News Alerts – Nepal

KATHMANDU, AUG 30 –
Nepal’s civil war may be over, but the fate of over 1,350 disappeared remains uncertain.
Kamala Tamang, 29, lost her husband Santosh Tamang seven years. He never came back.
On Monday, watching “Shadows of Hope’, a documentary film about the family members of those who went missing,  and produced by the International Community of the Red Cross and Nepal Red Cross Society, she recalled how her husband disappeared and her ordeal began.
“Not knowing whether he is dead or alive, I am still hopeful he will be back someday,” she says, holding her 9-year-old daughter.
As the international Day of Disappeared is being commemorated worldwide, Kamala, a conflict victim, cannot even demand of the concerned authorities that they trace the whereabouts of her loved one.

Siddharth Varadarajan
You know you’ve hit rockbottom when an intelligence operative in the Indian mission in Kathmandu calls up a member of Nepal’s Constituent Assembly and threatens to have his daughter’s provisional admission in the embassy-run Kendriya Vidyalaya revoked if he dœsn’t vote a particular way.
Welcome to the diplomatic brilliance of a rising India, a country which is bedevilled with intractable political problems in Kashmir, its forested heartland and the North-East but which dœsn’t think twice about plunging headlong into the cesspit of day-to-day politics in a neighbouring nation. The threatening phone call was made by the Indian embassy official on the eve of the fourth round of voting in the CA earlier this month between the Maoist candidate for prime minister, Prachanda, and the Nepali Congress (NC) candidate, Ram Chandra Poudel. Given the prospect of fence-sitting Madhesi political parties moving over en masse to the Maoist camp, the Indian effort was aimed at ensuring this didn’t happen and that the stalemate between the two candidates continued.
For the record, Indian officials deny the allegation made by the CA member, Ram Kumar Sharma, but there is hardly anyone in Nepal who dœsn’t believe it is true. Even by the interventionist standards of the past, the threat marks a new low. Leaving aside the moral and diplomatic implications raised by this unpleasant episode, the threat of punitive action against a young girl suggests a wider, even catastrophic, failure of Indian policy. In the past, India always had the ability to work behind the scenes with a wide cross-section of players in order to produce a political outcome that broadly benefited both Nepal and itself. Today, that is no longer the case. Even when they play their hands in the open, our men in Kathmandu are unable to ensure a stable outcome.
Last week, I followed the lead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s special envoy to Nepal, Shyam Saran, who had just been in Kathmandu, and met senior leaders cutting across all major political trends: from the Maoists, who are the biggest party with 40 per cent of the seats in the CA, the NC, the Unified Marxists-Leninists and the different Madhesi factions. Even though their views on the current political crisis varied sharply, virtually all the politicians I met agreed that Indian interference in the politics of the country had reached a new high. Many blamed this interference for the failure of these parties to establish some sort of modus vivendi among themselves.

BARUN PANERU

DADELDHURA, Aug 15: He was taken from his home in Bagarkot-5 on charge of espionage and left for dead after being shot in the waist by the Maoists following 11 days of detention during the armed insurgency.

Bam Bahadur Thapa fortunately survived to fight another day, but the second life has not been exactly kind to the wheelchair bound conflict victim who has lost all his property in treatment. Neglected by the state, Thapa now struggles to make ends meet with the sole income of his wife Shanta who works as a peon.
Thapa was abducted on June 13, 2004, from his home on charge of spying for the army. “They detained me for 11 days and left me for dead in a jungle after shooting me in the waist,” Thapa recalls.
He was first taken to Dadeldhura by Nepal Red Cross Society on the initiative of locals who found him at the jungle. He remained at the TEAM Hospital in Dadeldhura for seven days and then taken to Nepalgunj and Kathmandu for further treatment. He has since been limited to a wheelchair with paralysis from waist down.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Nepal breaks into news with regularity, and that gives an indication of the human rights (HR) situation in the country. Its role cannot be underestimated in times when the lacklustre law and order situation and impunity stalk the social scene. It has been in existence as a constitutional body. It functions as a statutory body to complement the legal system of the country. Though it cannot prosecute anyone for human rights violations on its own right, it does make the necessary recommendations to the government for further action. Despite its well-researched recommendations, the government response that is the implementations aspect accordingly does not show any silver lining. The only valid point is perhaps the assertion that the government has compensated the victims in cases on which the NHRC worked and forwarded the recommendations to the government. But, the whole process of delivering justice does not stop at this; it is mandatory to take appropriate legal action against the perpetrators as identified by the NHRC. On this front the government has not given due importance to what the NHRC has forwarded to it. That is enough to reflect the status of impunity offered to the human rights violators.

