On the eve of the visit of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Louise Arbour, to Nepal next week, the Amnesty International has called for what it called comprehensive and coordinated action by the international community to improve the rights situation in the country.

In its 30-page report entitled “Nepal: Killing with Impunity” made public on Thursday, the London-based rights watchdog said given the scale of the human rights crisis and the level of impunity in Nepal, more comprehensive and coordinated action by the international community is urgently needed.

Lit candles in memory of civilians killed extra judicially during….. (More)
The number of people who are being illegally killed in Nepal is increasing and those responsible are using more sophisticated tactics to hide their crimes, the report said.

“Both the security forces and the Maoists are deliberately executing civilians and unarmed fighters” said Ingrid Massage, Asia Director at Amnesty International (AI). “What is most chilling is that these killings are going completely unpunished, despite numerous promises by the government and Maoist leaders to uphold human rights,” she said.

The AI further said international community has a vital role to play in bringing both parties (in the conflict) to a shared human rights commitment, monitoring and reporting on human rights violations, supporting the rule of law, insisting on investigations and prosecutions for past abuses, and protecting Nepali human rights defenders.

The 61st session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), starting in March 2005, will be a critical opportunity for the international community to acknowledge the growing human rights crisis and the failure of existing “commitments” to curb impunity, as well as to put in place strong international initiatives that can have an immediate impact on the human rights situation in Nepal, the report said.

Amnesty noted that there had been some welcome efforts by the international community to address the growing human rights crisis in Nepal. This includes a visit of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions to Nepal in 2000. In the report following her mission, the Special Rapporteur raised concerns about unlawful killings carried out by the Nepal police and CPN (Maoist) during the first few years of the conflict and made particular mention of the killing of children. She also identified “an urgent need to put in place strong, independent and credible mechanisms to investigate and prosecute alleged human rights abuses, including extrajudicial executions.” Most of her recommendations have not been implemented and are still relevant today, the organisation said.

The international community has demonstrated increasing concern at the human rights situation in Nepal since the breakdown of the cease-fire in August 2003. In April 2004 the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) issued a Chairperson’s Statement on “Human Rights Assistance to Nepal”, expressing concern at the human rights situation, condemning abuses by the CPN (Maoist) and calling on the government to ensure the fundamental rights of people in Nepal.

In July 2004, eight independent experts of the UNCHR issued a joint statement expressing concern at the human rights situation and calling on the government to implement its 26 March Commitment. The diplomatic community has also spoken out on a number of occasions, including at the Nepal Development Forum, in May 2004, where a group of 10 donors issued a statement calling on both parties to allow unhindered human rights monitoring. In September 2004, 15 diplomatic missions and donor agencies issued a strongly worded statement condemning the “gruesome” human rights violations committed by both sides and calling for the signing of the Human Rights Accord.

In a demonstration of the deepening international concern at the situation in Nepal, on 23 December 2004, the UN issued a statement expressing the Secretary General’s concern at “reports of an escalation of fighting in Nepal and of continued grave human rights violations”. The statement particularly highlighted the threat to human rights defenders and the NHRC and called for their safety to be guaranteed, the organisation said.

As concern has mounted there have been a number of visits to Nepal by UN bodies and diplomatic delegations focusing on human rights. In December 2004 the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) visited Nepal, while the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, will visit in January 2005.