The government has asked for the closure of the Kath­mandu office of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs (DPA) as the office was deemed to have completed its mission. The DPA was established in 2011 after the wind-up of the UNMIN, the UN body responsible for supervising the demobilization and disarmament of the then Maoist combatants. With the UNMIN gone, a mediatory body like the DPA, it was felt, was needed in order to oversee the completion of the ‘peace and constitution’ process that had started with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agree­ment (CPA) in 2006. The new federal government thinks that the peace and constitution process has been completed with the holding of all three constitutionally-mandated elections and subsequent formation of three tiers of government. In other words, now that most of the outstanding political issues have been settled and the new constitution has become fully functional, there is no need for an outside observer like the DPA whose chief mandate is to help ‘resolve conflict’.

 

One could argue that the peace and constitution process will not be completed so long as the two transitional justice bodies—related to truth and reconciliation, and enforced disappearances, respectively—don’t satisfactorily complete their work. If the conflict victims feel they have been denied justice, there will always be a possibility of the country’s relapse into conflict, and hence the continued need for something like the DPA.

 

But it was also hard to see the DPA play any meaningful role in transitional justice after the formation of the strong left government intent on stamping its authority. Prime Minister KP Oli seems to believe Nepalis are now mature enough to deal with their own issues. He also reckons that he has the mandate to regulate the functioning of foreign NGOs and agencies in line with national interest.

 

The government asking the DPA to wind down, however, is not tantamount to saying that Nepal is now self-sufficient and needs no outside help whatsoever. Or it should not be. Such an approach would be suicidal in this increasingly interconnected world. But it is also well within this govern­ment’s powers to ensure that international organizations working here follow due process at all times. And if certain organizations like the DPA and the Indian Embassy’s field office in Biratnagar have outlived their utility, or if they have somehow breached their code of conduct, it is only right that they be closed down.