1. Establishment of Peace Negotiation
Resource Center
Peace Negotiation Resource Center
(PNRC) has been established at Kathmandu
School of Law as a permanent resource
center to contribute for conflict
transformation and peace building
approaches through academic means.
It remains as an academic resource
station in providing adequate resource
materials for research purposes
for researchers and scholars and
promoting a culture of non-violent
debating process. It aims to consolidate
peace efforts and promote culture
of peace by promoting academic debates,
interactions and consultations on
democratic and constitutional values
and peaceful methods and techniques
of conflict transformation. It also
intends to activate civil society
groups to searching solution of
conflicts through research based
approach. It was formally inaugurated
on 24th July 2005 by the Chief Guest
Prof. Jagat Bahadur K.C, Vice Chancellor,
Purbanchal University and the Guest
of honour Mr. Guy PS Banim, First
Secretary and Political Advisor,
Delegation of the European Commission
to Nepal. A documentation center
has been established within PNRC
to make it competent in providing
adequate resource materials for
research purposes. The center is
equipped with computer and other
accessories with two full time documentation
personnel.
2. Development of Audio-Visual
Program
One of the important functions of
PNRC is to develop and air the audio-visual
programs targeting the common people
to promote democratic values, and
inculcate message that the faith
and exercise of the democratic values,
constitutionalism, and methods and
techniques of conflict transformation
will be able to address a large
number of issues and problems surrounding
the conflict. To materialize this
activity, an agreement was made
with CINEROMA Pvt. Ltd., a television
based programme producing company,
to air twelve episodes of Television
program of 30 minutes duration from
Kantipur Television under the title
Annuttarit Prasna, "Unanswered
Question". Seven of them were
talk programmes on issues related
to democracy, constitutionalism,
human rights, conflict and pro-peace
journalism, while five of them were
documentary which highlights the
project activities and outcomes.
These programmes were fully based
on intensive research works carried
out by Peace Negotiation Resource
Centre (PNRC) and Research Department
of Kathmandu School of Law. Areas
of research, script of the programme
and the thrust of the message to
inform in each programme were identified
and outlined jointly by PNRC and
research department of KSL within
the scope of the present project.
A group of researchers were assigned
to conduct the research, and a video
documentary ranging from 5 to 7
minutes was developed based on the
research findings which were shown
to the panellists before discussion.
A group of panellists was invited
to the television who took part
in intensive discussion after watching
the documentary. At the end of each
programme, a conclusion was drawn
which was intended to promote democracy,
constitutionalism and transformation
of conflict.
The programme became increasingly
popular among the youths and intellectuals.
Since the programmes were aired
on the prime time at 7:30 P.M. which
is the most preferred time by majority
of the Nepalese TV viewers, it is
believed that most of the audience
viewed the program. The program
was highly acclaimed by the intellectual
circle and professionals, in particular,
for the discussion being based on
the research findings and the conclusion
drawn at the end of each programme.
The feedback received from the audience
about the programmes indicated that
it contributed for public opinion
building and encouraged wide public
discourses to address a large number
of issues and problems surrounding
the conflict. The impact of the
program could also be assessed by
the increasing demand of the audience
to re-telecast it. The response
received from the audience indicated
that these programs contributed
to disseminate the information widely
among the masses on pros and cons
of conflict, its reason, impact
and possible solution. This has
contributed to create a strong and
critical pro-peace and pro-democratic
mass to pressurize all the parties
involved in the conflict for negotiated
political solution.
3. Establishment of Peace Network
and Hotline Center
In order to express collective solidarity
and confidence for negotiated political
solution of the conflict Peace Network
and Hotline Centers have been established
in all project implementing districts.
They have served as a forum to build
a collective strength for peace
building process as well as protection
of human rights in the districts.
They played a crucial role in campaigning
for negotiated political solution
of the conflict and provided a platform
for regular review of the situation
in the district and compilation
of information. Secretaries in each
Center compiled information on conflict
situation of the respective district
encompassing incidents of fight,
violation of humanitarian laws and
human rights by any party, efforts
of peace building etc; and regularly
report it to PNRC.
4. Discourse with Youths and
Adolescents on Democratic Values,
Constitutionalism, and Methods and
Techniques of Conflict Transformation
Altogether 916 youth leaders and
adolescents from student organizations,
youth organizations, political parties
and civil society from twelve districts
participated in the programmes.
