Kathmandu, March 6:

The government is set to come up with a policy on the internally-displaced persons (IDP) due to the conflict.

Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office Dibakar Pant said the council of ministers would approve the policy on IDP in the next cabinet meeting, which could probably take place on Thursday.

He said that the Ministry of Home had prepared the draft policy based on the guidelines of United Nations on internal displacement. According to UN guidelines, persons who are forced to leave their home and take refuge in other parts of the country due to conflict or natural calamities are defined as IDPs, who are identified and certified by a committee headed by Chief District Officer of the concerned district.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s special representative, Prof Walter Kalin, who visited Nepal last year, had also advised the government to prepare a policy on IDPs. Pant said the IDPs are entitled to enjoy the rights to voting, education, health, shelter, employment and other basic amenities in the place where they have been taking refuge after being displaced from their home.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Central Registry Unit (HRCRU) started its work from today with its office in the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers at the Singha Durbar.

Spokesperson at the PMO Purushottam Ojha told media persons at a press conference that with the set up of the HRCRU it would be easier to keep records of all the people kept under detention or preventive detention and others who were set free from detention across the country. Ojha said that the unit would be represented by senior officials of the Ministry of Defence, Home and Foreign Affairs as well as the officials of the Royal Nepalese Army, Armed Police Force and Nepal Police to be headed by a secretary at the PMO looking after the issues of human rights and law.

“The government believes that the situation of exchanging correspondence among various agencies to find out whereabouts of detainees will be minimised with the HRCRU’s establishment at the PMO,” said a press statement issued by Ojha, adding that it would also be easier to make available information about the conditions of the detainees.