ABSTRACT
Introduction An insurgency started in Nepal in 1996 when the Communist Party of NepalMaoists began taking control of the countryside in the Western Terai by force. Since 2006 the small Himalayan country of Nepal has emerged from armed conflict and traditional Kingship rule to an ongoing peace and democracybuilding process. Core problems include rapid population growth, insufficient infrastructure, the weak capacities of public sector institutions, social exclusion by caste and ethnicity, and discrimination against women, which is entrenched by tradition and the caste system.1 Earthquakes, floods and mudslides are regular occurrences. Avian flu is a new and imminent threat.2 Historic exclusion, a rich/poor divide and political infighting were contributing causes of armed conflict. Three out of ten of Nepal’s population of around 27 million people (31 per cent) live on less than US$1 a day.3 The poorest and hardest-hit conflict regions, such as the rural midwest,4 have a poverty incidence 20 per cent higher than that of the valley in which the capital, Kathmandu, is situated.5 Nepal was formerly the world’s only officially declared Hindu state.6 Following the movement for democracy in early 2006 and the breaking of King Gyanendra’s power, the Nepali Parliament amended the Constitution to make Nepal a secular republican state. Nepal’s Constituent Assembly (CA) elections on 10 April 2008 marked a major step forward in the peace process, paving the way for the declaration of a federal democratic republic. The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), (CPN-M), emerged as the largest party, winning more than one-third of CA seats. This chapter examines how UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 was implemented in Nepal’s peace process. The peace process in Nepal began six years after UNSCR 1325 was adopted. The UN peace mission was deployed several years after other UN agencies had been implementing UNSCR 1325related activities in the country. The chapter examines the interaction among UN agencies, the interaction between the UN and Nepali civil society and government, and the way in which these interactions contributed to the implementation of UNSCR 1325 in the country.
