In a report due to be submitted at the ongoing 10th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, OHCHR chief Navanethem Pillay said, “Despite repeated commitments to end impunity and to enforce the rule of law, no visible steps were taken in 2008 to hold accountable any individual responsible for human rights violations committed during or after the conflict.”[break]
Stating that OHCHR-Nepal in December 2008 issued a report on disappearances in Bardia district, documenting 156 cases of disappearances at the hands of security forces, the report said most of the estimated 1,500 cases of conflict-related disappearances remain unresolved.
In the third country report to the Human Rights Council since the establishment of its office in Nepal in 2005, OHCHR-Nepal said it had stressed the urgency of establishing a commission to investigate disappearances and provide reparations for victims in Bardia.
The report has emphatically raised two major issues in human rights violations committed by both the Nepal Army and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).
It said although financial compensation to the family of Maina Sunar has been offered, judicial proceedings in the case have been stalled due to the Nepal Army’s failure to produce relevant documents, suspects and witnesses despite written requests by the Nepal Police to do so. Sunar, a 15-year-old girl in Sindhupalchowk, died in 2004 while in Nepal Army custody.
The annual report has also accused the Maoists of failing to produce those involved in the abduction and subsequent murder of Ramhari Shrestha, a businessman, at the Maoist People´s Liberation Army (PLA) cantonment at Shaktikhor last May.
“Of five arrest warrants issued by the police, only one person has been arrested, and, despite public commitments to do so, the CPN(M) failed to hand over the main suspect, a former Maoist army commander, who reportedly continued to exercise command responsibilities,” the report said, adding, “The results of a judicial investigation into the killing were never made public.”
The report, however, states that significant progress was made in 2008 in advancing the peace process, including the holding of Constituent Assembly elections and formation of a democratically elected government.
OHCHR-Nepal has sought international human rights standards and transparency in the recently drafted bill on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
The Commission has also charged that the government has failed to make public the reports of many commissions established to investigate the most serious human rights violations and crimes committed in 2008.
“The reports of these commissions, submitted to Parliament or to the Home Ministry, were not made public and there were no visible consequences for the alleged perpetrators,” it said.
The report has raised serious concern over the government’s recommendation in October 2008 to withdraw 349 cases of a ‘political nature’. It said, “Charges withdrawn included murder and attempted murder, rape, robbery and arson, as well as violations of arms and ammunition laws. Seeking further information on the criteria for withdrawal of these cases, OHCHR Nepal stressed the importance of transparent, impartial proceedings to ensure that individuals responsible for gross violations and international crimes are not made the subject of a de facto amnesty.”
The Commission has also charged that political interference in the criminal justice process, especially in the Tarai districts, has undermined police morale and credibility, besides eroding public confidence in the rule of law.
It said the gap in governance at both the central and local levels has resulted in a growing sense of lawlessness and a security vacuum in many parts of the Tarai and some hill districts.
“The public security vacuum contributes to the proliferation of armed groups, some of whom are connected to the Madhesi political parties, leading in turn to increased criminal activities with daily reports of abductions, killings, explosions of improvised explosive devices and acts of extortion,” it said.
ghanashyam@myrepublica.com
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