Government assurances to NDC and OHCHR to implement court verdicts on caste-based discrimination

21 July, Kathmandu,
Local Government authorities, including the Senior Superintendent of Police of Mahakali zone and the Deputy Superintendent of Police in Baitadi have assured the National Dalit Commission (NDC) and the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal (OHCHR) to swiftly implement two ground breaking discrimination related verdicts. The first verdict issued in January 2009, relates to a sentence of two years imprisonment issued by the Baitadi district court to the main perpetrator and a fine of rupees twenty five thousand. In this case, twelve Dalits were physically assaulted and robbed after they refused to follow discriminatory rituals. The second decision, issued by the same court in March 2010, is in relation to an assault of the father of a Dalit groom during a wedding ceremony for practicing “rituals reserved for high-caste communities”.
Despite repeated calls by human rights organisations, including the NDC, the National Human Rights Commission and OHCHR, the court decisions have yet to be implemented and have remained pending for many months. The members of a joint OHCHR-NDC mission raised serious concerns regarding this matter and urged the authorities to take the necessary action in accordance with the law.

Four years after the end of the conflict, there now appears to be a familiar pattern in the way in which the Maoists handles incidents where a member of party is charged with crime. This has most recently been revealed in the case of Kali Bahadur Kham ‘Bibidh’, who has been charged with robbery and running an illegal trade in the Himalayan herb Yarchagumba. First, a number of key party leaders state in public that the accused has no relation with the party at all, that none of the party leaders are aware of his whereabouts. Then, as the police begins its investigations, the party leadership states that it is willing to cooperate with any criminal investigations. As the process continues, however, and it becomes evident that the accused is in fact in contact with Maoist leaders, party leaders state that the accused is innocent of the crime he has been charged with and that the party has begun an internal investigation. The investigation then “confirms” the innocence of the accused and he continues to remain out of the arms of the law, under the protection of the Maoist party.

Raj Kumar Siwakoti
Every year on July 17, the world celebrates International Justice Day marking the anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC). International Justice Day is a reminder of the urgency for all states committed to justice to ensure continued support to the Rome Statute’s international justice system to reaffirm its commitment to end the culture of impunity and take the necessary steps to ratify the Rome Statute.
On this day 12 years ago, the Rome Statute was adopted by an overwhelming vote of 120 states. Today, 111 states have joined the ICC, and the number keeps growing. The world is celebrating this day as a show of solidarity with victims of crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes. International Justice Day is an opportunity for the world community to celebrate the historic advances made in ending impunity for the worst crimes under international law.
Since 1993, 181 trials dealing with terrible crimes committed in 12 countries, have been held by six international and special tribunals. Similar trials for the gravest crimes are ongoing at the national level. As of the present, three trials are being conducted at the ICC, investigations have been opened in five countries, and 12 arrest warrants and three summons to appear have been issued. Allegations of crimes committed in many other countries are being considered by the ICC Prosecutor.

