Nepal adopted its second and most recent National Action Plan (NAP) in 2022 for the period 2022-2025. The initial draft of the NAP was prepared by the former Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction and after the department dissolution, the work continued under the Ministry of Home Affairs (p.6). Various governmental departments, province and local level government organizations, international development partners, civil society, “affected groups”, as well as women’s networks and organizations also contributed to the NAPs production (p.1). The NAP identifies four priority areas, aligned with the primary pillars of UNSCR 1325: participation; protection and prevention; relief and recovery; and capacity development, resource management and monitoring and evaluation. Each priority area has various associated activities, the expected result/output of that activity, a performance indicator, the agency responsible for achieving it, a time period, and a supporting partner agency is necessary (p.13). There is no explicit budget for the NAP, however it does state that relevant ministries and agencies will prepare annual budget reports and a three-year expenditure projection in order to implement the second NAP’s activities (p.48). Overall, the NAP is extremely similar in structure, style and content to Nepal’s previous NAP, published in 2011 for the period 2011-2016. Between 2016 and the publication of the second NAP in 2022, there was no active NAP on WPS for Nepal.
Nepal reported on the implementation of its NAP, as well as WPS commitments, in its national reporting for Beijing+25 and in preparation for CSW64 (2020). Specifically, the country reported on progress areas and gaps (pp. 44-49).
The most recent armed conflict in Nepal’s history is the civil war, which took place from 1996 until 2006. The conflict resulted in thousands of casualties and enforced disappearances. Even though the conflict had distinct gendered impacts, including the systematic use of sexual violence as a weapon of war as well as the inclusion of women combatants, women were excluded from the peace process and were not among the negotiators or signatories of the peace agreement. In 2015, the country established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and a Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP), with the goal to expedite legal action against perpetrators. Nevertheless, there has been a persistent lack of accountability, with ongoing impunity for perpetrators of human rights violations.