Nepal
in Crisis 2005: Human Rights |
May
20, 2005 - PRESS RELEASE
Human
Rights Watch, Amnesty International, International Commission of Jurists
Maoist
Rebel Abuses Continue |
Joint
Letter to Prachanda, Head of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
Pushpa
Kamal Dahal (also known as Prachanda)
Communist
Party of Nepal (Maoist)
Nepal
Dear
Pushpa Kamal Dahal,
The
undersigned organisations are writing to you in light of a number of statements
you have made over the last few weeks regarding the observance of international
human rights and humanitarian law by members of the Communist Party of
Nepal (Maoist). While we welcome this declared readiness to comply with
your legal obligations under internationally recognized rules of war, an
ongoing wave of human rights abuses by Maoist forces over the last few
months casts serious doubts on the credibility of your repeated public
commitments to that effect.
Contribute
to Human Rights Watch
We
note that in a press release of 5 April 2005 the CPN (Maoist) publicly
called for an international human rights monitoring presence in Nepal,
arguing that such a mission presence would bring to light the violations
by the Royal Nepal Army (RNA). At that time, the CPN (Maoist) also pledged
to cooperate fully with any such mission, if established, and to be answerable
for any human rights abuses by CPN (Maoist). On 12 April, you personally
reiterated the pledge to fully support and cooperate with any human rights
monitors. However, in an interview with Time magazine published on 18 April,
you suggested that your party's ideology justified its abuses of international
human rights and humanitarian law standards and that these abuses were
somehow different "and less blameworthy" than similar abuses by the RNA.
Although you also refer to efforts by the CPN (Maoist) to "correct mistakes,'
we are concerned by your lack of commitment to holding human rights abusers
properly to account.
Examples
of the lack of commitment to human rights by the CPN (Maoist) are plentiful.
Maoist forces have staged several attacks recently on civilians and civilian
objects, including political activists and schools. On 15 April, Maoists
reportedly surrounded Bargadwa village, Somani VDC, Ward 7 in Nawalparasi
district and rounded up all villagers. They then reportedly separated all
the boys and men aged between 14 and 40 and summarily executed ten men
and one boy. On 29 April, Maoist cadres reportedly abducted and killed
Dan Bahadur Shreebastav, chairman of the Kapilvastu District Monitoring
Committee, and on 9 May shot dead Bhagwan Das Shrestha, chairman of the
Chitwan District Monitoring Committee. None of these victims were legitimate
military targets.
Last
month, Maoist forces also carried out a spate of attacks on schools in
the context of a two-week campaign for the closure of all private schools
initiated on 14 April 2005. Among the schools targeted were a school in
Nepalgunj, Banke district, on 17 April and another in Kalyanpur, Chitwan
district on 21 April. Three children were reportedly injured when the Maoists
threw a bomb at students at a school in Khara, Rukum district, on 17 April.
Hundreds of schools across the country remain closed due to threats by
Maoists. Furthermore, Maoist forces have regularly abducted large numbers
of students from schools for political indoctrination and propaganda campaigns.
In a recent example, reports from Salyan district indicate that as many
as 200 students from remote villages were abducted around 17 May. None
of these targets can be described as military ? they were all civilians
and civilian objects the targeting of which is prohibited under international
humanitarian law.
We
are also concerned that Maoist forces have abducted, tortured and killed
civilians, whom they accused of "spying' and other crimes, and security
force personnel whom they had captured. Among recent cases is Lila Singh,
a 23-year-old karate practitioner from Mahendranagar, Kanchanpur district
who was abducted from her home on 29 April allegedly on suspicion of spying.
To date, her relatives have not heard anything about her fate or whereabouts.
On 16 May 2005, Shanker Sarki, a soldier, who had returned home from Congo
where he had served in the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces, was abducted
from his home in Dhangadi, Kailali district by 12 armed Maoist cadres in
civilian dress and killed. Torture and extrajudicial executions are similarly
prohibited, under international law, in all circumstances.
As
you know, further to an agreement reached between the Government of Nepal
and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on
11 April 2005, OHCHR is establishing an office in Nepal to monitor and
investigate abuses of human rights by both parties to the conflict. We
see this as an important opportunity to improve the rapidly deteriorating
human rights situation in the country.
We
urge you to take all measures necessary to comply with your obligations
under international humanitarian law and to undertake to respect applicable
international standards regarding protection of human rights. Specifically,
we call on to publicly to prohibit CPN (Maoist) forces from engaging in
targeting civilians and civilian objects and carrying out indiscriminate
attacks, arbitrary killings, torture and other ill-treatment, taking hostages
and recruiting child soldiers. We also call on you to remove from their
post any CPN (Maoist) cadres who are responsible for human rights abuses.
As an important step in this undertaking, we call on you publicly to pledge
full cooperation with the OHCHR mission, to pledge to uphold the rights
set out in the Human Rights Accord drafted by the National Human Rights
Commission in 2004 and to instruct all (CPN) Maoist forces to do the same.
With
reference to your interview of 18 April, we remind you that the civil war
in Nepal falls under the purview of international humanitarian law. Among
the fundamental protections during internal armed conflicts are those contained
in Common Article Three in the four Geneva Conventions of 1949, regarding
the treatment of persons taking no active part in the hostilities. This
article prohibits, among other things, summary executions, torture and
other ill-treatment, the taking of hostages, and punishment without fair
trial. Credible information indicates that CPN (Maoist) forces routinely
violate Common Article Three by engaging in brutal and abusive activities
against civilians and others not taking active part in hostilities.
We
point out that Common Article Three binds both states parties and insurgent
groups. Adherence is not based on reciprocity and one party to the conflict
cannot excuse its own violations of Common Article Three on the basis that
the other party to the conflict is also violating it. The arguments set
out in the interview published on 18 April that RNA abuses "outnumber'
abuses by your forces or that your ideology justifies your actions in no
way exempt you and your forces from your obligations under international
law.
We
call on the CPN (Maoist) to begin immediately to establish mechanisms for
cooperation with the UN human rights monitoring mission, including mechanisms
to allow transparent and independent investigations by the UN teams in
areas under (CPN) Maoist control. We urge you to ensure that this message
reaches every cadre in the ranks of the CPN (Maoist) forces. It is only
through a transparent and engaged effort by both sides to this conflict
that Nepali civilians, who have borne the brunt of this brutality, will
have a chance for peace and justice.
The
nine-year-old civil war in Nepal has already claimed over 12,000 lives
and injured thousands more. It has resulted in massive displacement of
people and gross human rights abuses. Both sides to the conflict have systematically
flaunted their responsibilities to protect civilians and captured combatants.
Yet each side is responsible for the conduct of its own forces and cannot
justify abuses by pointing to the poor conduct of the other side.
We
call on you to demonstrate that the forces under your command will respect
their international obligations and cooperate in full with UN monitors
trying to protect the rights of the people of Nepal.
We
look forward to your immediate response.
Yours
sincerely,
Brad
Adams
Asia
Director
Human
Rights Watch
Purna
Sen
Director,
Asia & Pacific Program
Amnesty
International
Nicholas
Howen
Secretary-General
International
Commission of Jurists
![](../../../images/remark/extlink01.gif) |
![](../../../images/spacer5xO.1trsp.gif) |
External
link |
![](../../../images/remark/moreinfo02.gif) |
![](../../../images/navi/np2/ICJ01.gif) |
International
Commission of Jurists |
![](../../../images/navi/np/np_huriwa01.gif) |
|
Amnesty
International |
|
|