Sunday in Kathmandu and apart from the banana carrying bikesalesman and a few other eager entrepreneurs in the streets in the tourist area Thamel, Kathmandu is closed. I grab The Himalayan Times, one of the English dailies that are on offer and read that '161 disqualified PLA fighters are already out'. PLA is the Maoists Peoples Liberation Army who since the peace agreement 2006 have had x-combatants in a UN guarded camp Dudhouli south east of Kathmandu. The disqualified fighters are mainly those who joined or were encouraged or otherwise recruited into the maoist army when they were still underage, some of them as young as 16.
According to UNMIN 4000 combattants fell into the catagory of being disqualified and last thursday the outgoing combatants were given the identity card given by the UN after withdrawing their PLA identity cards. These ID's in turn will provide package aid depending on the combatant. A set of clothes in a bag, 10, 000 rupees($150)was givien by the Division Commander from the government peace fund and an additional 12, 000 rupees will be given from a fund collected from the combatants who are still to saty in the cantonement.
There has been hope in the camp that there would be an opportunity to be join or be incooperated into the Nepali Army but there seem to no chance of this. The thorny issue of what to to with a former group of combatants that have fought in an armed conflict against the state is a complicated issue, as is the integration plan offered by the Nepali state.Vocational and eduacational offers are available but not always viable as many hail far from an educational facility to match the offer.
lördag 9 januari 2010
fredag 8 januari 2010
The practicalities of human rights work
Today I met my first human rights defender.
He’s , however symbolic, one of the main reasons why I flew half across the world to work for free for a year. I expected to be filled with awe and respect for this man who fights so hard for justice for those who have been abused and killed in the war but strangely enough I felt nothing. This small man whos name will have to remain untold is under a 24 hour protection scheme, accompaniment, due to the threats he has received. This is one of my organisation Peace Brigade International(PBI)’s tasks, to provide so-called unarmed bodyguard protection. If this is done well, a wider space for peace for this man has been created.
Which might sound a little vague, hippyish even.
In reality it is all but vague. It means that if he can act more freely and less fearfully and continue his work of bringing offenders of human right crimes to justice without him or his family being harassed, arrested or potentially killed because there is a visible international presence like PBI, then we have done our job. So the fact is that I don’t have to feel anything. I don’t even have to like him as a person. I just have to believe that somebody should care about these human right defenders that live and work in faraway places like Nepal. Because if
nobody cared, waited outside the court rooms, police stations and jails when they took statements from victims to slowly, slowly put together files maybe these files would never be written. And if the files with facts and testimonies from nightly raids, kidnappings, torture, rape, murder and other kinds of impunity never were written that could mean that all those actions that for those of us that find these acts appalling and morally wrong and we have little desire to experience were indirectly sanctioned. So no, I don’t have to feel anything. But I do have to
do something.
He’s , however symbolic, one of the main reasons why I flew half across the world to work for free for a year. I expected to be filled with awe and respect for this man who fights so hard for justice for those who have been abused and killed in the war but strangely enough I felt nothing. This small man whos name will have to remain untold is under a 24 hour protection scheme, accompaniment, due to the threats he has received. This is one of my organisation Peace Brigade International(PBI)’s tasks, to provide so-called unarmed bodyguard protection. If this is done well, a wider space for peace for this man has been created.
Which might sound a little vague, hippyish even.
In reality it is all but vague. It means that if he can act more freely and less fearfully and continue his work of bringing offenders of human right crimes to justice without him or his family being harassed, arrested or potentially killed because there is a visible international presence like PBI, then we have done our job. So the fact is that I don’t have to feel anything. I don’t even have to like him as a person. I just have to believe that somebody should care about these human right defenders that live and work in faraway places like Nepal. Because if
nobody cared, waited outside the court rooms, police stations and jails when they took statements from victims to slowly, slowly put together files maybe these files would never be written. And if the files with facts and testimonies from nightly raids, kidnappings, torture, rape, murder and other kinds of impunity never were written that could mean that all those actions that for those of us that find these acts appalling and morally wrong and we have little desire to experience were indirectly sanctioned. So no, I don’t have to feel anything. But I do have to
do something.
fredag 1 januari 2010
Uppdrag Nepal: Att skapa ett utrymme för fred
Idag satt jag på torget i Bhaktapur och försökte lista ut hur en nepalesisk marxist såg ut. Det var inte lätt. Anledningen till att jag ville veta detta var dagens bandha, eller marxistiska strejk. Mitt temporära hem Pagoda guest house stängde inte men ägarinnan Sharmila såg upprörd ut när hon imorse konstaterade att marxisterna gärna velat stänga hotellet också. I likhet med transporterna som idag inte rullar. Skolor och affärer utsätts enligt henne också för påtryckningar att stänga medan strejken pågår.
