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NamasteQuarterly Newsletter

Peace Brigades International Nepal

Issue 1, March 2009

Editorial p2

The Situation ofJournalists in N epal

p3

Strikes: the voice ofthe people?

p4

Interview withKokila

p5

Interview withDharmendra Jha,Director of FNJ

p7

Interview withUNESCO

p7

Spreading PeaceThrough Art

p9

Tibetan protesters outside

the Chinese Embassy


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Peace BrigadesInternational d oes not takeany responsibility forstatements made by thirdspa rties in this publication

Editorial

In this edition of Namaste, PBI would like to emphasise the worrying situation of journalists inNepal. According to reports1 the murders of at least five journalists remain unsolved in thecountry, four since 2006. The current environment of continuous threat is leading to self-censorship among journalists. This is especially true after the murder in January of journalistUma Singh, who was killed in her own home. Despite the lack of verified information on the

motives behind the murder, the International Federation of Journalists investigation assertsthat there is little question that her work and reporting as a journalist was a major reason forthe killing. The International Media Mission states that attacks on and harassment of mediahave a chilling effect2 on press freedom. Journalists and reporters are being forced into self-censorship, depriving the general public of its right to information in a time of political transi-tion.Particularly worrisome is the situation of women journalists, who are increasingly withdrawingfrom their profession as a result of the lack of security. One woman journalist and humanrights defender, accompanied by PBI, states that she is the only woman in her profession in thedistrict where she works. The current exodus of women from journalism as a profession willmake it harder for women to become journalists in the future.The high level of impunity for past and ongoing abuses continues to be the norm, and this con-

tributes greatly to the current insecure situation in Nepal. After free and fair elections in 2008,it is even more important that steps are taken to address the destructive culture of impunity inNepal.

1 Commit tee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), www.cpj.org, Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) www.fnjnepal.org2 International Media Mission, joint statement: http://www.i-m-s.dk/files/publications/Nepal%20Mission%20Statement%20_8%20Feb%2009_%20Final%20ENG.pdf

PBI Field Officer Raghu Menon during aprotective accompaniment to AdvocacyForum, in background, interviewing a

victim in Morang District

PBI Nepal Funders:

BMZ ( CPS)

German Foreign Ministry

I.C.C.O

Misereor

Norway Foreign Ministry

Primates Relief Fund

Rausing Trust

Stiftung Umverteilen

Tinsley Foundation

W eltwaerts

Zvik

PBI- Australia

PBI-Canada

PBI-Germany

PBI-Italy

PBI-Netherlands

PBI-Norway

PBI-Switzerland

PBI-UK

PBI-USA


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In Nepals struggle for democ-racy, journalists and others whowork for press freedom facethreats that are severe and grow-

ing.The Federation of Nepali Jour-nalists (FNJ) recorded 342 pressfreedom violations in 2008 alone,highlighting an escalation in thenumber of physical attacks on journalists and media houses.Four journalists - Uma Singh, J.P.Joshi, Birendra Sah and PushkarBahadur Shrestha - have beenkilled since 20061.

The Comprehensive Peace

Agreement between the Govern-ment of Nepal and CommunistParty of Nepal (Maoist) of 22 No-vember 2006 commits the partiesto democratic values, competitivemultiparty governance, civil liber-ties, and human rights, includingrespect for full press freedom andrule of law. On 1 March 2009,Maoist Chairman and Prime Min-ister Pushpa Kamal Dahal(Prachanda) reiterated the gov-ernments commitment, thoughremarked that the recent attackson journalists and the flourishingculture of impunity were leftoversfrom the 10 year conflict2.

One of the most serious attackson a media outlet took place on21 December 2008. A group ofaround 50 people led by RameshPanta, the president of the Maoist-affiliated All Nepal Hotel and

Restaurant W orkers Union(ANHRWU), entered the meet-ing hall of Himalmedias Hattibanoffice vandalizing the premisesand injuring at least 12 senior journalists and other senior-levelemployees. The union had threat-ened Himalmedia for allegedlywriting against workers in its lat-est issue. Earlier, they hadtorched the copies of the newsmagazine and vandalized the dis-

tribution office3.On 23 December, the Maoist-

affiliated All Nepal Communica-tions, Printing and Publications

Workers Union (ANCPPWU)unit in Biratnagar staged a sit-in atthe main entrance of the regionaloffice of Kantipur Publications.

