NEPAL: CHILDREN IN CONFLICT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 KATHMANDU 002307

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA/INS AND DRL/BA
STATE ALSO PLEASE PASS USAID/DCHA/OFDA
MANILA FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA
LONDON FOR POL/REIDEL
TREASURY FOR GENERAL COUNSEL/DAUFHAUSER AND DAS JZARATE
TREASURY ALSO FOR OFAC/RNEWCOMB AND TASK FORCE ON TERRORIST
FINANCING
JUSTICE FOR OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL/DLAUFMAN

E.O 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PHUM SOCI PGOV NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: CHILDREN IN CONFLICT



1. Summary: Continued Maoist violence in Nepal has taken a
severe toll on the country's children, both physically and
mentally. More than 100 have been killed during the course
of the "People's War," and an estimated 1500 orphans and
15,000 displaced children face an uncertain future. Death
or imprisonment of wage-earners, forced migration and the
breakdown of social services has brought many families to
the brink of starvation and forced young children to work
outside the home or survive on the street. Throughout the
country, destruction of health posts and other village
facilities has deprived children of medical care and safe
drinking water. There have been repeated reports of child
rape, torture, imprisonment and injury, and child welfare
workers anticipate that even after physical wounds have
healed, the psychological effects of the insurgency's
extreme violence will continue to have a disastrous
influence on the next generation of leaders. End summary.

LARGE NUMBERS, SMALL VICTIMS
--------------


2. As the world observed this year's International Child
Rights Day on November 20, a growing number of orphaned,
injured, displaced and terrorized children in Nepal had
little to celebrate. According to estimates by human rights
NGOs, more than 1500 children have been orphaned in the
ongoing Maoist insurgency and more than 15,000 have been
displaced. More than 100 children have died in
indiscriminate bombing attacks, have been brutally murdered
by one side or the other, or have been killed in the
crossfire between insurgents and security forces. Most of
the children killed were aged 9 to 11.


3. The number of children otherwise affected by the
insurgency is impossible to quantify, since the consequences
of the violence are varied and far-reaching. Informal
Sector Service Center (INSEC),a local human rights group,
has estimated that 100,000 children have been affected by
the insurgency, and that 600,000 are "living in inhuman
conditions." Other NGOs have refrained from citing a
figure. "All of the children in Nepal are affected," said
Gauri Pradhan, President of Child Workers in Nepal Concerned
Center (CWIN),"They're depressed, frustrated and scared.
They see the Maoists come to school time and again with
guns. They see violence and bloodshed all around. Even the
children in [relatively safe] Kathmandu watching the
television or reading the newspapers feel the insecurity."


4. It's small wonder that children are living in a state of
tension and fear. Kathmandu newspapers contain a daily
litany of violence, much of it against children, and much of
it random. On November 8, a thirteen-year-old boy was
killed when a bomb exploded as he was walking past a garbage
dump, and another thirteen-year-old, accused of spying, was
hacked to death by Maoists. On November 13, a fourteen-year-
old was killed and a ten-year-old boy was seriously injured
by a bomb as they walked along the highway. On November 14,
a nine-year-old boy was killed by a bomb planted near his
school.


5. Children living in the conflict zones have seen their
parents, neighbors, friends, teachers and relatives killed
in brutal fashion. Many have witnessed violent beatings and
sexual assaults, or have been victims themselves. Though no
reliable statistics have been collected on the number of
children injured or assaulted in the conflict, CWIN has
documented several cases of sex abuse of young girls
involved with the Maoists, and the National Human Rights
Commission has reported as an "illustration" an incident in
which a young girl was gang-raped in front of her parents
after they paid only 60,000 Nrs (770 USD) of the 100,000 Nrs
(1280 USD) demanded by local insurgents.

ORPHANS AND DISPLACED CHILDREN:
TRAUMATIC PAST, UNCERTAIN FUTURE
--------------


6. Those children not injured or killed in the insurgency
face other numerous hardships. Death of one or both parents
has lowered an already poor standard of living for many
children, and many have been forced to work outside the home
or to fend for themselves on the streets. Government
benefits for affected children are insufficient or
nonexistent. In the case of army or police children, the
services provide widows with one-time payments of up to
150,000 Nepali rupees (approx. 1900 USD),but most police
widows have reported problems in receiving the benefits,
especially in remote areas of the country.


