NEW DELHI - More frequent and violent strike action in Nepal is threatening the security of United Nations staff and undermining their humanitarian operations, the head of the U.N. operation said on Friday.

In recent years, the impoverished Himalayan nation has seen a sharp rise in the number of strikes where everything including transport, government offices, private businesses, schools, hospitals and markets are completely shut down.

Last year, there were 254 days of strikes or "bandhs" in the country, according to Nepalbandh.com, a Nepali website that monitors strikes around the country. In the last three months, there have been more than 200 strikes, according to the site.

Robert Piper, resident and humanitarian coordinator for the U.N. team in Nepal, said strike action was seriously impacting the organisation's work while a rise in intimidation and violence during the strikes were of great concern.

"Our people are moving around the country - doing activities such as food distributions or human rights monitoring - and they are constantly being stopped by road blockages, burning tyres and mobs of people who are increasingly refusing to let them pass," he told AlertNet in an interview.

"As a result, the U.N.'s work is dramatically curtailed on bandh days and as the bandhs become more violent, we are getting more concerned about staff security."

ATTACKS

Nepal is reeling from a 10-year civil conflict that ended in 2006. The Maoist insurgency killed more than 13,000 people, displaced hundreds of thousands and devastated the economy.

The U.N. Development Programme's 2007/8 Human Development Index ranks Nepal 142 out of 177 countries, where more than 30 percent of the population live below the poverty line.

The United Nations has 2,300 staff working in Nepal but recent attacks on U.N. vehicles and on staff has left the organisation considering scaling down staff activities during strikes.

In recent months, U.N. vehicles have been attacked. One vehicle was stoned, the backlights of a bus carrying staff to work in the Kathmandu Valley were smashed and a brick was thrown through the back window of vehicle carrying human rights monitors.

Piper said there have been about six such attacks on vehicles since January.

Staff members have also been subjected to violence, said Piper, adding that a U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) employee was "roughed up" by a group in Kathmandu as he drove a U.N. motorcycle on a bandh day just 11 days ago.

"If the bandhs continue on the current trend, we will have to shift to essential staff only - a sort of skeleton staff operation - on bandh days and this could mean a reduction of at least 50 percent of our staff on duty on the day of an event."

HITTING THE POOR

As the strikes hit the $180 million-a-year U.N. operation in Nepal, Piper said it was the most vulnerable people who were being hurt the most.

Trucks carrying food to some of the poorest populations have been held up for five to 10 days at a time. A leprosy programme by the World Health Organisation and an emergency seed distribution by the Food and Agriculture Organisation were both delayed. And human rights monitors can't get to where they need to go to do their work.

Piper said the indirect impact on vulnerable populations was equally worrying as education and other areas are hit. Children and teachers can't get to class because of the strikes.

Last year, children in some areas of Nepal's Terai region missed 125 school days - half of the entire school year, he added.

Strike action has also affected food prices in the country as fuel and other supplies are blocked. According to the United Nations, this goes part of the way to explaining why food prices have risen 17 percent so far this year despite global food prices falling.

Piper said Nepal's strike culture was a symptom of larger governance problems - lack of accountability, weak structures in the country to address grievances and deteriorating law and order.

"There is a general absence of mechanisms by which grievances are expressed and negotiations undertaken in a peaceful manner," he said. "Taking to the streets and burning tyres tends to be the opening pitch in the negotiation process rather than the last resort."

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