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

An audio recording of the event is available.