7. The situation is worse for orphans whose parents were
either suspected Maoists or simply innocent victims of
random violence. CWIN's Pradhan said that under the last
government, some families of civilian victims were able to
obtain some compensation, but only if they belonged to the
then-ruling Nepali Congress party and only if they had
direct access to high-level officials in order to press
their claims. Each district has a Child Welfare Committee,
but the offices rarely have any funds these days. Some
Chief District Officers have responded by collecting
donations from passport applicants, assuming that anyone
wealthy enough to travel abroad can spare some rupees for
the district orphans. In most places, however, the children
are left to fend for themselves. "If someone cares, that's
nice," INSEC's Pyakurel stated with a resigned shrug. "But
if not, [the orphans] become street children."


8. The number of homeless children and families is rising as
migration to the perceived safety of Kathmandu or district
headquarters increases and thousands of children leave their
homes or families. In three surveyed districts, migration to
the capital cities has doubled in the last two years. In
Bardiya District more than 250 families of security
personnel have been compelled to leave their homes due to
Maoist threats, and similar tales have been reported in
other areas of the country. In addition to the emotional
trauma of displacement, the children face serious problems
meeting their basic needs. Most displaced families were
forced to leave behind the year's rice harvest, and many who
have no friends or relatives to provide shelter are unable
to afford nightly rates at town hotels. "We generally never
had street families in Nepal," said CWIN's Gauri Pradhan,
"but you can see them in all the towns now. It's definitely
on the rise."


9. Increasing numbers of children are also being sent away
from home by their parents to protect them from threatened
abduction and forced recruitment by the Maoists. More than
200 young people in Sarlahi, Surkhet and Ilam have
reportedly left their villages and settled in town centers
after Maoists began visiting local families and demanding
that parents deliver either monthly cash payments or their
children. According to CWIN, reports that the Maoists will
come to take one child per household, usually between the
ages of fourteen and eighteen, are prevalent in most
districts. Abductions of up to 170 children have been
documented, lending credence to the claims. Villages have
reported losing up to 95 percent of their population between
the ages of 14 and 40 as a result of such rumors. Embassy
officers, including the Ambassador, have interviewed a
number of children who reported their forced abduction by
the Maoists.


10. Unfortunately, the displaced children's situation can go
from bad to worse, as they are often sent to live with
relatives who can ill-afford to keep or to feed them. Many
end up working as child laborers and all are vulnerable to a
range of abuses. Many find their way to India for
employment, or are sent there by their parents or relatives.
CWIN and other NGOs have documented an increase in the
number of child workers in towns that have experienced large
influxes of displaced persons. One study in southern Siraha
district revealed that children are the major full-time
workforce in brick factories, cigarette factories,
restaurants and hotels along the highway; and that the
number of child domestic servants is increasing in several
neighboring districts as well. NGOs also report that
trafficking and sex abuse of children are on the rise in
affected areas.

CHILD INFORMANTS: CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE
--------------


11. Children in the conflict zones often are caught between
the Maoists and security forces, and, on occasion, are used
as informants by both sides. In one incident in
northeastern Dolakha district, Maoists rounded up 200
children--the entire population of a primary school--at the
beginning of the day, marched them to an unknown location in
the jungle, and questioned them about the movement of
security forces. The army had previously used the school
building as a barracks. Though the children were all
released by evening, they and their parents were terrified.


12. NGOs state that children who have left the Maoists and
reported to "surrender camps" run by the army have been
forced to return repeatedly to their villages to identify
former comrades or to their units to report on movements,
placing them in danger of retaliation by the insurgents.
NGOs report that children have been beaten by military and
police personnel during interrogation.

LONG-TERM PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT
--------------


13. Child advocates agree that the psychological effects of
the insurgency, while not yet fully assessed, are severe.
"The violence they witness has resulted in thousands of
children being psychologically traumatized," said CWIN's
Pradhan. "They are becoming negative, erratic and more
inhuman. They seem to be losing the ability to judge
between right and wrong."


14. INSEC's Pyakurel agreed with the assessment. "The
behavior of children is changing in the rural areas," he
said upon his return from a trip to Maoist-affected areas.
"When we met children, they asked for guns. When I asked
why they wanted the guns, some said they wanted to kill the
Maoists and some said they wanted to kill the police. They
were all motivated by revenge."


15. Child welfare workers have reported that children who
used to be frightened by the sight of dead bodies or wounded
people seem to no longer notice them. Interviewed children
readily admit that they live in constant fear, and most can
cite examples of torture and killing in their villages.
Most children cannot articulate plans or aspirations for the
future, and the few interviewed children who could identify
an ambition universally chose careers related to the
insurgency--the police or army.