The case of Sita Tamang shows the media needs to exercise caution when it comes to covering conflict-sensitive issues
CK LAL
Radhika Coomaraswamy, special representative for children and armed conflict of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, brings her formidable qualifications to bear on a very delicate responsibility. As the erstwhile chairperson of the Human Rights Commission and the director of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies in Sri Lanka, Coomaraswamy is one of few Third World citizens who stride through the global corridors of power with ease.
Of the 4,008 disqualified combatants discharged from temporary cantonments in Nepal, over 3,000 were children. The Maoists claimed the discharges were a result of their magnanimity, while the anti-Maoist coalition of Premier Madhav Kumar Nepal claimed it as the most remarkable achievement of its 13 months in office. UNMIN, too, feels it is a success story for the organisation. Unsurprisingly, Sita Tamang, alias Manju Gurung, was a prize catch for the Security Council, where she made an appearance on 16 June.
It is extremely unlikely that Coomaraswamy was unaware of the potential repercussions of making Sita narrate her story in the full glare of the media eye. The ‘Manju’ alias was tokenism more than anything else, as the ensuing footage and photos of Sita did little to protect the testifier’s identity.
In fact, the way media coverage of this teenage girl from Chitwan unfolded, it became clear that she might have been used as bait to trap the Maoists into fresh controversy. The ambush has been successful: the former insurgents tumbled into the trap when they quizzed and then reportedly threatened Sita last week.

Former child soldier Sita Tamang’s powerful testimony at the Security Council focused the world’s attention on Nepal’s Maoists
EKAL SILWAL
Sita Tamang, a former child soldier, was excited to go to New York. But the journey she embarked on last month was less to visit the country she had heard so much about since her childhood than it was to fulfill a historic mission.
Sita was invited to the 6341st meeting of the UN Security Council by the UN Special Rapporteur on Children in Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy.
On 17 June, Sita was seated next to Coomaraswamy in the Security Council chamber, where there was representation from 60 countries. Over concerns for her safety, she was introduced as Manju Gurung. Then she recounted her ordeal of abduction by the Maoists at age 11. She was forced to perform heavy labour, trained for combat, and threatened with the murder of her family if she spoke to anyone about the Maoists. She told the assembly about her escape and the discrimination she had to endure at the hands of her family and neighbours back in her home village. She also spent time in the Shaktikhor cantonment in Chitwan before she escaped and finally contacted a human rights organisation that aided her rehabilitation. The chamber was left shocked by her story.

Subash Shiwakoti

The war against trafficking must incorporate action against poverty and marginalisation

Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery and a serious crime that results in gross abuse of the victims’ human rights. Thousands of children, women and men become victims of human traffickers each year. We have also exposed human trafficking in Nepal, and we have discovered that Nepal is used as a resource country for trade in women and children mostly for the purpose of sexual exploitation and child pornography. The national reports of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for 2008 and 2009 show that around 32,000 children and women became victims of trafficking in those two years. The report stated, “Today, trafficking is not limited just to commercial sexual exploitation but to labour exploitation, organ transplantation and entertainment (circus and dance bars) purposes.”

This trade appears to be increasing, both nationally and internationally; and it is estimated that human trafficking has become the second largest illegal business in the world after the arms trade. Several thousand illegal organ transplantations take place each year. The trade gœs from poor countries to rich countries, from poor donors to wealthy recipients. This is a disturbing trend in countries that have little respect for or understanding of human rights. The government’s goal is to combat all types of human trafficking. It has stated this goal in different national declarations and plans of the action. Nepal has made an international commitment to prevent and combat trade in human beings by ratifying different international and regional conventions especially on women and children.

Human trafficking is a global, transnational problem. It is a serious form of crime that, in many cases, is organised by international criminal networks. These activities often take place as part of other serious, organised crimes, and are characterised by the perpetrators being involved in multiple crimes, i.e., they are often involved in drug trafficking and arms dealing across national borders. There are possibilities for making substantial profits while most of the victims are in a vulnerable situation due to poverty and repression. The networks are usually based abroad, often in the victims’ home countries. Consequently, the sufferers are often scared of providing information for fear of reprisal against themselves or their families in their countries of origin.