NEPAL’S FEUDING political parties must focus on redressing the profound inequalities in their society if they are to achieve a lasting and stable peace, a UN report warns.
The Nepal Human Development Report, prepared jointly by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and Nepal’s government, warns that failure to deliver better social services and to generate greater opportunities for marginalised groups – including ethnic minorities, Muslims, low-caste Hindus and women – could mean a fresh wave of mass unrest.
“This is a country whose development is extraordinarily uneven and inequitable,” said Robert Piper, the UNDP’s resident representative.
“There are many people who have been marginalised and excluded for centuries. The ink that is being shed in the corridors of power [is] very focused on raw politics – but almost to the entire neglect of some of these wider issues, which are yet to [be] addressed and yet to fundamentally change.”
Nepal, where power was traditionally concentrated in the hands of upper-caste Hindus, is struggling to emerge from a bitter civil war that pitted Maoist insurgents against the state and left more than 13,000 people dead.
The formerly warring parties, including Maoist insurgents and members of Nepal’s mainstream political parties, are to draft a fresh constitution intended to form a more representative political system.
But the process has been marred by disagreements about issues such as the integration of the former Maoist insurgents into the army; the persistent tensions between coalition partners; and a preoccupation with the state of Nepal’s relations with its large neighbours China and India.
The UNDP says the underlying causes of the bloody conflict – including poverty and discrimination on basis of caste and ethnicity – have yet to be dealt with.
“These things aren’t changing,” said Mr Piper.
Nepal, which has the lowest human development indicators of any south Asian country, has made some progress, but Mr Piper said this was uneven: “It’s very much particular communities that have benefited, while others have been left behind.”
Literacy rates for Nepal’s lowest-caste Hindus are only 34.8 per cent for women and 59.9 per cent for men, against 68 per cent and 92 per cent for high-caste Hindu women and men. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009)