By Abid Aslam
07/13/2005

Click here to read the entire article

Below is an excerpt of an article from OneWorld US:

WASHINGTON, D.C., Jul 13 (OneWorld) - International agencies must take immediate steps to protect people fleeing Nepal's nine-year guerilla war or they will see the country engulfed in a humanitarian crisis, refugee advocates have warned.

''The humanitarian situation in Nepal is not yet a crisis. The situation will worsen, however, unless an effective strategy to protect and assist the displaced is developed and implemented,'' Washington, D.C.-based Refugees International said in a written assessment based on a three-week mission to the Himalayan kingdom.

...

Refugees International's warning comes as the United Nations gears up to raise funds next month for all its activities in Nepal, scene of fighting between the government, Maoist rebels, and government-supported vigilantes.

...

''The government of Nepal has a responsibility to assist and protect all people living within its borders but its actions make clear that the IDP problem is not a priority. Its brutal treatment of members of the Maoist Victims Association, who protested for recognition as 'internal refugees' in May 2005, raises questions about the government's commitment to IDP protection,'' Brown and Shukla said in their assessment.

''Basic services throughout Nepal were poor even before the conflict but now the government has even less ability or interest in providing services to people. In rural areas, most government officials have fled to district centers,'' they said.

Refugees International further called on Nepal's government to ease restrictions on NGOs.

During the war's early years, the Maoists forced large landowners, people affiliated with the central government, and political party members to leave their villages if they did not swear allegiance to the Maoists. ''This group of people has been able to go to district centers or larger cities and buy property, and most of them are not in need of economic assistance,'' the organization said.

''But in recent years the dynamic of the conflict has changed. The brutality of both the Maoists and the government security forces, as well as the collapse of economic and social structures in villages, is forcing larger numbers of more vulnerable people to flee. They tend to move in with relatives or friends, or move to slums on the outskirts of cities,'' it added.

This has complicated the job of counting and helping the displaced as they often appear indistinguishable from ''equally vulnerable urban poor living throughout Nepal,'' the assessment said.

Compounding the problem, international staff rarely travel outside Kathmandu, much less to Maoist-affected areas, so there is little information about what conditions are actually like outside the ''Kathmandu bubble,'' said Brown and Shukla.