Dinesh Prasain Tour: Report

MEETING/EVENT NOTES
17 - 22 April 2005 Washington, DC

Drafted by Andrew Miller (Peace Brigades International Nepal Project)
Additional comments by Mendi Njonjo (Advocacy Project)

As the initial stage of his tour of several cities on the East Coast, Dinesh spent a full week in Washington, DC speaking with Nepal-interested individuals, offices, and audiences. The objectives of these meetings varied, but included maintaining the conflict in Nepal as a foreign policy priority in DC, infusing a leading voice of civil society into the discussion, and reinforcing the other advocacy efforts being carried out by both concerned Nepalis and international human rights groups here in DC. This tour takes place in the broader context of campaigns being carried by groups such as Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, and Crisis Group, in addition to other recent visits by Nepali human rights defenders such as Dilli Chaudhary (BASE) and Sushil Pyakurel (Nepali National Human Rights Commission).

The events and meetings were primarily arranged by colleagues at the Advocacy Project and myself. For organization’s sake, I will describe interactions by category of audience or institution.

NGOs: Dinesh had direct meetings with such groups as Advocacy Project, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch, Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy and Peace Brigades International USA. He also met with representatives of Search for Common Ground and the Academy for Educational Development, both of which are likely to have future projects in Nepal and were eager to exchange information with Dinesh.

Amnesty International USA hosted an NGO briefing that included roughly 15 participants from the International Committee of the Red Cross, World Vision, and the Mennonite Central Committee, among others.

He met with Amb. McDonald of the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy and follow up on this meeting includes looking at possibly meeting high level officials (for Asia) at the State Department.

U.S. CONGRESS: By and large, meetings were limited to several offices with a previous interest in Nepal. A number of other offices were contacted but either did not respond or were unable to fit a meeting into our schedule. Beyond a concern about the message sent by any additional military assistance sent to the RNA, one concrete “talking point” raised was the re-establishment of a Nepali service of the Voice of America.

In the House of Representatives, we met with Matt Sparkes, assistant to Rep. Jim Walsh (Republican – NY). Rep. Walsh was a Peace Corps worker in Nepal and maintains an active interest in the political situation there. The office is in regular contact with the Nepali Embassy, and had seen the Ambassador twice in the previous week. We also met with Jeremy Sharp, aide to Rep. Lois Capps (Democrat – CA), to speak about my imminent trip to Nepal and offer background on the conflict.

Future House meetings should include a broader range of offices that sit on the Appropriations Committee, Foreign Operations Subcommittee (especially because the budget will be worked on in the coming months) and the International Relations Committee, Asia Pacific Subcommittee.

In the Senate, we first met with Rich Harper, assistant to Sen. Diane Feinstein (Democrat – CA). Sen. Feinstein is interested in Nepal through her husband, who runs the American Himalayan Foundation and knows the King. Their office has been in touch with the Nepali Ambassador, who assures them that everything is going well in Nepal. They sent a letter to the King post 1 Feb. but have not received a response. The Senator has not called for a ban on military assistance to Nepal but sees rising pressure to do so from her colleagues. Rich made a number of suggestions for other key Senate staff people who are interested in Nepal.

We also spoke with Tim Reiser, the lead Democratic staff person for the Senate Appropriations Committee Foreign Operations Subcommittee. Tim went to Nepal in December and has been following the case closely since then. Re weapons transfers, the U.S. gov’t has to make a decision about a shipment of M-16 rifles in the next several months. Tim views the transfer as unlikely unless the King take dramatic steps in the right direction.

In general terms, a lot more should be done to familiarize Members of Congress with the situation in Congress. Ideally such a campaign would include such elements as a) grassroots interest from constituents, b) media attention on Nepal, and c) a capacity to brief key staff members here in DC. Increased congressional interest, in theory, could help keep Nepal as a mid-level foreign policy priority for the Administration.

U.S. ADMINISTRATION: Our meeting with National Security Council representatives (Mike Green, Senior Director for Asian Affairs and Xenia Dormandy, Director for South Asia) was a good exchange and left us feeling cautiously encouraged about the U.S. position. We were told that the King was under a lot of pressure from the U.S., and that the U.S. was also pressuring other countries (China, for example) to not support the King’s moves. Dinesh offered his ideas of what a legitimate and realistic roadmap might look like, including moving the military under civilian control.

We also met with two Nepal specialists at the State Department: Kristen Needler (Nepal desk officer, South Asian Affairs) and Saba Ghori (Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor). They asked detailed questions for an hour and 15 minutes. Dinesh suggested that the international community should support a roadmap developed by the political parties, instead of the king.

Saba phoned the next day to see if we could arrange additional meetings at the State Dept, one with others in her department and another with folks higher up in the hierarchy. Other Administration meetings could be with functionaries at U.S. AID and the Department of Defense.

INT’L FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS: First we met with Brent Dark, the Deputy Resident Director of the Asian Development Bank’s North America office. Dinesh outlined how development aid can have negative implications for the conflict. Brent said we all have the same concerns but that they didn’t want to cut off programs that helped the poor. He said they were looking for a strategic engagement that would allow them to carry out their programs while pressuring the King. He suggested future connections with Hafiz Ramen, the Nepal country director and Bart Edes, the NGO liaison staff person, based in Manila.

