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FES
Nepal in the Press - 2007 |
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Call for massive
reform in judiciary <Top>
By A Staff Reporter
KATHMANDU, Nov 24: Senior legal experts,
legislatures and academia from various government and
non-government organisations underlined the need for a
massive reform in the judiciary process in state mechanism.
A state can no longer continue the judiciary system that
had been in practice in the previous political structure.
Timely-reforms are essential to assure the judicial rights
to the people, they said.
Speaking at a programme on 'State Mechanism
and Judicial Rights' organised by the Administrative Court
in assistance with the Fredrich Ebert Stiftung (FES),
they also spoke as how reforms could be introduced at
different levels of government organisations.
Chief Justice Kedar Prasad Giri, while
speaking at a two-day seminar, underlined the need for
enhancing efficiency of employees to deliver effective
services to the people. He said that the Supreme Court
is inundated with the workload, therefore, there is a
need of restructuring the Supreme Court as well as other
judiciary and semi- judiciary institutions.
Meanwhile RSS adds: Chief Justice Giri
also said that in a democracy the judiciary is the agency
giving continuity to the rule of law and the constitutional
system in accordance with the law and providing concrete
shape to the concept of rule of law by protecting the
rights and welfare of the people.
Inaugurating a two-day workshop on ?
Structure of the State and Right to Justice? organized
by the Administrative Court here today, Chief Justice
Giri said although the Supreme Court had to face different
kinds of problems in the context of fulfilling its constitutional
role, it has actively carried out works of dispensing
justice.
He also suggested that it would be timely
to assign to the Administrative Court the jurisdiction
over cases relating to government and corporation employees
in order to making the Supreme Court efficient and effective
by reducing its work load.
At the programme, Minister of State
for Labour and Transport Management, Ramesh Lekhak spoke
of the need of searching the possibility of holding the
election of the Constituent Assembly as it is the key
to the restructuring of the state. He added that the election
of the Constituent Assembly should not be used to one?s
convenience.
Minister of State for General Administration,
Ram Chandra Yadav said everyone should contribute to take
the country forward towards progress by establishing peace.
He also pointed out the need of making an assessment of
our past activities.
President of Nepal Bar Association Bishwakanta
Mainali expressed concern over the growing interference
in the judiciary which works to maintain check and balance
between the Executive and the Legislature and to protect
the rights of the citizens. He stressed the need for raising
collective voice for saving the country from being ruined.
President of the organizing institution,
Kashiraj Dahal underlined the need for building strong
state institutions for establishment of lasting peace
and protection of the rights and interests of the citizens
since always using the country as the laboratory of political
games would lead to the people becoming apathetic to the
political system as a whole.
Min Bahadur Rayamajhi, the senior judge
at the Supreme Court while presenting a working paper
spoke about the restructuring of judiciary system. He
also pointed out the need of people?s country, ?but it
should be accordance with the legal framework.?
Kashi Raj Dahal, chairman of the Administrative
Court said that adequate reform majors were essential
to make the judiciary more effective and people-oriented.
Representatives from different government
organisations put forward their views. Secretary at the
Ministry of Information and Communications Yuba Raj Pandey,
head of the FES Dev Raj Dahal also presented their papers
at the programme.
The seminar has been organised with
the objective of gathering views in order to introduce
reforms in the Nepalese bureaucracy and judiciary system,
the officials say.
Source: The Rising Nepal
(25 November 2007)
People bewildered
by CA jargons <Top>
By Our Correspondent
Janakpurdham, Nov. 8: They are still
uninformed and largely bewildered about the hyperbolic
jargons on the constituent assembly and formulation of
the new constitution to make new Nepal. They do not know
what in fact the proportional electoral system is.
Not only the general public who are
confused about the present political activities and the
procedures about the formulation of new Constitution,
even the local politicians, college professors, and journalists
seem to be simmering with confusion since the Interim
Legislature Parliament Monday passed two proposals which
has directed the government to go for fully proportional
electoral system and the set the date for the announcement
of republic.
Each of them has their own interpretation
and understanding. But still they are not sure about the
procedures about elections of Constituent Assembly. Different
groups have their different opinions and arguments. Surprisingly
neither the government nor the non-governmental organisations
has made any effort to educate them yet.
?It is a great irony that the government
and particularly the political parties are talking much
about the Constituent Assembly without letting the people
know that they really mean," says former professor
Janaki Saran Yadav.
The new schedule and modality of the
upcoming constituent assembly are yet to be decided. Even
though the Interim Legislature Parliament passed the proposals
for fully proportional electoral system, the modality
is yet to be decided. Moreover, the people have not been
informed which model would be the appropriate according
to the country's existing situation. It is said that the
modality of electoral system would be decided in the regular
session of the parliament which will be held in less than
two weeks time.
Kashi Raj Dahal, chairman of the Administrative
Court, says that awareness generation campaign among the
people is a must to hold elections of the Constituent
Assembly. Dwelling upon the topic entitled ?The Process
of Nation Building, Constitution building and Civic Education"
organised by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Dahal
said that all political parties should work in tandem
for political stability and development, for that visionary
leadership is a must.
The formation of a new constitution
takes place only on special occasion of a country's history.
The process of formation of the constitution demands independent
judiciary, press freedom, fearless situation, no external
and internal interference and human rights, he said.
The cardinal objectives of the formulation
of the new constitution are to establish sustainable peace,
restructure of state and the development of the democratic
(loktantrik) system, which according to Dahal is not possible
without people's participation. He also elaborated different
types of electoral system such as ? the existing system
of maximum scoring, proportional electoral system and
mixed electoral system.
During the discussion programme, local
leaders, teachers and journalists accused the political
parties and their leaders for undermining the existence
of people. They said that this is the high time of building
the nation. However, the political leaders are squabbling
over the seats at the cost of the sovereignty of the nation.
In fact people are tired of all the wheeling and dealing
of political leaders, they said.
Dr. Ram Kumar Yadav, a political scientist
observed that civic sense among the political actors and
the people is a must to foster democratic culture in the
society. Making of constitution is not a big deal, but
the actors who implement it should be honest towards people
and the nation. All political parties irrespective of
their partisan interests should be united for the development
of the nation, he said.
Majority of the people in this shantytown
are more concerned about peace security and development.
Earlier, Nav Raj Dahal of the FES while highlighting the
objectives of the programmes said that sense of responsibility,
reconciliation, and respect were essential to foster democracy
in the society.
The FES, according to Dahal, has been
conducting massive awareness generation programmes on
civic education, constituent assembly and democracy in
more than 40 districts for the last one year.
Source: The Rising Nepal
(9 November 2007)
NEFAS Seminar
on Peace Building Held <Top>
TGW
Kathmandu: The Nepal Foundation of Advanced
Studies (NEFAS) organized a seminar entitled “Post
Conflict Reconstruction in Nepal” 7-8, October, 2007
last week.
The two day seminar
funded by the FES (Freidrich-Ebert-Stiftung)Germany and
participated in by Nepal’s noted scholars, University
professors, Students, Journalists and others tried to
address the ailments currently the country is engulfed
with.
On the first day of seminar, Bharat
Pokharel enlightened the audience with his working paper
on, “Peace Building in Post Conflict Societies: Reconstruction
and Rehabilitation in Nepal”. Similarly, Mr. Shanta
Bahadur Pun exposed the present inclusiveness of Nepal’s
Institutions through a working paper on “How ' Inclusive'
Nepal's Institutions?.”
Both the papers drew a lot of comments
from the floor.
The next day Prof Dr. Sushil R. Pandey
presented a thought provoking paper on “Peace Process
in Nepal: Assumption and Speculation”.
Similarly former Journalist Jan Sharma
presented a paper entitled, “International Community
to Nepal's Peace Process.
Professor Ananda Prasad Srestha welcomed
the participants. The FES country director, Dev Raj Dahal
gave vote of thanks.
Source: The
Telegraph weekly (10 October 2007)
Civic
Rights and Duties Must Move Together <Top>
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) organized
two-day three seminars on "Initiatives in Building
Democracy: Education About Civic and Voters Education"
at Dhading (September 26-27), Syangja (September 28-29)
and Tanahu (September 30-October 1).
Accordng to the FES, the meetings were
attended by 386 elites and public of these and other districts.
They were political leaders, judges, lawyers, Chief District
Officers, Police Officers, elections officers, women's
organizations, members of civil society, human rights
organizations and social organizations. The contents of
seminars involved democratization, party building, civic
education to voters, state building, peace process, knowledge
and information about CA elections, issues of social transformation
and management of social, economic and political tensions
created by globalization, role of media and civil society
and also those of the donors in these processes.
FES officials in Kathmandu informed
that participants asked the questions about public sphere,
the democratic development in the phase of capitalism,
suitable strategies for achieving social justice, cooperative
action of political parties, management of transition
process, vision about economy, education, health and other
public issues and the costs and benefits of adopting federalism.
Some people stressed to need to establish "think
thanks" in the country so that they can contribute
to policies independent of political and interest groups
considerations while others stressed the need for democratization
of political parties and civil society so that they can
broaden the base of social, economic and political policies.
Education about voters and civic rights
and duties is a key to strengthen democracy and transform
various identities of people into equal Nepali citizens.
"Democracy requires compromise rather than absolutization
of individual and particular group interest" said
Dev Raj Dahal, Head of FES Nepal office. Compromise, reconciliation
and peaceful resolution of conflict require finding common
ground and hidden connections among the drivers, actors
and stakeholders of conflict and balancing their interests,
positions and goals. These elements are also important
for building democracy and development. Activation of
citizens towards the national public issues and their
meaningful participation alone can help them achieve the
goals of Constituent Assembly, such as state building,
inclusive democracy and sustainable peace." A strong
state is a prerequisite for democracy, development and
peace.
Added Constitutional Expert, Kashi Raj
Dahal, "Vision must come before any action. Cooperative
action is key to its success." He narrated various
modes of elections, the mixed system adopted by Nepal
and many of the challenges in realizing the vision of
CA. Chandra Dev Bhatta, Ph D explained various components
of democracy and suggested a number of measures necessary
for the consolidation of democracy and building civic
culture in Nepal. On the occasion FES distributed 450
copies each of four resource materials-state building
and social transformation, Handouts on Democracy, Handouts
on CA and a book on democracy. The program was supported
by German Foreign Ministry.
Source: Tej Tara Weekly CHRONICLE
(9 October 2007)
National
sovereignty vital for development: Experts <Top>
By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Oct. 8: Senior media
persons, academia and political analysts have expressed
their concern over the growing violence, anarchy and impunity
that the nation has been experiencing in the recent years.
Even though the Jana Andolan II has radiated many aspirations
among the people, lack of understanding and lack of political
culture among the political parties and their leaders
have virtually pushed nation into jeopardy.
"We are
at very critical juncture of the history. People are losing
their confidence about the future of the nation mainly
due to irresponsible and self-centered attitude of the
political parties and their leaders," said academia
and policy analysts.
