Tightening of authoritarian grip: Need for demolishing monarchy
UN body raps Nepal govt
KOL Report
KATHMANDU, Aug 30 - A top UN body has sharply criticized the Nepal government for intimidating families of disappeared persons, in a statement issued yesterday. "We regret that families of disappeared persons or human rights defenders are harassed, hampered from locating their loved ones, and even accused by the authorities of trying to destabilize the country," said the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), on the eve of International Day of the Disappeared. "In particular, this is the case in Nepal."
WGEID also urged Nepali authorities to protect human rights defenders from persecution for their work and to fully implement the recommendations issued following the Working Group's visit to Nepal in December 2004.
"Enforced disappearance is a continuing offence and investigations should continue for as long as the fate and the whereabouts of victims of enforced disappearance remain unknown."
National and international human rights bodies say that Nepal has one of the highest records of disappearances in the world.
Sharing the concerns of WGEID, Ian Martin, representative of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal, said in a separate statement, "We have had many reports that civil society organizations, as well as journalists, continue to receive threats and are under pressure from both sides of the conflict."
"Some steps have been taken toward establishing a list of detainees in army barracks, but it is still unclear how the government will provide accurate, up-to-date lists of all those held in any place of detention," he said. Martin added that the problem of disappearances continues to be a serious concern and that OHCHR-Nepal is regularly receiving complaints of disappearances by both Maoists and security forces.
KOL Report
KATHMANDU, Aug 30 - A top UN body has sharply criticized the Nepal government for intimidating families of disappeared persons, in a statement issued yesterday. "We regret that families of disappeared persons or human rights defenders are harassed, hampered from locating their loved ones, and even accused by the authorities of trying to destabilize the country," said the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), on the eve of International Day of the Disappeared. "In particular, this is the case in Nepal."
WGEID also urged Nepali authorities to protect human rights defenders from persecution for their work and to fully implement the recommendations issued following the Working Group's visit to Nepal in December 2004.
"Enforced disappearance is a continuing offence and investigations should continue for as long as the fate and the whereabouts of victims of enforced disappearance remain unknown."
National and international human rights bodies say that Nepal has one of the highest records of disappearances in the world.
Sharing the concerns of WGEID, Ian Martin, representative of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal, said in a separate statement, "We have had many reports that civil society organizations, as well as journalists, continue to receive threats and are under pressure from both sides of the conflict."
"Some steps have been taken toward establishing a list of detainees in army barracks, but it is still unclear how the government will provide accurate, up-to-date lists of all those held in any place of detention," he said. Martin added that the problem of disappearances continues to be a serious concern and that OHCHR-Nepal is regularly receiving complaints of disappearances by both Maoists and security forces.
posted by Serene at 9:15 AM
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