Jag misslyckades med att definiera några marxister.
Fast jag trodde ett tag att jag hittat ett par, ett gäng unga killar med käppar i händerna. Liknande de den nepalesiska polisstyrkan ofta bär. Sedan insåg jag att det var cricketkäppar. Ingen motsägelse i sig, marxister spelar också cricket, men politiska sympatier syns inte alltid på utsidan.
Nio år har gått sedan jag var här senast. Då mitt i den väpnade konflikten som officiellt avslutades med fredsfördraget 2006 efter tio år av stridigheter mellan den maoistisk gerillarörelsen och den nepalesiska staten. Idag, tillbaks som blivande volontär för fredsorganisationen Peace Brigade International(PBI). PBI skickar i nuläget ut volontärer till Colombia, Indonesien, Guatemala, Mexiko och så Nepal då.
PBI’s mandat är enkelt: att skydda de mänskliga rättigheterna och att skapa ett utrymme för fred.
I dagsläget bär jag två identiteter, den jag kom hit med i förrgår och den jag kommer att bära under större delen av mina 15 månader här. Först turistens klädnad i form av vandrarkängor och en aldrig avtagande fascination och vördnad över att på vara i världens högsta berg. På sängen bredvid mig min andra identitet, en klädnad av en annan kvalitet. Min Volunteer Field Officer identitet. Några Nepalesiska klädesplagg. En hög dokument , mest utskrifter av nyskrivna politiska analyser av dagsläget i Nepal tillhandahållet av UNMIN.
www.unmin.org.np
Det vill säga United Nation Mission to Nepal, eller Förenta Nationernas mission här i Nepal och material från andra internationella och lokala källor. En språkkurs i Nepali, fakta om våra partners och klienter på plats och kompendiet om historik, struktur och metodik i organisationen jag snart ska representera i fält.
Jag känner hur jag redan nu börjar avidentifieringen av turisten i mig. Och ändå är jag ännu på semester. Fortfarande lite tid att strosa, titta på templen och dricka chai. Köpa avlagda billiga andrahandsböcker som de som redan rest hem lämnat efter sig som ett litet fotspår att de varit här. Ibland undrar jag vem de var, brydde de sig om den politiska situationen i Nepal? Visste de att Nepal 2002 hade fler kidnappningar är Colombia? Hade de en aning om att ingen i dagläget, i början av 2010 blivit dömd för ett människorättsbrott?
Kanske visste de och kanske tillhörde just den personen som ägt min begagnade bok en av de många INGO eller NGO’s som arbetar i regionen. Det är möjligt att just de frågeställningar och tankar som far genom mitt huvud också gått igenom deras, som PBI’s enkla mandat ovan: Att skydda mänskliga rättigheter och att skapa ett utrymme för fred –vad betyder det i praktiken?
Jag misslyckades med att definiera några marxister.
Fast jag trodde ett tag att jag hittat ett par, ett gäng unga killar med käppar i händerna. Liknande de den nepalesiska polisstyrkan ofta bär. Sedan insåg jag att det var cricketkäppar. Ingen motsägelse i sig, marxister spelar också cricket, men politiska sympatier syns inte alltid på utsidan.
Nio år har gått sedan jag var här senast. Då mitt i den väpnade konflikten som officiellt avslutades med fredsfördraget 2006 efter tio år av stridigheter mellan den maoistisk gerillarörelsen och den nepalesiska staten. Idag, tillbaks som blivande volontär för fredsorganisationen Peace Brigade International(PBI). PBI skickar i nuläget ut volontärer till Colombia, Indonesien, Guatemala, Mexiko och så Nepal då.
PBI’s mandat är enkelt: att skydda de mänskliga rättigheterna och att skapa ett utrymme för fred.
