty is poverty; an empty stomach here in Nepal and an empty stomach in Venezuela is the same – but it’s the idea of ‘hope’ that I’ve been twirling my head around. This woman we had met was not to blame for being born a Dalit, for being born a woman…. There is no escape from the cycle she was born into. The layers of conflict and inequality that this woman is a victim of are so complex and thick, that I see it impossible to convey some message of hope or optimism. The levels of structural violence were weighing over her back like a ton of bricks would have to come down one by one, very slowly, over time. Maybe she won’t see the changes, and even her daughters won’t either, but who knows… Lets leave some hope for the future.

Today we leave Pokhara. It was an amazing part of our trip, since we had the chance to take a trek with the female guides from the Three Sisters (more on that later!). It has been an amazing experience, I loved the fresh air and the accomplishment of reaching the ‘top’ (which compared to any other mountain around us seemed tiny!). We leave for Rolpa, via Lumbini, this morning. We are expecting this to be the roughest part of the trip, but are hopeful that will prove fruitful for our research and the experience as a whole. We will have internet once we are back in Kathmandu, so we’ll update on our trip from there! For now, we are glad to safe that we have survived the roads and organized chaos that Nepal offers. This is starting to feel like a life changing experience 🙂

(written on 01.11.12) The last two days have been amazing. Not just arriving to Nepal itself, but we have had the chance to meet many interesting organizations and actors that are currently a part of the peacebuilding process in the country. I should mention though, that while some meetings have been extremely inspiring, others on the other hand have been a taste of the present political and social reality of the country.

I promised I would elaborate on one of the meetings we attended on our first day in Kathmandu. We were scheduled to meet the President of the Victims Society, an organization that works ….. He is not only the president of this organization, but also a member of the parliament and open supporter of the Maoist movement. Although originally organized to take place in their headquarters, at the last minute we were instructed to instead meet at a nearby hotel; we later learned that this was because he was told not to bring American students into their offices. Oh-oh, first sign of warning.

Before the meeting took place, we were quickly informed of the President’s political inclinations, and that during the armed conflict, his son had been captured by the Royal Nepalese Army and believed to be dead – the main drive behind the creation and his involvement in the organization, as well as for his political and personal positions; we were told though, that we should not bring this piece of information up unless he brought it up before us.

There are two things that were particularly interesting in the meeting, so for time’s sake that’s what I’ll explain today:

1. The president of Victims Society sat with us and talked for a while, in very run-down English, about the struggles of the Maoist party and the achievements they had accomplished since coming to power. He would say, “we can now make our own constitution – we fought against the monarchy and now we are a Republic”. We asked about bringing justice to those who had suffered during the 10 years of the war, he mentioned with much pride that rape crimes would be definitely punished, but that extra-judicial killings, since committed in the name of a political motivation, would receive blanket amnesty. Don’t get me wrong, the fact that they are willing to punish those who committed sexual crimes throughout the war (and afterwards) is an amazing step for a country who is known for its open discrimination against women… But the fact that a murder, just because it was committed in the name of Maoism, can go unpunished is appalling. This, I believe, is because there are currently a large number of Maoists in power, who are not willing to go through trial for atrocities they committed throughout the insurgency. When asked more in detail about the mass killings perpetrated by the Maoists, he turned to our translator with a stern look, blurted out some Nepalese, slammed his notebook shut, and as the tension inside the room quickly rose, he stated that he was very late to another meeting and asked us to wrap it up.

2. In the meeting room, a bit behind the lime-light, was a quiet mas who was also a victim of the armed insurgency, but this time under the hands of the Maoist insurgency. He had been tortured, and his face had been slashed cut from ear to ear, as well as the rest of his body. He had had to be hospitalized for three months before he could rejoin his family and was now trying to live his life in a normal manner. I could not understand how this person could sit so calmly in front of a person who was openly advocating in favor of the soldiers that had committed crimes against innocent people. The story got even more interesting when he shared the fact that currently, his nephew was a member of the government on the Maoist side… our eyes popped open. When we asked him how he felt, if he had confronted his nephew, and if he had asked for justice in his case now that his nephew was in a position of power. He then explained that his nephew had simply told him that “those that did that to you, they were not the Maoists, but rather criminals that attacked you in the name of Maoism”. He said that he believed that those who committed this atrocity were not human, but rather cruel demons. He said “They are mainstreaming now” and therefore he was being ‘normalized’. When asked what he thought of the Maoists being in power, he responded, “They have no humanity, but they are changing… Time is teaching them, so what can I do?”

We’re in Nepal! After a grueling 32 hours, we arrived in Kathmandu safe and sound. It was definitely a pleasant surprise to see Professor Iyer waiting anxiously for us in the airport, amongst all the cab drivers and young men trying to help us with our luggage in exchange for “American money! American money!”.

After a good night’s rest we took off on our first day in the field. Getting out of the hotel and seeing the city for the first time was great… the bus ride was exceptionally amusing since everybody had their faces stuck to the window as they cried out the new and exciting things they saw.

Although hopefully I will get into more details later, we had a chance to meet several important organizations today. We started out early in the morning with Peace Brigades International, followed by Advocacy Forum – a short break for lunch – then met with the President of Victims Society (definitely more on that later!) and Lawyers Forum for Human Rights (LAFHUR), and finished the day with a Alliance for Peace.

Slowly, the pieces of my research are coming together. I am growing more interested in a particular subject, which I believe will be my concentration throughout the trip: the Security Sector Reform (SSR), more specifically focusing on the integration of the Maoist Rebels into the now Nepalese Army. This has proven to be one of the most difficult tasks to achieve after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed, where two armies who were immersed in an armed conflict for ten years and who still remain politically and ideologically divided, have to now act as a cohesive and unified front.

For now, I must leave it at that… Jetlag has got the best of me!