An annual report of Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), a leading rights organization of the country has said that the human rights situation deteriorated in the country in 2005.
The “Human Rights Yearbook 2006” prepared by INSEC, held both the government forces and the Maoists responsible for gross human rights violations in 2005.
The State allegedly engaged in serious rights abuses in the name of quelling the Maoist insurgency while the latter were involved in grave human rights violations themselves, thereby violating international humanitarian laws, according to the report.
The report further said the ongoing conflict claimed 1524 lives in 2005, of which the security forces were responsible for killing 815 persons while the Maoists killed 709.
Furthermore, the “State-backed defense committees” killed 39 individuals, it said. Around 85 individuals were killed by the State and 24 by the rebels during the latter’s unilateral ceasefire.
The Maoists abducted 32,857 people last year, many of whom were school children.
The report further said that the rights situation further deteriorated after the February 1 royal takeover. “After the February 1 royal proclamation, the State completely neglected the rule of law. Prospect for dialogue and consensus was slammed shut with military might,” said INSEC’s report.
The report also criticised the judiciary for failing to take an initiative for constitutional remedy during the state of emergency. The absence of security institutions in rural areas gave a free hand to criminal groups, the INSEC report said, adding that such groups were responsible for the death of 371 persons.
Releasing the report Ian Martin, chief of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)-Nepal, said his office is deeply concerned with the ongoing action of the government to violate citizen’s human rights. He called on the government to refrain from suppressing peaceful protests.
The ongoing conflict has hit the people at grassroots hard, Martin said.
Criticising the government for imposing curfew, Subodh Pyakurel, chairman of INSEC, said the curfew was aimed at curtailing civil liberties.
He also urged the OHCHR to play an active role on the human rights front in Nepal. nepalnews.com pb Apr 10 06