Nepal
19.04.04
Urgent Interventions
Nepal: While the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva is in stasis, mass repression in Kathmandu flares unabated
PRESS RELEASE
Nepal: While the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva is in stasis, mass repression in Kathmandu flares unabated
For the attention of the Press
Geneva, April 19th, 2004
The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) has received information from reliable sources concerning mass arrests, illegal and incommunicado detentions, ill treatment and violent repression of hundreds of peaceful demonstrators in Kathmandu since the beginning of the month of April, 2004.
During this time, negotiations concerning action on the issue of Nepal by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights are being stymied by political wrangling, which bodes ill for a return of the rule of law and the respect for human rights in the country. Uncertainty prevails concerning the possibility of having the Commission’s Chairperson include the issue of Nepal in his final statement. The statement would pave the way for international technical support and human rights monitoring in the country, but is reportedly being opposed, and this despite the fact that Nepal has allegedly agreed to being included in the statement. The opposition to this statement appears to be coming from the United States, which is reportedly claiming that there is no need for such action, due to the provisions contained within a human rights “commitment paper” issued by Nepalese Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa on March 26th, 2004, which the US allegedly considers as being sufficient. Current events in the country, however, clearly indicate that these commitments are being flouted with total impunity.
Events in Kathmandu
Demonstrators have been calling for a return to multi-party democracy and the reinstatement of an elected Government, in protests that have numbered several hundred thousand participants. The King of Nepal dissolved Parliament on October 4th, 2002. The authorities are justifying the repression of these demonstrations - which have been led by the five main political opposition parties in the country - claiming that they have “information” that some of the protest organisers have links with the Communist Party of Nepal – Maoist (CPN-Maoist), who are currently engaged in an armed conflict against the Nepalese Armed Forces within the country.
Our sources indicate that on April 8th, 2004, an order banning public demonstrations and the assembly of more than five persons within the Kathmandu Ring Road and Lalitpur areas was issued by the Kathmandu District Administration. Following this, demonstrators have been violently repressed, with demonstrators having been beaten and hundreds of persons arbitrarily arrested without warrants by the armed police. Most recently, in the afternoon of April 15th, 2004, the armed police arrested over 1’000 peaceful demonstrators, including the President of the Nepali Congress, Girija Prasad Koirala, in the Bagbazaar area in Kathmandu.
The detainees are reportedly being held in inhumane conditions in several make-shift places of detention. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and several NGOs who have attempted to visit the detainees have been given no or only limited access to them. No-one has been granted access to the Armed Police Force Headquarters in Halchowk, where many of the political detainees, including the Secretary General of the left-wing Jan Morcha Nepal party, Lilamani Pokharel, are being held, and there are grave fears that these persons may be subjected to torture or forced disappearance as a result.
On April 10th, 2004, the NHRC visited a number of these detention facilities and reported that well over a thousand persons were being detained in the Nepal Food Corporation Godown, in facilities usually used for the storage of animals, without access to basic needs such as shelter from the rain, bedding, drinking water, adequate food or toilet facilities. Around 200 women were amongst the detainees and were being held along with men, with no separation.
Under Article 14 the Constitution of the Kingdom Nepal, the security authorities cannot detain a person for more than 24 hours without producing them before a competent judicial authority. Currently, an unknown number of persons have been detained, in some cases, for over five days. As many of these detainees have had no contact with lawyers or their family members, and as the authorities are in most cases not registering the identities of the detainees, there are grave concerns that some may become victims of forced disappearance. OMCT recalls that, as part of the ongoing internal armed conflict, Nepal has the highest rate of forced disappearances in the world, with over 1’000 cases having been reported since the beginning of the conflict, and with the number of disappearances likely to be higher than this in reality.
The International Secretariat of OMCT is gravely concerned by the massive and escalating repression and human rights abuses currently unfolding in Kathmandu. OMCT calls for the immediate lifting of the ban on peaceful demonstrations, the release of all detainees being held arbitrarily as a result of this wave of repression, and the launching of impartial investigations in order to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of human rights violations and award adequate reparation to all the victims of these abuses.
Furthermore, OMCT calls on all States that are members of the UN Human Rights Commission to take all measures necessary to permit the Commission to take action that will enable the improvement of the human rights situation in Nepal. In this context, we would like to urge the United States to reconsider its current position.