Additionally, we met with several representatives of the World Bank: Debbie Bateman, the DC-based Program Coordinator for Nepal and a Nepali economist from their Kathmandu office, Roshan. The conversation was somewhat contentious, as we are clearly coming from a different paradigm than them. They still maintained that the Bank’s mandate doesn’t allow it to directly take human rights concerns into account (though Roshan did admit that the economical was the political). According to them, the Nepali government is dedicating a greater amount of money to “pro-poor” spending than in the past and the budget is more transparent, now available in 7 languages. The loans that were held up in February, however, were because the Nepalis hadn’t complied with some conditions of the funding. Overall, WB funding for Nepal has increased in recent years and very well might continue increasing, as long as the government adheres to budgetary conditions placed by the Bank.

In terms of follow-up, Veena at Human Rights Watch has been working to educate and advocate at the level of the member-state missions, which vote on the loans. Assuming Dinesh has more time in DC, we could ask Veena to arrange some of these meetings. Also, we could visit the IMF.

MEDIA: Dinesh met with several key media representatives and offered interviews to various outlets. He met with Peter Eisner, the Deputy Foreign Editor for the Washington Post. Peter is interested in Nepal and regularly speaks with correspondent John Lankaster (based in Delhi) about it. Specifically, he mentioned an interest in recent reports of civilian militias. Dinesh mentioned the idea of potentially writing a guest opinion piece and Peter suggested he speak with Jackson Diehl. He also mentioned Nora Boustany, the Post’s foreign affairs and diplomacy correspondent.

Dinesh gave interviews to the Voice of America (Hindi Service). This interview will be broadcast in the coming weeks (date will be communicated when we get it). It will be broadcast outside the US but they’ll also have it on the website for a US audience. He spoke to the Asia Department on how importantn the Voice of America news service was.

Dinesh also gave an interview to the Washington Spark- an independent media paper in DC. The article they did on him will probably run in the next issue.

AP put out a press release on Dinesh’s tour and that’s on the AP website http://www.advocacynet.org/pr_view/pr_40.html

Follow-up interviews will likely happen with USA Today, Chitra Tiwari (Washington Times) and NepaliPost.com.

GRASSROOTS: Such outreach was limited to several engagements on the Georgetown University campus. Dinesh talked at Iain’s class (human rights) at Georgetown where they examined the similarities between the structural inequalities faced by the Dalits in Nepal and the Roma in Europe. It was also noted that these two ethnic groups were on the final action plan adopted at the World Conference on Racism in 2000 for combating racism. Dinesh also addressed a crowd of students and the general public (including some people from NGOs and the State Department) at the Georgetown Auditorium later on that evening. He showed the movie Andoulan Jhari Chha and introduced them to the events in Nepal and also some background information.

Additional student and community level (including the Nepali American community) outreach should be carried out during Dinesh’s return to DC. For maximum impact, it would be good if in planning grassroots events representatives from the Amnesty International local chapters or other university/ church etc. grassroots groups were present as these groups have the institutional capacity to start, circulate and follow up on any petitions.

23 - 25 April 2005
Ithaca, NY

Comments by Laurie Vasily: “The Ithaca, NY event was a public event with an attendance of about 30 people. First, we showed the “Schools in the Crossfire Film” by Dhurba Basnet. This was followed directly by Dinesh’s showing of the “Andolan Jaari Chha” video and Dinesh’s remarks. A discussion ensued, mostly driven by the question of what those of us in the US could do to support democratizing efforts in Nepal. There was also keen interest in purchasing the videos. We indicated that we would try to set up a distribution system through the INSN website.

The Ithaca Chapter of Amnesty International provide postcards to King Gyanendra protesting the dismantling of democracy and three petitions: one to the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asking for suspension of US military aid to Nepal, another to Lieutenant Colonel Raju Nepali, of the Human Rights Cell of the Royal Nepal Army calling for the release of Krishna Pahadi, and thirdly, to King Gyanendra asking for release of political prisoners and reinstatement of civil liberties.”

25 April 2005 – 1 May 2005
New York City

25th April – Meeting at the Open Society Institute
Contact person: Jonathan Hulland,
Online audio record of meeting: http://www.soros.org/resources/events/nepal_20050419

Comments by Jonathan Hulland: “Talk went very well...the video in particular was great...really added to the talk. Some very striking images. And Dinesh's frontline experience made for a very interesting presentation. I would love to get a few copies of the DVD, should I contact the advocacy project?”

27th April - Fordham University Event

Dinesh spoke at Fordham University and most of the attendees were the Fordham Law program and were interested in the human rights aspect of Dinesh's tour. The video Andolan Jhari Chha was screened. Amnesty International Group 11 was present at the event and they passed around some articles for distribution. They started three petitions (the same AI petitions as noted in the Ithaca, NY note) at Fordham and were able to get a few signatures.