Union members prevented distri-bution of the national issues ofthe newspaper. The union work-ers demanded increases in salaryas fixed by the government4. On29 December the governmentand the FNJ expressed commit-ment to press freedom andagreed to resolve the problemsbetween the management and thelabor union within a week. Onthe same day, Maoist unionists

ended their siege5.

The attack on Himalmedia andthe siege of the Kantipur officewere condemned by several na-tional and international organisa-tions. Jacqueline Park, Directorof the International Federation ofJournalists (IFJ) Asia-Pacific stated:"This attack on Himalmedia is anattack on press freedom and hasnothing to do with the defense of journalism or the public inter-est."6

The brutal murder in January2009 of Uma Singh7, a 26-year-oldwoman journalist from Janakpur,

raised many questions about thesecurity situation of journalists,especially women, in Nepal. AnFNJ fact-finding mission foundthat journalists in western dis-tricts have been working under"psychological terror" due tothreats issued by various armedgroups and cadres of UnifiedCPN (Maoist). Women journalistsin particular feel insecure andhopeless after the murder of Uma

Singh. According to IFJ and FNJsources, many women are leavingthe profession both due to per-sonal fear and in response to fam-

ily pressure. The major ity ofwomen journalists are employedin local radio stations, the mediawith the largest audience in Ne-

pal. Because of this, radio jour-nalists in general, and women journalists in particular, face thehighest threats.

In a press statement, the Inter-national Media Mission (IMM) ex-pressed concerns about the at-tacks on media outlets, about thefact that those responsible arenot held accountable and aboutthe vulnerable position of women journalists. The IMM stated that:

as of now, not one person hasbeen convicted for a criminal actagainst journalists and media out-lets, and the IMM calls on thePrime Minister and Governmentto follow up their commitment toend impunity. 8

PBI meets with FNJregularly toexchange information on thesituation of journalists in Nepal.In January PBI Nepal volunteersaccompanied a woman journalist9after she received threats and hadto be evacuated to Kathmandu.PBI continues to monitor hersecurity now that she is back inher region. PBI supports journal-ists who defend human rightsthrough their work and will re-spond to their requests for ac-companiments in the future.

The Situation of Journalists in Nepal

1. IMM, 8 Feb 2009, Joint Statement: Interna-tional Press Freedom and Freedom of ExpressionMission: Rapid Response Assessment M ission toNepal2. Kantipur report, 6 Feb 2009,PM Dahal asksnot to doubt govt commitment on free press3. Himalayan Times, 21 Dec 2008, Himalmediastaff, editors beaten up4. Kantipur report, 23 Dec 2008, Maoist unionstages sit-in at Biratnagar Kantipur office5. Kantipur report, 29 Dec 2008, Kantipursiege ends6. Kantipur report, 23 Dec 2009, Intl mediabodies deplore Maoist attack on Himalmedia;urge nonpartisan investigation,7. Kantipur Report, 2 Feb 2009, FNJ: Womenjournalists face psychological terror8. IMM, 8 Feb 2009, Joint Statement9. See the interview with KD in this edition of

Namaste, p 5

342 Press Freedom Violations in 2008

Since 2006 four journalists have been

killed

No one has been prosecuted to this day


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tation of agreements by the gov-ernment, both ethnic groupsstarted using bandhas to delivertheir message, not always peace-fully2.

After the Nepal Governmentallocated quotas for Madhesiinclusion in the public servicesector in response to previousdemands and protests of Madhe-sis, other ethnic groups reacted.In March 2009 the Tharu ethnicgroup blocked the Terai-Madhesregion (all of southern Nepal)with an indefinite strike.