Dwelling upon
the issues relating to the ?peace building in Nepal?,
they lambasted the major political parties and their leaders
for creating confusion and frustration among the people.
Not a single political party or a leader seems to be worried
about the country?s future. As a neighboring country,
Nepal should be able to win the confidence of India and
China, they said. However, deteriorating political situation
has eroded confidence of the general public, they said.
Exchanging their
views at an interaction programme on "Post Conflict
Peace Building Process in Nepal" organised by the
Nepal Foundation of Advanced Studies (NEFAS) in assistance
of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), they categorically
said "major political parties are responsible for
the harrowing fall in the people's confidence."
Some awful violence including the Gaur
incidence, Kapilvastu carnage were few examples as how
the country had been sliding into the crisis, they said.
It seems that the country is on the verge of disintegration.
The political parties are responsible for any kind of
disintegration, he added. They even charged the United
Nations Mission to Nepal (UNMIN) of not making the registration
of weapons clear and transparent. There are plenty of
reasons to query the activities of UNMIN.
While speaking at the programme Dev
Raj Dahal, an academia said that the Nepali state has
lost its monopoly on power due to its erosion on its capacity
for governance, growth of competitive violence, birth
of a neo-patrimonial culture and erosion of policy sovereignty.
Restoration of the reasons of state and core state functions
is central to protect human rights.
But politics must resolve two deadlocks
- between the tendency of the Seven Party Alliance to
system maintenance and revolutionary polarization for
its deconstruction of the CPN- Maoist and between the
primacy of order of the former and revolutionary change
of the latter, he said.
Even though the speakers were highlighting
the essence of democracy, but they commented the country
was losing its sovereignty. Some of the participants even
hinted at the possibility of coup. Sushil Pandey, said
that Nepal had become poorer and insecure and in large
numbers o young people (about 2.5 million in 20 years)
have left abroad for employment and migration continues
unabated.
Jan Sharma, senior journalist emphasised
the need for creating a conducive atmosphere for sustainable
peace and security. However Sharma also expressed serious
concern over the country's sovereignty.
Bidyanath Nepal, an economist and former
secretary of the Nepal Government also expressed the view
that people should be provided with economic opportunity
or they should be economically and socially empowered.
Prof. Mohan Lohani, former ambassador,
said that Nepal should maintain equal relations with both
India and China.
Jitendra Dhowj
Khand, an academia also underlined the need for unity
and harmony among the people.
Source: The Rising Nepal (9 October
2007)
Social inclusion
must for post-conflict reconstruction <Top>
By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Oct. 7: All sorts of victims
particularly the women and children who have born the
brunt of conflict should be provided with adequate psychological
and material support in the post conflict period.
Post conflict
reconstruction could be successful only when the people
in the conflict ridden areas feel empowered and
assured of security, said economists, policy analysts
and strategists at a programme here in the capital Sunday.
Exchanging their views at a two day
seminar on "Post Conflict Reconstruction in Nepal"
organised by the Nepal Foundation for Advanced Studies
(NEFAS) in cooperation of Friedrich-Ebert-Stifftung(FES),
they observed that construction of roads, bridges or new
buildings alone do not necessarily serve the objective
of reconstruction, people from all walks of life irrespective
of their political beliefs, caste and gender should be
assured for equal access to the national resources. The
new political dimensions that emerged after the JanaAndolan
II have at least radiated new hopes among the people in
the country, they said.
Former vice chairman of the National
Planning Commission Dr. Mohan Man Sainju said that 'development
of infrastructures' alone does not assure security and
post conflict reconstruction. People from different walks
of life particularly the deprived section of the society
should be given high priority, he said.
Sustainable peace is possible only when
the people from all walks of life get equal opportunities.
Traditional concept of security (that is armed security)
cannot assure peace and security in the society, therefore,
each citizen should be assured that he/she has equal and
fair access to the national resources, he said. Exclusion,
marginalization and poverty are the stumbling blocks for
the sustainable development of the society. Therefore,
the state should make all efforts to address these problems,
he added.
Dr. Sainju expressed apprehension that
extreme polarisation of political parties would derail
the process of reconstruction and development. He said
that sustainable development and peace would be possible
only when people across the country feel empowered.
Dev Raj Dahal, head of the FES said
that the inaction of government was responsible for allowing
different groups to engage in violent action. Violence
is the politics of pre-modern era. Modern politics should
be executive by non-violent action for the achievement
of common good. The Nepalese public is aspiring to reduce
differences and low-intensity conflict after the signing
of Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), said Dahal. Politics
in Nepal is often played on a zero-sum mentality and dominant
actor often indulge in mutual accusation rather than assuming
collective accountability to build this nation, he added.
Executive director of the NEFAS Prof.
Anand Shrestha expressed worry about the post-conflict
reconstruction process. Violence, extreme polarisation
of democratic forces has dragged the nation towards chaos.
The political climate has changed after the postponement
of the elections of the Constituent Assembly. However,
the process of empowering people should not be obstructed.
Prof. Gunanidhi Sharma said that sustainable
economic development would not be possible without social
inclusion.
Dr. Bharat Pokhrel
and Sant Bahadur Pun had presented their papers on the
topic.
Source: The Rising Nepal (8 October
2007)
Civic
Education: Balancing Democracy and Patriotism <Top>
By our correspondent
The Kathmandu-based German political
foundation, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) organized three
programs on "Initiatives for Democracy Building in
Nepal: Education about Civic and Voters Rights" at
Baglung, Parbat and Lamjung. The programs involved the
"local elites" of society, such as leaders of
political parties, judges, Chief District officers, election
officers, police officers, lawyers, school teachers, civil
society organizations, youth and development workers so
that they can act as multipliers of the messages about
civic and voters education in rural areas. Over 420 became
familiar about the changing political context, Constituent
Assembly (CA) elections, elections systems, civic rights
and responsibilities of various stakeholders of society,
state building, peace process and key variables of democracy.
Speaking at the program Chief of FES
Nepal office said, "The success of CA lies in holding
free and fair elections mediated by greater participation
of citizens and greater representation of their general
interest. Linking people with the democratic political
process and major socializing institutions of society
and the state through continuous civic education enable
them to exercise their rights and responsibilities as
sovereign citizens." He added, " State-building,
democratic polity and sustainable peace require the speedy
management of political transition, breaking of deadlocks
of various sorts, expanding the social base of politics
and fostering a culture of constitutional patriotism.
This is the way to establish democracy based on gender,
social and inter-generational justice."
Constitutional expert Kashi Raj Dahal
argued the CA has three basic aims: sustainable peace,
state restructuring to make it inclusive of social, economic,
cultural and territorial diversity and creation of a competitive
democratic political system based on human rights and
popular sovereignty. He added that politics is a means
to link the state with citizens but there must be a clear
"political road map" before the public—a
map that clearly underlines the nature of head of state,
nature of polity and social, economic and cultural policies.
He also argued that "right to information provides
space for political openness and mutual accountability
of all the stakeholders of society towards democratic
governance." Participants were curious to know how
the eight-party alliance is going to articulate the suitability
of the head of state, nature of federalism, economic policy
and social inclusion agenda including the rights to self-determination.
They argued that patriotism and democracy, rights and
responsibilities and liberty and order should go together.
They also asked questions as to whether the current leadership
has the ability to execute social change which might go
against their own political culture.
Chandra Dev Bhatta, Ph D scholar, London
School of Economics, explained various facets of democracy
and how they are related to each other. He stressed that
civil society groups should be political but non-partisan,
public, transcend the group interest of society and work
for the general interest of public. They should not be
essentially either anti-state or pro-market rather they
should work to mediate the extremes of society for the
development of civic political culture. Civic virtues
of citizens grow with social trust, reciprocity and civil
coexistence rather than neo-Hobbesian state of nature
that is prevailing in the country. FES distributed over
500 copies of "Democracy," "Handouts on
Democracy" and an "Introduction to Constituent
Assembly" among the participants. The programs were
supported by Foreign Ministry of Germany.
Source: Tej Tara Weekly CHRONICLE
(11 September 2007)
German Envoy
Inaugurates Peace Project in Nepal <Top>
German ambassador to Nepal Franz Ring
today opened a new $7million GTZ project “Support
of measures enhancing the peace process” which aims
to bolster the ongoing peace process in Nepal.
The project aims at improving the living conditions in
the Maoist cantonments and surrounding communities, the
German ambassador said at a function organized to launch
the project.
The project is among the series of activities the government
of Germany to support the peace process in Nepal, Ring
said adding that the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation
provided civic and voter education to support the constituent
assembly elections.
“The German development projects have been in a position
to start providing assistance already since November 2006
in the areas of health services, medication and access
roads, improving the sanitation in the cantonments and
the surrounding areas as well as organizing surgical camps”,
Ring said
Source: The
Himalayan Times (11 September 2007)
For workers’
well-being <Top>
Dev Raj Dahal
The global liberalisation process has
increased the movement of people, knowledge and technologies
worldwide. But, in no way has it made the globe a common
space where the rich and the poor can mutually benefit.
There is a vast difference in working and living conditions.
The income differentials are enormous. In this context,
the increased access of South Asian lower middle class
workers to international resources and opportunities has
helped them to escape from the conditions of deprivation
and insecurity and roll uphill seeking liberty and prosperity.
The regional countries are the recipients
of huge remittances from their workers. In 2006 the World
Bank reported that the South Asian region annually receives
around $ 32 billion remittances. In Pakistan, remittances
increased four-fold from just over $1 billion in 2001
to over $4 billion in 2003; in Bangladesh, it increased
from $1.9 to $3.3 billion; in India, it increased from
$12 to $21. 7 billion and Nepal receives $1.5 billion.
If this trend grows then in the future its contribution
to gross domestic product will outpace both foreign direct
investment and official development assistance.
Except Bhutan and the Maldives, all
the South Asian countries are labor surplus and labor
is exported mainly to Malaysia, the Gulf region and East
Asian countries. The outflow of regional workers and inflow
of remittances have significantly aided the economic development
of the South Asian region. The migration from labor surplus
to labor deficit rich countries is so massive that it
has become profitable to both sending and receiving countries.
The steady flow of foreign exchange
that remittances have delivered continues to improve these
countries’ balance of payment situation, stabilised
the exchange rate, availed foreign exchange for imports
and provided creditworthiness for external borrowing.
But, these benefits are not without social costs for the
workers, their children and other family members. And
the changing demands of the workers have not been properly
investigated.
The liberalisation of regional economies
has facilitated workers’ social mobility but the
level of workers protection that is conducive for sound
labor market has not been sufficient. The wages and employment
conditions equally affect the quality of life of the workers.
In South Asia, labor market regulations and standards
are being applied to industrial and organised sectors.
The workers employed in the informal
sector do not have strong political agencies for free
collective bargaining to demand for their legitimate rights,
social security, safety nets and adequate social opportunities.
