INSN International Nepal Solidarity Network
Human Rights Crisis in Nepal: A speaking tour featuring Dinesh Prasain
April 18 – May 6, 2005 (PDF File)
Co-sponsored by Amnesty International USA and The Advocacy Project
In Memory of Co-Organizer Marla Ruzicka (1976-2005)
OFFICIAL PROJECT DOCUMENT DRAFT OF 15 APRIL 2005
International Nepal Solidarity Network is a network of concerned global citizens working to support Nepali civil society in the struggle for democracy and human rights. More information is available online at www.insn.org.
INTERNATIONAL NEPAL SOLIDARITY NETWORK INSN
DINESH PRASAIN – BIO
Dinesh Prasain, a postgraduate in sociology from Tribhuvan University, has been active in
the human and democratic rights and peace movements since 1996. He is the coordinator of
the Nepali national human rights and peace network Collective Campaign for Peace
(COCAP). He has traveled extensively to more than 65 of the 75 districts of Nepal, as a part
of his work on human rights, conflict transformation, peace campaigning, networking and
research. Professionally, he has conducted sociological research on development and conflict,
worked as a peace adviser to international organizations including UN agencies, set up and
directed large conflict resolution projects in Nepal, published articles in edited volumes and
journals. He was the Winston Peace Fellow at the Summer Peacebuilding Institute at Eastern
Mennonite University for 2002. He has visited several European and South Asian countries
and the United States, and activated networks to support Nepali peace and human rights
movement. After the royal-military coup of February 1, Dinesh has been continuing his
democracy and human rights activism from New Delhi, India.
TOUR CONCEPT
Most US citizens lack an in-depth understanding of the nature of the conflict and the depth of
the human rights crisis in Nepal. The current crisis is occurring against a backdrop of a nineyear-old civil war between the Government of Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal
(Maoist). In 1996 the CPN (Maoist) declared a "people's war" with the aim of doing away
with the constitutional monarchy and establishing a people's republic. Over 10,000 people
have been killed since then. Numerous grave human rights abuses have been committed with
impunity by both parties to the conflict, including thousands of cases of unlawful killings,
"disappearances", abductions, torture, and arbitrary arrest and detention. Victims are often
civilians who are trapped between the two warring sides, and include farmers, teachers,
lawyers, students, and businessmen.
Now is a critical time in the development of the conflict. After King Gyanendra’s royal coup
of February 1, the human rights situation has deteriorated and access to rural areas and places of detention by journalists and independent monitors has been effectively shut off. The press has been muzzled, telephone and internet communications have been shut off at whim, and basic rights like freedom of assembly and freedom of speech have been effectively
eliminated. The US is a key provider of military and development aid to Nepal, and the US
position holds considerable weight vis a vis the King’s policy. It is thus critical that the US
public and US policy makers are well informed regarding the critical human rights situation
and deteriorating political situation in the country.
The International Nepal Solidarity Network, Amnesty International USA, The Advocacy
Project, and concerned individuals have co-sponsored this speaking tour to enable an eminent
Nepali human rights advocate to inform and dialogue with general public, students, policy
makers, and the media about the crisis in Nepal from a firsthand viewpoint.
FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING
Amnesty International USA is providing accounting services for the portion of expenses
covered by the Amnesty International Special Initiatives Fund grant.
The Advocacy Project has generously agreed to handle financial accountability for the
remainder of the project income and expenses, to accept payments and disburse expenses.
Donations should be made payable to “The Advocacy Project”. Please make a note on the
payment that it is for the “Nepal Human Rights Speaking Tour”, and have payments sent to:
The Advocacy Project
1326 14th street, NW
Washington DC 20005
(Telephone: +1-202.332.3900)
The Advocacy Project is registered as “The Advocacy Project, Inc.” in the District of
Columbia and also with the IRS as a 501(c)3 charity. It is a tax exempt organization and
donations are tax deductible. (Donors can check the IRS website http://apps.irs.gov/app/pub78 if they need confirmation on this status.) More information on The Advocacy Project is available at: http://www.advocacynet.org/.
Funds that are not used in the speaking tour will be paid to the speaker as speaker’s fees,
which he has committed to donate to support the work of Nepal Democracy Alliance in Delhi,
a group that is allied with INSN in working to promote democracy and human rights in Nepal.
TOUR SCHEDULE
17 (April) Dinesh arrives in Washington
18 Washington
11:00 –planning mtg atAdvocacy Proj.
