HRW calls upon Maoists to respect human rights

February 16, 2006
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Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called upon the Maoist rebels to demonstrate that they respect the international human rights standards, laws of war and (are ready to ) end abuses against civilians.

The New York based human rights watchdog stated that ten years of armed insurgency has subjected Nepalis to severe abuses by Maoist rebels and government forces and placed the country on the verge of a humanitarian disaster.

Research director of the organisation’s Asia division, Sam Zarifi, said that the Maoists must accept their share of blame for the country’s present crisis.

Maoist threats to aid and development workers, combined with strictly enforced prohibitions by the rebels against movement of vehicles, have greatly hampered delivery of humanitarian assistance to Nepal’s isolated countryside, further increasing the suffering of the most vulnerable segments of one of the poorest populations in the world, the release by Zarifi stated.

It’s Nepalis living in rural areas who have suffered the most from the abuses carried out by the Maoists and the army over the past ten years, the release added. It also warned that if the conflict intensified, or even continue as before, there is a real risk of a breakdown in Nepal’s already strained healthcare, education system and basic economy.

International human rights groups including HRW have sharply criticized the movement of Maoists on the grounds that the conflict has increased the human rights violations that has taken lives of 13,000 Nepalis in the last ten years.