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ARTICLE 19: Building Local Understanding and Consensus on Legal and Policy Reform in Nepal

In January 2008, ARTICLE 19 launched a capacity-building programme in Nepal with its two local partners, Freedom Forum and the Federation of Nepali Journalists. The goal was to raise awareness about international standards on freedom of expression among local stakeholders – politicians, journalists, media owners, civil society, the legal community – as well as to promote consensus on the way forward for Nepal.

In February 2009, the three partner organisations launched An Agenda for Change: The Right to Freedom of Expression in Nepal (AFC), a comprehensive programme for freedom of expression reform in the country, which had the support of more than 20 local stakeholders, representing all key sectors of society.

Background:
On 1 February 2005, the King dismissed the government, ushering in a repressive period in which freedom of expression was severely curtailed. A period of democratic optimism was born in April 2006 with the end of what is locally referred to as the Royal coup. The more repressive measures were lifted almost immediately, and a right to information law was adopted in July 2007.

At the same time, the ability of reformers to achieve progress towards a sound legal and policy framework for freedom of expression was hindered by their weak understanding of international standards, as well as the fact that they hold conflicting positions on key reform issues, such as criminal defamation and how to regulate broadcasting.

Assessing opportunities and challenges
Before launching the advocacy and capacity-building programme, the team reviewed the opportunities for success that characterised the situation in Nepal at that time with the stakeholders.
In particular there was:
- widespread recognition that profound reform was needed to secure democracy in the country; media law reform was widely seen as a priority, due to the key role the media had played in bringing the Royal coup to an end
- a commitment to adopt a new Interim Constitution, as well as a new constitution after democratic elections
- a strong civil society sector working in the areas of freedom of expression and of the media
- widespread receptiveness to international human rights standards, in part because local institutions had clearly failed to protect the people

On the other hand, there were also challenges. Despite a clear window of opportunity for change, there was opposition at the political level from a variety of sources. Although a period of relative freedom for the media began after April 2006, the legal framework remained significantly at odds with international standards.

There were also challenges within the reform movement. Awareness of international standards on freedom of expression was low, undermining the ability of reformers to use this body of law to lever change. Perhaps even more serious, different reform actors were taking divergent positions, rather than speaking with one voice on key issues.

Setting out the Strategy: an Agenda for Change
ARTICLE 19 consulted with its local partners about possible solutions and the Agenda for Change idea was born. The centrepiece of the project was the idea of bringing together a variety of stakeholders interested in freedom of expression and media reform, and to discuss a range of relevant issues in order to raise awareness and promote consensus on specific policy positions. The result would be a publication, An Agenda for Change, setting out the agreed policy positions and why they were being promoted.

Engaging Local Stakeholders
It was very important to choose the key stakeholders carefully. Involving too many people would make an open debate difficult, but we also needed to cover all of the key sectors of society. In the end, we managed to involve a wide range of actors, including MPs, senior political figures which included Maoists, lawyers, the key NGOs in the sector, groups representing women, different ethnic and class groups, and leading journalists and media owners. As Taranath Dahal, President of Freedom Forum, stated: "The fact that we were able to bring on board all of the key players on media freedom was central to the success of this project."

Achieving the Objective - Exposure to legal standards
The main goal of the project was to expose Nepali members of civil society and media to clear and authoritative information on international legal standards. This was done in two ways.

First, ARTICLE 19 prepared a series of four background papers on media regulation, content restrictions, the right to information and commercial issues and freedom of expression. These were translated into Nepali and later published as a collection (in both English and Nepali).

Second, ARTICLE 19 lawyers were present at all three of the meetings, providing an overview of international standards and available to answer questions and provide suggestions.

Many participants talked of the importance of an international legal structure to guide the discussions.

Time for Consensus-Building
The complexity of the freedom of expression issues meant that achieving consensus required a significant time commitment. To achieve this, the project involved three 3-day meetings, during which all key issues were discussed in sequence. Plenary discussions looking at international standards and the prevailing situation in Nepal were followed by small working group sessions and then a report-back to the whole group and discussions towards agreement on consensus standards.

The meetings were conducted on a residential basis outside of Kathmandu to ensure that people would stay for there the whole time. This also helped forge a strong sense of community and purpose among the group. The impact of sitting around a fire at a mountain resort, sipping a whiskey and looking out over the Himalayas, cannot be overestimated.

Indicators of Success
With very few exceptions, the group was able to reach consensus on a large number of issues. An Agenda for Change contains 62 separate recommendations, many broken down into several parts. The nature of the discussions changed noticeably throughout the process, as the stakeholders internalised an international standards approach to analysing freedom of expression issues. Also, because of the pedigree of both the approach and the participants, the credentials of the AFC process are impeccable. At a very high-profile launch of the document in February 2009, senior representatives from all major political parties voiced their support for the recommendations.

In some sense, the launch of An Agenda for Change is simply a starting point. The real test of impact will be whether and how needed reforms are introduced. The early signs are that this process will continue to have a significant effect. For example, the parliamentary committee tasked with drafting the human rights provisions for the new constitution have asked the project partners for concrete suggestions on freedom of expression and information guarantees, to include in their report. The aim is for the AFC to influence all efforts towards reform in the areas of freedom of expression and the media.

A Framework for Future Action - Mobilising Public Opinion
The stakeholders have engaged in activities to bring the AFC to their various constituents, and a range of media and other awareness-raising activities have occurred and continue to take place. The project partners will continue to carry out activities under subsequent phases of the project to popularise the Agenda For Change recommendations both among decision-makers and the wider public.

Resources
The key budget lines for this project were:
1. Staff Time: Staff time was allocated for management of the project, for legal expertise, including preparing documents, and for the contribution of the partners. ARTICLE 19 also hired a full-time local representative to help with the many logistical and relational needs of the project.
2. International Travel: ARTICLE 19 staff made trips to attend an initial planning meeting and the three AFC meetings.
3. Documents: The AFC process (the project also included a number of other activities) included the translation, printing and dissemination of the background papers and the final AFC document.
4. Meetings: This part of the budget included the costs of a venue and accommodation for participants, interpretation at meetings, local travel and other meeting supplies.
5. Overhead: To cover the administrative costs of the project, such as rent, communications, etc.

By Toby Mendel, former Senior Legal Advisor, ARTICLE 19