International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has urged the US, the UK and other states at the on-going UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) meeting in Geneva to work together and urgently respond to what it said the human rights crisis in Nepal.
After returning from an emergency mission to Nepal led by the ICJ Secretary-General Nicholas Howen, the ICJ said, “This is a crucial moment in the history of the struggle for democracy and rights in Nepal.”
“We heard pleas from Nepalis themselves for the international community to demand a return to the rule of law and respect for human rights; to help restore the democratic space they need to find political solutions to the conflict.”
In its new report, The Hague-based organisation has set out nine urgent measures the Maoists and the government should take to tackle the long-standing violations committed by both the parties in Nepal conflict as well as what it said the new layer of abuses under the state of emergency.
More than 500 political leaders, student activists, human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers have reportedly been detained since 1 February, others forced into exile. Newspapers are censored or closed down; peaceful protestors immediately arrested. The independence of the judiciary is under intense pressure, the report said.
“It was clear during our visit that human rights defenders face a suffocating atmosphere of intimidation and control, where criticism is not tolerated,” said Nicholas Howen, “Even the National Human Rights Commission – an independent institution of the state – has been paralyzed, with two of its Commissioners prevented from leaving Kathmandu to carry out official investigations. There is a void in human rights monitoring and protection.”
The ICJ said peace talks are even further away and the violence is escalating. During the third week of February, hundreds of villagers’ homes were looted and burned and more than twenty individuals reportedly killed, in deeply disturbing violence by vigilante groups in Kapilbastu district. Tens of thousands have reportedly fled across the border into India, the report said.
The ICJ has also demanded that the UN Commission on Human Rights appoint a Special Rapporteur on human rights in Nepal and work for the establishment of a significant international human rights presence to monitor and verify that the urgent measures are being taken by both sides and to encourage human rights measures that will build confidence towards a peace process.