Kathmandu – The IOM has launched a new pilot project on psychosocial counselling and support services for conflict affected persons in Nepal. In relation to this new project, Maurizio Busatti, IOM Chief of Mission was invited to a talk programme titled ‘Enhancing Conflict Victims Access to the Government of Nepal and Donor Supported Relief and Recovery Packages’ by the Transitional Justice Resource Centre (TJRC) in Nepal on 25 June 2013, along with Madhusudan Burlakoti, the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (MoPR).
In Nepal, the IOM has assisted the government to develop a draft of reparations policy and programmes document for conflict affected persons, and has also been providing assistance to them in the implementation of the interim relief programmes since 2010. The new pilot project envisages continuing the technical assistance to the MoPR, by supporting the development of an implementation manual, outreach strategies and a monitoring and evaluation framework, particularly underscoring the support services to women, children and individuals from marginalised and vulnerable groups.
At the TJRC’s talk programme, Maurizio Busatti highlighted the role of the IOM in facilitating the increased access of conflict affected persons to relief and reparations programmes at the global level, and stated that “the IOM, as a responsible inter-governmental agency, is committed to placing conflict affected persons’ rights and the well-beings at the heart of any assistance in the relief and reparations programmes in Nepal.”
Human rights lawyers and activists, practitioners from civil society and conflict affected persons attended the session and shared their views and opinions on a range of relief and reparation packages and experiences in accessing those packages from the viewpoint of conflict affected persons. Some of the conflict affected persons suggested that their participation and engagement should be considered as significant benchmarks in the process of both designing and implementing the psychosocial counselling and support services.
The IOM’s new pilot project with the total budget of 0.5 million USD is funded by the United Nations Peace Fund for Nepal (UNPFN) as a multi-donor trust fund supported by Canada, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. For more information, please visit: http://mptf.undp.org/factsheet/fund/npf00
Ken Matsueda, Communication Officer, IOM Nepal, Tel: +977 1 4426250 E-mail: kmatsueda@iom.int