This series of protests was not

always peaceful. In the mid-westTharu activists torched severalvehicles, including ambulances,for defying the bandha, whilethree Village DevelopmentCommittee offices in the far-western region were burnt toashes.3 After two weeks of the

strike the govern-ment and represen-tatives of agitatingTharu community

signed an agree-ment4.The Prime Minister,Pushpa Kamal Da-hal, has previouslyexpressed his con-cerns about theproblems of themany strikes in Ne-pal: How can webuild a new Nepalby enforcing band-hasand strike with

The culture of strikes,bandhas, in Nepal dates back to

before the first Peoples Move-ment in 1990. It is a long stand-ing tradition of raising issues byway of mass street action. Arecent article in the NepaliTimes1 showed that there was abandha every single day in Feb-ruary 2009, either at local ornational level, lasting from a dayto one week or more untilagreement was reached or com-pensation given. This culture of

strikes can partly be attributedto the inability to address politi-cal, economic, cultural and socialissues affecting the countrythrough appropriate policies, thejustice system, development andpolitical dialogue.

Nepal is currently witnessingan increase in street action as away to highlight ethnic issuesand dissatisfaction. Madhesi, themain ethnic group in the Tarai,and Limbu ethnic groups havebeen calling for the right to self-determination and ethnic auton-omy since long before the Con-stituent Assembly elections inApril 2008. After unsatisfactoryagreements or lack of implemen-

any pretext?We fought for longfor the rights of self-determination, autonomy, feder-alism, and proportionate andinclusive system stated thePrime Minister, As a result thecountry is now a federal repub-lic. The government has a policyfor inclusive representation ofwomen, ethnic communities,dalits, Madhesis, Muslims, physi-cally challenged and backwardcommunities and areas in theadministration, police, army andhealth, judiciary and educationsector. 5 Despite these affirma-

tions in January 2009, the coun-try is crippled by frequent band-has and it is the Nepali publicthat suffers most during strikes,due to transport obstruction,and food, water, and fuel short-ages, in an economy that is al-ready unstable.

Strikes: the Voice of thePeople?

Street protests

in Kathmandu

Road in Ilam,

eastern Nepal

1.Nepali Times, 6 Mar 2009, Every-day a bandha

2.Ekantipur, 12Mar 2009, Journos

boycott Limbuwan news

3.My Republica, 8 Feb 2009, Banda

Paralyses Life, Kathmandu Post, 9

Feb, Banda Paralyses life in Terai,

4. Nepalnew.com, 15 Mar 2009,

Govt-Tharu representatives sign six

point pact; Tharu agitation withdrawn

5.The Rising Nepal, 25 Jan 2009, PM

stresses self reliance, end to impunity


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petrators. The police are unableto take action and to provide se-curity for us. It is said that jour-

nalists are the fourth organ of thestate but the state is not actingresponsibly towards our securityand protection.Working as a Human Rights De-fender (HRD) is even tougherthan being a journalist. There aremany cases of domestic violenceagainst women in the east andwhenever weve reported onthem and raised our voice, it hasgone unheard, and at times wereceived threats from the perpe-trators themselves. As HRDs weare not safe and are unable tocarry out our work freely.Working as a woman is very dis-couraging. In rural Nepali societywe are not taken seriously. This iswhy we have a very small numberof women journalists. In Ilam, Iam the only woman activelyworking as a journalist. When-

ever we have to work late with amale colleague, people perceivethis negatively and spread mali-cious rumours. Psychologicallythis is challenging. In spite of thisI think we should stand up as anexample, and show that womenare equal to men.

W hat motivates you?From a young age I worried aboutissues faced by women in this pa-

triarchal society, where womenare confined to the kitchen. Iused to think: How can wechange and improve the fate ofwomen so that they are liber-ated? I then started working inorder to change the mindset ofsociety towards women and tobring out grievances of ruralwomen.

W hat is your opinion on thesituation of journalists follow-ing the peace agreement?

Kokila is a young journalist and re-porter for Ilam-based KanchenjungaFM radio station and a district cen-tral committee member of the Na-tional Alliance for Women HumanRights Defenders in Ilam in eastern

Nepal. On 17 January 2009 shepublished an article about Limbuwangroups1 levying illegal road taxes onthe highway in the eastern region.After the story was broadcast onlocal radio, Kokila received a numberof threatening calls on her mobilephone and landline. The callerclaimed that Kokilas reporting hadtarnished the image of the Limbu-wan movement for autonomy, andhe threatened to kidnap her. Due to

an increased feeling of insecurityfollowing the brutal murder of the

journalist Uma Singh2 earlier in Janu-ary, Kokila fled Ilam. PBI was thenrequested to accompany her back toIlam and to socialize internationalpresence and attention with the localauthorities. Here is what Kokila hasto say about the general situation of

journalists and Human Rights De-fenders in Nepal and her own ex-periences as a woman working in

these areas.

