US embassy cable - 02KATHMANDU2307

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, Maoist Insurgency 
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