KATHMANDU: More than three years after the government of Nepal and the former rebels ended their decade-long conflict, as many as 70,000 people displaced by the war remain unable or unwilling to return home, Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) reported yesterday.

In an updated version of internal displacement, IDMC expressed concern about ongoing political crisis, which had badly hampered the peace process and the prospects for reconciliation and durable solutions to displacement.

"Repeated Maoist commitments to return confiscated houses and land are yet to be honoured in several districts, and internally displaced people (IDPs) from non-Maoist political parties have found it particularly hard to recover property," said the report, adding, the government's return package was limited to those officially registered, and in many districts, up to half of the IDPs had been unable to register for assistance.

"The post-war economy is depressed and there is limited access to basic services in rural areas, so many returnees have had to go back to towns and cities again in search of work."

According to the report, most IDPs have chosen to stay in their area of displacement, mainly in urban areas, where some have managed to integrate and to find jobs. They remain dispersed across Nepal, mainly in the district headquarters and major cities such as Kathmandu, Biratnagar and Nepalgunj.

Many others, including displaced children and women in particular, have struggled to find proper accommodation or to access basic services in cities.

Children are exposed to a variety of threats, including trafficking, sexual exploitation and child labour. Displaced women, particularly widows, suffer from significant discrimination making them highly vulnerable to further impoverishment and forcing many to resort to prostitution.