3:00 Rep Capps office
4:30 Tim Rieser
19 Washington
10:00 meeting with Dpty Dir of Asian Dev Bank
1:00 meeting :with Human Rights First
3:00 Sen Feinstein’s off.
5:30 World Bank S Asia coordinator
20 Washington
2:00 – NGO /roundtable at AI
4:00 – Nat’l Security C Council ouncil
6:30 Dinner w/Advocacy Project
21 Washington
9:00 Breakfast w/ Amb Fritsche
12:00 Lu Lunch nch with Amb. McDonald
4:00 G’town town: Iain Iain’s ’s HR class
8:00 G G’town speaking event
22 Washington
23 10:00a flight Ithaca 12:45p
Cornell / Ithaca/Syracuse events
24 Ithaca
Cornell / Ithaca/Syracuse events
25 10:00a flight NYC 11:15a
2:30 30-4:00 -Open Society Institute
26 NYC
10:00 Forefront
1:00 Joint NGO meeting
27 NYC
12:00 Fordham
6-8p Columbia
28 NYC
11:00 Tamrat Samuel at UN
29 train Bard College
6:30 30- Bard College (with Ashmina)
30 train NYC
4:00 00- New School (with Ashmina)
1 May travel Boston
2 Boston
6:00 00-8:00 Tufts
3 Boston
Chalphal event
4 Boston or DC ?
5 fly Washington
6 Washington
7 Dinesh departs Washington, DC --> Delhi
De t a i l ed S c h ed u l e
17 April 2005 – Sunday Washington, DC
Dinesh arrives at Washington Dulles (IAD) airport at 2:10p. Kiran Sitoula will pick him up from the airport. (Thanks, Kiran!)
Accommodations: Kiran Sitoula
18 April 2005 – Monday Washington, DC
11:00 – Planning meeting at The Advocacy Project office with Washington DC group
1326 14th street, NW
3:00 – Meeting with Jeremy Sharp in Rep Capps’ office
Arranged by Andrew Miller
4:30 – Meeting with Tim Riser at the Senate
Arranged by Advocacy Project
Action point: Contact Peter Eisner, editor covering Asia at Washington Post to arrange a meeting in coming week.
Accommodations: Kiran Sitoula
19 April 2005 – Tuesday Washington, DC
10:00 – Meeting with Brent Dark, Deputy Director of Asian Development Bank
Meeting set up by Evelina of The Advocacy Project
1:00 – Meeting with Human Rights First
Dinesh meets with Raj Purohit of Human Rights First
Meeting set up by Mendi Njonjo of Advocacy Project
3:00 – Meeting with Rich Harper in Sen Feinstein’s office
Arranged by _____
5:30 – Meeting with country coordinator for the World Bank’s South Asia region,
Deborah Bateman
Arranged by Mendi Njonjo.
Accommodations: Kiran Sitoula
20 April 2005 – Wednesday Washington, DC
Action point: Confirm following day’s meeting with Ambassador John McDonald at IMTD
2:00 – NGO / civil society roundtable & briefing at Amnesty International office
T. Kumar has generously allowed us to use the AI conference room for the meeting with the
NGO / Nepal civil society supporters. Arranged by Mendi.
Amnesty International USA, 600 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, 5th Floor
The Closest Metro stop is the Eastern Market Stop (Orange and Blue Line)
4:00 – Meeting with Mike Green at the National Security Council (to be confirmed)
Arranged by _____
6:30 – Dinner with The Advocacy Project
This event is flexible, and may be changed if necessary for another meeting.
Contact: Iain Guest of The Advocacy Project.
Accommodations: Iain Guest
21 April 2005 – Thursday Washington, DC
9:00 - Breakfast with Her Excellency Claudia Fritsche, Ambassador of Lichtenstein
Arranged by Advocacy Project.
12:00 – Lunch meeting with Ambassador John W McDonald, Chairman of the Institute
for Multi-Track Diplomacy (IMTD):
1901 N. Fort Myer Drive, Suite 405
Arlington, VA 22209
Directions: Take Metro Orange line to Rosslyn station. Out of the station go left and then across Fort Myer Drive you will see Marco Polau Restaurant. The office is in this building. Meeting arranged by Sage on 8 March 2005.)
4:00-6:00p – Georgetown University: Speaking in class on Human Rights
Contact person: Iain Guest
8:00-10:00p – Georgetown University, ICC auditorium (capacity 300)
Contact person, Evelina Gueorguieva of The Advocacy Project
Should include showing of the two films – about Devi, and Andolaan Jari Chaa (The movement continues)
Accommodations: Iain Guest
22 April 2005 – Friday Washington, DC
Morning
Nothing scheduled for morning yet. Perhaps Friday morning can be scheduled for Washington
Post (see earlier ‘action post’ for calling Peter Eisner to arrange meeting times.