16. NGOs are concerned that exposure to the conflict has
made violence a tolerable option for children, and that they
are beginning to see it as the preferable or only way to
solve problems. "The ongoing conflict has paved the way for
a violent culture in the psyche of children," warned
Pradhan. "If we are unable to rescue the children from
violence, the new generation will be even more violent."

HEALTH ALSO AFFECTED
--------------


17. Less direct effects of the insurgency will also continue
to be felt long into the future. In many places, drinking
water systems, health posts, public communication and
service centers have been destroyed. Nutrition programs
have been cancelled as a result of security concerns,
depriving some children of their only certain meal.
Government healthcare workers have been threatened, attacked
and abducted in Maoist-affected areas, and most are
reluctant to return to carry out biannual immunization
programs. USAID-supplied vitamin A capsules, vital for
assisting in the development of childhood immune systems,
have gone undistributed in villages in many districts.
Polio, which was declared eradicated in 2000, has resurfaced
in isolated cases.

SECURITY FORCES ADD TO TENSION
--------------


18. It is important to note that children have been
victimized by both sides of the conflict. The Maoist
insurgents routinely abuse the rights and neutrality of
children through terrorism and intimidation. Government
forces also appear guilty for abusing children. Statistics
compiled by INSEC indicate that 63 of the 110 confirmed
killings of minors were carried out by security forces.
Though some of those killed were very likely child
combatants fighting for the insurgency, children interviewed
by NGOs have related incidents of torture, imprisonment and
terrorism at the hands of security forces. The number of
children killed or victimized by the Maoists, of course, is
much harder to quantify.


19. According to one NGO study, fourteen-year-old Madhav
Chaugali was regularly beaten by police trying to find his
father, a suspected Maoist. In Bajani, in Kailali district,
villagers report that three students were arrested by the
army. Though two were returned two months later, the family
of the third has had no word of her welfare or whereabouts.
Also in Bajani, villagers related an incident in which
police killed eight members of one family who had a Maoist
hiding in their home. The children of the family were
spared, but orphaned.


20. Several villages have reported that security forces
harass children above age fourteen, demanding to be told who
and where the Maoists are. The same villages also report
that the security forces sometimes have physically abused
children as a tool of interrogation. In Fulbari, Kailali
district, the army reportedly gathered the entire village in
one place, including children older than fifteen, and
threatened to kill them all if they would not provide
information about the Maoists.

RESPONSE BY HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS
--------------


21. Kathmandu-based NGOs have been calling for the
government and human rights organizations to work together
to protect children's rights and to assist children affected
by the violence. The task is overwhelming. NGO
rehabilitation centers for children--intended to assist
trafficking victims or child laborers--have been overloaded
by victims of the insurgency. CWIN's drop-in centers,
transit centers, help lines and outreach programs are
operating at full capacity in Kathmandu. According to
Pradhan, however, the 300 children living in CWIN's
rehabilitation homes are "barely scratching the surface of
the problem."


22. INSEC's Pyakurel says that his organization's programs
in rural areas cannot keep up with demand for health
services and building programs and that his workers have
been urging the Maoists not to attack school buildings and
public facilities. Other NGOs are just now developing
programs to assist orphans in cities outside Kathmandu.


23. Though activists are optimistic that assistance programs
can alleviate some of the immediate suffering of children
caught up in the conflict, the longer view is more ominous.
"Children are supposed to be regarded as a source of hope
and inspiration," CWIN President Pradhan lamented. "But with
all of the problems they're growing up with, and the effect
on their development... It's depressing instead."

COMMENT
--------------


24. Despite the grievous impact of the insurgency on the
children of Nepal, few political parties--or foreign
governments besides the US and UK--are speaking out on what
should be an issue of universal condemnation. Aside from
the terrible details of individual stories, leaders'
attention should be captured by the fact that effects of the
ongoing insurgency will be felt by the current generation of
children long into their adulthood. As today's children
grown into tomorrow's leaders, the fear and insecurity of
the insurgency may well determine the nation's ability to
craft a lasting peace. Education of many children has been
interrupted, perhaps terminally (septel). Rebuilding the
schools and public facilities destroyed by the Maoists will
take years, and will cost the Government of Nepal millions
of rupees. Rebuilding the shattered psychological state of
Nepali children is a task without a clear end, but one that
is vital if the next generation of leadership is going to
have a chance at governing justly, and of leaving behind the
motivation of revenge.

MALINOWSKI