Youth and Peacebuilding in Nepal: The current context and recommendations Ryan Bennett, Sameer Karki, and Nitu Nepal January 2012 Table of Contents Acronyms ........................................................................................................................................ 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 2 Understanding Youth and Peacebuilding ....................................................................................... 5 Definition of Youth ...................................................................................................................... 5 Conflict and Violence .................................................................................................................. 5 What is Peacebuilding? ............................................................................................................... 6 Are Youth Spoiler Agents or Facilitators of Peace?..................................................................... 8 Difference between Youth Crisis and Youth in Crisis .................................................................. 8 Youth Bulge ................................................................................................................................. 9 Why Youth and Peacebuilding? ................................................................................................ 10 Factors for why youth choose peace over violence .................................................................. 11 Kemper’s Model of Youth Programming in Post-conflict settings ............................................ 13 Country Context ............................................................................................................................ 15 Methodology and Limitations ....................................................................................................... 17 Findings - Current Situation for Youth in Nepal ............................................................................ 19 Meaning of Youth in Nepal ....................................................................................................... 19 Gender and Youth ..................................................................................................................... 19 Generational Issues ................................................................................................................... 20 Livelihood .................................................................................................................................. 21 Education ................................................................................................................................... 22 Government and Youth ............................................................................................................. 23 Politics and Youth ...................................................................................................................... 25 Criminal/Illegal Activities ........................................................................................................... 27 Reintegration ............................................................................................................................. 30 Internal/External Migration ...................................................................................................... 31 Visions for Youth ....................................................................................................................... 32 Other Topics .............................................................................................................................. 33 Findings - Current Work with Youth and Peacebuilding ............................................................... 34 ii Training & capacity building ...................................................................................................... 34 Education for Income Generation (EIG) program ..................................................................... 34 Youth Initiatives for Peace and Reconciliation (YIPR) ............................................................... 35 Formation of youth clubs, youth networks and alliances ......................................................... 35 Reconciliation and reintegration ............................................................................................... 37 Political and policies awareness/government linkages ............................................................ 38 Media/Sports/Culture ............................................................................................................... 39 Education and Peacebuilding .................................................................................................... 41 Others ........................................................................................................................................ 42 Recommendations ........................................................................................................................ 43 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 47 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................. 48 Annex: Recommendations specifically for Search for Common Ground Nepal ........................... 53 Design and continue programming on sports culture and community projects ...................... 53 Media programs ........................................................................................................................ 53 Create Linkage and coordination .............................................................................................. 53 New programmatic options ...................................................................................................... 54 Program scope and coverage .................................................................................................... 54 iii Acronyms AED - Academy for Educational Development AISC - Army Integration Special Committee CA - Constituent Assembly CAAFAG - Children Associated with Armed Groups and Armed Forces CCO - Canadian Cooperation Office CMM - USAID Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation CPA - Comprehensive Peace Accord CPN-UML - Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) DFID - Department for International Development EIG - Education for Income Generation FGD - Focus Group Discussion GDP - Gross Domestic Product GTZ - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit INGO - International Non-Governmental Organization LRP - Livelihoods Recovery for Peace NC - Nepali Congress NGO - Non-Governmental Organization NLLS - Nepal Living Standard Survey OHCHR - United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights PHRCE - Peace, Human Rights and Civic Education SACC - Social Awareness Concern SFCG - Search for Common Ground SRC - State Restructuring Commission UCPN (Maoist) - Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) UN - United Nations UNDP - United Nations Development Programme UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund UNIRP - UN Interagency Rehabilitation Programme UNMIN - United Nations Mission in Nepal USAID - United States Agency for International Development USIP - United States Institute for Peace VDC - Village Development Committee VMLR - Verified Minors and Late Recruits YAATra - Youth Advocacy for Accountability and Transparency YIPR - Youth Initiatives for Peace and Reconciliation 1 Introduction In any post-conflict situation, the likelihood of going back to violence is extremely high. One of the key groups that influence such a situation is youth. Armed conflicts throughout the world have displaced approximately 6.6 million young people (Abayomi 2004). These youths are dislocated from their communities and homes, exposed to violence and face extreme hardship to survive. It is said that young people face the most burdens of war and violence. “These young people often face the additional barriers of a lack of sufficient education, health care, protection, livelihood opportunities, recreational activities, friendship, and family support” (Youth and Peacebuilding, USIP). The conflicts and wars of the world are unavoidable if we do not engage the youth constructively. However, there is a wider consensus in the field and among organizations that children have to be protected. Article 38 of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child obliges signatories to prevent children under 15 years of age from directly participating in hostilities, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention increases this age to those under 18 (Convention on the Rights of the Child, OHCHR). When children are involved in a conflict, it raises widespread political condemnation. In addition, the recent focus of children can be seen through heavy encouragement and acknowledgement of peace education throughout the sector. However, when children pass the age of the societies’ conception of childhood and become youth, there are less policies and programs that protect them from wars and violence. It is an undeniable fact that youth are the “prime life-blood feeding the machinery of war, and continue to play that role today” (Danesh 2008). If we look at the current context, youth are taking a central role