Various human rights organisations have protested the government’s indifference towards acceding to the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Human rights activists staging sit-in before submitting a memorandum to Speaker Subas Nemwang urging for immediate ratification of Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC), at Maitighar Mandala in Kathmandu, Thursday, Mar 01 07. nepalnews.com/rh

Human rights activists staging sit-in before submitting a memorandum to Speaker Subas Nemwang urging for immediate ratification of Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC), at Maitighar Mandala in Kathmandu, Thursday, Mar 01 07. nepalnews.com/rh
Representatives of nine human rights organisations submitted a memorandum to Speaker Subash Nemwang on Thursday urging the parliament to pressure the government to endorse the Rome Statute, which will pave the way for trying individuals accused of human rights abuses and war crimes.

In their memorandum, nine rights organisations including Amnesty International’s Nepal chapter, INSEC, Advocacy Forum, Federation of Nepalese Journalists and National Coalition for the ICC, stated that the government failed to accede to the treaty despite the parliament’s direction seven months ago to start the ratification process in order to end the culture of impunity.

A government taskforce formed to study the Rome Statute had submitted its report to Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister KP Oli on October 18.

Receiving the memorandum, Speaker Nemwang expressed dissatisfaction over the long delay in acceding to the Rome Statute despite the parliamentary order. Saying that the parliament’s directions are binding to the government, he said the parliament would take further initiative in this regard.

The rights activists had staged protest at Maitighar Mandala before submitting the memorandum.

Few weeks earlier, the Coalition for ICC (CICC) had in a letter to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala urged the Nepal government to ratify the treaty.

104 countries have already joined the ICC, which is the first permanent international court capable of trying individuals accused of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. The CICC is an international network of more than 2,000 non-governmental organisations advocating for a fair, effective and independent court.

The Coalition and its partner organisations Forum Asia and INSEC had jointly organised a mission to Kathmandu in August 2006, meeting with key political leaders who said the government was committed to joining the ICC.

Currently, only six Asian countries-Afghanistan, Cambodia, Mongolia, Republic of Korea, Timor-Leste, and Tajikistan- are state parties to the ICC. In contrast, the majority of states in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean have joined the Court.