PBI: W hat challenges are youfacing as a woman, a journal-ist, and a Human Rights De-fender?Kokila: Journalists have to reportthe truth and facts. Our reportingmay disappoint some groups orindividuals, which makes us morevulnerable to threat and intimida-tion. These days, journalists are

working on the edge of a knife:we report about crimes but noone takes action against the per-

I think it is worse than during theconflict. The culture of impunityis spreading. There have been

threats, intimidations, attacks,abductions and killings to journal-ists but no one has been held ac-countable, no action has beentaken against perpetrators. Thestate is turning a blind eye.

How do you see the futurefor journalists?If the trend and culture of impu-nity prevails then there will be nosecurity for HRDs and journalists.The general public will be de-prived of their basic human rights,and right to information.

W hat is your experience ofPBI?I am very happy and thankful toPBI for its work. It accompaniedme to the region where I work ata time when I was very upset andscared. Since then I have not ex-

perienced further problems withthat particular group. Probablythe presence of PBI created agood environment. It helped me alot for my safety and security.In all districts of the eastern re-gion, journalists are facing difficulttimes when carrying out theirdaily work. The situation ofHRDs is not very different. I thinkPBI should visit these areas fre-quently, meet local journalists and

HRDs and continuously assessthe situation in the region.

Interview with Kokila:Woman, Journalist, Human Rights Defender

1.Limbuwan groups: political groups op-erating in the eastern region of Nepaldemanding Limbuwan, a federal autono-mous province east of river Arun.

2. CNN.com, Jan 12, Nepalese Journalist

Hacked to Death


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rial published or broadcast fromany media source. This is wherethe threats come from, andnowadays their number is very

high.W omen are now a target,not before. W hy this change?If we compare print and radio, wefind many more women journal-ists in the latter. Radio is a verypopular media, especially in thecountryside. This also has an in-fluence on the highnumber of womenemployed here.They are a targetfor those who feelstr ongly againstwomen working inradio. If women seejournalism as a dan-gerous profession,they are likely toprevent their kidsfrom becoming journalists. Manywomen journalists

now are leaving orthinking about leaving their pro-fession. If they leave the profes-sion now, it may be much harderfor women in the next generationto become journalists.Have you noticed regionaldifferences as far as threatsand journalists situation?In the mid-Terai, especially Parsato Sunsari district and also in themid-plain, main-Terai, the danger

is high. Many armed groups, iden-tified and un-identified, recog-nized and un-recognized, prevailhere. The condition between journalists working in the Teraiand those outside differs; in Kath-mandu we are almost safe. But inthe Terai not a single journalistcan say that he or she is safe.Likewise, in the eastern region,various groups are active andthreatening journalists, who donot feel safe.

The Federat ion of Nepalese Journal-

ists (FNJ)1 is a nationwide umbrella

organisation representing print and

visual media in Nepal. FNJ has

branch offices and associate organi-

sations across the country. With

the deteriorating situation of free-

dom of expression and press free-

dom, as well as increasing attacks

on the media, FNJ is active in voicing

its concerns and denouncing the

growing culture of impunity. Dhar-

mendra Jha was elected president of

FNJ in 2008. PBI interviewed him tofind out more about the current

situation for journalists in Nepal.

PBI: How has the situation ofjournalists been since theelections in April 2008?Dharmendra Jha:The situationand condition of journalists is de-teriorating day by day. All overNepal, journalists are receiving

threats and media houses are be-ing vandalized. The degree ofimpunity is very high. We are notaware that anyone has been takeninto custody for these cases.Anyone can think that if they beator kill a journalist, there will beno consequences. After the elec-tion, we were hoping for im-provements but we only receivedpromises, and nothing has beenimplemented. Freedom of ex-pression and press freedom are indanger.You mentioned threats. Hasthe type and level of threatschanged over time?Now many women journalists aretargeted. We believe that asjournalists, criticism is part of our job. Many people are not happyto hear or listen to criticisms, andespecially after the election put