I dagsläget bär jag två identiteter, den jag kom hit med i förrgår och den jag kommer att bära under större delen av mina 15 månader här. Först turistens klädnad i form av vandrarkängor och en aldrig avtagande fascination och vördnad över att på vara i världens högsta berg. På sängen bredvid mig min andra identitet, en klädnad av en annan kvalitet. Min Volunteer Field Officer identitet. Några Nepalesiska klädesplagg. En hög dokument , mest utskrifter av nyskrivna politiska analyser av dagsläget i Nepal tillhandahållet av UNMIN.
www.unmin.org.np
Det vill säga United Nation Mission to Nepal, eller Förenta Nationernas mission här i Nepal och material från andra internationella och lokala källor. En språkkurs i Nepali, fakta om våra partners och klienter på plats och kompendiet om historik, struktur och metodik i organisationen jag snart ska representera i fält.
Jag känner hur jag redan nu börjar avidentifieringen av turisten i mig. Och ändå är jag ännu på semester. Fortfarande lite tid att strosa, titta på templen och dricka chai. Köpa avlagda billiga andrahandsböcker som de som redan rest hem lämnat efter sig som ett litet fotspår att de varit här. Ibland undrar jag vem de var, brydde de sig om den politiska situationen i Nepal? Visste de att Nepal 2002 hade fler kidnappningar är Colombia? Hade de en aning om att ingen i dagläget, i början av 2010 blivit dömd för ett människorättsbrott?
Kanske visste de och kanske tillhörde just den personen som ägt min begagnade bok en av de många INGO eller NGO’s som arbetar i regionen. Det är möjligt att just de frågeställningar och tankar som far genom mitt huvud också gått igenom deras, som PBI’s enkla mandat ovan: Att skydda mänskliga rättigheter och att skapa ett utrymme för fred –vad betyder det i praktiken?
onsdag 18 november 2009
Join the Idealists!
Joined a new initiative today, a network of IDEALISTS :)
http://www.idealist.org/ICA/root/en/Static/TheVision/default
...and it it so true; "The people that says it can not be done should not stand in the way for the people already doing it".
http://www.idealist.org/ICA/root/en/Static/TheVision/default
...and it it so true; "The people that says it can not be done should not stand in the way for the people already doing it".
tisdag 17 mars 2009
A very brief history of Nepal's road to democracy
If you are anything like me, the recent history of Nepal might not have been up there with your favourite subjects. Even as a student of international relations with an eager mind and a strong belief in everybodys basic human rights(sieved through a Western sieve but still) and even though I have visited Nepal on a number of occasions, my knowledge is at this stage basic.
But the good news is that it will be remedied right here and now.
If you are learning any Nepali today, Jaana Andolan ii is important as it is the name of the popular uprising against the king in the summer of 2006. The hope was high then, slightly less so now. I turn to a recent interview with Ian Martin, head of the United Nation mission in Nepal(UNMIN)who opened the office of the High Commisssioner for Human Rights(OHCHR)in 2005. He says:
I still think that the process has to be seen extremely positively. It would be very hard to find another peace process where the national actors themselves negotiated an end to a 10-year conflict, the election to an elected Constituent Assembly (CA) and a peaceful transition to a republic. That’s an extraordinary achievement by any standards.
He goes on to talk about how he feels that the role of the UN encouraged people to assert their democratic rights. Then he says something that I personally find very important namely that the UNMIN presence had a value beyond supporting the elections and monitoring arms as an indiacation of the concern of the international community for this process and the fact that the actors themselves were conscious of being observed by the international community.
Yes, the peace process is still fragile between the Maoists and the state. There is a new constitution being drafted as I write this, which is aiming to include all different groups. There are questions to be solved in the democracy process such as the future the issue of former combatants as well as the future of a variety of armed groups. And there are of course the issues of rights and legal processes to come for different victims, sometimes organized in vistims groups but often not.
But the good news is that it will be remedied right here and now.