During the programme, they were
oriented on the idea of dirty politics
and good politics, democratic values,
constitutionalism and interrelationship
of human rights, good governance
and rule of law. They also discussed
the meaning, nature, types, and
causes of conflict emphasizing the
methods and techniques of conflict
transformation. In light of previous
experiences of developing countries
on conflict and its transformation,
they thoroughly discussed the possible
ways to address the political conflict
of the nation. In this way, youth
population was critically nurtured
with politics. They realized their
role in conflict transformation
and peace building approaches.
Other issues prominently raised
during the discourse were the issue
of leadership and its succession
and their role in peace building
approaches. Failure of the political
parties to give space to meritorious
and youth leadership in decision
making process was prominently raised
by participants during discussion.
They also raised the issue about
gender equality, social and economic
isolation of the dalit and marginalized
population. The programme was fairly
influencing and the idea brought
to discussions was accepted by the
majority of the participants. The
discourse was successful in considerable
degree to penetrate new thinking
and change in their attitudes. The
visible evidence of the program
impact was that they started to
participate in activities promoting
peace and human rights and took
initiation to create local youth
clubs and forums for peace. After
the participation in the programme,
some student and youth leaders were
found actively involved in initiating
debate of succession of leaderships
in their respective organization
which also justifies the massive
impact of the programme.
5. Discourse with Central Political
Leaders on Democratic Values, Constitutionalism,
and Methods and Techniques of Conflict
Transformation for Central Political
Leaders
Thirty two central committee leaders
of different national parties and
their sister organizations actively
participated in the discourse. The
major themes of discourse surrounded
the concept of 'Inclusive Democracy'.
They included areas such as the
factors responsible for current
political and constitutional crisis,
problem of power devolution under
present constitution, the issues
of inclusiveness, the failure of
current model of governance, the
causes and factors responsible for
corruption, the intra-party democracy
etc. During the programme, a critical
analysis of the performance of democracy
over the last fifteen years was
carried out, and intensely discussed.
The conflict was seen in the light
of the performance of the democracy,
and attempt was made to relate the
need of 'transformation of the conflict'
for sustainability of democracy
and vice versa. The program has
tremendously contributed to deepen
the discourse on democratic values
and constitutionalism as the fundamental
prerequisite for transformation
of the conflict. Participants agreed
that the country's future is secured
only in democracy. They highlighted
on the need of reforming the system
so that it can be inclusive in nature.
Participants of the discourse took
the agenda of "Inclusive Democracy"
as their future goal in their respective
party meetings and the major parties
principally agreed it as their program
of priorities. This development
proves the massive impact of the
programme.
6. Discourse with District Political
Leaders on Democratic Values, Constitutionalism,
and Methods and Techniques of Conflict
Transformation
A series of intensive discussions
were held in the above-mentioned
topics in all twelve districts in
which 364 participants took part.
The discussions were open, frank
and constructive. This created an
environment to accentuate common
discourse of district level political
leaders to generate common and better
understanding of the democratic
values, constitutionalism, and methods
and techniques of conflict transformation.
All participants were by and large
highly qualified and capable people
in their party circle. So the programme
contributed to build pressure for
the central leadership from grassroots
level party activists to work according
to the democratic values, constitutionalism,
and think seriously on methods and
techniques of conflict transformation.
It generated the need of bringing
rebels into democratic political
mainstream and strengthening human
rights and rule of law for peaceful
transformation of the conflict.
Participants appreciated the program
and expressed high-levels of satisfaction.
They showed high individual levels
of commitment to working to promote
peace building in their community
and through their work. Participants,
in turn, started to transfer this
message within their party cadres
and among the masses with great
impact.
Failure of the political party leadership
in providing social and economic
justice to the people was widely
acknowledged by the participants.
The issue that a smaller section
of the elite people has been consuming
a larger portion of national income
was raised by participants as one
of the vital cause for emergence
of conflict. Lacking of devolution
of power to the local bodies and
corruption was another issue that
was taken as responsible for intensification
of the conflict. Failure of the
political parties to develop consensus
on priorities of prompt intervention
was another prominent issue of discussion.
