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The Dark Fate of Nepali Children

Bhuwan Thapaliya - 10/24/2005

Nepal is located at the tassel of South Asian politics and receives very little international attention. Yet the mounting conflict deserves the world's attention, not only because of its intrinsic interest, but also because of the wider, very serious implications it has for the stability of the region.

Nepal is embroiled in a conflict -- between the government of Nepal and the Maoist insurgency -- that has alienated the country, bringing it to the brink of outright civil war. Nepalese now find themselves caught in the middle of an essentially losing war, and many of the children -- the future of Nepal -- have been forced to flee the countryside, leaving behind their innocence and childhood.


Children Exposed to Violence

Many children in Nepal are growing up in an environment shaped by guns, bombs, and strikes amid the fear of uncertain consequences. They live in a constant state of fear, frustration and insecurity. They are physically constrained and psychologically devastated by the status quo of their nation.

Furthermore, they are brutally exposed by both the state and the rebels -- not just accidentally, but as deliberate soft targets. Many children are separated from their families and are living alone in urban centers or district headquarters, where they may not be vulnerable to abduction, but to exploitation and other abuses. Girls who flee from villages to avoid Maoist recruitment or for other reasons are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation in urban areas.

As a result, the children are being denied the protection promised them in the Convention on the Rights of the Child: "War violates every right of a child -- the right to life, the right to be with family and community, the right to health, the right to the development of the personality, and the right to be nurtured and protected."

Nepal is one of the world's poorest countries and the armed conflict has contributed to further degeneration in the standard of living of many Nepalese children. In the conflict, which has been raging in Nepal since the last decade, many children have been parted from their parents.

Fleeing the violence for cities in search a of a better life, many of them find their dreams shattered and end up in slums adjacent to urban centers since the Nepalese government has largely ignored the internally displaced population since the outset of the armed conflict. Similarly, even after nearly a decade of warfare, the UN and international community still tend to approach their activities in Nepal from a development perspective, resulting in little or no focus on the displaced population.


Children Caught Between Two Forces

Children often find themselves caught between the two opposing forces. They are commonly forced to provide assistance to one side or the other. Threatened with violence, they may have no other choice but to act as directed. This subsequently leaves them vulnerable to attacks by security forces and accused of collaboration with Maoists, and vice versa. This has become a common story for poorer children throughout Nepal.

They are intimidated, detained and tortured by military and police personnel for suspected Maoist activity, or in an attempt to gain information about Maoist activities or to find the whereabouts of an alleged Maoist parent, according to studies by the charity, Children in Conflict.

In one example, security forces accused the residents of Pandaun in Kailali district of providing food to Maoists and threatened that the village would be bombed if local residents did not evacuate, according to a report in Himal magazine ("Dead in Villages, Shelter in the Forests," December 16-31, 2003). At the same time, they may face similar treatment by the Maoists for alleged support of the government.


Children Subjected to Killing from Both Sides

Children have been subjected to killing, maiming and other violations of their rights, committed with impunity by both the Maoists and the government personnel, including police and military forces. From the start of the "People's War" in 1996 through July 2004, 286 children under the age of 17 are reported to have been killed, according to human rights group INSEC. This includes 161 children killed by government forces (105 boys and 56 girls), and 125 children killed by the Maoists (96 boys and 29 girls).

In August 2004, Maoist rebels allegedly executed a 15-year-old boy, Santosh Biswokarma, of Mudhebas, Dhanktua district in eastern Nepal, after abducting and torturing him. According to news reports, a Maoist leader accused the boy of involvement in robbery and rape. (Nepalnews.com, August 8, 2004)

In Kahule VDC of Nuwakot district, five boys aged 15 to 18 yrs. were shot and killed by Nepali Security Forces for suspected association with the Maoists. Following public outcry about the killings, the Security Forces launched an investigation into the case, after which they declared that the killings had been a mistake. According to CWIN, the boys were walking home at night, after returning from a death ritual of a relative in the village. Three of the boys were wearing school uniforms when they were killed. (The State of the Rights of the Child in Nepal 2003, CWIN)


Children's Lack of Access to Education

Education affords children a sense of security and continuity even when they are surrounded by chaos engendered by armed conflict. Therefore, the schools should be kept open as long as feasible but the children's access to education in Nepal continues to be threatened by Maoist bandhs (meaning "closures"), particularly those that specifically target school schedules and examinations. There is a high level of fear of attending school, as a result of violence in and around schools, destruction of schools and school closures.