Afternoon
Friday afternoon and evening are booked with Kiran - meetings at USA Today and then with
the Nepalese community.
Accommodations: Kiran Sitoula
23 April 2005 – Saturday Ithaca
Dinesh flies from Ronald Reagan/DCA airport departing at 10:00a on US Airways flight ___,
switches in LaGuardia, and arrives at Ithaca airport at 12:45p on US Airways flight ____.
Accommodations: Laurie Vasily or Ashis Bajracharya
24 April 2005 – Sunday Ithaca / Syracuse
2:30 and 4:00 – Cornell: Film and Talk
Location: 165 McGraw Hall
2:30 Film: Schools in the Crossfire
This important documentary by Nepali filmmaker Dhruba Basnet depicts the real life, grassroots level effects of violence inflicted by both Maoist and Royal Nepal Army forces on the educational sector. Formal educational systems in Nepal have been contested since public education began in the 1950s. The Nepali state has been criticized for its role in perpetuating high-caste Hindu hegemonies through the apparatuses of formal education. In opposition, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has explicitly used the educational sector to problematize
state hegemony, to promote alternative ideologies and to recruit for their People's War. The film is powerful, providing background and context for Nepal's 9-year conflict, and a close look at individual perspectives about the conflict.
4:00 Presentation and Discussion
Disappearances, Detentions and Silencing: Nepal's Human Rights Crisis and Retreat from Democracy Dinesh Prasain, a prominent Nepali human rights advocate and coordinator of Nepal's Collective Campaign for Peace, will paint a picture of the deepening human rights crisis in Nepal. He will pay particular attention to human rights implications of the 1 February royal coup that dismantled democracy in Nepal. Time will be reserved post-presentation for engaged discussion.
Co-sponsored by the following at Cornell:
Anthropology Department - Cornell Education Society - Cornell Law School Berger International Speakers
Series - Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies - Nepal Association at Cornell - Peace Studies Program –
South Asia Program – Student Assembly Finance Commission
And by: Amnesty International (Ithaca, NY Chapter) – Educate the Children
Open to the Cornell community and to the public
Accommodations: Laurie Vasily or Ashis Bajracharya
25 April 2005 – Monday New York City
Dinesh arrives at LaGuardia airport at 11:15a on US Airways flight ____.
Open Society Institute – in-house meeting
Time: arrive 2:30, formal meeting 3:00-4:00
Contact: Jonathan Hulland, Burma Project / Southeast Asia Initiative jhulland@sorosny.org
Location: 400 West 59th Street, New York, NY 10019, U.S.A.
More info: http://www.burmaproject.org/ and http://www.soros.org/initiatives/burma
Meeting arranged by Sage, finalized 28 March 2005.
Accommodations: Sanjaya Parajuli
26 April 2005 – Tuesday New York City
Action point! – Confirm meeting with Kul Gautam on the 28th at 3pm, with May, his secretary
10:00a – Meeting with Forefront
Contact: Maryum Saifee, Forefront, saifeem@forefrontleaders.org
Location: Forefront, 333 Seventh Ave. 13th Floor, New York, NY 1000
1:00 – Joint meeting with NGOs
Location ? Arranged by LY
Accommodations: Sanjaya Parajuli or _________
27 April 2005 – Wednesday New York City
12:00 noon - Fordham University
Hosted by Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs (IIHA) www.fordham.edu/iiha/
Room capacity: more than 100
Location: 12th Floor Lounge of the Lowenstein Building at Lincoln Center campus. The address is 113 West 60th Street.Lincoln Center campus, 8th Avenue between 60th and 62nd Streets. Local organizer: Anne Finnan, intern with The Advocacy Project
Others involved: Colin Rowley, a returned Peace Corps volunteer and intern with the IIHA
Publicity plan: Advertise to student body by flyering, draw people by email lists and organizational lists.
6:00-8:00p – Columbia University
The human rights department will be co-sponsoring the event with the Southern Asian Institute.
Room capacity:
Location: Room 1134 in the SIPA building: 420 West 118th Street, New York, NY 10027.