At the end, participants agreed
that the transformation of the conflict
was impossible without prompt action
to equitable distribution of the
economy. They agreed for reforming
the system to make it inclusive
in nature ensuring the participation
and involvement of all sectors of
the Nepalese society.
7. Training for Media Workers
on pro-peace and pro-democratic
information dissemination
Altogether 139 journalists and media
workers from twelve districts took
part in the training. The primary
objective of the training was to
generate deepening awareness on
the need of ' building peace through
transformation of the conflict',
and to sensitize them to be socially
responsive to the issues and present
more peace friendly coverage, news
and stories and contribute to promote
peace and national interest. During
the programme, they were made aware
about the peace-building process
and their role to contribute to
the negotiation process by narrowing
differences and bringing the conflicting
parties in a common discussion forum
to resolve their differences by
non-violent means.
Each of the programmes was divided
into three sessions of discussion.
In the first session, a finding
of CeLRRd study entitled "Worthy
and Un-worthy Items in Media"
was presented before participants
and need of scientific mindedness
in professional work of journalism
was discussed. In the scientific
mindedness in professional work
of journalism issues like scientific
approach of professional work, open
and critical mindedness, nature
of information and its relation
to facts and opinion, and role of
evidence in establishing truth by
facts were discussed.
In the second session, discussions
were held on ethical issue, basic
concepts of human rights relevant
to media work, law and the international
standards etc. The third session
was focused on peace journalism.
It dealt on general idea of journalism,
notion and principles of peace journalism,
understanding peace and the conflict,
objects and styles of peace journalism,
difference between traditional and
new approaches of conflict reporting,
sensitive issues under peace journalism
etc. The sessions were interactive,
and lecture with audiovisual aid
and question answer was the approach
in sharing the knowledge.
They got critical knowledge on human
rights concerns, their role in conflict
transformation and conflict reporting
as responsive fourth estate. The
concept of inclusive democracy was
one of the core issues of discourse,
which not only reflected on the
need of 'consolidation of democracy
and constitutionalism' for transformation
of the conflict, but also emphasized
the need of 'inclusion of economic
and social democracy, benefiting
all segments of the population'
for successful transformation of
violent conflict.
A media manual which describes the
role of media-workers in peace-building
process through the approach of
peace journalism was distributed
to the participants to facilitate
the discussion and to provide theoretical
and practical guidance to advance
peace journalism in their daily
media works. The content of the
orientation was totally related
to the media sector.
In the beginning of each programme,
a sheet of questions related to
peace journalism was provided to
the participants to fill up. Through
the information filled by the participants,
it was observed that there is scarce
of guiding materials in conflict
reporting. Rare of the participants
have received training before in
conflict reporting and concept of
peace journalism. Most of the participants
have expressed need for further
training particularly on conflict
reporting and analysis. Many journalists
admitted that they don't have sufficient
knowledge on ethical issues and
the idea of human rights. They shared
that the programmes have been effective
to give them proper direction in
the current crisis. They admitted
that the programme has been successful
in sharpening their skills to promote
pro-peace and pro-democratic information
dissemination. They also shared
that the programme enhanced their
skill to access the situation and
take a conflict-resolution approach.
They expressed their commitment
to be sensitive in news reporting,
promote democratization and human
rights culture and act as a mediator
in resolving conflicts in the days
to come.
The participants agreed that if
they work for their personal gains
and exaggerate an incident, they
cannot raise an issue properly and
reduce the potential risk of the
conflict. At the end of each programme,
a conclusion was made that in disseminating
news, journalists should pay special
attention to the cause of a problem
and its consequences and the impact
caused by the armed conflict. They
committed to be sincere, free from
vested interests, and unbiased while
reporting the conflict, and to seek
to try to find potential solutions
of a problem. The visible impact
of the programme was that those
who participated were found to be
conflict conscious in their reporting.
Their reporting were found to be
fact-based and directed towards
peace building.
