31-03-2009  Press article  

Nepal: Deepa, Pushpa, Sita and Maiya

Deepa Pandey lives in Surkhet, Pushpa Chaudhary is from Kailali, Sita Thapa is in Rautahat and Maiya Mijar lives in Dhading. What they have in common is that they are all women in their mid-20s who suffered during the war and are now running small businesses to take care of their families.

This article was first published in the Nepali Times and is reproduced here with the newspaper's kind permission.
© ICRC/C. Von Toggenburg/v-p-np-e-00116

Sunamati, whose husband is missing since the war.

Sunamati, whose husband is missing since the war.

© ICRC/C. Von Toggenburg/v-p-np-e-00116

It was mostly non-combatants who were affected by the conflict, and above all women. Tens of thousands of families were displaced and many ended up being women-headed because they lost their husbands. Many families also now have disabled breadwinners, and have the added medical burden of taking care of them. Deepa was caught in a crossfire in 2003 and a bullet hit her back, turning her into a paraplegic. Her husband took a second wife two years later, and she now has to take care of her children and extended family. Pushpa's husband was killed in 2002, and she lives with six other family members including two children. She is a landless kamaiya but has some unregistered land. Sita's husband disappeared after being arrested five years ago, she now depends on her parents for support. Maiya's son is missing and she has to meet the medical expenses of her husband who was injured in the neck during an attack on their village in 2003.

All four women are now beneficiaries of an initiative by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Nepal Red Cross Society to help women whose livelihoods have been severely affected by the war with income-generating activities. The effort gives the women back some lost dignity by restoring household incomes so that the entire family benefits.

Under this initiative women-headed households first get an in-kind grant valued at Rs 10,000, which serves as start-up capital so the families can meet basic needs. The grant can fund livestock, small-scale farming, trade or vocational training. The beneficiaries include households of the missing and killed, disabled, children affected by war, the internally displaced and returnees. Households facing serious difficulties to meet their basic needs get priority.

Since ICRC and NRS launched the initiative in November 2006 women in 23 districts have benefited and 12 more will be added soon. Some 2,500 families, most of them women-headed households, have had help to restart their lives.

With the seed grant, Deepa started a shop in Surkhet and sits on her bed selling grocery items. She earns Rs 1,000 a month and her business is growing and can send her daughter to school. She has also got a wheelchair now and is more mobile.

Pushpa has done so well with her shop that her backers are extending her another Rs 10,000 grant. In Rautahat, Sita now has some goats and runs a shop so she can take care of her family. Maiya in Dhading bought a buffalo with her grant and took another to buy a buffalo calf. She now makes enough money to pay for her husband's medical treatment.

There are thousands of Sitas, Deepas, Pushpas and Maiyas all over Nepal. Many are widows who have the responsibility of supporting their families as well as the burdens of grief and bereavement. But these four women have shown that with very little help they can rebuild their lives and begin looking towards the future.

Moheindu Chemjong and Govinda Dahal

Nation
Explosive remnants of war
Long after the ceasefire, people continue to lose limbs

FROM ISSUE #428 (05 DEC 2008 - 11 DEC 2008) | TABLE OF CONTENTS

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ICRC

As the world prepares for states to sign the Cluster Munitions Convention in Oslo this month, Nepalis still face the threat of being maimed by unexploded mines.
In October 2006, shortly after his Bhai Tika ceremony in a village 15km from Pokhara, Ram Chandra Biswakorma, a regular 15 year-old teenager was helping friends powder some small explosives for fishing.
No sooner had they begun the process, the plastic bucket which bore the chemicals exploded. When he opened his eyes, Ram found himself in hospital, wrapped in plasters and his two legs amputated. Six other boys were injured.
Today, he is no longer the fun-loving youngster that he was. He used to be good in studies, but is now lagging behind. He worries a lot about his future and feels sad that neither he nor his friends had ever received any education on the risks posed by mines
Like a lot of mine and Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) victims, Ram Chandra did not realise that he and his friends were in danger. The Maoists had formerly used their house as a storehouse for explosives and his story is repeated in the plight of many mine victims around the country.
The ten-year armed conflict has come to an end but it has left the threat of explosive remnants of war in its wake. In the first 10 months of this year alone, 58 people have been injured by mines in Nepal-most of them are children.
As part of its mandate to protect civilians from the effects of the conflict, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is working to prevent injuries, assist victims and reduce the socio-economic impact of this lethal debris on civilian populations. It provides assistance for emergency and hospital care, secondary surgery and physical rehabilitation services to the victims of conflict if they fail to get support from the government.
The ICRC is working with the Green Pastures Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre (GPH&RC) in Pokhara, where Ram Chandra has been treated. Today, he has artificial limbs and can walk to and from school even without crutches. He is catching up with school work. His aim in life is to help put an end to the stigma the disabled face in Nepal and around the globe.
As part of the ICRC's Micro Economic Initiative (MEI) project, which provides cash for income generating projects for conflict-affected people, Ram Chandra's family received Rs 10,000 in kind. This grant can fund livestock, small-scale farming, trade or vocational training. Since it was launched in 2006, approximately 3,500 families in 35 districts have benefited.
Moheindu Chemjong

Nepal: where have the missing gone?