The explosive growth of manpower recruitment
agencies in various countries of labor origin has become
a new business enterprise. Workers who are sent abroad
by overseas companies without formal agreements with the
governments face a number of disadvantages such as low
pay, overwork, passport seizure by companies, unhealthy
working conditions, sexual abuse, torture, kidnapping
and are even exposed to terrorist attacks.
Often workers are ill-advised by the
local recruiting agents. When they go abroad they are
forced to work in those areas other than was mutually
agreed upon. Similarly, low wages, long working hours,
lack of social security, deceptive visa practices too
are common. There are no regional agreements or dialogues
either for the mitigation of these ills or any policies
towards a closer integration of labor markets.
So far the hard earnings of workers
abroad have neither been estimated by South Asian policy
makers nor the political and social implications of increasing
migration of the youth been properly analysed. Likewise,
South Asian governments have not formulated a coherent
regional policy regarding labor market integration within
the region and abroad and common negotiating position
and policies about migrant workers as well as labor agreements
with receiving countries.
There is a need to create South Asian
task force on migration to review the existing national
policy documents and formulate a model policy. It is high
time to address the problems of South Asian workers working
abroad, analyse domestic policy deficits, upgrade training
and capacity building skills, develop policy coordination
among the regional countries and build their skill and
capacity as per the provisions articulated in core labor
standards of ILO and global rules. The donors, market
institutions and regional civil society can contribute
to these efforts.
The World Bank’s Global Economic
Prospect (GEP) has urged developing countries faced by
a large exodus of these skilled workforce and educated
people, to improve working conditions in public employment,
invest more in research and development and help identify
job opportunities at home for returning migrants with
advanced education. There is a need for governments of
South Asia to regulate illegal recruitment and if possible
have a policy on the regional level regarding their protection,
security and safety.
Source: NewsFront
(20-26 August 2007)
Migrating
age <Top>
Roshan Pokharel
The 21st century has been termed as
the ‘Age of Migration.’ Migrants securing jobs
and going for better livelihood is fast getting recognition.
The migrants are also agents of change in societies. Countries
play different roles as sender, receivers or as transit
points in the migration phenomenon. Migration not only
raises standard of life at personal level, it also helps
in development of the society through poverty reduction,
transfer of skills, knowledge, ideas and construction
of social networking.
That the experience from the neighbourhood
could be a good learning exercise for Nepal was probably
the reason that South Asia Centre for Police Studies (SACEPS)
and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) jointly organised a
regional seminar on 'Labour Migration, Employment and
Poverty Alleviation in South Asia' with experts drawn
in from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
Security and protection of the migrant
labourers remains a major issue of concern everywhere.
India is contemplating introducing a system of public
hearings to redress their grievances besides setting up
a National Manpower Export Promotional Council. Nepal
has set its priority to protect women migrant workers.
The regional seminar expressed general
concern that SAARC countries’ general track record
on the issue was not all that inspiring. Setting up of
a labour cell in SAARC secretariat also found an endorsement
of the experts.
As the migration in search of better
opportunities or because of domestic conflict as in Sri
Lanka and Nepal continue to rise in size and scale, ratification
of national and international instruments pertaining to
the rights of migrants and their families will be the
first step to guarantee their rights and protection.
Source: NewsFront
(13-19 August 2007)
Reforms
that CA polls call for <Top>
Hari Bansh Jha
At this time, no issue is more talked
about than election and electoral reforms. This is to
be expected in a country where successive governments
have been postponing CA polls for over five-and-a-half
decades on one pretext or the other. But the momentum
for CA elections gained ground only in the aftermath of
Jana Andolan II, with CA polls proposed for June 2007.
Even though the date for CA election
has been fixed for Nov. 22, 2007, doubts persist considering
the deteriorating law and order situation. Amidst such
speculation, the Centre for Economic and Technical Studies
(CETS), a research organisation, organised a two-day seminar
in the Kathmandu Valley recently on “Issues and Challenges
of Electoral Reforms in Nepal” in cooperation with
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), a research wing of the
Social Democratic Party of Germany.
During the deliberations, participated
by over 90 personalities, including politicians, journalists,
academicians, and women, plus representatives of Janajatis,
Dalits and Madheshis, nearly everyone agreed that election
was the only non-violent method for societal transformation.
They noted that the most difficult part of election was
to ensure inclusiveness while at the same time addressing
the pressing demands of various agitating groups and defeating
communal and reactionary elements.
It was felt that low turnout of the
voters might denote people’s lack of commitment and
trust in the electoral system and apart from the FPtP
system, the adoption of proportional system was suggested.
It was also felt that low level of understanding among
the people about the mixed electoral system was a big
challenge. In this context, the EC needs to initiate awareness
programmes to help people understand the mixed electoral
system and the technicalities involved.
Likewise, the Election Constituency
Delineation Committee (ECDC) was viewed as a stumbling
block to CA polls for lack of experts in the panel. The
EC itself isn’t free of blame for its lack of transparency.
Statistics reveal that the cost-per-vote in elections
had been increasing. From a meagre Rs 10 during House
of Representatives (HoR) election in 1991 the amount jumped
to Rs 20 in 1994 and finally to Rs 27 in 1999. For the
CA polls, the cost-per-vote is likely to shoot up to Rs
107.
Apart from EC, candidates and foreign
agencies too spend a lot of money in the name of voters’
education. With the growth in election expenses, it is
difficult for the poor, honest and deserving candidates
to fight and win the elections as they cannot afford to
pay for 3 G’s: Guns, gold and goons. The EC needs
to monitor the flow of money during the election and devise
strategies to punish those who do not follow the code
of conduct. The seminar concluded: CA polls, conducted
in free and fearless manner, could give a new lease of
life to the nation; while failure to do so at the scheduled
date might invite a larger catastrophe. The CA election
is also important for its role in institutionalising the
gains of the people’s revolution.
Source: The
Himalayan Times (27 July 2007)
Politics
of compromise <Top>
BY OUR REPORTER
If one goes by what Prof Dr. Thomas
Meyer idea about an ideal path to democracy, our attempts
to bring in peace, reconciliation and to institutionalize
democracy are only half-hearted efforts.
Dr. Meyer of University of Dortmund
at a programme on July 18 made a comprehensive presentation
on how democracy could be activated and made credible
and successful and his focus was on compromise, which
he called advanced school of democracy. "The culture
of clever compromise has shown itself to be one of the
prerequisites for a credible and successful democracy,"
he said.
"In a compromise, two or more participants
agree that each of them will waive their right to completely
push through their own interests, so that all participants
are able to realize as many of their political goals as
possible in a way that is acceptable to all sides."
He called pluralism as the basis of
freedom and democracy and discussed about the four political
strategies for dealing with conflict of interests - Authoritarianism,
consensus building, strict majority decision and compromise.
Of the four strategies Dr. Meyer talked
about our present political situation is a clear evident
that the eight-political parties have failed to go beyond
the third strategy where the interests of the minorities
have not been taken into consideration.
The programme organised by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung may
give a food for thought to our political parties, civil
society members and others on why Nepal despite the changes
in the government, political leadership and even the system
has rather added up problems instead of resolving them.
Dev Raj Dahal, head-FES Nepal welcomed
the participants and guests and Daniel Reichart, South
Asia Desk Officer, FES Germany, addressed on behalf of
FES headquarters.
Source: People's
Review (26 July - 1 August 2007)
Compromise
for peace and integrity <Top>
By Suresh Sharma
The recent developments and upheavals
are not at all encouraging. The attention of the media
and the public is geared toward the volatile security
situation and rampant human rights violation in east and
mid-terai districts. Although the election to the Constituent
Assembly (CA) is already slated for November 22, there
is still a long way to go with respect to addressing the
growing unrest in terai and bringing the agitating groups
into confidence.
The political turbulence and uncertainty
in terai needs to be tackled without further delay. Unless
the genuine demands of the terai people and other ethnic
groups are not dealt with vision and statesmanship, the
forthcoming election to the Constituent Assembly will
not be held on schedule. If it is held without resolving
the terai conflict, it will be a futile exercise, a waste
of resources and meaningless effort.
The leaders of the present coalition
government and the eight party alliance should immediately
realize it and do the needful to address the issues raised
by the agitating groups of terai people, Janajatis and
the Dalits at the earliest. Time is running out. We now
hardly have four months at our disposal to finish the
entire preparations for the CA polls.
There is no room for leaders to commit
mistakes when national unity and integrity is at stake.
Political leaders should keep in mind that there are other
pertinent issues and challenges, apart from the primary
responsibility of maintaining the law and order. The other
issues include educating and creating awareness among
the public regarding the CA polls and make the voters
willingly prepared to exercise their voting rights : The
process of making the CA polls inclusive and representative
both in spirit and action; fashioning its mode of operation
in a transparent way to ensure a free and fair process;
respecting individual decision of citizens in their right
to franchise without coercion and trepidation from any
political parties or groups; ensuring that the election
codes of conduct are followed adequately and wholeheartedly
by all contesting parties; etc.
As such an uphill task is lying ahead,
the political leaders should be bold enough to face the
situation. They must reconcile their differences within
and among the parties, take organized collective action
and make quick and meaningful decisions to lead the country.
The present situation which the country
is experiencing is not what the general public had anticipated
at the time immediately following the success of April
uprising. The people had a lot of expectation from their
political leaders. The hopes of the people are gradually
dwindling realizing the current political chaos and vulnerable
security situation plaguing the country.
The reprehensible acts of violence and
atrocities exhibited by the agitating terai groups are
pushing the country into a state of anarchy. The Comprehensive
Peace Accord signed in November last year has surely raised
a new ray of hope - marking as an end of the decade-long
conflict, but now, it's being realized that there is a
vast difference between signing the agreement in paper
and practicing and adhering to its principles on the ground.
The Maoist leadership has marred the
veracity of the peace agreement by their double entendre
attitude and behavior. On the one hand, the Maoists are
now part of the coalition government and are accountable
to the people from the legal standpoint. However, on the
other, the Young Communist League continues to intimidate
people. The seeds of violence and armed-conflict sown
by the Maoists are now being replicated with ferocity
by none other than their erstwhile friends - Madhesi People's
Rights Forum and both the factions of Janatantrik Terai
Mukti Morcha (JTMM) among others.
The statement recently issued by JTMM-Jwala
Singh group threatening the hills-origin government officials
of strong physical actions if they fail to evacuate the
terai districts within two weeks is filled with communal
sentiments. Such a refutable, irresponsible and immature
statement is not only deplorable and unpalatable to a
Nepali but also seems indicative in dividing the age-old
solidarity and fraternity of Pahades and Madhesis.
The brutal killing of Ram Hari Pokharel,
the secretary of Govindapur VDC of Siraha district by
the cadres of JTTM-J on baseless grounds is yet another
cowardly and egregious display of barbarism. Such a merciless
killing is not subject to justification or clarification
under any pretext. Side by side, by blatantly rejecting
the ultimatum of the government to renounce violence and
sit for peaceful negotiation, the credibility of the leadership
of JTMM-J and its claim of representing the genuine demands
and aspirations of the terai people is seriously questionable.
