In 2006 a peace agreement ended a decade-long civil war in Nepal between the state and the Maoist People’s Liberation Army. Cantonments were set up for ex-combatants, and the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) verified about 19,600 as former combatants while more than 4,000 were found to be under-aged or joined after the ceasefire. In 2012, almost six years later, the cantonments were finally closed and over 3,000 weapons were taken over by the Nepal Army. The Demobilisation, Disarmament and Reintegration (DDR) process in Nepal has taken a long time and met with many difficulties , but can it be termed a success story after all? This seminar takes stock of the DDR process in Nepal and asks if other DDR processes can draw lessons from it.
Program
| 09:30 – 10:00 | Tea and Coffee |
|---|---|
| 10:00 – 10:05 | Welcome by PRIO Director Kristian Berg Harpviken |
| 10:05 – 10:30 | «A Nepal-led DDR process» Lt. General (Retd.) Bala Nanda Sharma, Army Integration Coordination Committee |
| 10:30 – 10:55 | **«The politics of DDR»**Yohn Medina-Vivanco, Department of Political Affairs United Nations Nepal |
| 10:55 – 11:20 | «Experiences of the demobilized» Video interview with a Maoist Ex-combatant Commander |
| 11:20 – 11:30 | Comments by PRIO Senior Researcher Wenche Hauge |
| 11:30 – 12:15 | Questions and Answers |
| 12:15 – 13:15 | Lunch |
| 13:15 – 13:30 | Video with interviews of Maoist ex-combatants |
| 13:30 – 14:00 | «Skills for peace» Heidi Gutsche, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH |
| 14:00 – 14:30 | Questions and Answers |
| 14:30 – 15:00 | Concluding remarks by Kristian Berg Harpviken |