For more information contact Michael Anthony at: omct@omct.org or + 41 22 809 49 39
Nepal: While the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva is in stasis, mass repression in Kathmandu flares unabated
For the attention of the Press
Geneva, April 19th, 2004
The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) has received information from reliable sources concerning mass arrests, illegal and incommunicado detentions, ill treatment and violent repression of hundreds of peaceful demonstrators in Kathmandu since the beginning of the month of April, 2004.
During this time, negotiations concerning action on the issue of Nepal by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights are being stymied by political wrangling, which bodes ill for a return of the rule of law and the respect for human rights in the country. Uncertainty prevails concerning the possibility of having the Commission’s Chairperson include the issue of Nepal in his final statement. The statement would pave the way for international technical support and human rights monitoring in the country, but is reportedly being opposed, and this despite the fact that Nepal has allegedly agreed to being included in the statement. The opposition to this statement appears to be coming from the United States, which is reportedly claiming that there is no need for such action, due to the provisions contained within a human rights “commitment paper” issued by Nepalese Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa on March 26th, 2004, which the US allegedly considers as being sufficient. Current events in the country, however, clearly indicate that these commitments are being flouted with total impunity.
Events in Kathmandu
Demonstrators have been calling for a return to multi-party democracy and the reinstatement of an elected Government, in protests that have numbered several hundred thousand participants. The King of Nepal dissolved Parliament on October 4th, 2002. The authorities are justifying the repression of these demonstrations - which have been led by the five main political opposition parties in the country - claiming that they have “information” that some of the protest organisers have links with the Communist Party of Nepal – Maoist (CPN-Maoist), who are currently engaged in an armed conflict against the Nepalese Armed Forces within the country.
Our sources indicate that on April 8th, 2004, an order banning public demonstrations and the assembly of more than five persons within the Kathmandu Ring Road and Lalitpur areas was issued by the Kathmandu District Administration. Following this, demonstrators have been violently repressed, with demonstrators having been beaten and hundreds of persons arbitrarily arrested without warrants by the armed police. Most recently, in the afternoon of April 15th, 2004, the armed police arrested over 1’000 peaceful demonstrators, including the President of the Nepali Congress, Girija Prasad Koirala, in the Bagbazaar area in Kathmandu.
The detainees are reportedly being held in inhumane conditions in several make-shift places of detention. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and several NGOs who have attempted to visit the detainees have been given no or only limited access to them. No-one has been granted access to the Armed Police Force Headquarters in Halchowk, where many of the political detainees, including the Secretary General of the left-wing Jan Morcha Nepal party, Lilamani Pokharel, are being held, and there are grave fears that these persons may be subjected to torture or forced disappearance as a result.
On April 10th, 2004, the NHRC visited a number of these detention facilities and reported that well over a thousand persons were being detained in the Nepal Food Corporation Godown, in facilities usually used for the storage of animals, without access to basic needs such as shelter from the rain, bedding, drinking water, adequate food or toilet facilities. Around 200 women were amongst the detainees and were being held along with men, with no separation.
Under Article 14 the Constitution of the Kingdom Nepal, the security authorities cannot detain a person for more than 24 hours without producing them before a competent judicial authority. Currently, an unknown number of persons have been detained, in some cases, for over five days. As many of these detainees have had no contact with lawyers or their family members, and as the authorities are in most cases not registering the identities of the detainees, there are grave concerns that some may become victims of forced disappearance. OMCT recalls that, as part of the ongoing internal armed conflict, Nepal has the highest rate of forced disappearances in the world, with over 1’000 cases having been reported since the beginning of the conflict, and with the number of disappearances likely to be higher than this in reality.
The International Secretariat of OMCT is gravely concerned by the massive and escalating repression and human rights abuses currently unfolding in Kathmandu. OMCT calls for the immediate lifting of the ban on peaceful demonstrations, the release of all detainees being held arbitrarily as a result of this wave of repression, and the launching of impartial investigations in order to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of human rights violations and award adequate reparation to all the victims of these abuses.
Furthermore, OMCT calls on all States that are members of the UN Human Rights Commission to take all measures necessary to permit the Commission to take action that will enable the improvement of the human rights situation in Nepal. In this context, we would like to urge the United States to reconsider its current position.
For more information contact Michael Anthony at: omct@omct.org or + 41 22 809 49 39