The government has formulated policy to address the issues of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP), which is expected to be endorsed by the cabinet on Thursday, a newspaper report said.

Nepal Samacharpatra daily quoted a high level government source as saying that the policy was discussed by the bill preparation committee of the cabinet early this week. Minister for law and parliamentarian affairs, Secretary at the same ministry, State minister for labour and transport management, representatives from the Home Ministry and other concerned authorities also took part in the meeting.

The policy has been prepared amidst criticism from national and international bodies saying that the government had ignored the plight of internally displaced people.

According to the report, the new policy will empower the chief district officers (CDOs) to issue certificates confirming a person’s displacement. The certificate will be valid for receiving facilities like citizenship and passport from any part of the country, getting old age allowance from the place displaced people are living at present and arrangements for lodging and food for old people.

The policy also states that the displaced persons will be provided with loans for those willing to go for foreign employment and will also enjoy right to vote from any part of the country. Special arrangements will also be made for education of displaced children.

The policy was prepared by the Home Ministry and sent to the committee for review after one round of discussion at the Council of Ministers.

The UN Rappoteur on IDPs will be presenting the situation of internally displaced people in Nepal during the meeting of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva beginning Monday. Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey is leaving Kathmandu later this week to attend the meeting. He is expected to present the government’s policy, among others, at the meeting.

Special representative of the UN General Secretary Kofi Annan, Prof. Walter Kalin, last year had criticized the Nepal government for not addressing the issue and had recommended for immediate formulation of policy to that effect.

The government had reported to the UN that there are less than 8,000 internally displaced people in the country while national and international organisations estimate the number to be more than 200,000.