The political leaders should learn something
from the decade-long Maoist insurgency and from countries
like Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Iraq where conflict
is continuing unabated owing to non-compromising attitude
of conflicting parties and lack of empathy and value for
human lives. If all the agitating groups in Nepal continue
to fight and engage among themselves by resorting to violent
means of extortions, abductions and killings, then how
can we anticipate that an amicable environment will prevail
for the forthcoming CA elections?
It is a well-known fact that irrespective
of our topographical variation and diversity in culture,
religion, ethnicity, the Nepali people have learned to
coexist in mutual harmony whether they belong to Madhes
or Pahad since the dawn of our civilization. Our first
identity is being a Nepali irrespective of our origin
or descent. Let the political leaders of various agitating
parties, splinter groups and forums give their first priority
to uphold our national integrity intact. They should immediately
settle for a peaceful dialogue with the government and
learn to compromise their petty problems and vested interests
for the sake of our greater national unity in this precarious
transitional period.
A renowned German Professor- Thomas
Meyer, who chairs the Political Science Department at
the Dortmund University, has the following message for
us during a talk program in Kathmandu very recently: "Democracy
is about compromises. It is not about inconsiderate application
of majority rule," He further said "Compromises
often reduce the costs for maintaining one's own interests,"
Meyer stressed
that supportive political culture is as essential as institutions
to sustain democratic polity. Coincidentally, myself being
an alumnus from the same university, now I realize how
truly his words can be applied to deal with our present
situation.
Source: The Kathmandu Post (24
July 2007)
FES Meet On
'Compromise-Ideal Path to Democracy' <Top>
By Bipin Jangam
The Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES),
a non-profit German based organization held a program
in Lalitpur on July 18 for awareness on dynamics of democracy
with the topic ‘Compromise-Conflict-Consensus’.
A comparative empirical research report
by Professor Dr. Thomas Meyer of Political Science Department
at University of Dortmund on‘Compromise-The Ideal
Path to Democracy’ was presented. Speaking on the
occasion country director for FES Nepal, Devraj Dahal
stated the importance of compromise and conflict management
for consensus formulation. Dahal also highlighted the
importance of sustainable development, peace and reconciliation,
conflict management and healthy social judicial system.
Dahal concluded that democratic constitution through compromise
as means of consensus is ‘the rule for everyone by
everyone’ and it will serve as an effective optimization
on conflict management.
Addressing the program on behalf of
FES headquarters, South Asia Desk officer Daniel Reichart
highlighted the contributions of FES on democratization
and the importance of empirical researches and also spoke
about the books by Professor Dr. Meyer on the dynamics
of democracy. He also spoke about the eight-party alliance
and the needs of
compromise as foundations for consensus and resolve conflict
management in Nepal.
At the program, Professor Dr. Meyer
presented his comparative research report on dynamics
of democracy on a democratic state. He stated the importance
of comparative empirical research methodology of political
science for ideal democratic practice worldwide. Dr. Meyer
cited the works of previous researchers on his presentation
of ‘Compromise-The Ideal Path to Democracy’.
He stated the importance of rational
cognitive decision-making and problem-solving skills from
political science and the importance of Participative-Decision-Making
(PDM) in the context of conflict management and clever
rational compromises.According to Dr. Meyer freedom of
expression is necessary to formulate the consensus and
resolve any conflict in a democratic state. He also mentioned
that considerations and compromises are measures of balanced
democratic culture and the umbrella protocol to resolve
conflicts.
Dr. Meyer also highlighted the inclusion
of minority and gender at all levels and said that lower
poverty, lower discrimination are measurement techniques
for healthy democratic culture. He also said that the
authoritarian culture cannot fulfill such requirements
nor it can make clever compromises, but develop hasty
environment to betray authorities
for personal and other benefits that fosters unhealthy
reward system.
Meyer concluded his presentation by
adding a mediator model of win-win situation of compromise
based political culture, in which language and communication
serves as a mediator for understanding and maintaining
a trustworthy authority in the state. He also added that
naturalistic observation techniques and tutorial classes
on political culture through media and education would
foster to create an ideal role model for healthy political
culture.
Source: Tej Tara Weekly CHRONICLE
(24 July 2007)
'Lazy compromises'
fail parties to yield results <Top>
By A Staff Reporter
Lalitpur, July 18: In the last
over five decades, Nepal witnessed almost three major
political revolutions followed by a series of compromises
that pledged to bring about positive changes in the social
and economic lives of citizens.
But immediately after the political
parties that were involved in the democratic movements
and the establishments (rulers) struck a deal of compromise,
it came under the ring of suspicion with the dissenting
factions in and outside the political parties coming to
the streets to protest the agreement.
Even the agreement between the seven
political parties and the palace in the aftermath of the
April movement last year is being interpreted as anti-people
and anti-democratic although a stunning number of people
were behind the revolution.
Why do these compromises look shaky
and fail to function effectively?
German political scientist Professor
Dr. Thomas Meyer offers some clues to understand the failures
of compromises that end in disillusionment and create
new kind of conflicts.
One can compare 'lazy compromises,'
a form of compromise classified by Dr. Meyer, to interpret
the fragile political consensus hammered out by the Nepali
political parties.
"Lazy compromises are forms of
treason against the goals, values and interests which
participants believe in to satisfy completely different,
often egoistic goals for which there is no justification,"
said Meyer at a talk programme entitled 'Compromise -
the Ideal Path of Democracy' organised by the Friedrich
Ebert Stiftung in Lalitpur Wednesday.
He said that the exemplary character
of such 'lazy compromises' for the public could quickly
and effectively discredit the entire concept of 'compromise'
in the long run, right down to language itself, especially
if no positive examples could be effectively given to
counterbalance this.
"Very often in politics, particularly
when democracy has not yet been established many of the
goals declared during election campaigns are sacrificed
for the sake of mere egoistic interests of politicians
involving political office and power," added Dr Meyer,
who is also chairman at the Political Science Department
of Dortmund University, Germany.
He said that compromises had the productive
function of resolving conflicts whenever the complete
establishment of the interests of the stronger party did
not bring about a lasting solution. "This means that
the decisions which were made unilaterally is constantly
brought into question and is therefore not stable."
The German think tank stressed that
good and fair compromises are an essential part of the
political culture of democracy. "They are an expression
of political cleverness because in the long run they often
secure the interest of the participation better and in
a more sustained way than a short-term display of power
superiority."
He defines compromise as a decision-making
process, which simultaneously makes possible long-term
stable results and the security of democracy and is the
key to the democratic culture.
"A compromise is therefore a political
strategy of cleverness, foresight and consideration."
In compromise, two or more participants
agree that each of them will waive their right to completely
push through their own interests so that all participants
are able to realise as many of their political goals as
possible, he noted.
He underscored that the most important
conditions for the continuous work and the proper performance
of democratic institutions in the area of political culture
are trust and the ability to reach a clever compromise.
Dev Raj Dahal, head of Nepal-FES office
said that a search for common good is the price of compromise
as it seeks a balance between the general and particular
will of citizens.
"Weak consensus - the unwillingness
to abide by the agreed rules ? and sectarian feelings
can easily threaten the common sense of nationhood,"
Dahal said.
He said that democracy could make sense
if it puts peace and reconciliation as its highest values
and cares for the social justice for all. "If all
actors followed reasonable action, the conflict which
divides them would be resolved in compromise and creates
opportunities o live in a world of diversity."
Source: The
Rising Nepal (19 July 2007)
Democracy
requires political primacy over army: Dr. Meyer <Top>
By A Staff Reporter
KATHMANDU, July 17: Eminent German Professor
Dr. Thomas Meyer Tuesday said that democracy required
the political primacy over the military in all basic respects.
"The pattern of such primacy may,
however, differ from country to country under the influence
of history, culture and society," Dr. Meyer told
a talk programme on ?Civil Military Relations in Modernizing
Democracy' here this afternoon. "Every state is a
different case because of its particular history, traditional
role of military, the record of military institutions
and the individual persons in uniform."
There is no unified model of democratic
control of military, but democratic control as such is
a necessity everywhere, he added.
Dr. Meyer, who arrived here Monday at
the invitation of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, spoke on the
need to institutionalise additional forms of civil control
to prevent militarism of the society.
He said professionalism both on part
of the political officials who were in charge of the military
and the military personnel themselves was a key to the
full compatibility between the two sides.
"The best way to protect a democracy is a professional
military with professional form of leadership under the
rule of political primacy."
"A democracy in which the military
is exempt from democratic rule in one way or another is
a defective democracy," said Dr. Meyer. "Such
democracy neither possesses the full legitimacy as the
necessary basis for stability nor works properly."
He said a democracy that remained defective
over time would lose legitimacy at home and trust and
credibility internationally.
Asked what could be the best way to
integrate Maoist People Liberation Army into the Nepal
Army, Dr. Meyer said, "It depends on the mutual agreement
of the two sides. First, they need to sign an accord specifying
the values and institutional structure. Then it should
be implemented under the surveillance of a parliamentary
commission."
Organised by the Institute of Foreign
Affairs in collaboration with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung,
the talk programme was participated in by academicians,
military and police personnel, government officials and
civil society representatives.
Speaking at the programme, Daniel Reichart
of Division for International Cooperation Department for
Development Policy-Asia and Pacific of FES, stressed the
need for civic education for civil and military personnel.
Source: The
Rising Nepal (18 July 2007)
For fraternity
among ex-policemen <Top>
BY OUR REPORTER
The Nepal Ex-Policemen's Association
and Saugat Legal Research Centre organised a two-day workshop
on Jestha 31 and Ashad 1 to establish contacts and coordination
and to develop the feeling of fraternity for a dignified
and peaceful life of the ex-police servicemen as well
as for their rights. At
the workshop, they exchanged experiences of their working
period and their ideas and opinion about national security
and national development and the contribution they can
make to the constituent assembly elections.
Former IG D.B. Lama chaired as well
as highlighted the objectives of the workshop, which was
supported by FES. Summing up the conclusion of the workshop
former Senior Superintendent of Police Dr. Chuda Shrestha
said that the former police personnel couldmade significant
contribution towards democracy, nation-building and in
providing security in the constituent assembly election.
He said that in other countries, ex-service personnel
are in high positions, but in our country, very few ex-service
personnel are involved in jobs and employment.
At the workshop, Country Director of
FES Dev Raj Dahal said the ex-service personnel should
raise voices against the deteriorating situation of nationalism.
He said political parties only say there is foreign interference,
but they do not say where it came from. "No one dares
to oppose or raise voice against the activities of the
political parties," he added.
The former police personnel said that they do not only
want to get pension from the government rather they still
want to contribute to the country and the society.
Source: People's
Review (12-18 July 2007)
Peace must
for fair elections <Top>
RSS
LALITPUR, July 7: A fearless atmosphere
should be the first condition for successful elections
to the constituent assembly, said speakers at a programme
organised here Saturday.
