End human rights violations

BIMAL GAUTAM

As the country has just passed through a bloody insurgency, human rights issue has taken centre stage in Nepal. The country still suffers from massive violations of human rights and impunity is on the rise. In this context, the state should be more watchful for the protection and promotion of human rights, but sadly it is not the case.

The scores of recommendations made by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to the government for the protection and promotion of human rights have only fallen on deaf ears. And one of the major reasons behind the rampant impunity is lack of implementations of the recommendations made by the national human rights watchdog.

There are numerous instances when those involved in human rights violations have been awarded by the government. One of the recent examples is the appointment of Hari Babu Chaudhary, who was an active member of the then Royal Commission on Corruption Control (RCCC) formed by former king Gyanendra, as member secretary of the Sports Council.

Examples abound of human rights abusers being rewarded by their parties or government.The Supreme Court had scrapped the Commission citing it was unconstitutional and declared all the RCCC decisions null and void. After that, the government formed a high-level commission led by former justice Madhav Ojha to investigate the damage done by RCCC. The Ojha Commission recommended the government that it take action against RCCC members on the charge of human rights violation and corruption. But, instead of taking legal action against RCCC members, the government has started awarding them one after the other.

There are so many examples of human rights abusers being rewarded either by their parties or by the government. Kali Bahadur Kham of the UCPN (Maoist) is another example.
The NHRC and Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nepal (OHCHR-N) recommended that the government take legal action against Kham for his alleged involvement in the murder of Kathmandu-based Ram Hari Shrestha. The UPCN (Maoist), instead of implementing the recommendations of the human rights institutions, promoted Kham, making him the party’s central member.

Recently, OHCHR-N has asked UCPN (Maoist) to instruct its members, including Kham, to surrender before authorities and fully cooperate with the ongoing investigations into their alleged involvement in human rights abuses.

All above mentioned instances show that the state authorities and political parties are directly responsible for the rising impunity in the country. The international community is watching Nepal’s human rights situation closely. In this context, the arguments of Dinesh Bhattarai, Nepal’s ambassador to Switzerland are noteworthy. Bhattarai, when he arrived in Kathmandu a few days ago, told this scribe that the promotion and protection of human rights should be the top agenda of Nepal at present. According to Ambassador Bhattarai, the government has to instill confidence and a sense of security in the people by ending impunity.

The government is preparing to bring a new bill on NHRC. Nearly 15 years after its establishment, the country’s only authorized human rights watchdog is likely to get more teeth. NHRC is likely to get legal authority to publicize the names and addresses of persons and institutions as human rights violators if they are found not implementing, abiding by and following its recommendations, decisions and directions.

A newly-drafted bill of NHRC, submitted to the parliament nearly a month ago by the Ministry of Law and Justice, comes at a time when NHRC´s several recommendations and directions have gone largely unheeded. The new provision aims at facilitating implementation of NHRC´s recommendations in the days to come.

The Act also empowers NHRC to recommend to the government not to accept human rights violators for public positions. “If he/she is supposed to be appointed or promoted for any public position by the government, the record of the NHRC would be seriously taken as an assessment,” the Act states. Ironically, the government is, on the one hand, preparing a bill with such a provision while, on the other hand, it is itself defying the Act.

Again, the question is, will the government sincerely implement new provisions after the bill is endorsed by the parliament? Will the government sincerely work for the protection and promotion of human rights in the country? Will the government be able to improve the worsening human rights situation in the country?

Bringing a new Act is not enough. The implementation aspect is an important factor in this regard. If those provisions are to be made meaningful, the government should be serious enough in implementing them strictly. The government should immediately start nabbing human rights abusers and take strong actions against them. Until and unless there are examples of strong punishments against human rights abusers, impunity can never end. And unless those involved in unlawful activities are penalized, the activities of human rights violation will not stop.

The remarks made by Ambassador Bhattarai are quite significant. He said if the transitional political situation is handled carefully and if the peace process is taken to a logical end, Nepal can set an example to the world. Why not grab this opportunity and turn Nepal into a peaceful, prosperous and human rights-friendly nation?


Published on 2009-10-12 07:25:55
Source: http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=10671

State of impunity

A joint report published by the New York-based Human Rights Watch and Advocacy Forum, a Nepali NGO working in the area of Human Rights, paints a bleak picture of the prosecution of past human rights violations. The report (titled Still Waiting for Justice) says no member of the security forces or the Maoist army has been held to account in a civilian court for grave human rights abuses committed during the armed conflict of 1996-2006 and most cases that have been filed remain stalled. The report also says that, despite official commitments to end impunity and intensive litigation and campaigning by the families of those killed or disappeared during the conflict, no one has been arrested, let alone brought to justice in a civilian court for the 62 crimes that these two reputed human rights I/NGOs documented in their earlier report published in 2008. Instead, many family members of the victims are either withdrawing their cases --understandably under pressure or false assurances -- or are showing growing apathy since they have lost hope that justice will be done.

The report has also pointed, rightly, to the lack of progress in changing the legal framework that impedes criminal investigation of past crimes. None of the laws, such as the State Cases Act, Army Act, Police Act, Evidence Act, Commission of Inquiry Act, Public Security Act and the Muluki Ain (Nepal´s civil code), that are seen as impediments to effective criminal investigation of past human rights abuses, has been amended. Nor have successive governments put needed effort into forming a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a Disappearance Commission as promised in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Though the then Maoist-led government introduced a Disappearance Bill through ordinance it did not meet international standards and it was never tabled in parliament, thereby leaving it to expire in due course.

Bringing human rights violators to book and ending the state of impunity remains one of the major challenges of the peace process also because it features less and less prominently in the priority lists of political parties. The security forces-- the army and the police-- are taking the cue from their political bosses and pursuing past cases of rights violation just for the sake of formality. Military tribunals have either acquitted army personnel of criminal charges or handed out mild punishments that only add insult to injury for the families of victims. The police, who are supposed to act on FIRs, lack enthusiasm in investigating cases. Let´s not forget that our future is intricately linked to our past, and unless we address past cases of violation judiciously and put an end to impunity, we cannot aspire to a just and peaceful future. We therefore urge the government, political parties and the security agencies to take the issue of impunity with all the seriousness it deserves under an accountable, democratic system.
Published on 2009-10-21 07:06:53
Source: http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=10929