Amnesty
International: Reports on Nepal
|
Heads
of three human rights organisations call for targeted sanctions |
![](../../../images/line2684.gif) |
Press
release, joint statement by Amnesty International, International Commission
of Jurists and Human Rights Watch
17
April 2006
Nepal's
King Gyanendra and his senior officials and top military officers should
be refused entry to other countries and have any personal assets outside
the country frozen, urged Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and
the International Commission of Jurists. The organisations issued their
call during an international meeting in Geneva convened by the Government
of Switzerland to review Nepal's human rights record.
King
Gyanendra assumed total and direct executive authority on 1 February 2005.
Since then, he and his officials have been responsible for serious human
rights violations, including the arbitrary arrest and detention of thousands
of critics, torture and ill-treatment of detainees, and severe restrictions
on freedom of speech and assembly. The army continues to violate international
human rights and humanitarian law in its war against Maoist insurgents.
The
organisations said the sanctions should target those directly responsible
for setting or implementing abusive policies, including King Gyanendra,
his deputy the Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers Tulsi Giri, his
Home Minister Kamal Thapa, his Justice Minister Niranjan Thapa, and his
Information Minister Srish Shamsher Rana. The sanctions should also cover
top security officers such as Chief of Army Staff General Pyar Jung Thapa,
Inspector General of Police Shyam Bhakta Thapa, and the Inspector General
of the Armed Police Force Shahabir Thapa.
"The
human cost of the conflict in Nepal has been catastrophic: people have
been killed or 'disappeared', women attacked and raped, children abducted
to fight as soldiers and critics of the regime have been locked up," said
Amnesty International's Secretary General, Irene Khan. "King Gyanendra's
government seems impervious to the suffering of the people. The international
community must now apply pressure through targeted sanctions that will
have a direct impact on the King and his cohorts."
The
three human rights organisations said these targeted sanctions should be
lifted only when there is clear evidence that the Government of Nepal is
complying with the demands of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
as set out in the 2005 resolution on Nepal.
Nepal's
biggest suppliers of military assistance -- India, the United States and
the United Kingdom -- have already suspended the transfer of lethal military
assistance to the Government of Nepal. Foreign militaries, particularly
in India, the United States and United Kingdom, should make it clear that
they will not have normal dealings with the Royal Nepalese Army until there
is a dramatic improvement in its human rights record.
"Sanctions
targeting the King and top officials responsible for such serious human
rights violations are necessary to get them to change their abusive behaviour,"
said Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch. "King Gyanendra's
government has shown that it will only respond to international pressure
when its interests are at stake."
The
government's abuses over the last year took place amidst the efforts of
the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal and
in defiance of the strong resolution adopted by the UN Commission on Human
Rights on 20 April 2005, urging the Government of Nepal to cease arbitrary
arrests and extrajudicial killings, stop the use of torture and ill-treatment,
and end impunity for human rights violations committed by members of the
security forces.
The
Nepali government's abusive behaviour took a turn for the worse on the
eve of pro-democracy protests called for 6 - 9 April. Members of the police
and military, under the King's direct command, have used excessive force
to respond to country-wide demonstrations, killing at least six people
and injuring hundreds of others. The authorities have detained thousands
of protesters. More than 800 continue to be detained under the Public Security
Act, many without access to lawyers or their families.
"Nepal
is in a double crisis ? the armed conflict and the conflict over democracy,"
said Nicholas Howen, Secretary-General of the International Commission
of Jurists. "By sweeping away democracy and stifling legitimate protest
and dissent, the King is denying his people the democratic space they need
to decide their future and to resolve the conflict peacefully. It is time
for the international community to step up its response."
The
latest political repression has compounded an already grave human rights
crisis. Nepal's decade-long civil war has claimed the lives of thousands
of civilians, forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee from their
homes, and limited access to food, health care, and education. Both parties
to the conflict have carried out gross violations of international humanitarian
and human rights law. The organisations reiterated their repeated calls
on the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) to end the practices condemned
by the UN Commission on Human Rights in 2005. The organisations warned
that a combined human rights and humanitarian crisis in Nepal would have
implications for regional security.
The
human rights groups called on the United Nations Security Council to put
the human rights crisis in Nepal on its agenda, and impose a global regime
of targeted sanctions on the senior Nepali officials. They invited Nepal's
neighbours and major donors, such as India, China, Japan, the European
Union, and the United States, to work together to implement the sanctions
immediately.
The
organisations recalled that those responsible for violations of international
human rights and humanitarian law must be held personally and criminally
accountable.
Source:
Amnesty International 2006 |
![](../../../images/line1684.gif) |
|