Thousands of community schools have been among the local institutions most violated and threatened by the combatants in this civil war. Nepali children are losing their rights and opportunities to an education due to this on-going conflict. Ironically, it is the poorest and most discriminated children, who are being most severely affected by the school closures. Many have been forced to leave their homes or migrate for work or have been recruited into the Maoist forces.


One Household: One Fighter

No reliable figures exist on the current number of Nepalese children who are refugees or internally displaced, and those numbers that do exist are highly speculative and difficult to verify. The lack of monitoring on India's large and open border with Nepal makes it difficult to accurately assess whether the children's migration is conflict related or economically motivated. However, since 2001, the flow of migrants to India has reportedly significantly increased, suggesting a possible link between migration and the conflict.

Various sources in Nepal indicate that families, frightened that their children will be abducted under a Maoist campaign of "One household: one fighter," encourage their children to flee from their villages. In some cases, entire families may flee together. A report in the Kathmandu Post (October 10, 2004, "Villagers Flee Maoist Abduction,") reported that over 100 families from Nisi, Bobang and Andhikarichaur VDCs in Baglung district had fled to the district headquarters, fearing that Maoists would abduct their children. Sixteen schools in the villages closed after the students and their parents had fled.

However, in September 2004, more than 110 members of 25 families of Jumla district moved to Surkhet district headquarters, Birendranagar, after the Maoists announced that locals either had to join their ranks or move out, according to the Himalayan Times. ("Maoist Diktat Triggers Exodus," September 25, 2004)

The Nepali organization Community Study and Welfare Center (CSWC) estimates that the number of internally displaced children in Nepal may be as high as 100,000 to 120,000. While many of those who flee to India are youth, especially young men who appear to be following the traditional migration patterns of this demographic group, there has been an increase in youth migration across the border with the intensification of armed conflict, according to the Global IDP Project.


Gender-Based Violence

Among the most severe problems which all children and women face during armed conflicts is a heightened risk of rape, sexual humiliation, prostitution and other forms of gender-based violence. Women of all ages are targets, but adolescent girls are often especially vulnerable since they may be thought less likely to have sexually transmitted diseases, such as HIV/AIDS. While most victims have been girls, young boys are also raped or forced into prostitution -- although such cases are generally underreported. These crimes might be seen simply as a consequence of general societal breakdown during wartime, and yet such violence is rarely taken as seriously as it should be.


Child's Poor Health Syndrome

Hundreds of children die each year as a direct result of armed violence. But thousands more die from the indirect consequences of warfare -- such as the destruction of health services, water systems and sanitation. In Nepal, where children are already vulnerable to malnutrition and disease, the onset of armed conflict has increased death rates. But beyond the physical dangers, children may also suffer lasting psycho-social damage -- as a result of the loss of their families, for example, or of exposure to violence. Children are also affected by other distressing experiences. Armed conflict splinters communities and breaks down trust among people -- undermining the very foundation of children's lives. Different children will respond in different ways to such distressing experiences. Most will recover fairly quickly, but a few may suffer permanent damage.


Adults Should Act

There are thousands of children who have been forced to flee their hometown as a refugees or who have been "internally displaced" within Nepal. These children are in need of special attention. At a crucial and vulnerable time in their lives, these children are brutally uprooted and exposed to danger and insecurity. Those who are displaced internally receive less protection even though they tend to be at greater risk, therefore, that in each emergency a lead agency be appointed for the protection and assistance of the internally displaced. In collaboration with the lead agency, UNICEF, the State should provide leadership for the protection and care of these internally displaced children before it is too late. And the international community must not sit back and relax, citing this as the problem of Nepal only. They must do all they can to prevent the outbreak of fighting, by addressing the socio-economic roots of conflict. Everything must be done to protect children caught up in armed struggles.