27th April - Columbia University Event

Comments by Sarahana Shrestha: “I just wanted to send out a short email to summarize that yesterday's event at Columbia University was very good! There was not a unanimous voice amongst the attendants, which made for a vibrant discussion. Dinesh was indeed very articulate and was able to effectively answer all "provocative" questions, which is something we young Nepalis find missing in most talks presented by Nepali speakers. As one attendant pointed out, Dinesh appeared to be very "down to earth" and I believe it is his passion and "from the heart" approach to the matter that makes us feel very much a part of the solution.”

The piece that Dinesh wrote and comments are available at:
http://samudaya.org/articles/archives/2005/05/reclaiming_the.php

29 - 30 April 2005 Joint events with Ashmina Ranjit

Comments from Ashok Gurung (& a New School event participant): “Special thanks to Ashmina and Dinesh for two very well prepared and delivered presentations (below, see a wonderful note from a participant!).

> This is simply to say thank you for such an impressive
>performance/advocacy/analysis event last Saturday. I was moved and
>frankly distressed by the sense of chaos, increasing polarization, and
>ruthless violence on royalist and maoists "sides." Not easily forgotten.”

1 - 4 May 2005
Boston

Comments by Julia Todd: “Dinesh was very busy during his two day stay in Boston. Everyone he met with was extremely interested in what he had to say, and very generous with their time.

Dinesh talked about the situation in Nepal with a small but engaged group at UMass Boston. This talk was sponsored by the UMass program in dispute resolution, and the human rights working group.

We met with Sen. Kennedy's and Sen. Kerry's foreign policy aides. They were both extremely interested, and spent about 50 minutes with us, asking Dinesh lots of questions about the human rights situation and the conflict. Julia will follow-up.

The Northeast Amnesty office got Dinesh appointments to speak at length with editorial writers at both the Boston Globe, and the Christian Science Monitor. All were very interested. I'll let you know if anything is published.

Dinesh also spoke on Tuesday at the Physicians for Human Rights weekly staff meeting, with about 30 in attendance and others on speaker phone from their DC and other offices. PHR has done some work on health and human rights related issues in Nepal such as torture.

Dinesh also talked to a group of about 18 faculty/student at Tufts University on Monday evening, and a very diverse group of about 40 individuals at Harvard University on Tuesday evening. A very engaged audience at Tufts pressed Dinesh on issues ranging from role of INGOs in present Nepalese context to the Gay/Lesbain movement and their plight in Nepal. At Harvard, he put forth a very strong argument for the "middle ground' as the only alternative to the ongoing chaos in Nepal.

Dinesh's candid presentation and stunning footages depicted in the documentary "Aandolan Jaari Cha" made this a very worthy hour and half for everyone in attendance. The feedback we received has all been extremely positive.

Thank you again, Dinesh, for your dedication, energy, and ability to engage so many different people !!!”

4 - 5 May 2005 Atlanta

4th May - Emory University Event

Comments by Pramod Aryal: “Dinesh came here at Atlanta yesterday, and Mahendra Lawoti drove. We had successful program at Emory. He basically spoke of situation in Nepal and he said that democracy will lead to permanent peace. Our audience, especially people of Nepali origin, was very much concerned about the situation in Nepal. We all were touched by the documentary, Andolan Jari Cha. It was really sad to see such police brutality. The theme of his talk was we should seek a middle ground that is from both extreme right and extreme left and follow the peaceful works for sustained democracy that will lead to permanent peace. We had vibrant floor discussion. Many people wanted to know what middle ground is and Dinesh was able to explain. Dr. Lawoti talked about the centralization, alienation and its impact in democracy. His academic perspective was well received. We had happy hour after the talk in local Indian restaurant. There people had chance to socialize with Dinesh and Mahendra. I was happy to see some concerned hard working Nepalese making up dinner after their job, and who joined us up to my house and discussed till 1 am.”

5 - 18 May 2005 Washington, DC

NEWS COVERAGE

www.advocacynet.org
Dinesh’s speaking tour was highlighted on the front page of the Advocy Project’s website, bulletins continue to be posted at: http://www.advocacynet.org/cpage_view/NepalCrisis_Appeal_35_105.html

http://www.soros.org/resources/events/nepal_20050419
Audio file of Dinesh’s 25 April meeting at the Open Society Institute

http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/110528/1/
An article written by Wendy Mbekelu from OneWorld.net based on the Georgetown University event on 21 April. In a follow-up email, Dinesh notes some of the factual misrepresentations: “Thanks Evelina for sharing the article. But as I would like to draw the attention of Wendy (who apparently did this story without checking with me, although with very good intention I'm sure) to some of my concerns. She got some facts wrong and some misquotes (eg, the army did not move and club the demonstrators on April 8 this year, the scenes from the documentary were clearly from last year's demonstrations clear from teh docuementary, and it was the police, not army who beat up the demonstrators; I did not say the Maoists burned homes, raped and lynched people to death, It was the Village Defence Committee members, as I have mentioned in my article posted at insn; the king does not appoint the UN human rights monitring committee members, the UN does; and also there was no security council involvement in the Geneva meeting on human rights, etc ). I guess such mistakes do happen in reports, but in conflcit situations, even minor misquotes may not be good. Sorry to bother you with these notes.”

• Siwani Says INSN