` Comprehensive Peace Agreement MONITORING REPORT (July- December, 2007) Published by : Population Watch INHURED International INHURED International/Popuilation Watch 1 Editor Dr. Gopal Krishna Siwakoti Writer B. P. Adhikari Project Coordinator Shree Krishna Subedi Published Date Jan 2008 First Publication 1000 copies Copy Right INHURED International/Population Watch Published by, INHURED International/Population Watch GPO Box : 12684, Kathmandu Ceasefire House, Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur-2, Nepal Tel : 977-1-5531896 Fax : 977-1-5547616 [email protected] www.inhurednepal.org UN Office : 41-42 Elbertson Street, Suite-301, Elmhurst, New York 11377, Tel/Fax : 1-718-4722018 INHURED International/Popuilation Watch 2 PEACE AUDIT ENDEAVOR In the context of internal armed conflict that was waged in Nepal from February13, 1996 resulting in suffering of thousands of Neplai people, the end of armed conflict was declared after the twelve-point agreement between the then rebel CPN (Maoists) and the then Seven Political Alliance (SPA). The culmination of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was also founded on the aspiration of the 19 day-long 'peoples movement'. It is obvious that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) raised expectation among people towards peaceful political transition with forward-looking strategies and restructuring of the state while duly honoring the sacrifice of thousands Nepalese people and embracing the voices of the victims. Since the blueprint itself was not guarantee of the attainment of lasting peace, the effective and honest implementation of the peace accord in both letter and spirit is highly desirable for meaningful change. Unfortunately, soon after the CPA was signed, series of incidences of non-compliance occurred. It could be seen that the non-compliance of the CPA was not formally monitored by the concerned party and the incidences of violation which were supposed to be made public by the concerned agencies to make the people aware about the violations were not carried out. In this context, while the public media constantly reported on the series of incidences of non-compliance, monitoring from civil society perspective was felt extremely vital to audit the implementation of the peace accord and unveil the wrongdoing to the public with a view to make the violators accountable. Population Watch in collaboration with INHURED International initiated the monitoring process of the non-compliance of the CPA in a systematic manner by undertaking filed-based fact-finding and publishing reports on periodic basis to make the concerned parties accountable for the non-compliance. This report is the outcome of the documentation of the facts and trends of non-compliance of CPA covering the period between July 1 to 31 December 2007. Since this report consists of the non-compliance of the CPA only, other cases of human rights violations have not been included in the report. The report has focused mainly on the implementation and the non-compliance aspects of various provisions under the CPA. The report can not ensure the monitoring and documentation of all the incidents that have occurred in the country during that period since the resources and the capacity of a single non-governmental organization is limited. Thus, the incidences included in this report are representative instead of all-inclusive. Howe2ver, the findings indicates that the compliance of the CPA has not been sincerely observed by the concerned parties. We believe that the report will help encourage all concerned stakeholders towards earnestly complying with the provisions of the CPA. The organization hopes that the report will prove to be an important tool to the concerned organizations and the stakeholders engaged in the observance and implementation of the peace accord as well as towards political and economic transformation in the nation. In return, the organization would kindly like to request all concerned to provide us with valuable comments regarding the shortcomings of the report, if any. Lastly, the organization heartily thanks all those monitors and volunteers who have accomplished the task even under exceptionally difficult circumstances while remaining in the VDCs, Municipalities and the districts. We are thankful towards the collaborative organizations, stakeholders and the related agencies who have supported to out cause. Immense gratitude goes towards the donors without whose support this program would not have been a success. Last but the not the least, the organization thanks all field monitors who have agreed to volunteer the monitoring of the CPA along with the election observation until the election of the Constituent Assembly and one month beyond. Dr. Gopal Krishna Siwakoti President INHURED International/Popuilation Watch 3 MONITORING COMPREHENSIVE PEACE AGREEMENT Summary Report The nation witnessed systematic terror and lawlessness during the time of internal armed conflict spearheaded by the CPN Maoists since February 13, 1996 in which many people were injured; property was destroyed along with