them in power, they are not will-ing to tolerate critical news mate-

You mentioned armedgroups. Can you tell usmore?Why they emerged, what their

goals are, what exactly they want- we dont know. We think thatpolitics is slightly shifting intocriminalisation and this is shiftinginto a trend towards conflict.We think that many recognizedpolitical parties provide securityto such groups, either as a party

or individually. They are going toprotect or are already protectingthose groups. That is why impu-nity is increasing.Our goal is that if anywhere inthe world, not just Nepal, anygroup is fighting for its rights, weshould support them. But youhave to proceed in the correctway; you have to seriously con-vince people of you and your

rights. If you use any kind ofweapon to help convince, thenwe will not tolerate it. In Nepal,if armed groups have any cause,or any basic right they want todefend, we ask them to pleasecome and talk, talk to the govern-ment and society, and we will besupportive. But if you want tocreate a state of fear, or use anykind of weapon, if you want to kill journalists, then we cannot andwill not tolerate it. {cont. next

page}

Interview with Dharmendra Jha, Director of FNJ

1 www.fnjnepal.org

Peaceful journalist protests, Kathmandu

(photo courtesy of FNJ)


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So you link this to thecurrent uprising of ethnicgroups, such as Tharu,Limbuwan..Yes, they have a right toraise their voice, and we sup-

port any right-based move-ment. But if people arethreatened in the name ofsuch movement, if impunityincreases, then we cant ac-cept it . But to act peacefully,that is your right.There seems to be anunderstanding that youcan only reach yourrights by taking up arms,as the Maoists did.

It is happening, it is a prob-lem and it is not a good cul-ture, not the right way todemand rights. Maoists usedthis theory and after seeingthis, many groups are tryingto imitate them. I think thisis not a good solution andwe need to change our mindset. If we are responsibletowards society, we should

deliver our ideas to societypeacefully. But if we use anykind of violence while doingthis, then we violate otherpeoples rights.If you were in govern-

ment, is there anythingyou would do for journal-ists especially, to changethis culture?We need to provide profes-sional skills and moral sup-

port to local journalistsworking in the field. Nowthat the CA is writing thenew constitution we have toensure that press freedomand freedom of expressionare included. We should bethe bridge between the peo-ple and CA members.W hat do you think of thequality of informationtoday?

In general if we analyseNepalese media, it is reliableand accurate. In journalismwe say that you have infor-mation, misinformation anddistortion. If you are not ableto give the right information,you dont have to write andmisinform or distort. Theproblem we face is self-censorship, especially in the

Terai. Journalists in thatarea are not going to misin-form you. It is correct thatthey are not able to give ap-propriate information, butthey are not going to give

misinformation.Some journalists inBanke commented thatthey would like FNJ toact when journalists getthreats not later, when

journalists are killed.W ould you like to com-ment?We are working for journal-ists and you know that everyevent we organise, we try todo well. FNJ is an umbrellaorganisation, with more than8000 journalists, so some-times we fail to serve all ofthemW hat do you see as the

role of internationals atpresent in Nepal?They can play a vital role.This is a universal issue. It isthe duty of the world com-munity to secure theserights everywhere, not justNepal.When we demand our gov-ernment to ensure pressfreedom rights, when we call

to end impunity, it is notonly on behalf of journalists,we do this for all the peopleof Nepal.

them with the safety they need in order to workproperly, pursuing the investigations and processesto end impunity in the country, and the commitmentfrom the government to guarantee such a right(Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of HumanRights), to every media worker in the country.UNESCO was part of the last InternationalMedia Mission (IMM) in February 2009. W hatwas UNESCOs involvement?We jointly decided to run a rapid assessment on thecurrent press freedom in Nepal. Our involvementwas go around and speak to any person, any institu-

tion and any official related to press freedom to un-derstand the reasons behind the incidents especiallyof the previous six months, including the murder ofUma Singh1.

UNESCO is the only UN agency with a mandate to pro-mote freedom of expression, press freedom, independ-ence and pluralism of the media, all seen as basic hu-man rights. PBI spoke to Serena Pepino in Kathmandu,Head of Unit & Program Officer, Communication andInformation.