Speaking at a talk programme organised
by the Economic and Technical Studies Centre here Saturday,
former Chief Election Commissioner Surya Prasad Shrestha
said a peaceful atmosphere was a must for free and fair
elections.
Former Election Commission Birendra
Mishra said the constituent assembly elections should
materialise the people's constitutional and fundamental
rights.
Former Minister Nilamber Acharya said
as violence continued in some parts of the country, holding
the elections in a fearless atmosphere was challenging.
Source: The
Rising Nepal (8 July 2007)
Nepal: Polls
be held only when security ensured <Top>
TGW
Nepal’s intellectuals, academicians,
constitutional and election experts have said that the
nation should go to the CA polls only after the redressal
of the grievances of the now agitating Terai, Janjatis,
Chure-Bhawar, women folks, the dalits and the likes or
else the CA polls results will be dubbed as illegitimate.
Other experts said that at least the
country must be free from intimidation, abduction, extortion
and that a sort of fear less atmosphere should prevail
in the country at least three months ahead of the polls.
Thus the Nepali academia favors CA polls
on time but demands conducive atmosphere prior to the
conduct of the polls.
At a Center for Economic and Technical
Studies and FES sponsored seminar held in Kathmandu today,
speakers like Dev Raj Dahal- the FES Nepal Office Chief,
Surya Prasad Shrestha-the former Chief Election Commissioner
and Nilambar Acharya-a constitution expert, made it known
that election to the constituent assembly must allow the
lay men to cast their votes which ensured their welfare
after the polls.
The chief guest Mr. Surya Prasad Shrestha
of the seminar on Electoral Reforms opined that the “important
task ahead is to hold CA polls in a peaceful, free and
fair manner”.
He further said that the “recent
disturbances and discontent among the Terai people and
the Janajatis in the hills have given bad signals against
the peaceful conduct of the upcoming election”.
In an implied manner honorable Shrestha
hinted that the CA polls will have no legitimacy if it
were held in a chaotic manner without addressing the pressing
demands of the currently agitating groups.
Analyzing the disturbing trends in some
parts of the country, honorable Shrestha says that the
present chaos in the country demands what he calls, unity,
solidarity and democracy by fighting against the communal
forces and the reactionary elements”.
This does mean that Mr. Shrestha concludes
that communal harmony that subsisted in between various
communities in Nepal stood shattered at the moment. (Mr.
Shrestha’s full text will appear on our website Tuesday
evening).
Similarly, Nilambar Acharya maintained
that the CA polls though a highly democratic exercise,
however, the conduct of the polls must be held only when
the nation is free from fear and intimidation. In the
process, Mr. Acharya demanded that the government must
ensure adequate security in the country so that the lay
men could cast their votes in a free and fair manner.
“Or else, the results of the polls will lose its
legitimacy both domestically and internationally”,
Acharya concluded.
Dev Raj Dahal, the chief of the FES
Nepal Office in his welcome remarks at the inaugural session
of the seminar said that “a free and fair democratic
election changes the society without violence”.
He further said that “only free
and fair elections can contribute to ease the nation’s
transition process by offering a number of choices which
are essential to strengthen the integrative capacity of
the political system and its external adaptability and
open the citizens’ window to enlightened cosmopolitanism”.
Professor Dr. Hari Bansh Jha, the organizer
of the said seminar, hoped that the deliberations at the
two day seminar will come up with broader ideas that the
State could adopt at time of the elections.
Source: The
Telegraph Weekly (8 July 2007)
Civic
education programs in the periphery
<Top>
BY OUR REPORTER
Nepal Foundation for Advanced Studies
(NEFAS) and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) organized three
two-day training on “Initiative for Democracy Building:
Education About Voters and Civic Rights” at Gorkha
(June 24-25), Hetaunda (June 26-27) and Chitwan respectively
(June 28-29).
The training course involved state-building
and social transformation, Constituent Assembly elections
(CA), civic and human rights and duties of various stakeholders
of society, voters and civic education, and discussion
of the handouts on democracy, CA, elections, roles and
responsibilities of various institutions of society including
political parties, civil society and citizens at large.
About 500 copies of various handouts including a book
on democracy were distributed among the participants and
non-participants.
Speaking on the occasion head of FES
Nepal Office, Dev Raj Dahal said, “A foundation of
shared values, attitudes and institutions that binds together
the various subsidiary identities of the nation and their
transformation into citizens through civic education are
the major tasks for nation-building. The CA elections
have forced Nepalese open themselves to a dynamic perception
of the shared future and become resistant to fatalism,
irrationalism and exclusiveness.” But, there are
challenges also if the preconditions of modernity, such
as civic education, technology, economy, organization
and leadership, are not realized in the course of the
management political transition. He added that breaking
various deadlocks is essential to move the nation along
civic values that are congenial with pluralistic politics,
entrepreneurship and social justice.
Another speaker Kashi Raj Dahal, Chairman,
Administrative Court, said, “Shortening of the transition
period and holding CA elections are critical to avoid
social resistance and legitimacy deficit.” He argued
that political leadership must craft a political road
map, seek resources and define a legitimate course of
action. He shared international experiences of CA, advantages
and disadvantages of various elections systems, principles
underlying the free and fair elections and the roles of
various stakeholders of society including media, civil
society, political parties and citizens.
Chandra Dev Bhatta, Ph. D. Scholar at
London School of Economics, explained various components
of the “Handouts on Democracy” and contemporary
political scene of Nepal. He said that strong democracy
requires strong state because democracy exists within
the nation-state. Over 360 participants representing various
political parties, civil society organizations, women’s
associations, colleges and schools, Dalits and Ethnic
Organizations, courts, police, local government officials
involved in elections and development and social organizations
took part in the meetings.
The discussion took place between the
participants and the resource persons and among the participants
themselves. The main concerns of the participants were:
security situation, law and order, lack of freedom of
movement due to regular strikes, use of violence in politics,
mistrust among party leaders, necessity to organize civic
education program in rural areas and enabling politics
to play a role in policy making. They argued that the
basic function of politics is to give justice, voice and
participation of the weaker sections of society. In each
program participants expressed their commitment to share
knowledge they have learned to the place of their work,
family and society. The programs were supported by the
German Foreign Ministry.
Source: People's
Review (05-11 July 2007)
Role of Media
in Civic Education <Top>
Dev Raj Dahal, Head, FES
A responsible media enables free
exchange of ideas and information vital to the resilience
of democratic political culture. Media is grounded in
public, educates the public, justifies its activities
in the name public and stimulates voluntary participation
of citizens in public affairs. It is a nerve of the polity.
In transition countries like Nepal it equally serves key
roles in democratic opening, democratic initiatives, democratic
consolidation, democratic expansion and democratic deepening.
How to make Nepal’s media power inclusive of social,
economic and political hierarchy and diversity? How can
it guarantee the voice, visibility and representation
of excluded and marginalized in Constituent Assembly (CA)
elections?
The objective of this write up is to
sharpen the understanding of journalists on democracy,
CA elections and roles and responsibilities of journalists
in voters and civic education. Modern society is largely
media-mediated as family, religion and schools are becoming
weak in the socialization of citizens. The emergence of
public sphere in which media is also situated— has
occupied a centrality of the freedom of expression and
communicative space for democratic debate. Media provides
contextual knowledge which is essential to resolve various
types of electoral problem maintain electoral integrity
as well as help in the rationalization of governance.
Autonomy of Public Sphere
The April 2006 mass movement has reestablished
the sovereignty of Nepali people. This means political
power has to be accountable to the public. Exercise of
sovereignty requires civic knowledge about rights and
responsibilities among the people of various social origins.
Civic education is a training of people into citizenship
rights and duties, respect to others’ legitimate
views and civil co-existence. It is also a process of
socialization of people into the structure and functions
of political system and its environment and even politicization
by which various mini-identities of societies, such as
caste, class, gender, ethnicity, religions and regions
can be transformed into a single meta identity—Nepali
citizen. Media can contribute to ease the nation’s
transition process by offering a number of choices which
are essential to strengthen the integrative capacity of
the political system and its external adaptability and
open the citizens’ window to cosmopolitanism.
Ideally, political sphere is autonomous
of the interest groups of society, therefore, every citizen
share this sphere equally. Inequality in access to daily
public communication makes citizens weaker and tears their
attachment with the state—the very base of civic
patriotism. A vibrant democracy requires not only political
equality but also civic competence of citizens to participate,
represent, cast vote and involve in public activities.
Mass media can act as a medium in this whole process.
Media’s Role in Civic Competence
Civic education differs from two types
of education—one that instrumentalizes citizens and
the other one indoctrinates them. Instrumental rationality
tends to control thought, manufactures consent and drowns
the voice of reason, public opinion and democratic will-formation.
Indoctrination exposes them into conformity and a sense
of false consciousness. In this sense, civic education
is emancipatory in nature because it gives the citizens
a critical sense of inquiry in thinking, judgment and
action. But, without responsible media these functions
cannot be achieved. Why is civic education needed at this
time in Nepal and what roles the Nepalese media can play?
The forthcoming elections for CA have
made national politics an open-ended affair. Nepalese
media can provide knowledge, stimulate active participation,
foster meaningful dialogue and ownership of public in
the agenda-setting of CA. Media can equip them with participatory
resources. It is crucial for the citizens to exercise
their voting and civic rights in the law-making process,
train them with civic knowledge and skills and familiarize
them with various issues such as knowledge about the objectives
of CA, transition management, election system, civic and
human rights, re-designing the state, inclusive system,
voters information, etc .
Democracy requires people to make critical
choices on public policy matters. Sustained access to
information and a balance between the world of public
politics and that of personal morality provide the citizens
an ability to rationally judge the issues. Information
revolution has made knowledge a key to the empowerment
of citizens in public affairs. Media frames citizens’
perception of belonging and a shared future. A responsible
media can thus socialize citizens for a culture of democracy
and peace and reshape the development of a civic political
culture that is rational, tolerant and humane.
Information revolution is opening the
prospect for a new regime of participatory democracy.
In Nepal it is enlarging the concept of citizenship from
political sphere to economic, social and ecological spheres
and new form of accountabilities of the governance to
citizens’ various needs, concerns, interests and
aspirations. Deliberation on these matters can enable
the people to make a distinction between moral judgment
which is private view and political judgment which concerns
a larger public and society and their sustained quest
for constitutional state.
Conclusion
The fundamental objective of Nepalese
media now is to provide citizens—both male and female--
a comprehensive knowledge of what they are expected to
know about vital national issues, about politics and their
duties as sovereign citizens. To make politics public
citizens should be given critical knowledge about civic
education. Only then, politics can foster peace through
every one’s stake in it and inculcates a sense of
gender, inter-generational and social justice at all levels
of society. Injustice and invisibility perpetuate the
breakdown of communication. Media can play an important
role to make democracy for everybody by reaching to even
the passive and alienated populace and sensitizing them
on public questions. By providing critical information
responsible media nurtures an informed society capable
of making vital choices in CA process and contributing
to peace, social justice, human rights and participatory
democracy.
