Kathmandu, April 16

An annual report prepared and made public by the United States Department of State has painted a dismal picture of Internally Displaced Persons in Nepal.

The country report on Human Rights Practices for 2015 observed that the April 25 earthquake and its aftershocks caused widespread devastation and displaced tens of thousands, particularly in the 14 most-affected districts.

Citing the figures maintained by International Organisation for Migration, it informed that as of August, 104 active sites were hosting 59,481 individuals in 13 districts. Of this, 49 per cent were men and 51 per cent women, with 8,376 children under age five.

“Common challenges facing internally displaced persons included insufficient protection from the weather, limited access to toilets, water, and food, and emotional stress. Women faced additional privacy and security problems, including access to safe toilets, bathing and changing areas, family sleeping arrangements, and difficulties dealing with menstruation and pregnancy, as well as elevated vulnerability to trafficking,” read the report.

According to it, the government sanctioned the UN and NGOs to provide relief to IDPs. Equity of aid distribution remained a concern for displaced populations.

According to Amnesty International, groups who were often the target of discriminatory treatment, including women who headed households, Dalits, indigenous people, and persons with disabilities, faced increased challenges when trying to access urgently needed relief.

In some instances supporters of certain political parties or family and friends of those organising distributions were favoured over others. Location was also a factor, with more aid provided to those closer to shelter entrances and to households in official camps as opposed to impromptu sites.

IDPs sheltered on privately owned land, public land, and official public sites. A few months after the earthquake, the government began issuing eviction notices to IDPs staying at impromptu sites in open spaces. IDPs residing on private land, particularly those who had not received permission from the landowner, remained at risk of eviction. The government planned to move IDPs deemed to be staying in unsafe locations to other locations and reportedly sought their consent. There were no reports of specific ethnic or caste groups being targeted for relocation.

With the decline in aftershocks a couple of months after the first earthquake, as well as the end of the monsoon season (July-September), many IDPs left or were planning to leave camps and build temporary shelters next to their damaged homes. Many others were unable to return, particularly the most vulnerable populations with limited means, as well as IDPs whose homes and property were destroyed by landslides or who could not return home due to high risk of landslides.

The International Commission for Dalit Rights, an international NGO, reported that many Dalits faced restricted access to post-earthquake aid resources in their home communities due to caste discrimination, and were forced to relocate to substandard living conditions in urban areas.

“Due to delays in the establishment of the National Reconstruction Authority (the governmental body charged with overseeing earthquake reconstruction), as of late September, the government had not developed a comprehensive earthquake reconstruction plan or policies governing reconstruction and relocation,” said

the report.

Although the government and Maoists agreed to support the voluntary return in safety and dignity of IDPs to their homes following the 10-year civil war, the agreement was not fully implemented, it said.