Amnesty International (AI), a London-based international human rights watchdog, has said both parties to the conflict must be guided by their human rights obligations if Nepal is to make it safely through this dangerous political crossroads.

Addressing a press conference in Kathamndu on Thursday to conclude the three day visit of the AI international mission to Nepal, Purna Sen, AI director for Asia Pacific, said that they do not anticipate the participation of RNA personnel in UN peacekeeping mission with records of human rights violations in Nepal. She said they have urged the government and the RNA officials not to include such persons in the peacekeeping force.

She also urged the seven political parties and the Maoists to translate their written commitments to respect human rights into concrete actions. She added, “Women in particular are the unrecognized victims of the decade long civil conflict and have limited access to protection and justice.”

AI further said it was lobbying with UN agencies and other international human rights groups for ‘smart sanctions’ against Nepal that can restrict government officials, Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) personnel and members of royal family from foreign travel and seize what it called their ‘assets outside the country’.

Director of AI UK Kate Allen said, “International pressure so far has helped to curb some of the worst violations committed by the security forces but the fundamental problem of impunity for human rights violations has not been addressed.”

Security force personnel who have been prosecuted for human rights violations have received disproportionately light sentences that cannot be seen to have delivered justice and which are likely to have any deterrent effect, she said.

AI Denmark chief Lars Jergesnen said that the government should heed the repeated call of the international community to restore civil political rights. He stressed that there must not be mass arrest and restrictions on freedom of assembly ahead of the next month’s political protests.

The team said that they also met the senior rebel leaders in western districts and urged them to respect the human rights conventions. AI said that the rebels did not give ‘satisfactory commitments’ for protection of human rights.

AI also condemned police raid on the house of UML general secretary on Wednesday.

A four-member team of AI held talks with government officials, RNA officials, Maoists, human rights defenders, members of diplomatic missions, representatives of UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and victims of human rights abuses to assess the latest human rights situation of Nepal. In its recent annual report, AI had expressed its concern over what it called the deteriorating human rights situation of the country.