Source: The
Telegraph weekly (20 June 2007)
Vital Role
Of Press <Top>
THE role of a free media in a democracy
is vital because of the ramifications that it has. Sine
the establishment of loktantra in the country a little
over a year back, the media has received prominence in
strengthening democracy. Its contribution is also important
in informing the people of the constituent assembly election
which is due to take place soon. There may be confusions
in the public regarding the constituent assembly and the
mode of election to be decided soon. It is the duty of
the media to make the people aware of the constituent
assembly election and the part it will play in framing
an all-inclusive democracy in the country. This entails
greater responsibility on the media in disseminating correct
and impartial information to the people in the run up
to the constituent assembly election. This is considered
important in institutionalising the gains that have been
made so far. Of course, there remain some problems, but
they will be amicably sorted out by the eight political
parties.
In this connection, speaking at the
inaugural of the Fifth National Convention of Press Chautari
Nepal on Wednesday, General Secretary of the Communist
Party of Nepal Madhav Kumar Nepal said that the press
had a positive role to play as it is vital in the present
state of the country's transition. This highlights the
fact that the Fourth Estate is very important and has
to play its role in the overall context of the country.
It has a role in prepare a conducive environment for the
CA elections to be held at an appropriate time. Of course,
the date for the polls is yet to be decided by the eight
parties and announced by the interim government. The task
of the press is to remain unbiased in publishing news
reports that are favourable to the decisions regarding
the polls. They should also create awareness among the
people regarding the constituent assembly and its election.
But, for all this to happen the press should be free.
It must also remain within bounds and not act in sensationalising
unnecessary controversial issues.
Source: The
Rising Nepal (15 June 2007)
Nembang
draws people's attention towards polls <Top>
RSS
KATHMANDU, June 14: Speaker of the legislature-parliament
Subash Nembang has drawn attention of all people towards
the Constituent Assembly (CA) polls while saying that
a new Nepal cannot be constructed without it.
Inaugurating the two-day long workshop
on 'democracy, building nation, CA elections and security'
organized by the Nepal Ex-Police Association and the Friedrich
Ebert Stiftung (FES) Nepal here today, he said people
of each class, community and level should help in making
the CA polls a success and head the country in the path
of progression.
Chairman of the Association and Legislator
D.B. Lama, general secretary Ganjasingh Gurung, security
specialist Dr Chuda Bahadur Shrestha, chairman of the
former civil servants employees' council Ram Binod Bhattarai
opined that no one should work for weakening the nation
and nationality.
At the programme, FES chief Dev Raj
Dahal presented a working paper on 'current political
situation, democracy and CA polls' whereas advocate Kashiraj
Dahal on 'process of CA polls and its need'.
At the workshop organized with an objective
of discussing on theoretical and pragmatic aspects of
entire security system of Nepal, some 200 representatives
of British Gurkhas Army, Indian Army, Nepal Army, Nepal
Police, former civil servant employees council, community
service centre and various NGOs were present.
Source: The
Rising Nepal (15 June 2007)
Media should
inform people about CA polls <Top>
POST REPORT
LALITPUR, June 13 - Speaker of the interim
parliament Subash Nembang said that the role of the media
is very important for the institutionalization of loktantra
in the country.
Speaking at a function in Lalitpur on Sunday, Nembang
said every problem could be solved through the Constituent
Assembly (CA) polls. "People should be aware of their
role for CA polls and media's role is vital in this regard,"
said Nembang.
Nembang further reiterated that parliament
would pass the bills on election very soon.
The president of Federation of Nepalese
Journalists Bishnu Nisthuri, president of Nepal Press
Council Rajendra Dahal, senior journalists Tara Nath Dahal,
Harihar Birahi and others also expressed their views at
the function.
On the same occasion, Dev Raj Dahal,
Kashi Raj Dahal and Binay Kumar Kasaju presented papers
on the theme of loktantra, the CA polls and the role of
media.
Some 50 media persons from Kathmandu
and neighboring districts are taking part in the two-day
seminar/training organized by National Media Development
Center that started on Wednesday.
Source: The Kathmandu Post (14
June 2007)
Civic
Competence of Voters <Top>
Dev Raj Dahal,
FES
Is the political system in harmony
with representativeness? Does the electoral system make
citizens approach the political system? Do both systems
provide the voters self-constitution and self-organization
or just mean to subject them to the realities of power
struggle? One can safely assert that voting rights are
not something hopelessly legalistic, it is civic, political
and practical whose awareness among the Nepali voters
is wretchedly superficial and low. Mere formalization
of rights makes voters bitter, skeptical, passive and
ultimately apathetic. In other words, they end up precisely
which the democratic regime does not want them to be.
Voter education should constitute a big part of Nepal's
elections as the bulk of the electorate is participating
for the first time and many simply do not know the meaning
of voting at all. How is the message of election put forward?
How do people know their choices? Manifestoes of political
parties, gluttonous speeches of candidates, directives,
norms and orders reflect only one aspect of the world
of politics. The web of civic life consists of dense network
of citizens.
This does not prevent vote buying and
selling, character assassination of candidates, belittling
national sensitiveness, social harmony and decent voting
behavior which indicates the abdication of one's own reason,
conscience and civic responsibility unless voters themselves
participate in defining and creating world-views. Their
ability in doing so places them in a position to make
political decisions with sufficient bearing for the nation
and people. What are the foundations of civic obedience?
Civic knowledge and skills. The educational process should
lead to discovery, not indoctrination; insight, not facts
and data; and engagements, not just interest. It should
help challenge outmoded values and assumptions and consciously
induce them to involve in the political process.
Preparation of youth for participatory
democracy requires continuous discourses focusing on the
acquisition of civic knowledge and voting skills to engage
and act on important public issues and challenge the fundamental
problems in Nepali political and economic system, such
as corruption, cronyism, opaque politics and economics
and squandering of development funds in unproductive activities.
Civic competence of citizens sets out what are the rights
of citizens, what they may do and what they may not do
as well as to move into the sphere of imagination, self-experience,
reflection and will to sovereignty. It is here citizens
develop a sense of trust in political authority and facilitate
their engagements in politics.
The basic objective of civic education
is to bring activities of parliament closer to the people.
Nepalis must establish the habit of active citizenship
through educative means, that is, being players, not spectators,
and assume personal commitment and responsibility for
what is going on in their communities, localities and
the nation-state. Unfortunately, there is woeful absence
of civic education by schools, by the press and perhaps
by parents which speaks a lot about "non-voting"
behavior of citizens. In this sense, adequate civic competence
is essential because it helps to revolt against the normalizing
function of traditional politics and stages a dialectical
play between democratic theory and real-politik.
In Nepal so far the state supports political
parties in giving space in the state-run television and
radio, provides information on different aspects of election
and some knowledge and information about the techniques
of voting. But it does not put national problematic debate
in an analytical context and stimulate thinking on alternative
world-view to democratic participation.
[The author is the head of the Friedrich
Ebert Stiftung and a noted Nepali academician of international
repute-Ed]
Source: The
Telegraph Weekly (13 June 2007)
Civic and
Voters Education for Women Multipliers <Top>
Chitwan, TGW Correspondent
Training of people in citizenship
education illuminates the interplay between constitutional
idealism and political realism. This sort of education
provides the training a critical awareness, experts say.
In this context, the Tank Prasad Memorial
Foundation (TPMF), Sahabhagi and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
(FES) organized two two-day training programs in series
on “Initiatives for Democracy Building: Education
about Voters and Civic Rights for Women” at Chitwan
on May 30-31 and June 1-2 respectively.
Altogether 72 women representing political
parties, civil societies, NGOs, indigenous, ethnic, Dalits,
Madhesi groups and Muslim took part. Participants came
from 10 districts—Darchula, Dailekh, Achham, Baglung,
Rolpa, Chitwan, Kailali, Kapilvastu, Nawalparasi and Dhanusha
districts. Participants were trained on various gender
related issues to be addressed in the Constituent Assembly
(CA).
Speaking at the meeting Dr. Meena Acharya,
the noted Nepali scholar and pioneer on women’s education
and movement, said that increasing women’s participation
is a key to the success of CA elections and guaranteeing
their constitutional and human rights. The more the women
know their rights and duties and act as multipliers of
the skills and knowledge the better civic competence they
can impart on other sections of society.
Another speaker Kashi Raj Dahal, former
law secretary, explained the nuts and bolts of CA, various
types of election system, conditions for increased women’s
participation, ownership in the constitution making process,
need for capacity building of women, experience of other
countries and the importance of CA for the Nepalese now.
Dev Raj Dahal, Head of FES, Nepal office,
explained various components of democracy, women’s
position in various institutions of governance in Nepal
and role of the state, political parties, market, civil
society and international community for political empowerment
of women. He underlined the need for social transformation
in Nepal so that state, democracy and peace building exercises
are owned by all the stakeholders of society including
women. The weak nature of the state, fragmentation of
politics and various levels of deadlocks and social movements
of subsidiary identities have delayed the holding of CA.
Group presentation of reports by participants
identified a host of issues to be included in the CA:
lobby for the election of 33 percent of women in the CA,
gender sensitization of political leaders on increased
representation of women in political parties’ various
committees, citizenship, compensation for conflict victim
women, proportional access of women in all the institutions
of governance and so many relevant issues.
On the occasion participants also discussed
about two books—“Democracy” and “Handouts
on Democracy” and the seminar papers of CA elections.
They also identified a number of structural, ideological
and cultural barriers, such as feudalism, patriarchy,
unwritten transcript of society, discriminatory laws and
practices to reverse the saying, “Slaughter a goat
if a son is born but cut a pumpkin when a girl is born.”.
These programs were supported by the German Ministry of
Foreign Affairs.
Source: The
Telegraph Weekly (6 June 2007)
Voters' Education
And Current State Of Affairs <Top>
By C. D. Bhatta
In this piece, I am putting down
some of the empirical thoughts on the current state of
affairs that came into limelight during the course of
my field visits to different parts of the country as part
of voters' education and civic rights programme. The programme
was organised by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), a German
think tank in Kathmandu, with the help of the German Ministry
of Foreign Affairs.
Respect for others
The overarching aim of the voters' education programme
was to train and educate the local people on contemporary
political issues such as civic rights, democracy, constituent
assembly (CA) election, current state of affairs and trickle
down of knowledge to the grass root level. The central
logic of this programme was to lay emphasis on the fact
that democracy only works when it promotes local situations,
local values based on social justice and solidarity, and
there is a balance between two types of rules - written
and unwritten - of society.
Equally important is the culture of
respecting others (opposition parties) that play a great
role in expanding the democratic sphere. It is because,
in a democracy, every opposition of today moves into the
helm of power tomorrow, and every party that is in power
today might have to sit in the opposition bench tomorrow.
This means democracy cannot be owned by a particular party
for a long time but can only be rented for sometime.
