Nepal: A Year Since The Earthquake
May 6, 2016 , 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
A Discussion on International Crisis Group’s Report
Nepal’s Divisive New Constitution: An Existential Crisis
The International Crisis Group, in partnership with India China Institute (ICI), will present its latest report, “Nepal’s Divisive New Constitution: An Existential Crisis.”
The earthquakes that rocked Nepal in Spring 2015 were followed by a period of political instability linked to a contentious constitution-writing process. Since the constitution was passed last September amid deadly protests, the country’s ethnic, social and political fractures have only deepened. Meanwhile, earthquake relief efforts have also been hampered by political infighting and corruption.
This special event aims to reframe the arguments regarding Nepal’s current political situation and move the discourse in a more productive direction. Panelists will examine the political, legal, and human rights challenges ahead, and recommend options for the international community to engage constructively to prevent further instability.
Discussion Panel:
Anagha Neelakantan, International Crisis Group
Anagha Neelakantan is Crisis Group’s Deputy Asia Program Director, assisting the Program Director in leading research, analysis, policy prescription and advocacy activities of the Asia Program, overseeing and managing field staff, while ensuring timely communications between field and headquarters, spread across three sub-regional projects: South Asia, Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia. Anagha follows in particular political transitions including peace processes, ethnic and other entrenched violent social conflicts, constitution-making, human rights, demobilisation and security sector reform, governance issues, India’s foreign policy and the role of geopolitics in conflict resolution. Anagha worked in Nepal from 2000-2013, as Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Nepal, an analyst with the United Nations Mission in Nepal, and as executive editor of the Nepali Times weekly. In 2014, she worked in Myanmar with the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.
Ashish Pradhan, International Crisis Group
Ashish Pradhan is Crisis Group’s UN Advocacy and Research Analyst and is based in New York where he supports the organisation’s advocacy at the United Nations. He assists in providing detailed analyses of developments at the Security Council to ensure adequate reflection of UN perspectives in Crisis Group publications. He also supports advocacy with UN officials, NGOs, and diplomats from a variety of UN member-states on country-specific crises and policy issues covered by Crisis Group. And he conducts research on thematic issues covered in Crisis Group reports, including on jihadi militancy in South Asia. He previously worked for Crisis Group’s Kathmandu office from 2010-2013 while analyzing Nepal’s peace and constitution-writing processes with a particular focus on identity politics, minority rights, and the federalism debate.
Richard Bennett, Amnesty International (formerly with OHCHR-Nepal)
Richard Bennett joined Amnesty International in March 2014 as Asia-Pacific Director and from July 2015 has been Head of Amnesty’s New York Office. Previously he served with the United Nations in senior human rights posts, heading the human rights components of peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, Afghanistan and South Sudan. From 2007 to 2010 Richard was the Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal. He has also been Chief of Staff for the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka and Special Adviser to the Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights in New York. A citizen of New Zealand and the UK, Richard worked for a decade at the NZ Human Rights Commission before joining the UN.
Rohan Edrisinha, UN Department of Political Affairs (formerly with UNDP in Nepal)
Rohan Edrisinha is a Senior Political Officer and Constitutional Advisor in the Policy and Mediation Division of the Department of Political Affairs of the U.N. He taught at the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo from 1986 to 2011. He served as the constitutional advisor to UNDP Nepal and the head of its constitution support programme from 2011 to 2014. In 2015, he functioned as an independent consultant on constitutional reform and federalism in Myanmar, and as a governance advisor to UNDP Sri Lanka. He taught at the Faculty of Law, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, in 1995 and was a visiting fellow at Harvard University (2005) and the University of Toronto (2009). He was a founder Director and Head of the Legal and Constitutional Unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), Sri Lanka, from 1996 to 2010.
Moderated By:
Ashok Gurung, India China Institute
Ashok Gurung is the senior director of the India China Institute (ICI) and is Professor of Practice in the Julien J. Studley Graduate Program in International Affairs at The New School. A founding director of ICI, he is responsible for establishing and the overall development, management, and coordination of ICI programs and projects in India, China, and the United States. A native of Nepal, he has taught several courses on development management, political and social issues in Nepal at the New School. Ashok has over twenty years of international development experience as an educator, researcher, manager, grant-maker, policy analyst, activist and training facilitator with civil society groups, academic institutions, foundations and multi-lateral organizations, and governments worldwide. Among various roles, he was the program officer for the International Fellowships Program, the largest global leadership initiative ($280 million) of the Ford Foundation.