UNESCOs mandate to promote freedom ofexpression and press freedom, what does thismean in Nepal?Freedom of expression anywhere means guarantee-ing all people a voice. In Nepal this is particularlyneeded, especially now that the constitution draftingprocess is approaching. We hope that freedom ofexpression will no longer be limited to some parts ofthe country and will start becoming a reality all me-dia workers can rely upon. This means providing

Interview with Dharmendra Jha, Director of FNJcontinued

I n t e r v i e w wi t h U N E S C O

When we

demand our

government to

ensure press

freedom rights,

when we call to

end impunity, it

is not only on

behalf of

journalists, we

do this for all

the people of

Nepal.

Dharmendra

Jha, FNJ

1.CNN.com, 12 Jan 2006, Nepalese Journalist Hacked to Death


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t o t h e r e c e n t F N J(Federat ion of Nepali Jour-nalists) affirmation that jour-nalists in various western dis-tricts have been working un-

der psychological terror,especially women?We respond with concern andawareness as we know that this is

going on, not just in the westernpart of the country but in thewhole of the Terai region as well.Our immediate response afterthe IMM was to put together aproposal for training women jour-nalist in the Terai, where insecu-rity is high. We decided to ad-dress FNJs research results witha training session that would in-clude a component on personalsecurity.The psychological component isplaying a big role. As of February2009 approximately 70% ofwomen journalists in the Teraihad left their profession after theUma Singh murder. Pressuresare forcing media workers women in particular since theyare more vulnerable and subject

to attacks - to leave their profes-sion, which means that the levelof media freedom is decreasingwith fewer and fewer reporterswilling to report on sensitive is-sues.How has the ComprehensivePeace Agreement (CPA) af-fected the quality and free-dom of information emanat-ing from Nepal?In the last two years UNESCO

launched a study of media free-dom since the CPA. This studyshowed that there was a slight

The IMM report mentionslinks between political partiesand some perpetrators ofviolent acts. W hat does thismean for the future?

If such links increase, we are go-ing to see a much more politi-cized and much less free media inNepal. In the IMM we affirmedthat these linkages arenot clear in all cases,though it has happenedand that is what we areconcerned about, as wellas the fact that such link-ages have increased inthe past six months.

This may be due to thefact that Nepal is goingthrough a transitional phase and aconfused political situation, soeverybody resorts to their ownsolutions without looking to thegovernment for guidance.W hat is the role of the inter-national community on thetopic of journalism?UNESCO collaborates closelywith many international organiza-tions, the UN family and also IN-GOs, governments and civil soci-ety. UNESCO understands theneed for the media to have link-ages to all these different actors.The media is, after all, the FourthEstate so it is important that ithas support from each side ofsociety.The international community un-derstands what Nepal is going

through and works well in moni-toring the situation, perhaps in aless constant way than the com-munity within Nepal does sinceaccess to information is difficultoutside the country. For this rea-son it is hard to keep track of allincidents on a daily basis. How-ever the international communityoutside Nepal does a great dealof work in promoting Nepalsfreedom of the press and de-

nouncing incidents to a muchwider audience.How does UNESCO respond

improvement in the media free-dom situation, with a shift in thetype of incidents occurring. Afterthe CPA a framework was built,violent acts could no longer be

done openly, so other channels topressure the media have beenfound and were successful insome cases. In 2008 we found

that politicizationand self-censorshipwere increasing andthreats and harass-ment towards jour-nalists had also in-creased.W hat act ions

would you like tosee the govern-

ment of Nepal carry out inorder to guarantee freedomof expression and journalistsrights?The problem with attacks, threatsand harassments is that they arenot being investigated. This is hav-ing a chilling effect on press free-dom. All organizations expect thegovernment to follow up on allcases that have been dropped andthose which have been not inves-tigated yet. We urge the govern-ment and political parties to im-plement all of the recommenda-tions for freedom of expressionand press freedom that have beenoutlined in a document, Agendafor Change, put together by Arti-cle 19, Freedom Forum and FNJand endorsed by UNESCO.

Do you see obstacles to theseactions moving forward?It is mainly a question of willing-ness and real commitment. Theonly obstacles are for the media,which is unable to keep doingwhat it is meant to do unless thegovernment ends the culture ofimpunity in the country. Obsta-cles could be disagreements be-tween political parties, stake-holders and CA members about

improving the current press free-dom situation in Nepal.