abduction, killings, gender-based violence and other criminal activities. In the due course, when King Gyanendra seized power from the hands of the people on February 1, 2005 the political parties came up with a new political equation to jointly enhance republican state. The seven parties alliance (SPA) and the CPN Maoists signed a 12 point agreement and the political parties announced a popular uprising (Jana Andolan-II), in which the Maoists also joined to make the Jana Andolan a success. After the Jana Andolan, Nepal government and the Maoists signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on 21 November [pg. 3 says it’s Nov 22] and announced the formal end of the armed conflict. The people had expected lasting peace after the peace agreement between the Nepal government and the Maoists. Both the parties had abided that they would follow the CPA in every manner. According to the CPA, the Maoists cadres were put in cantonments whereas; an interim parliament was formed including the Maoists. Moreover, the Legislature Parliamentarian enforced an interim constitution and formed an Interim Government. People were expecting an end in the incidences of murders, abductions, extortions, threats; fear and other activities when the Maoists joined the mainstream after a long time of the armed conflict. But this could not be seen in practice particularly from the Maoists side. Both the parties did not abide by the CPA provisions and because of that the common public became the victims all over again. It was difficult to audit the peace process in the absence of a formal monitoring mechanism. Thus, the incidences of non-compliance increased. In this pretext, INHURED International along with Population Watch monitored the violations from a civil society perspective from July 1 to 31 December Interview with the CPN Maoists leader Dr. Baburam Bhattarai about 2007. Initially, five VDCs the non/compliance of Comprehensive peace agreement. and one municipality of one selected district of each region was covered. Later during the second phase of the project, 30 districts were directly covered and rest of the districts were monitored by a team of Rapid Response Panel. The organizations provided training to all the members of the monitoring team regarding the monitoring process, structure and 'do no harm policy'. Similarly, the content of the CPA was described in a simple way and published and distributed in a form of handbook so that public would be aware about CPA. INHURED International/Popuilation Watch 4 The study was concluded after the monitoring of the violations from the concerned parties. Maximum monitoring of the incidences was carried out based on the first hand information whereas some incidences that could not be reached were obtained from other reliable sources. The organization carried out a press conference at the end of the month in the development regions to publicize the CPA violations in the given region. The organization released a national report in a press release based on the violations of CPA in all the five development regions. Moreover, to make the people aware about the incidences, monthly bulletins were published and disseminated at the local level. Since there was non- compliance from both the parties, fear has aroused among the President of INHURED Int, Dr. Gopal Krishna Siwakoti speaking during the unveling of National Report. people. Despite the CPA, human rights instruments, constitution and laws, discriminations, killings, arrest against the law, abduction, torture, making children's political indoctrination and other illegal activities which were to be stopped were not put in practice. People had expected the end of the armed conflict, end in extortion, restitution of internally displaced persons, freedom from fear and threat, assertion of law and order and human rights. But the public expectation has been betrayed since the promises have not been kept. The Constituent Assembly (CA), an important medium for the expression of public will, was supposed to be held by mid-June but was postponed to June 20th 2007. It was again postponed to November 22, 2007. The CA is a medium of expression for the public. The date of the CA is being postponed due to the dispute among the political parties. The public have grown suspicious of the fact that the CA Violated incidents being made public in a press conference. will be held on April 10, 2008. In sum, it can be said that both the parties have demonstrated series of non-compliance towards the CPA. Looking at the quantity of non compliance, the Maoists have committed more violations whereas the state is not less responsible in non-compliance of political honesty from qualitative perspective. INHURED International/Popuilation Watch 5 And, at the end... According to the CPA monitoring initiative carried out by the representatives of INHURED International in all five development regions during the 6 months period, Maoists have committed 365 incidents non- compliance whereas the state is responsible for 30 incidences. However, we can not confirm that this is the complete reflection of the incidences from across the country.