Human Rights activists have said Agenda 9 could be slapped on Nepal in the upcoming 62nd session of the United Nations’ Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Geneva if the government did not express its clear commitment towards protection and promotion of human rights.
Speaking at an interaction in the capital on Thursday, rights activist Dr Gopal Siwakoti said Nepal is heading towards Agenda 9 due to the increasing instances of rights violation.
The 61st session of the UN-OHCHR last year imposed Agenda 19 against Nepal, and Nepal expressed commitment to improve rights situation in the country.
The government agreed and set up the office of UN-OHCHR in Nepal under Agenda 19 to monitor incidents of rights violations during the 61st session, last year.
However rights activists claim that there has been no improvement in the rights situation.
Enforcement of Agenda 9 refers to a very critical situation of human rights in the country.
Dr Siwakoti further said that there were no improvement in the rights situation since the last session and the government did not fulfill its commitment for the protection and promotion of human rights so item 9 was a strong possibility in the upcoming session if the government did not express clear commitment in this regard.
He informed that the indicators for the enforcement of any item are illegal detention or disappearances, situation of rule of law in the country, restriction on free movement of people and independence of the National Human Rights Commission. He stated all the indicators are in a negative direction so the government should defend it in the upcoming session to be safe from imposition of Agenda 9.
Senior rights activist Padma Ratna Tuladhar said Agenda 9 is essential to protect rights of the people, as there is no improvement in the rights situation despite the government’s commitment in various international forums.
He urged rights activists who are attending the Geneva session to lobby in favour of Agenda 9.
Chairman of Child Workers’ Concern Centre (CWIN), Gauri Pradhan, said the government either has to reject all reports prepared by the rights bodies in the upcoming session or express commitment for improvement to avert possible sanctions in the upcoming Geneva session.
He informed that ‘smart sanctions’ proposed in the European Union is not to cause problems to the general people but to make the rights violators accountable for their misdeeds.
Stating that the rights activists are not proposing for the implementation of Agenda 9, he made it clear that it might be implemented on the basis of rights situation in the country since 61st session.
Another rights activist, Mandira Sharma, who is also participating in the upcoming Geneva session, informed that Agenda 9 could be imposed as the government did not fulfill its commitment time and again.
She informed that the Agenda 19 was imposed in 61st session, as Nepal did not fulfill its 25-point commitment made in the 60th session for the protection of human rights. As it did not follow the commitment of Agenda 19, Agenda 9 is almost sure to be imposed, she added.
“If the government makes serious commitment and brings concrete Agendas for the protection of human rights, the possibility of Agenda 9 could be averted,” she added.
Chairman of Human Rights Organization of Nepal (HURON) Charan Prasain informed that all rights bodies are working jointly to make a common report to be presented in the 62nd session.
Speaking at the same program, secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretariat, Diwakar Pant, who also looks after the human rights and legal section, however categorically ruled out the possibility of Agenda 9 being imposed in the upcoming Geneva session, saying there have been improvements in the rights situation since the 61st session.
He charged rights activists for being partial and not presenting the reports of rights violations by the Maoists.
He dubbed the government’s decision to set a central register of detainees at the Prime Minister’s office and forming a policy for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as positive development in this regard.
He said that there is no possibility of imposing Agenda 9 on the basis of the report presented by Ian Martin, representative of the UN- OHCHR in Nepal.
He added that the government is ready to answer any question raised during the Geneva Convention about the rights situation of the country.