Interview with UNESCO continued

IMM meets with Nepali Congress President G.P. Koirala

(photo courtesy of UNESCO)


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atrocities she had witnessed.As a current PBI-Nepal field vol-unteer, I felt privileged to take

part in this event. I had previ-ously served eight months onthe team in Nepal, and wastouring around the U.S. andCanada on a speaking tour toraise awareness about the con-cerns of Nepali HRDs. Fromthe moment I walked into thegallery, I could feel a rush of painand sorrow from all of the pastconflicts all over the world. Afew examples include muralsdepicting child soldiers who hadlost their innocence, detaineesfacing torture and humiliation atGuantanamo Bay and mothersweeping over their dead chil-dren. Huong also took quota-tions, poems, and sayings thatpeople had sent to her and in-corporated them into her work.There were even some pieceswhere observers were encour-

aged to write with a markerhow the images made them feel.It was a truly amazing exhibit,and I was honored to have suchan artist present at our PBIevent. Huong was able to bring

PBI-USA organized an event onThursday, January 29th at thePeace Mural in Georgetown,Washington DC. The Peace Mu-ral is a 600 foot mural that con-nects concepts of war, peace,refugees, justice, torture, and

displacement through the eyesof Huong, a Vietnamese refugeepaint ing for peace. The USAcountry group invited guestspeakers to discuss PBIs roleand raise awareness about thecurrent situation of HumanRights Defenders (HRDs) in Ne-pal. The audience was made upof PBI supporters and thosewho wanted to hear more about

the organization and what thefield volunteers are doing in Ne-pal. Guest speakers at theGeorgetown event included T.Kumar, Advocacy Director forAsia with Amnesty International,and Suvash Darnell, a fellowshipaward winner with National En-dowment for Democracy.The artist herself spoke abouther exhibition and how we areall interconnected in trying to

spread the message of non-violence and understanding allover the world. She made adeep impression on everyone asshe briefly shared the story ofhow she started painting. Shewas a journalist, but after shefled to the U.S. in 1975 as aVietnam War refugee, she de-cided the best way to get hermessage across was through art.She could no longer keep silent

about the suffering she enduredduring the war, and she began alife-long journey to depict the

out our sympathy and unite usall on the most basic of humanlevels through her message of

peace to the world.After all of the speakers werefinished, I gathered enough cour-age to speak to Huong and tryto express my appreciation forwhat she is doing. Huong wasvery approachable, easy to talkwith, sociable and charismatic. Iwill never forget one of thethings she told me:You people [meaning PBI volun-teers and other activists] are thereal heroes, out there trying tosave peoples lives.It was an exchange of compli-ments with a mutual understand-ing and respect for one anotherand the work we are each doing.The connection I made withHuong is just one example ofthe many great experiences Ihad on the speaking tour. I amgrateful that I had the opportu-

nity to share my knowledgeabout the current situation inNepal, and could raise aware-ness of the problems that theHRDs are facing.

Spreading Peace Through ArtIn Georgetown, human rights and art go hand in hand

Krystal (PBI Nepal)

left, and Katherine

(PBI USA)

Artist Huongs

Peace Mural -

Georgetown


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Phone: +977 1221 1200

Fax: +977 1553 7473

Email: [email protected]

www.pbi-nepal.org

P.O. Box 8975,

E.P.C. 1865

Sanepa, Lalitpur,

Kathmandu, Nepal

Peace Brigades International(PBI) is an international grass-roots organisation registeredwith the United Nations thathas been working to promotenonviolence and protect hu-man rights since 1981.

Established in 2006, the Ne-pal Project works according tothe philosophy of nonviolence,

within the framework of inter-national norms of humanrights. It is independent of po-litical and religious agendas,abides by principles of non-interference and works on therequest of its partners.

PBI Field Officer, Beate

Arnold, at work in Ilam

PBI N epal Project

If you wish to contribute, you can:

Support us by donation as an individual or through an organi-sation

Join your nearest PBI group and the Nepal Support Network

Become a PBI volunteerPlease contact [email protected] for more information

www.pbi-nepal.org

namaste i march

Documents