30-08-2008 Feature

The armed conflict in Nepal between the government and the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist ended following the 2006 ceasefire agreement. The ICRC in Nepal is working to clarify the fate of people missing as a result of the conflict. The ICRC’s Moheindu Chemjong reports.

 

  ©ICRC/K. Kayastha / np-e-00213    

 

  Families of the missing    

   

  Families of the missing  
  ©ICRC/K. Kayastha / np-e-00213    

The armed conflict has come to a halt but its impact in humanitarian terms still lingers. One such impact is the human tragedy of missing persons. It is a tragedy for the person who disappears, but the other victims are the families suspended in limbo, suspecting their loved ones are dead, yet unable to mourn or move on and, in the absence of proof, tormented by countless unwelcome possibilities – a secret prison, or even a new life in a for eign land.

The pain is not only emotional; often it can be financially crippling. The impact of this tragedy on families is manifold and long-lasting.

Ram Janaki Tharu of Rajapur, Bardiya district, is one of the hundreds of Nepalese parents whose offspring have gone missing. “No matter how difficult it is to mourn the loss of a loved one, it is even more distressing not to be able to mourn at all”, she sobs. She clearly remembers the night her son was taken away. Since then, she has knocked on the doors of many authorities and spent her entire life savings on a fruitless search.

   

   

 

  Who are the missing?

•   In Nepal, the ICRC defines a missing person as an individual who is unaccounted for as a result of the armed conflict in the country between 13 February 1996 and 21 November 2006, and whose family is still waiting for one or more of the following:
•  
• a satisfactory answer from the authorities clarifying their fate;
•  
• an acknowledgement of the disappearance from the government (in the form of a declaration of death, a death certificate or the granting of a special status);
•  
• support from the government to receive reparations;
•  
• if deceased, information on the location of human remains and the recovery thereof;
•  
• legal redress.
•    

   

   

  Who are the missing?

•   In Nepal, the ICRC defines a missing person as an individual who is unaccounted for as a result of the armed conflict in the country between 13 February 1996 and 21 November 2006, and whose family is still waiting for one or more of the following:
•  
• a satisfactory answer from the authorities clarifying their fate;
•  
• an acknowledgement of the disappearance from the government (in the form of a declaration of death, a death certificate or the granting of a special status);
•  
• support from the government to receive reparations;
•  
• if deceased, information on the location of human remains and the recovery thereof;
•  
• legal redress.
•    

 
 Searching for answers  

The ICRC has redoubled its efforts to tackle the issue of missing persons on a global scale. To help people like Ram find answers to questions about missing family members, the ICRC is carrying out a range of humanitarian activities.

The organization advocates families’ right to know what happened to their missing relatives. It reminds the former parties to the conflict ­– the authorities and the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist – of their obligation to provide information that might help shed light on the fate of missing people. It also reminds the authorities of their duty to support such people’s families.

Together with the Nepalese and other National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the ICRC accepts requests from families wishing to find relatives who disappeared during armed conflicts. Through its contacts, whether among former parties to the conflict, individuals or institutions, the ICRC gathers information to help trace the missing relatives.

The ICRC raises public awareness of the problems faced by the families of missing people. It also encourages individuals to come forward with information that might provide answers.
 

 A herculean task  

A lot remains to be done to address this pressing humanitarian issue and help families clarify the fate of their loved ones. International organizations play an important role in the process, but they all agree that national authoritie s must ultimately lead the way. 

Preventing the disappearance of people during armed conflict or violence and clarifying their fate once they have disappeared is an arduous task. This is further complicated by the absence of political will among those directly concerned – government authorities and parties to the conflict – and lack of cooperation by those who might persuade them to act.

 Everybody’s business  

There is a need to work together for humanity and strengthen local and government partnerships in confronting complex humanitarian challenges. These include worldwide efforts to resolve the issue of people unaccounted for as a result of armed conflict or internal violence - and in so doing, to bring back together families torn apart by such events. Only when this issue is given the priority it deserves will society’s wounds begin to heal. Then the development of a beautiful new Nepal can begin in earnest.