If you are learning any Nepali today, Jaana Andolan ii is important as it is the name of the popular uprising against the king in the summer of 2006. The hope was high then, slightly less so now. I turn to a recent interview with Ian Martin, head of the United Nation mission in Nepal(UNMIN)who opened the office of the High Commisssioner for Human Rights(OHCHR)in 2005. He says:
I still think that the process has to be seen extremely positively. It would be very hard to find another peace process where the national actors themselves negotiated an end to a 10-year conflict, the election to an elected Constituent Assembly (CA) and a peaceful transition to a republic. That’s an extraordinary achievement by any standards.
He goes on to talk about how he feels that the role of the UN encouraged people to assert their democratic rights. Then he says something that I personally find very important namely that the UNMIN presence had a value beyond supporting the elections and monitoring arms as an indiacation of the concern of the international community for this process and the fact that the actors themselves were conscious of being observed by the international community.
Yes, the peace process is still fragile between the Maoists and the state. There is a new constitution being drafted as I write this, which is aiming to include all different groups. There are questions to be solved in the democracy process such as the future the issue of former combatants as well as the future of a variety of armed groups. And there are of course the issues of rights and legal processes to come for different victims, sometimes organized in vistims groups but often not.
Non partisanship -the art of not taking sides in a conflict
Not taking sides when working with protecting human rights can be tricky. So before heading of to Nepal to join the PBI team I already have set aside time to once again look at what it might mean for me. Thinking it might be helpful to see if the other teams that have been in Nepal since 2005 has some thoughts about this, I look through PBI material.
PBI bases its work on a philosophy of non-violence and work only with groups and organisations that do not argue for violent strategies or use violence. PBI are strict in abiding to the laws of the countries they work in.
OK, fair enough. Nothing strange there. I can see that it might not be so clearcut in the field. After all we are humans. What I do know is that even though my instinct might lead me to feel that violence is a good method, I can't seriously consider the option of 'hitting somebody in order to get them to understand that hitting is wrong'.
PBI does not take part in a conflict, but act inpartially towards the different actors. PBI are pro human rights and want by its international presence support the civil society so that they, by themselves, can create their future. PBI therefor does not take any initiatives to support a group but wait until a request comes in.
After reading this a couple of times I start to wonder abou the universality of human rights. And of different aspects rights such as individual and group rights. Then a wonder about how being non-partisan does not per definition mean that you are non-partial, it means something more. And this needs to be explored. Preferably before field work.
PBI bases its work on a philosophy of non-violence and work only with groups and organisations that do not argue for violent strategies or use violence. PBI are strict in abiding to the laws of the countries they work in.
OK, fair enough. Nothing strange there. I can see that it might not be so clearcut in the field. After all we are humans. What I do know is that even though my instinct might lead me to feel that violence is a good method, I can't seriously consider the option of 'hitting somebody in order to get them to understand that hitting is wrong'.
PBI does not take part in a conflict, but act inpartially towards the different actors. PBI are pro human rights and want by its international presence support the civil society so that they, by themselves, can create their future. PBI therefor does not take any initiatives to support a group but wait until a request comes in.
After reading this a couple of times I start to wonder abou the universality of human rights. And of different aspects rights such as individual and group rights. Then a wonder about how being non-partisan does not per definition mean that you are non-partial, it means something more. And this needs to be explored. Preferably before field work.
tisdag 10 mars 2009
First steps towards Nepal
Mas Franch took us in two weeks ago. This beautiful socially aware collective in Catalonia, Spain. Mas Franch was also the place for the PBI (Peace Brigade International)training that led to me being one of 14 internationals being accepted to go to Nepal and work with human rights later on this year.
Right now I am a little confused, but funnily enough very focused at the same time. You know that feeling when you kind of know you are not really ready for a task yet, but somehow you know that hour brain will kick into gear when needed. That is how it feels.
September 8 is the magic date when I will land in Kathmandu and start my language training, then I will be placed and start work in november and beleive me - I will need the time to get ajusted. This is do not say lightly, anyone who has been peeking into the homepage of PBI realizes that this will be 'my year of no sleep' but working to stop the abuse, crimes against human rights in the region will surely make up for it. Not being a dreamer I have very few illusions that we make more than a dent in reality as they know it in Nepal but one has to try. I probably do more good there than watching Angelina och Clive in awe slugging it out in Beyond borders.
You are welcome to come along for the ride, to experience life of field work. Your comment and questions are even welcome, but think before your post - I will read them all :)
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