NEPAL: Time for U.N. to Fix Rights Abuses in Rebellion – Critics

By Damakant Jayshi Reprint | | Print |

Damakant Jayshi

KATHMANDU, Nov 25 2003 (IPS) - The deterioration of the human rights situation in Nepal is underscored not just by increasing reports of abuses by government forces in trying to quell the Maoist rebellion, but most recently by calls to invite U.N. experts in to probe rights abuses.

First it was the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Nepal and the following day, Amnesty International, that made this call for U.N. intervention to look into violations by government security forces and Maoist rebels.

On Monday, seven international human rights organisations as well as some European embassies and a few donor governments too have expressed concerns on deteriorating human rights situation in the beleaguered kingdom.

These include Human Rights Watch and International Commission of Jurists, the French, German and the Canadian embassies – the last one from New Delhi, India – the Swiss Development Cooperation and the German Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ).

Since 1996, Maoist rebels have been waging a violent campaign to overthrow the constitutional monarchy in the world’s only Hindu kingdom and turn it into a republican state.

The rights situation has become even more precarious after the Aug. 27 breakdown of the ceasefire between the government and Maoist rebels, whose attacks in various parts of the country have become worse since.

More than 8,000 people have died in the conflict, of which 1,100 alone were killed since August.

The situation of insecurity, worsened by political conflicts between Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa and the politicians and lack of an elected government, is such that Thakur Dhakal from Kupondole in Kathmandu said: ”We are really worried about the deteriorating situation.”

As the ‘Nepali Times’ weekly said, ”They (Nepalis) want to be left alone by the Maoists, and increasingly, they want to be left alone by the force that was supposed to protect them from the Maoists.”

More than 100 complaints on illegal detention by government forces have been filed with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The army, however, has been ignoring the NHRC’s calls to cooperate with it. Bhogendra Sharma, chairman of the Centre for Victims of Torture (CVICT) told IPS: "There is a feeling of absolute impunity in the Royal Nepalese Army which is very serious." He added that the army top brass must be aware that this cannot last long. "Someday, they army will have to be accountable for their actions.”

On Nov. 20, Amnesty International added its voice to a call made the previous day by the NHRC, which asked the government to invite the U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture to probe rights violations in Nepal.

Sharma said he hopes that the arrival of these groups would have a constructive effect on the army as well. "They won’t just denounce the abuses, but the U.N. officials will have sobering effect on the army."

"We are deeply concerned by the rampant and systematic torture and enforced disappearances perpetrated by the security forces,” Sushil Pyakurel, a human rights commissioner, said earlier.

"Despite our repeated reminders to the government over human rights abuses by the security forces, it has done nothing to address the issue," Pyakurel was quoted as saying. "So we decided to ask the government to bring in the U.N. experts."

Kamal Thapa, minister for information and communications and government spokesman, told IPS that the government was studying the latest developments. "We still don’t know why such a call was made," said Thapa, but disputed the interpretation that it was a severe indictment of both the government and the army.

"The government is committed to protecting human rights. If there has been any deliberate violations, then we will take action against errant security personnel,” he said.

He was, however, non-committal as to what the government would do should the U.N. Human Rights Commission communicate with it to visit Nepal. "We will not shy away from any probe,” Thapa said. The NHRC’s call this month for U.N. intervention followed a statement in Geneva on Nov. 12 by the U.N. rights experts, who asked the Nepalese government to act on the reports of abuses by the security forces.

The Special Rapporteur on Torture, the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the Chairperson of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention expressed "profound concern over reports that dozens of individuals are being detained secretly in Nepal and are therefore at risk of suffering torture and other forms of ill-treatment".

The experts also called on Maoists to respect international rules governing conflicts and to desist from killing and abducting civilians.

In recent months, the army has had to face accusations of rights violations ranging from enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial killings.

It has dubbed the NHRC reports on army excesses as motivated and launched its own investigations into recent killings.

It has not only denied any incommunicado detention of persons suspected of being Maoists, but denied keeping journalists and other members of civil society or being responsible for involuntary disappearances.

In the few cases that it has admitted resorting to shootouts, the army said that those have been during encounters where its troops gave retaliatory fire.

Critics flatly refute the army’s claims. As of Nov. 16, the list of journalists targeted by the ongoing conflict has reached 74, according to the independent Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ).

The FNJ list shows that out of the 74 affected journalists since the breakdown of the ceasefire, 59 have been either arrested or held in custody for several hours for investigations relating to news about the Maoists.

Apart from these, almost 60 others are reportedly being held by the security forces but do not face clear charges.

Thus far, the army, with backing from the government, has questioned the field reports of the rights commission that has squarely blamed it for the deaths of civilians in two incidents, one of which led to the deaths of 18 people.