Persons involved: Dipta Shah, Chandani Thapa, Gabrielle Galanek, Sarahana Shrestha, Anne Finnan
Publicity plan:
Accommodations: Sanjaya Parajuli
28 April 2005 – Thursday New York City
11:00 – Tamrat Samuel, UN Dept of Political Affairs
Tamrat has been the UN Resident Representative’s link to the Secretary-General.
3:00 – Kul Gautam, UNESCO and Asst Sec-General of UN
Meeting arranged by Iain and our other friend doing UN meetings. Must call to confirm.
Accommodations: Sanjaya Parajuli or _________
29 April 2005 – Friday Annandale on Hudson, NY
Dinesh takes the train (Metro North) to Poughkeepsie, NY and then someone comes to pick
him up and bring him to Bard College in Annandale on Hudson, NY.
6:30 - Event at Bard College with Ashmina Ranjit
Location: Language center room 115
Local organizer: Hannah Goldstein
Accommodations: Hannah Goldstein or Laura Kunreuther (anthropology professor)
Event description text:
Dinesh Prasain, a prominent Nepali human rights advocate and coordinator of Collective Campaign for Peace (COCAP), articulates the deepening human rights crisis in Nepal.
More about COCAP: www.cocap.org.np Internationally acclaimed Nepali artist Ashmina Ranjit deeply connects human rights discourse with the human spirit and emotions inherent in notion of freedom.
More about Ashmina: www.ashmina.com
Joint event with Ashmina providing visuals and performance piece about restriction of freedom of expression, and Dinesh speaking on the manifestation of the same in Nepal.
Accommodations: arranged by Hannah Goldstein
30 April 2005 – Saturday New York City
4:00 - Event at New School with Ashmina Ranjit
Joint event with Ashmina providing visuals and performance piece about restriction of freedom of expression, and Dinesh speaking on the manifestation of the same in Nepal.
Local organizer: Dr Ashok Gurung gurunga@newschool.edu
Location: Lang Hall, located in 55 West 13th Street (between 6th and 5th Avenue)
Please note: room is reserved from 3:00 to allow setting up time.
Event description text:
Dinesh Prasain, a prominent Nepali human rights advocate and coordinator of Collective Campaign for Peace (COCAP), articulates the deepening human rights crisis in Nepal.
More about COCAP: www.cocap.org.np Internationally acclaimed Nepali artist Ashmina Ranjit deeply connects human rights discourse with the human spirit and emotions inherent in notion of freedom.
More about Ashmina: www.ashmina.com
Accommodations: Sanjaya Parajuli or _________
1 May 2005 – Sunday Boston, Hartford or Providence ?
Dinesh flies or more likely takes bus to Boston, or else stays in Hartford or goes to Providence.
Accommodations if in Boston: Diwas Adhikari or Pramod Rana
2 May 2005 – Monday Boston
6:00 – 8:00 : Event at Tufts
Local organizer: Julia Todd facilitated contact with Tufts
Accommodations if in Boston: Diwas Adhikari or Pramod Rana
3 May 2005 – Tuesday Boston
7:00–9:00 - Evening: Chalphal discussion series
Location: Dudley House (Harvard U), right across from Au Bon Pain in Harvard Square
Organizer: Diwas Adhikari, with assistance from others in Chhalphal series group.
Accommodations: Diwas Adhikari or Pramod Rana
4 May 2005 – Wednesday Atlanta
Dinesh must be at the Boston airport by 7:00, and he flies from Boston at 8:05AM and lands
in Atlanta at 10:57AM, on AirTran flight ___(electronic ticket issued at check-in).
(Travelocity trip ID _______)
5:00 – Event at Emory University
Location: Rita Ann Rollins Room, 8th floor of the Rollins School of Public Health at 1518 Clifton Road, Atlanta
Event organized by Dr Pramod Aryal.
Event contact: Dabney Evans, Executive Director of the Institute of Human Rights at Emory, dabney.evans@emory.edu
Accommodations: Pramod Aryal
5 May 2005 – Thursday Washington, DC
Dinesh must be at the Atlanta airport by 8:30, and he flies from Atlanta at 9:41 AM and lands
in Washington at DC-Reagan airport at 11:25 AM, on AirTran flight ___(electronic ticket
issued at check-in). (Travelocity trip ID ______)
Accommodations: Kiran Sitoula or Iain Guest
6 May 2005 – Friday Washington, DC
Accommodations: Kiran Sitoula or Iain Guest
7 May 2005 – Saturday Washington, DC
Dinesh departs from Washington Dulles (IAD) airport at 4:50p on flight Alitalia AZ ____.
(Must be to airport by 2:30pm.)