Likewise, democracy is all about sharing
the burden of each other, that is, those in a society
having a broader shoulder have a responsibility to carry
those who have smaller shoulders. Dev Raj Dahal, a noted
political scientist, is of the view that the decision
to hold the constituent assembly election in Nepal has
made Nepalese politics open-ended. There is increased
citizens' participation in state affairs, but the state
has or is not in a position to develop its own capacity
to guarantee participation.
Political power has been transformed
from the king to the eight political parties, but within
this 'power transformation', neither is there intergenerational
justice nor is transformation felt by the citizenry at
large. Today various types of transformations are taking
place in the Nepali society. For example, transformation
in discourse (loktantra vs. prajatantra, ganatantra vs
inclusive democracy); transformation in the political
parties, that is, the rise of ultra communists forces;
transformation in the actors, that is, the rise of political
leaders of various ideologies and suspension of the king;
transformation in subjects, that is, from a unitary to
a federal system of governance; and transformation in
procedure, that is, promulgation of the interim constitution
and initiative to hold the election to the Constituent
Assembly to write a new constitution.
Having said this, however, there is
no clear agenda before the state as to what type of state
and system of governance we really want to have at the
end of the day. We talk about 'state restructuring', but
it is still not clear as how we want to go about and what
type of restructuring would work best for us. Merely playing
with words by producing various types of political terminologies
without any scientific justification is creating more
confusion than resolving problems.
Principally, the main purpose of the
state is to protect the weak in a society from the strong
and that of politics is to address underlying problems
of the society by engaging people in the institutional
life of the state. Moreover, the state has a duty to maintain
public order in a society, and politics should bring about
changes in a society. The main logic of democratic politics,
therefore, is to initiate dialogue, search for a common
agreement and provide alternatives (choices) so that diverse
societal demands/interests could be met.
However, there is a deadlock in Nepali
politics, which is apolitical. A great deal of conflict
exists between the state and societal forces. The result
of this conflict is that the parliament has been stalled
for more than a month, interim constitution has been receiving
the wrath of the opposition from different sections of
society, and it had to be amended within 35 days of its
promulgation. The amendment of the constitution on an
installment basis does not necessarily herald a prosperous
political future for the country.
We have signed a comprehensive peace
accord, but conflict residues are still prevalent in society.
Different types of societal groups are forming critical
masses, and the state has not been able to play the role
of 'state' due to which it is losing internal sovereignty
to various non-state-actors. The best part of the April
uprising was that the citizens have been given their rights,
but there is no efficient mechanism to ensure these rights.
In a sense, no attempt has been made to make the state
machinery strong and prosperous so that they can meet
the challenge generated by these rights.
This has resulted in the erosion in
the capacity of the state in different arenas - erosion
in policy (no sovereign policy), erosion in state authority
(rise of the non-state actors), and increase in competitive
violence (rule of might). Because of these factors, the
state is not in a position to fulfil the main duties of
the state - protect the weak, resolve conflicts, maintain
sovereign policies, including foreign, and deliver public
goods.
Harmony
Against this backdrop, the challenge for the Nepali state
is how best to reconcile harmony between all the conflicting
ideas, concepts, norms and values without undermining
the spirit of the age. An attempt should move towards
providing political legitimacy to the achievement of the
people's movement and constitutional legitimacy to the
interim constitution in order to move the political process
ahead.
Source: The
Rising Nepal (1 June 2007)
Educating
voters on Democracy and civic rights <Top>
BY OUR REPORTER-
Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung (FES) Nepal office organized
a series of two-day training program on “Initiative
for Democracy Building: Education about Voters and Civic
Rights,” in Lalitpur (May 9-10), Pokhara (12-13 May),
Palpa (May 15-16), Butwal (May 17-18) and Bhairahawa (17-18)
where over five-hundred people actively participated in
them. On these occasions FES also distributed a book on
democracy and a handout on democracy.
Dr. Peter Hering, Advisor of Civic and
Voters Education Program, highlighted the importance of
balancing rights, responsibilities, rules to respect opposing
legitimate views and reconciliation in society for democracy
building. He said, “Voting is a voluntary participation
and duty of people to actively participate in politics.
The more they are informed about the system of elections
and democratic principles the more they become the real
stakeholders of decision-making on vital matters affecting
their lives, liberties and property. He said Nepal should
give first priority to address the root causes of conflict
before taking any political initiative as he asserted
violence and democracy building cannot go together. Quoting
Willy Brandt he said, “Peace is not everything, but
without peace everything is nothing.”
Dev Raj Dahal, head of Nepal office
of FES said, “Democracy building in Nepal requires
socialization, humanization and transformation of Nepalese
people into citizens and then into a conscious public
committed to create a civic political culture in the country.
The critical masses of Nepalese society formed in every
community are exerting pressures on the leadership to
address the social revolts arising from unsatisfied re-distributional
demands and expectations generated from party manifestoes,
constitutions, media, international standards and exposure.”
He added that without restoring the state’s capabilities
to perform basic state functions it would be impossible
to organize democracy, peace and development. Abolishing
the state of nature is a precondition for civility and
enabling people to exercise their constitutionally given
rights and responsibilities including voting.
Constitutional expert Kashi Raj Dahal
explaining the importance of constituent assembly elections
in Nepal argued that if the transition process is prolonged
it might pose a risk. He added that leadership has to
transform its revolutionary legitimacy into a legal-rational
legitimacy through the elections. And decision-making
should be based on the rule of law and constitutional
system rather than the consensus of eight-party alliance.
Another speaker Chandra Dev Bhatta explained the key elements
of democracy, such as rule of law, human rights, separation
of powers, public sphere, independent judiciary, media,
system of elections, political parties, civil society,
good governance, local government, globalization and reconciliation
and peace. The two-day seminars were participated by political
leaders, government officials, media workers, civil society,
representatives of social organizations and opinion makers.
The program was supported by the German Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.
While passing concluding remarks Dr.
Hering said, “FES and German government do not intend
to meddle in Nepal’s political affairs but would
like to provide ideas and alternatives in support of Nepalese
peoples quest for democracy.” He added, “Every
country has its own model of democracy based on historical
roots, ecology, institutions, social and economic values
and needs of the people.
Source: People's
Review (24-30 May 2007)
NEPAL: Initiative
for Democracy Building <Top>
Former FES Chief highlights
4Rs significance
Kathmandu: The Kathmandu based Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung
(FES) Nepal office, organized a series of two-day training
program on the topic of “Initiative for Democracy
Building: Education about Voters and Civic Rights,”
at Lalitpur (May 9-10), Pokhara (12-13 May), Palpa (May
15-16), Butwal (May 17-18) and Bhairahawa (17-18) respectively
where over five-hundred people actively participated in
the said seminar.
Dr. Peter Hering, Advisor of Civic and
Voters Education program and former FES Nepal Office Chief,
highlighted the importance of four “R” in democracy
building—rights, responsibilities, rules to respect
opposing legitimate views and reconciliation in society.
Voting is a voluntary participation of people in politics.
The more they are informed the more they become the real
stakeholders of decision-making. He said that violence
and democracy cannot go together. Quoting Willy Brandt
he said, “Peace is not everything, but without peace
everything is nothing.”
Dev Raj Dahal, head of Nepal office
of FES said, “Democratic prospects in Nepal require
the civil society groups, political parties, government
and the state to become a true representative of the social
classes and strata.” The state’s sovereignty
and legitimacy are important in securing conformity and
loyalty from its populace of various social origins and
establish a balance in the ends and means of politics,
media representations and civic and voters education.
Now the need is restoring the state’s monopoly of
power, revival of governance functions, fair CA elections
and peace building activities. In the changed circumstances,
a broad political consensus on the role of the state is
important to begin the process of reconciliation and resolution
of conflict residues and enable the citizens to participate,
learn and discuss about their civic rights and responsibilities.
Constitutional expert Kashi Raj Dahal
explaining the niceties of constituent assembly argued
that if the transition process is prolonged it might pose
a risk. He added that leadership has to transform its
revolutionary legitimacy into a legal-rational legitimacy
through the elections. And decision-making should be based
on the rule of law and constitutional system rather than
the consensus of eight-party alliance. Another speaker
Chandra Dev Bhatta explained the key elements of democracy,
such as rule of law, human rights, separation of powers,
public sphere, independent judiciary, media, system of
elections, political parties, civil society, globalization
and reconciliation and peace. The two-day seminars were
participated by political leaders, government officials,
media workers, civil society, representatives of social
organizations and opinion makers. The program was supported
by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
While making concluding statement Dr.
Hering said, “FES and German government do not intend
to meddle in Nepal’s political affairs but would
like to provide ideas and alternatives in support of Nepalese
people’s quest for democracy.”
Dr. Peter Herring served the FES Nepal
Office for almost four years. In fact, during his tenure
in Nepal, he gave a formal shape to the FES-the German
Foundation.
Source: The
Telegraph Weekly (23 May 2007)
FES Meet On
Voters And Civic Rights <Top>
By Bipin Jangam
The Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) a
non profit German based organization organized a seminar
at Lalitpur on
May 9-10 for the awareness of voters and civil rights
before the constituent assembly elections is held here.
As an initiative for democracy building through education
of voters and civilian in the country, the FES also handed
out books, a translation of "Introduction to Democratic
Practice", originally written by Professor Dr. Thomas
Myer of Political Science Department at the Dortmund University.
The objective of the program was to
make aware the civilians about the infrastructure and
various democratic practices worldwide; and its implementation
on building infrastructure for democratic practice in
Nepal.
Speaking on the occasion, country director
for FES Nepal, Devraj Dahal focused on the implementation
and generalizability of the program and the role of NGO's,
professionals in the educational sector, intellectuals
and the media. He also emphasized on the role of such
professional sectors for creating awareness of the civilian
and voters' rights and the knowledge about various democratic
practices throughout the world and choosing one of them.
However, he also pointed out that such choices should
be suitable to Nepali social values and norms and be a
rational choice.
The participants from the various organizations,
and academic institutions thanked FES for addressing issues
of building infrastructure of a new democratic foundation
in Nepal.
Answering questions from the participants
Dahal focused on the challenges to the government on a
fair justice system and mediation as an alternative before
going to the court on many legal issues. He also addressed
the issue of compensation and organizational contract,
participative decision making and problem solving from
gender/minority and indigenous people, which is necessary
for the equality and equity on division on labor to break
the social status-quo and healthy leadership development.
Dahal also highlighted the role of modern social science
research methodology and empirical implementation of Training
Needs Analysis.
Source: Tej Tara Weekly
CHRONICLE (15 May 2007)
Building
Peace <Top>
Civil society's role in peace building
have not been adequately discussed in policy analysis
in Nepal
Dev Raj Dahal
The imperative of peace in Nepal is
competing with other claims, such as power, liberation,
social justice, basic needs and identity of various political
and social actors. Negotiation of these competitive claims
into a legitimate social contract is a precondition to
fulfill the ardent desire of public for peace in Nepal
articulated through Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
The central responsibility of Nepalese civil society groups
lies in inspiring liberal norms in a highly conflict-prone
politics and balance the need of the state for national
security and societal needs for democracy. The moral consciousness
of the government about its own power requires it to define
practical measures for payoffs to all the citizens and
enable conflict parties to seek common social, political,
economic and cultural transformation for conflict management.
