Nepal Newsletter 2008

1. Dezember 2008
Security, Law and Order
Nepal's security and law and order situation continues to deteriorate. On November 13, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam admitted that the government has been unable to "maintain peace and security as expected by the people. The party youth wings are a threat to peace." On November 30, Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), K.N. Upadhyaya suggested the parties to ban their youth wings as they "are giving protection to criminals" and are "responsible for the country's poor human rights record.

1. November 2008
National Security and Human Rights
Nepal's security situation on the ground has not improved much. On October 14, Rajan Mukti faction of Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha (JTMM) killed one civilian in Sirha, a bomb blast killed one woman and two children in Rautahat and one civilian was abducted at Sirha. Nepal Oil Corporation officer was kidnapped at Biatnagar. The detonation of a bomb by the Nepal Defense Army in a mosque in Morang which killed three persons has caused a strike on October 16 demanding security of the mosque and a compensation to the family of the victims.

29. September 2008
Security Deficit
The growing sectarian and political strife has become an obstacle to democracy-building in Nepal. An unidentified gang killed a local Muslim in Kapilvastu, a health worker and two villagers in Rautahat and Biratnagar. An armed outfit Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha (JTMM) killed a government officer of Parsa district. Kirant Janabadi Workers Party (KJWP), an underground outfit, detonated a bomb on the premises of a school at Dharan.

1. September 2008
Human Security
Systemic crisis continues to grip Nepal due to security, authority and basic needs deficits, poor service delivery, ongoing political conflicts and culture of impunity. Within six months 50 persons were killed in the country while 150 persons became victim of human rights violations. Shortages of essential public goods, such as food, cooking gas, petroleum products and school books have compounded the crisis further.

30. Juli 2008
Violence and Lawlessness
On July 1, an identified armed gang killed Johan Prakash, principal of Don Bosco School in Morang. The same day, the manhandling of a junior clerk by the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist's newly formed Youth Force (YF), accusing him of accepting bribes, evoked the rage of the Nepal Civil Service Employees Union. It asked the government to take action against YF for attacking a civil servant on duty.

01. Juli 2008
National Security
Nepal is facing the condition of statelessness. On June 22, over 200 Armed Police Force (APF) of Banke revolted to protest against poor ration quality and senior official's ill-treatment. They also beat up APF battalion chief and other senior officers. On June 23, the rebelling armed forces reached an agreement with the government and formed a nine-member team to listen their grievances and corruption done by senior officials.

02. June 2008
Nepal becomes a Federal Democratic Republic
Despite sweeping changes occurring at the super-structural level, such as secularism, federalism, republicanism and greater representation of social diversity in the Constituent Assembly (CA), the new leadership faces complex challenges ahead - improvement in human rights conditions, abolition of the culture of impunity, justice to the conflict victims, restoration of security, law and order, inclusive development and reconciliation policies.

02. Mai 2008
Vote for Change
The results of the Constituent Assembly (CA) election on April 10, 2008 clearly favored the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN-Maoist), giving it a relative majority of seats. It emerged as the single largest party in the country with 220 seats followed by Nepali Congress (NC) with 110, Communist Party of Nepal Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML) with 103, and Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum (MJAF) with 52 seats. But that none of the parties hold an absolute majority of 301 seats and even a two-thirds majority of 401 in a 601-member CA offers a coalition government as an inescapable choice.

02. April 2008
Security Environment
The regular clashes among the ruling parties continue to vitiate the environment for the Constituent Assembly (CA) election on April 10. On March 29, Premier G.P. Koirala feared that there would be a disaster in the nation if this situation continue. The Election Commission (EC) made all the technical preparations for the election and has asked the government to ensure an effective security in some districts of Tarai region and political parties to control their cadres, comply with the code of conduct, not to misuse government resources in their campaign, stop terrorizing the people and improve relations between them.

29. Februar 2008
National Security
The government of Nepal has unveiled its three-phase security plan to create a conducive security environment for the Constituent Assembly (CA) election to draft a new constitution. It has planned to recruit additional 69,700 temporary police and deployed the Special Task Force in four hilly districts of eastern Nepal to prevent ethnic tension and continued operation in violence-prone Tarai districts. But, the human rights of people remain violated in different parts of the country as the supply of basic needs like cooking gas, petrol, food and medicines has been seriously affected due to the prolonged turmoil in Tarai and eastern hills.

9. Januar 2008
Human Rights and National Security
On December 12, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal suggested the government to put human rights at the center of peace process. Releasing a report on Nepal's human rights situation one year after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) it said, "Regrettably, in the past year, the initial improvements have not been consolidated and respect for human rights has again deteriorated. Failure to accord the necessary attention to human rights in the process risks engendering further violence and deepening social divisions."