8. Development of Curriculum in
Conflict and International Humanitarian
Law and Human rights
Purbanchal University has approved
the Curriculum for both Masters'
level education; M.A. in Conflict
and International Humanitarian Laws
and M.A. in Human Rights developed
as a part of this project. The central
themes of the curriculum are in
accordance with the agreement made
between Kathmandu School of Law
and International Committee of Red
Cross (ICRC). These courses aim
at building up qualified human resources
to contribute in the area of human
rights and international humanitarian
laws with a correct concept and
essential contents including practical
implementation strategies of human
rights in general and, in the context
of Nepal in particular. The courses
also aim to indoctrinate the scholars
with the contemporary relevance
of international humanitarian law,
practical implementation of human
rights norms, humanitarian assistance
to conflict victims, monitoring
of human right violations, prosecution
of heinous war criminals through
ICC with an orientation of different
modules of peace building in the
context of increasing threat of
terrorism and internal conflicts.
KSL has already made an announcement
for the admission to these courses
with introduction of each course.
The classes are scheduled to run
at Kathmandu School of Law from
March, 2006. Students passing out
these courses are expected to be
capable of :
9. Research on the Trend of
print media in information dissemination
A survey of five national dailies
of the country was performed to
find an overview of the trend of
media and its role in information
dissemination to the public. A report
has been prepared entitled "Worthy
and Unworthy Items in Media"
based on the survey result. This
study covered the measurement and
analysis of the four parts viz;
editorial, news, views and opinion,
and other items in the newspapers.
In the former three, space given
to democratic value, constitutionalism,
human rights, ethnic issue and political
event was measured. In study of
"other items", the space
given to Social Science, Natural
Science, Horoscopy, Sports, Cinema
and Music, and Health was measured
and analyzed.
The research showed that although
media have provided quantitatively
a large space and time for issues
related to conflict, politics, human
rights and governance, its qualitative
analysis reveal that they lack far
behind to promote good or healthy
politics, develop human rights culture
and fostering sustainable peace
in the country. Media have acted
more to sensationalize than to sensitize
and are seen as highlighter of the
issue more than being a negotiator.
The research showed that cinema,
music, sports find much priority
in the media. The social and natural
sciences have received miserably
poor space. The unscientific and
superstitious thing like horoscopy
came regularly in all of these five
newspapers. Surprisingly, in some
newspapers, the space received by
horoscopy is more than the space
occupied by natural science and
social science combined. The analysis
of the space given to these various
items shows that these media are
more "entertaining", than
"educating". A good deal
space is taken by trivial and frivolous
thing. The media have offered what
a portion of readers "want"
rather than what the people "need"
in a democratic society.
The subject of peace and peace building,
the topmost priority of our nation
now, has been given very little
importance in most of the newspaper.
The data shows that peace friendly
coverage has found very little space.
The lion's share in the newspapers
were taken by items other than democracy,
constitutionalism, human rights
and ethnic issues which show that
there are items other than the above
four that media attach more importance.
10. Development of pro-peace media
manual
A pro-peace media manual was published
for journalists' training entitled
Peace Journalism for Conflict Transformation
based on the findings of the media
research. The book basically deals
with the concept, objective and
fundamental principles of peace
journalism, and methods to approach
conflict events from journalistic
perspective. It also gives information
on national and international journalistic
code of conduct, ethical and moral
values to be observed by journalists,
peace and violence, causes and development
of the conflict and the ways and
forms of violence, and other requirements
for successful pro-peace reporting.
In the beginning of training for
media workers, a sheet of questions
related to peace journalism was
provided to the participants to
fill up. Through the information
filled by the participants, it was
observed that there is scarce of
guiding materials in conflict reporting.
Rare of the participants had received
training before in conflict reporting
and concept of peace journalism.
Most of the participants had expressed
need for further training particularly
on conflict reporting and analysis.
Many journalists had admitted that
they didn't have sufficient knowledge
on ethical issues and the idea of
human rights. In these circumstances,
the manual was distributed to the
participants to facilitate the discussion
and to provide theoretical and practical
guidance to advance peace journalism
in their daily media works. The
content of the orientation was totally
related to the media sector.
This manual served as a reference
booklet to enhance their competency
in reporting peace initiatives.
It is expected that this manual
and the training thereof has contributed
the media persons to be careful
and sincere to test whether their
story and write-up has not been
supporting the conflict. It has
deepened their awareness on the
need of building peace through transformation
of the conflict so that they could
play more crucial and constructive
roles in pressurizing the parties
of conflict for peaceful resolution
of the problem. It also made them
more conscious to defend democracy,
humanitarian obligations and human
rights and sensitize them to be
socially responsive to the issues.