Civil society's roles in peace building
have not been adequately discussed in policy analysis
in Nepal. The scant attention is partly due to the perplexity
associated with the nature and functions of civil society,
partly due to overexcited hope attached to them by political
leaders, mass media and rights-based NGOs considering
that they alone are capable of resolving the entire problems
of society and partly due to more aspiration and less
outcome that civil society discourses have yielded to
the Nepalese citizens. The notion of peace is bound up
with an order based on mutually agreed principles for
the behavior of all actors in their dealings with each
other. In this order they can defend themselves and pursue
their goals without having recourse to supremely vicious
means - violence. Peace is a condition that frees life
from the vale of fear, tear and terror and provides all
a civilized coexistence.
Pitting democracy versus the state,
human rights against security responsibilities, professionalism
versus political alliance, tradition versus modernity,
men versus women and one class, caste, ethnic group or
race against the other will not resolve the conflict in
Nepal. Attempts to project conflict in this light means
that there are active interests to repress the public
purpose. These are issues that need to be carefully worked
out to resolve the condition of unstable power equation
which has opened space for each actor to negotiate for
absolute gain rather than relative advantage. Nepalese
civil society cannot therefore remain satisfied with mere
preaching of the politically correct word, but should
engage itself constructively to follow it with the right
deed so that the hiatus of almost a year long political
transition is not allowed overtaking peace-building mission.
Peace building as a practical area involves
a set of goals, policies and strategies which aim to prevent
the occurrence of armed conflicts, avoid structural and
direct violence and seeks to establish a legitimate political
framework for all the stakeholders to peacefully participate
in social, economic and political life of the nation.
Creating a web of civic interests and procedures for peace
building is certainly a prized goal to cope with a complex
combination of sources of conflict- faith, reason, greed
and needs deficits.
Peace building provides a keyhole for
an analysis of the root causes of conflict in Nepal and
an examination of the transformation of troublesome links
between structural injustice and cycles of violence and
counter violence setting a downward spiral of security,
democratic and development processes. The responsibilities
of civil society groups are growing with the ongoing violence
in Nepal, which has transformed the functions of the state,
market institutions, NGOs and international community
and has entailed them to restart searching common ground
for conflict mediation and peace at various levels of
society. The CPA seeks to achieve conflict management
through social, cultural, economic and political transformation
in Nepal and promises to initiate restructuring of the
state to resolve class, ethnic, regional and gender problems.
An underlying community of interests
for peace building has to overcome the ongoing contests
of women, Janajati, Dalit, Tharus and Madhesi groups for
proportional voice, visibility, identity and outcome and
combine common national action with respect to diverse
approaches to the central problem of resolving the taproots
of conflict. The implementation of practical measures,
however, has become difficult in Nepal due to security
vacuum and new conflict dynamics about Interim Constitution,
representation in the Constituent Assembly and redesigning
of the state. It is possible to establish stakeholders'
solutions if each actor comes out of its institutional,
ideological and personality frame, understands each other's
concern, begins to communicate national purpose, recovers
the equilibrium of state-society ties and offers peace
building as a lasting security to all the citizens. Rebuilding
the state is a precondition to any national initiative-security,
CA elections and the compression of the anarchy of free
wills.
It has become necessity for civil society
to moderate the emerging habits of conflicts and keep
it within the bound of legitimate constitutional order.
Legitimate order means the leadership has to forget about
muscular peace that resolves conflict by subduing opponents.
Muscular peace did not prove feasible in the country as
it fostered structural injustice. Power-equation based
hegemonic peace too did not yield durability. It did not
help the nation achieve structural stability of the polity,
economy and society and, like in the past, is encountering
multi-polar resistance. A democratic peace transcends
power equilibrium and creates more winners than losers.
A "common development concept"
articulated in the CPA is a necessary condition to avoid
future conflict while sense of proportionality in power
sharing can make the present conflict unnecessary and
prepares common ground for CA elections. The level of
social development of a state determines the efficacy
of civil society to foster human aspirations of peacefulness.
The public realm of civil society is embedded in the general
life of people, where all members are attached to the
same sovereignty. The realism of peace requires precise
conviction, rather than ideologically and emotionally
conditional stance, a conviction which remains unwavering
even during shifting situation and competing actors realize
the sterility of violent means. A correct disposition
of human will by placing constitutional checks on power
can entice contesting groups to shape a shared future.
Peace building
requires abolishing the state of nature and acceptance
of a common political community-the state. Essentially,
peace building is rooted in the sense of peace community
formation: in the appreciation of the preservation of
human rights, in the high regard to promotion of human
values and reciprocity which turn peace into a common
good. An integrated strategy for conflict mitigation and
post-conflict peace building and recovery helps to ensure
predictable financing for early recovery activities. Sustained
financial investment over the medium- to longer-term and
extended period of attention by the international community
to conflict and post-conflict recovery require the adoption
of best practices on issues that require extensive collaboration
among political parties, law and order agencies, civil
society and development actors. A stable peace rests on
collaborative efforts of entire stakeholders.
Source:
Newsfront, 26 Mar-1 Apr 2007
Impartial
CA polls urged <Top>
BY OUR REPORTER
Participants at a workshop on "Democracy
and Peace Building in Nepal" organised by Nepal Society
for Peace Building (NESOP) in collaboration with Friedrich
Ebert-Stiftung (FES) on Sunday discussed the post conflict
situation, eight party efforts for peace building process
and challenges in Nepal.
Prabal Raj Pokhrel, president, NESOP,
presenting his paper entitled "Conflict Dynamics
to Peace Building in Nepal: A Systematic Communication
Approach", illustrated different examples of post-conflict
situation in different countries in the world and urged
for responsible performance of the protagonist forces
in conflict for a lasting peace and democratic practice.
"Only well connected coordinated
action plan that formulates a common policy that can craft
a mutually acceptable programme of action for all the
protagonist forces will ensure sustainable peace,"
stated Pokhrel in his paper.
Surya Kanta Poudel presented his paper
entitled "Constituent Assembly: Management and Challenges".
He illustrated examples of different countries and their
success and failure while drafting a constitution through
a constituent assembly. A clear cut vision is essential
prior to going for a CA polls otherwise the result may
be complicated, he remarked.
Likewise, conflict expert Dr Chuda Bahadur
Shrestha presented his paper on "Election Procedures
in Post Armed Conflict Situation".
He suggested for independence and impartiality;
efficiency; professionalism; impartial and speedy adjudication
and transparency for a successful and acceptable outcome
in CA polls.
Dev Raj Dahal, FES Nepal chief, expressed
the view that for a lasting peace and sustainable democracy,
it requires systematic approach that links all actors
– casts, ethnicity, religion and region – rather
than its instrumentalization in search of the stability
of the wholeness."
No political system can survive unless
all actors, even a small minority, feel a real stake in
it, Dahal said.
Bhim Rawal, UML leader, who chaired
the function, observed that lack of commitment even after
signing the peace accord by the political parties was
not a good political practice.
The workshop was well participated by
conflict experts and media persons.
Source: People's
Review (8-14 March 2007)
Collective
Effort is needed for Conflict Resolution <Top>
Kathmandu March 5:
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and Nepal Society of Peace
Building (NESOP) jointly organized a one-day seminar on
"Democracy and Peace Building in Nepal". The
workshop laid stress on the fact that to achieve long-term
solution of conflict and peace there is a need to go deep
into the problem. The participants in the seminar viewed
that to organize constituent Assembly elections in free
and fair manner all the stakeholders should be active.
The action to demonstrate arms and procrastination of
elections have to cease conflict expert Dr. Bishnu Raj
Uprety argued that since the arms and armies of CPN Maoist
have been placed in the cantonment, all the members of
civil society, government, Maoist and the local people
should investigate those arms laying outside and try to
destroy them.
The director of Nepal office of FES,
Dev Raj Dahal argued that suitable methods have to be
invented by political leadership to resolve all types
of conflict and save the nation from darkness and division.
The CPN-UML leader Bhim Rawal said that the comprehensive
Peace Agreement has to be sincerely implemented. Maoists
have to be honest in this regard.
Conflict expert, journalists, political
scientists, lawyers and others were the participants.
Prabal Raj Pokharel, Surya Kant Paudel and Dr. Chuda B.
Shrestha presented separate papers on democracy, conflict
resolution and peace.
Source: Gorkhapatra
(06 March 2007)
Implementation
of peace agreement stressed <Top>
By A Staff Reporter
KATHMANDU, March 4: Speakers at a workshop
underscored the implementation of the comprehensive peace
agreement between the government and the Maoists to build
confidence amongst the people for free and fair elections
of the constituent assembly within June.
Speaking at the workshop on 'Democracy
and Peace Building in Nepal' organised jointly by Nepal
Society for Peace Building (NESOP) and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
(FES), former minister and leader of the CPN-UML Bhim
Rawal said that changing stances and showing a lack of
commitment to implement the agreements after signing them
was not a good political practice.
Rawal highlighted the need of an integrated
approach to achieve the desired goals. "Otherwise
we may be diverted from our goals."
Head of the FES Nepal Dev Raj Dahal
said, "It requires a systemic approach, that links
all actors? caste, ethnicity, religion and region, rather
than its instrumentalization, in search of the stability
of the wholeness."
No political system can survive unless
all actors, even a small minority, feel a real stake in
it, Dahal added.
NESOP president Prabal Raj Pokhrel,
general secretary Surya Kanta Paudel and conflict expert
Dr. Chuda Bahadur Shrestha presented working papers on
the topic.
More than 40 persons representing the
civil society and media participated in the one-day workshop.
Source: The
Rising Nepal (05 March 2007)
Empathy
a must for reconciliation <Top>
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, March 4 - It is a must to understand each other's
positions through empathy for sustainable peace and reconciliation
than blaming one another, speakers said here Sunday.
Speaking at a workshop on "Democracy
and peace building in Nepal" organized by Friedrich
- Ebert - Stiftung (FES) and Nepal Society for Peace Building
(NESOP), Prabal Raj Pokhrel, president of NESOP said that
sharing of guilt for wrong doing, by the parties involved,
is a must as the primary step for reconciliation.
Dev Raj Dahal, head of FES, Nepal said
that many of the social classes like women, youth, Dalits,
Janajatis and indigenous people which so far peacefully
co-existed in the state have harbored counter-knowledge
against conventional discourse. "The issues these
social classes have laid out cannot be resolved by either
escapism, or even announcing tantalizing concessions before
negotiations to outmaneuver them. This, in effect, would
tend to produce a deadlock of indefinite duration,"
he said.
The ability of political systems must
be enhanced to provide civic education to diverse people
so as to transform them into equal citizens and muster
their compliance on governance.
Dr Chuda Bahadur Shrestha and Surya
Kant Poudel also presented papers on the occasion.
Source:
The Kathmandu Post
(05 March 2007)
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